Ah, the cycle of Israelite complaining and God providing continues. What’s notable here is Moses’ reaction in v 4, apparently he’s quite exasperated by all of the complaining. When God provides water to satisfy the Israelites complaints, Moses names the place Massah and Meribah, which mean “testing” and “quarreling” respectively. Take a minute and read Psalm 95:7b-11; this is the incident that the Psalm is making reference to.
The second half of this chapter contains the first mention of Joshua, who was to become a very important figure in the history of Israel. The Amalekites attacked the Israelites, and Moses selected Joshua to lead the Israelite defense. Moses goes to the top of a hill (which I would assume overlooked the battleground) and as long as he keeps his staff (the same one which was used to part the Red Sea) raised, Joshua and his men win the battle. However, keeping your arms up over your head for an entire battle is quite tiresome, so Moses first tries sitting down, but even that isn’t enough rest. So, Aaron and Hur come by his side and hold up his arms until the Israelites were victorious, I think that’s probably the definition of real friends…
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