Exodus 17:13

13 And Joshua routed Amalec and all his people with the slaughter of the sword.

Exodus 17:13 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 17:13

And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of
the sword.
] Amalek being distinguished from "his people", has led some to think that Amalek was the name of the king, or general of the army, and that it was a common name to the kings of that nation, as Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt; but for this there is no foundation in the Scriptures: as Amelek signifies the Amalekites, his people may design the confederates and auxiliaries, the other people, as Ben Gersom expresses it, they brought with them to fight against Israel. And so Jerom ^F26 says, by him another Canaanite dwelt, who also fought against Israel in the wilderness, of whom it is so written, and Amalek and the Canaanite dwelt in the valley, ( Numbers 14:25 ) and who were all, the one as the other, at least the greatest part of them, cut to pieces by the edge of the sword of Joshua and the Israelites, who obtained a complete victory over them; as the spiritual Israel of God will at last over all their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, the world, and death.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Ut supra. (De Locis Hebr. fol. 87. M.)

Exodus 17:13 In-Context

11 And it came to pass, when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands, Amalec prevailed.

12 But the hands of Moses were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it; and Aaron and Or supported his hands one on this side and the other on that, and the hands of Moses were supported till the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua routed Amalec and all his people with the slaughter of the sword.

14 And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and speak in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly blot out the memorial of Amalec from under heaven.

15 And Moses built an altar to the Lord, and called the name of it, The Lord my Refuge.