Discovery BoxExodus 17:8 
Context17:8 1 Amalek came 2 and attacked 3 Israel in Rephidim.
Exodus 17:14
Context17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the 4 book, and rehearse 5 it in Joshua’s hearing; 6 for I will surely wipe out 7 the remembrance 8 of Amalek from under heaven.
1 sn This short passage gives the first account of Israel’s holy wars. The war effort and Moses’ holding up his hands go side by side until the victory is won and commemorated. Many have used this as an example of intercessory prayer – but the passage makes no such mention. In Exodus so far the staff of God is the token of the power of God; when Moses used it, God demonstrated his power. To use the staff of God was to say that God did it; to fight without the staff was to face defeat. Using the staff of God was a way of submitting to and depending on the power of God in all areas of life. The first part of the story reports the attack and the preparation for the battle (8,9). The second part describes the battle and its outcome (10-13). The final section is the preservation of this event in the memory of Israel (14-16).
2 tn Heb “and Amalek came”; NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV “the Amalekites.”
3 tn Or “fought with.”
4 tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.
5 tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.
6 tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.
7 tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.
8 sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.
