Exodus 17:16

For he said, because the Lord hath sworn,.... So some Jewish writers (b) take it for an oath, as we do; or "because the hand is on the throne of the Lord" (c); which the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi,

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

For, or, and, as the Hebrew particle properly signifies; for these words are not a reason of the passage next preceding, but an additional sentence. Because, or, surely, (as that particle is oft used, as 20:20 44:22, &c.) Heb. the hand upon the throne of the Lord, for the hand of the Lord upon his throne, which is perfectly the same thing, only the order of the words is a little varied after the manner of the Hebrew tongue. These words then are a paraphrastical description of a solemn oath, by the usual posture of it, viz. the lifting up the hand, which is usually put for swearing, and in that sense is ascribed both to men, as , and to God, as . And this hand of God lifted up upon his throne, where his majesty doth peculiarly and gloriously dwell, signifies that God swears by himself, as is said . And thus the Chaldee and Arabic interpreters understand it. Others render the place thus, Because the hand (or, his hand, the pronoun being here understood, as it frequently is in the Hebrew language, of which several instances have been given before, i.e. the hand of Amalek, which may easily be understood out of the following clause, in which Amalek is named) was against the throne of the Lord, i.e. was stretched out against God himself; for so God esteems it, because it was done against that people among whom God had placed his throne, or seat, or dwelling, according to his covenant made with them; which also was well known to the Amalekites by the relation of their progenitors, who in all probability had acquainted them with their own rights, and with Jacob’ s arts, whereby he robbed Esau, the father of Amalek, ,16, of his birthright and blessing, and consequently of the land of Canaan, to which now God was bringing them, that he might plant them there, and set up his throne among them. And the Amalekites doubtless heard, as the other neighbours also did, in what a miraculous manner God had brought them out of Egypt, and over the Red Sea. And they knew better than others, by tradition from their parents, that God had promised Canaan to them, and now they saw that he was conducting them thither, and therefore to prevent this they now commence a war against them, and against God or his throne, whose presence with and conduct over them was most manifest; which was a great aggravation of their sin. And this latter translation and interpretation seems most probable, 1. Because it exactly agrees with the Hebrew words, and the order in which they are placed. 2. It makes the coherence more clear than our translation doth, the former part of the verse containing a reason of the latter, to wit, of that severe curse and everlasting war denounced against Amalek, because they attempted by force to overthrow God’ s throne and people, and that with so many aggravating circumstances; of which see ,18.

Exodus 17:16 For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn [that] the LORD [will have] war with Amalek from generation to generation.Ver. 16. Because the Lord, &c.] Heb., The hand upon the throne of the Lord. God’ s hand is laid upon his own throne, as swearing to root out Amalek. Or Amalek’ s hand is lifted up against God’ s throne - that is, the Church; called God’ s throne of glory, and crown of glory; therefore he will have perpetual war with him. Tua causa erit mea causa, said the Emperor Charles V to Julius Pflugius, who, being his agent, had received wrong by the Duke of Saxony. So saith God to all that belong to him.

(16) Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek.—Heb,, because (his) hand is against the throne of Jehovah, (there shall be) war to Jehovah with Amalek, &c. The Hebrew can scarcely be said to be “obscure.” It gives plainly enough the sense which our translators have placed in the margin. Amalek, by attacking Israel, had lifted up his hand against the throne of God, therefore would God war against him from generation to generation.

Verse 16. The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, c.] This is no translation of the words כי יד על כס יה מלחמה ki yad al kes yah milckamah, which have been variously rendered by different translators and critics the most rational version of which is the following: Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of God, therefore will I have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This gives a tolerably consistent sense, yet still there is considerable obscurity in the passage. Houbigant, a most judicious though bold critic, supposes that, as יהוה נסי Jehovah-nissi, Jehovah my ensign, was spoken of immediately before, כס kes, a throne, in this verse, is an error of some transcriber for נס nes, an ensign, which might be readily occasioned by the great similarity between the כ caph and the נ nun. He thinks farther that the two letters יה yah, which are supposed to be here a contraction of the word יהוה Yehovah, are separated, the י yod from the נס nes, which should be written נשי nissi, and the ה he, from מלחמה milchamah, which should be written המלחמה hammilchamah, and then the whole verse will run thus: For the hand shall be upon the ensigns of war unto the Lord, against Amalek for ever, i.e., God makes now a declaration of war against the Amalekites, which shall continue till their final destruction. The conjecture of Mr. Julius Bate, in his Literal Translation of the Pentateuch, deserves attention. He supposes that, as כס cos signifies a cup, and a cup is emblematically used for wrath, on one of the stones of the altar, mentioned in the preceding verse, a hand holding a cup was sculptured, this being a memorial, according to the custom of hieroglyphical writing, that the Lord would continue the cup of wrath, portending continual war, against Amalek for ever. I prefer Houbigant's exposition. 1. THIS first victory of Israel must have inspired them with a considerable measure of confidence in God, and in his servant Moses. Though God alone could give them the victory, yet it was necessary to show them that it was by the influence of Moses they got it. Moses could not deliver Amalek into their hands; yet if Moses did not continue to hold up his hands, i.e., to pray, Amalek must prevail. God, therefore, wrought this work in such a way as to instruct the people, promote his own glory, and secure the true honour of his servant. The Divine Being always performs the greatest number possible of ends, by the fewest and simplest means. In every work of God there is as much of wisdom and economy, as there is of sovereign uncontrolled power. 2. It is not probable that the people whom Joshua chose out to lead against Amalek were unarmed; and we have already seen that it is not at all likely that they came armed out of Egypt.

16. A solemn poetical utterance of Moses, swearing war for ever on Jehovah’s part against Amalek. Yah hath sworn] This rendering cannot be right. The Heb. is A hand upon (or to [as Exodus 9:22-23 Heb.]) the throne of Yah! i.e. I (Moses) swear, with my hand raised to Jehovah’s throne in heaven (see on Exodus 6:8). So Ew. (Hist. i. 251), Di. But many scholars, as Clericus, J. D. Mich., Ges., Kn., Bäntsch, read nçs ‘banner’ for the otherwise unknown kçs (for kissç’, ‘throne’), i.e. A hand on the banner (v. 15) of Yah! let it ever be faithful to this banner, and ready to bear it in the future battles against Amalek. This reading has the advantage of bringing Moses’ words into direct relation with the name of the altar in v. 15. This unfriendliness of Amalek to Israel was remembered afterwards with some bitterness. In 1 Samuel 15:2 f. it is assigned as the ground for Saul’s expedition against them; and in Deuteronomy 25:17-19 Moses is represented as exhorting Israel to remember it, and, when their possession of Canaan is secured, to be careful to recollect the injunction of Exo 17:14, and ‘blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.’ Cf. also Numbers 24:20. Saul’s raid, however, in spite of the terms used in 1 Samuel 15:8, did not exterminate the entire tribe: see 1 Samuel 27:7; 1 Samuel 30:1 ff. (where a band of them make a raid upon Ziklag, and are smitten afterwards by David, though 400 escape, v. 17), 2 Samuel 8:12, 1 Chronicles 4:43 (the remnant of them smitten by 500 Simeonites, in the time of Hezekiah).

Because the Lord hath sworn - This rendering is incorrect. Our translators regard the expression as a solemn asseveration by the throne of God.

16. Because the Lord (JEHOVAH) hath sworn — An obscure and much disputed verse.