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The Command to Remember
In the high school class, we’ve been studying what we’re calling Shadows of Christ. We’re looking at Old Testament characters and showing how they foreshadowed, albeit imperfectly, certain aspects of Christ’s life and purpose on Earth.
We spent several class periods this month looking at Moses. We discussed how his birth reflected Jesus, specifically regarding the decree of the ruler of the land to kill all the male babies. We discussed the first plague turning water into blood, bringing about death, while Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine, bringing about provision and joy. We studied the 40 years of wilderness wanderings and the grumbling and complaining that ensued, and Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness in which He never faltered or failed. And of course we talked about Moses leading his people to salvation through water, the Red Sea, much like, as Paul tells us, Jesus and His sacrifice leads us to salvation through the waters of baptism.
But there’s one story that we didn’t get to in class. In Exodus 17, we have this strange account of a battle that the Israelites fought while wandering in the wilderness. Let’s start reading in verse 8.
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
Exodus 17.8-13
Moses, from the top of a hill, had to keep his arms outstretched during this battle in order to ensure Israel’s deliverance. I can’t help but think of Christ delivering us from our battle—His arms outstretched for all to see on the hill of Golgotha. But unlike Moses, He had no allies to help hold His hands up. Instead, His enemies held them up by piercing them with nails to a plank of wood.
We read of Moses that his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And then he could have relief. The opposite was true of Christ. He granted the sun relief by giving up His spirit on the cross. We read in Luke 23, starting in verse 44:
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Luke 23.44-46
Let’s keep reading now and we’ll see a shadow of how we fit into this picture. Picking up in verse 14 of Exodus 17.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Exodus 17.14-16
This is the first time in the Bible we see God command someone to write. As a writing professor, I love to point this verse out to my students, but of course, we need to actually look and see why God commanded Moses to write. It was to be a memorial. The Hebrew word used here means to be mindful, to observe, to practice, to be concerned about, and to be engaged with.
The Hebrews took this command quite literally, writing God’s word on phylacteries that they wore on their heads and arms to uphold God’s decree.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6.4-9
We’ve been given a similar command. That’s why we gather together—to do our part in the memorial of Christ and His sacrifice. We come together each first day of the week to “do this in remembrance of Him.” To be mindful of His death, to observe His sacrifice, to practice the partaking of His body, to be concerned about His unfailing love for us as sinners, to be engaged with the saints here and throughout the world and throughout all time who wrote on their hearts the story of Jesus. John tells us in his gospel that:
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
John 21.25
John and the other Biblical writers wrote so that we might be able to believe in Jesus. And to remember Him and His sacrifice. To have His story written on our hearts. I’d like us to reflect on the words of a hymn we sing often.
Tell of the cross where they nailed Him, writhing in anguish and pain. Tell of the grave where they laid Him; tell how He liveth again. Love in that story so tender, clearer than ever I see. Stay let me weep while you whisper, ‘Love paid the ransom for me.’
Tell me the story of Jesus; write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard.
