After the Lord gave the children of Israel manna from heaven, they came to a place called Rephidim. Two remarkable events happened there. First, the Lord gave the children of Israel water to drink from the rock, and second, He gave them victory over the Amalekites. What kind of place is this? Rephidim comes from the Hebrew word raphad, which means to refresh, to spread a bed, to stretch out. These words already speak to us of God’s rest. And the ending -im in the name Rephidim indicates the plural. In other words, Rephidim is a place of rest, of relaxing and stretching out on a bed. Do you remember what Jesus said when He was about to feed 5,000 people? “Then Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.” [Jhn.6:10] (The Greek word means “to recline”.)

The water the Lord gave the Israelites to drink from the rock is a type of the Holy Spirit, and the rock itself is Christ. Paul writes: “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” [1 Cor.10:4] And Jesus said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive…” [Jhn.7:37-39]

Jesus also said to the Jews: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” [Mat.11:28] How does the Lord give rest to those weighed down by the works of the law? He gives them His Spirit, the Spirit of rest and grace, of power and love. This Spirit is just like our loving Lord. He makes us lie down in green pastures to feed us, as Jesus fed the 5,000. He leads us beside the still waters. Still waters also speak of His rest. And when we abide in His rest, He restores our soul, or renews our mind. You know, when a person restores something broken, the restored thing is always worse than new, but when the Lord restores something, what He has restored is far better than new. And when our mind is restored by Him, we follow Him in the paths of righteousness. [Ps.23:1-3]

Fighting the Flesh

Many believers cannot enter His rest, either because they do not know about His finished work on the cross, or because they do not believe that all the work of perfecting us has already been finished on the cross. They keep fighting their flesh and their sins, trying to improve themselves. I pray that as you read the story of how Jesus overcame the Amalekites, the heavenly Father will give you a revelation that Jesus dealt with our flesh and our old man on the cross, and that you will finally be able to enjoy the rest for which our loving Lord suffered.

After the children of Israel had drunk the water, “Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.” [Exd.17:8] The name Amalek comes from the Hebrew word amel [H5998], which means an unhappy worker, or painful toil. Notice that the Amalekites came to fight Israel precisely in the place of rest — Rephidim. The name “Amalek” symbolises human flesh, which is always trying to do something and is always in painful toil. They came just when the Israelites had drunk the water. Water, as we have already noted, speaks of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes to the Galatians: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another…” [Gal.5:17] The flesh wants to work and act, and the Spirit wants to rest, so the flesh always fights against the Spirit.

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit came down on Him, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness, where the devil tempted Him. And how does the devil work? Through the flesh. He tempted Jesus to bring Him out of His state of rest and to make Him do something in His own flesh to prove that He was the Son of God. The Son of God is stronger than the devil, and the Spirit is stronger than the flesh, so the enemy could not tempt Him with the works of the flesh. Then it is written: “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.” [Luk.4:13] Until what time? Jesus spoke of this time: “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” [Jhn.12:23] — when He died on the cross, where the final battle with the flesh took place.

God’s Righteousness

There is an interesting detail in this story. When Moses told Joshua (his name is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus) to go and fight the Amalekites, he himself went up to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur. I think you have guessed which hilltop this is. This hill is a type of Golgotha, where our Lord was crucified.

11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
—Exodus 17:11-12

If we look at the original, we find that in verse 11 “hand” is singular. Moses was actually holding up the hand in which he held the rod of God. [Exd.17:9] This rod is a symbol of God’s justice, for with it Moses, a type of the law, executed judgment on Egypt when he struck the river. [Exd.17:5] He also struck the rock with it, and water flowed from the rock. This tells us that Jesus was punished for our sins, and once God’s justice had been carried out, endless streams of God’s grace began to flow. Remember, at the beginning of the article we said that the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. [Jhn.7:39]

We know that Aaron was the high priest of Israel, and the name Hur means white linen garments [H2353]. White linen garments speak of God’s righteousness. The apostle John writes: “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” [1 Jhn.2:1] Notice that we have, first, an Advocate, or High Priest [Aaron], and second, the Righteous One [Hur]. In this case Moses is a type of the law.

The law did not have the power to make man righteous. It could not hold up God’s rod, and its hand grew weak. Look at what Paul writes: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,” [Rom.8:3] That is why God found fault with the old covenant and established a new covenant, on better blood and better promises. [Heb.8:6-8] What the law could not do, the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek did — Jesus Christ the righteous. He upheld God’s justice and established God’s righteousness forever!! Glory to our Lord forever and ever!! Hallelujah!!!

Victory over the Flesh

So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner;
—Exodus 17:13-15

Joshua — Jesus — defeated the flesh [Amalek] with the sword of His mouth. Notice that the Lord told Moses that He would utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek. Our Lord dealt with the flesh on the cross. Our flesh and our old man died on the cross and were buried. This is what Paul writes: “…if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all… Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” [2 Cor.5:14-16] When Christ died in the flesh, He died for you and me; that is why it is written that we regard NO ONE according to the flesh. The Lord utterly blotted out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. That is why the Lord says, and the Holy Spirit testifies to the same: “their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” [Heb.8:12; Heb.10:17] Why will He not remember? Because Jesus defeated the flesh, and the Lord utterly blotted out the remembrance of human flesh and its deeds! Glory to Jesus!! Amen!!

Moses built an altar and called its name Jehovah-Nissi, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner. Do you still doubt that all your sins are forgiven, and think you need to do something to improve your flesh? Look at the banner of the Lord YAHWEH. There your flesh was put to death and sin was condemned in the flesh. There the Lord won the victory over the flesh. The battle ended on the cross. When the sun had already set, Jesus proclaimed the victory: “Kula!!!”, which means “It is finished!” The enemy is defeated! The flesh is overcome! He gave up His spirit and entered His rest. And now we, knowing that our flesh was done away with on the cross and its remembrance blotted out from under heaven, can cease from the works of the flesh as He ceased from His, and enter His rest. [Heb.4:10]