moses hands in the air

Genesis 26:22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. An interesting narrative to be sure, but it seems unnecessary to repeat the word voice twice and the word hand twice, one has to wonder if there is more. If you check your Strong’s you will see clearly that the two words for voice are the same word, pronounced kole, or qol.

However when you look at the words in Hebrew (underlined) you can see they are not the same word, but similar words. If you were reading this it would sound like e-qol qol. The word here pronounced e-qol can mean “weakness”, and is associated here with the word “voice”. The word used here for hands is pronounced yad, means hand, strength, power and all that is associated with the word hand.

לקה רמאיו והשמיו ויבא קחצי-לא בקעי שגיו בכ 22 :ושע ידי םידיהו בקעי לוק

Applying what you just learned, this verse could be understood to say “when the voice of Jacob

is weak, the hands of Esau are strong.”

Who is Jacob? Certainly we know he is the second son of Isaac and Rebekah, twin brother to

Esau, grandson of Abraham and Sarah. Historically we are familiar with him. We have all read about him and heard many sermons on him. We know God later changes his name to Israel meaning “persevere with God.” Jacob along with Isaac, is the picture in all of scripture of the follower of God, the believer in Christ – he is the picture of the believer.

Esau on the other hand, his twin brother, born only moments earlier who’s name means rough or red, became the father of the Edomites, the sworn enemy of Israel. Esau along with Ishmael, became the people and the picture of the enemies of Israel, that is the unbeliever, or those who will not follow Christ.

So, in understanding Biblical pictures, Jacob (and his descendants) represent God’s people and Esau (and his descendants) represent God’s enemies. If this verse is understood in that light, the narrative of Joshua at battle against the Amalek (Amalek, really, the guy who was tasked with killing the Israelites, grandson of Esau, and the seed of the Nazi’s, Haman, Purim, Nuremberg, but that is another story entirely) and only being effective when Moses’ hands were in the air in prayer, becomes more clear. Exodus 17:8-13. 8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said unto Joshuab, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. 10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword Is God showing us that the people of God must be in prayer to defeat the enemies of God’s people? Moses was Israel in every sense of the word and Joshua’s success or failure did not depend on Joshua or Moses abilities, but on the people of God being in prayer. I would even take it a step further, God would have heard Moses, or Joshua’s or anyone’s, prayers anyway, but the picture he was drawing is absolutely crystal clear. He wanted us to see Moses hands up in prayer, He wanted us to see Aaron and Hur supporting Moses. God wants His people to see their prayers are necessary and required for God to work a victory.

Recently the pastor chose to try and speak the names of all of the men in the book of Nehemiah. It was rough. He could not pronounce the names well, or correctly, or smoothly. But God wants us to believe Him, He wants us to be involved, He wants us to be a part of the His work and by so doing become strengthened. He wants us to be set apart for the world, and to try and pronounce those names. The world will tell us don’t try to say those names, you will look like a fool, just make a joke. Don’t bother to pray, I have this covered. The outcome is already determined, no need to get too involved, it is already past history to Me. But He wants us to pray, to be involved, to hold our hands up for Him. And don’t miss this, He wants us to pray … for us …. He does not need us to pray. He really does have this covered.

Instead, He is allowing us to pray, inviting us to become involved in something we could never do on our own. He loves us so much, He wants us to be fully invested and involved in His victories. Pretty cool. But make no mistake, if we let out hands down, the world will be victorious in that battle. They cannot win the war, but they will win some battles when God’s people are weak. When the voice of the believers are weak, the hands of the enemy are strong. Don’t let the hands of the enemy be strong, pray to God for His people and watch what He does.

CB