Messianic Education Trust
		B'Shalach   (Ex 13:17 - 17:16)

Shemot/Exodus 17:14   Write this [as a] remembrance in the book and put [it] in the ears of Joshua

View whole verse and interlinear translation ...

Israel has just fought an unwanted and unanticipated battle against Amalek, finally defeating them at sundown after Moshe has spent the day - assisted by Aharon and Hur - on a hill overlooking the battle with his arms in the air, holding the staff of G-d in his hand. After the battle, The Name ...

HaShem: literally, Hebrew for 'The Name' - an allusion used to avoid pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, the so-called 'ineffable' name of G–d
HaShem speaks these words to Moshe, pronouncing His intention to utterly destroy Amalek: "I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven!"" (Shemot 17:14, NJPS). The opening word of our text - כָּתַב, the Qal ms imperative of the root כָּתַב, to write or inscribe - is the very first time the verb "to write" appears in Torah, in Tanakh. Nahum Sarna says that "this is the first reference to writing in the Bible." It behoves us to consider carefully how it is used and what we can learn from this first deployment.

But what is Moshe to write? The Hebrew text says כְּתֹב זֹאת, "write this", but what is this? Logically, it could be what has just happened: the account of the battle with Amalek, how and why it started, HaShem's involvement in the battle and so on. It could also be HaShem's response: His public commitment to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. What is important is that the intent is to write something that matters. Moshe is not just to make a cozy entry in his diary - "Dear Diary, We defeated the Amalekites in battle today; I had to hold my arms up for the whole day. Aharon and Hur had to help. HaShem is going to destroy the Amalekites. Love, Moshe." - he is to write an accurate account, as detailed as necessary, in a way that will communicate the significance of the event and HaShem's words to others.

Moshe is to write intentionally, with purpose. The next word - זִכָּרוֹן, a remembrance - tells us why: write this as a rememberance. Moshe is to write so that the event and HaShem's words may not just be communicated but remembered. They are to be remembered for more than simply the next year or two; they are to be remembered on a multi-generational basis. Reading Moshe's story later, even generations later, the readers are intended to remember the original event and HaShem's response to it; they are to remember what HaShem said so that they can play their part in making it happen.

Where is Moshe to do this writing? On a newsletter that can be copied and sent round to everyone, like a family end-of-year letter? The next word in the text is בַּסֵּפֶר, "in/on the book". Physically, the flat-leafed codex form was unavailable in those days; a scroll is much more likely, although Gunther Plaut prefers 'document' saying that "its nature is not specified." Content-wise, Who Is ...

Abraham Ibn Ezra: (1089-1167 CE), born in Tudela, Spain; died in the South of France after wandering all around the shores of the Mediterranean and England; a philosopher, astronomer, doctor, poet and linguist; wrote a Hebrew grammar and a commentary on the Bible
Ibn Ezra is definite that this means "in the book, that is, the book of the Torah", although the Who Is ...

Ramban: Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Girondi or Nachmanides (born in Gerona, 1194; died in Israel 1270), Spanish rabbi, author and physician; defended Judaism in the Christian debates in Barcelona before making aliyah
Ramban is more cautious - "I think the 'book' is the Torah" - then adding a paraphrase: "Write this down in My Torah, so the Israelites will remember ..."

Hardly is the instruction to 'write' given, when HaShem starts another, also beginning with an imperative. This time וְשִׂים - the Qal ms imperative of the root HebrewNodyText(שׂוּם), to put, set, place - is coupled with the construct phrase בְּאָזְנֵי יְהוֹשֻׁעָ, in the ears of Joshua. This idiom, "to put something in the ears of someone", falls here between 'proclaim', 'explain' and 'teach'. Rabbi Who Is ...

Hirsch: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE), German rabbi, author and educator; staunch opponent of the Reform movement in Germany and one of the fathers of Orthodox Judaism
Hirsch comments, "that which you have written down in general for remembrance, you are to enlarge, explain and develop for the mind of Joshua." Umberto Cassuto explains that both forms - written and oral - are necessary: "apart from writing it down, teach it to Joshua by heart, so that it may be preserved for generations both in writing and orally."¹ It must be written as well as taught, the Who Is ...

Chizkuni: Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah (13^th century), French rabbi and exegete; his commentary on the Torah was written about 1240 in memory of his father, based principally on Rashi, but using about 20 other sources
Chizkuni notes, because "if you rely on oral tradition it may be forgotten before there is a king of Israel." Terence Fretheim suggests that "the destruction of Amalek is such an irrevocable goal that it is to be written in a book and specifically impressed upon Joshua, the next leader of Israel."²

Why is a battle report so important that it must be added to the Torah and taught to Joshua? Walter Brueggemann says that, "Moshe is instructed by G-d to reduce the tale of victory to writing, which to be read to Joshua (to the generation that struggles with the Canaanites), so that it will have enduring authority for all time to come."³ This seems to be a matter of authority: a written record carries more weight than a verbal instruction. Thomas Dozeman explains that using both mediums is a matter of placing HaShem's commitment fully in the public record: "the instruction to 'place' to memorial 'in the ear' is not a law for Joshua, but a proclamation which makes the divine obligation public. The divine pledge to complete the holy war against the Amalekites is then a law for G-d."⁴

We find the prophets also commit their words to the written form. At a time of potential crisis and conflict in Israel, Isaiah proclaims, "Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples" (Isaiah 8:16, ESV) so that the messages and the teaching that he has brought for G-d should not be lost. It should be kept and preserved so that future generations may be discipled and encouraged. Hinting that it may take a long time for the vision that he has been given to come about, HaShem tells Habakkuk: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end -- it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:2-3, ESV). Those people in the future, who are still on the journey, need to be able to read and access what G-d has said so that they can be ready to receive it and put it into practice.

Perhaps the most well-known piece of biblical writing apart from the Torah itself is Jeremiah's letter: "These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon" (Jeremiah 29:1, ESV). In it, Jeremiah tells the people that G-d's plans are going to take a lot longer than they thought - seventy years - but are nevertheless absolutely certain and definite: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place" (v. 10, ESV). Seventy years was a long time to wait and pray so, G-d provided a record in writing so that people would not forget, so that the words would not change over time, so that the people could get the letter out and re-read it whenever they needed support and encouragement.

Another famous reference to writing comes almost at the end of John's gospel. There, he writes, "Now Yeshua 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 Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of G-d, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30-31, ESV). Here John tells us that his record is incomplete, but that the purpose for the writing is so that future generations of readers - the 'you' in those verses - may read and find faith in Yeshua, knowing who He is and seeing a compelling sample of His life and ministry.

Now we need to revisit the combination of writing and oral teaching. Leon Kass points out that "through the written word, memory can be safeguarded and transmitted limitlessly to future generations - exactly what G-d here intends ... But it will not suffice for their leaders, especially their generals, who need more than the dead letter of the written word. They need the living word, the spoken word, the animated word. It must be passed to them directly, and they must pass it on directly: G-d spoke it to Moshe, Moshe is to speak it to Joshua and Joshua, we infer, will speak it to his successors."⁵ The Jewish tradition records exactly that: "Moshe received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly" (m. Pirkei Avot 1:1) before it lists a chain of men who passed the Torah one to another until it reached Hillel and Shammai - the two famous rabbis in the generation before Yeshua - and on to Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai the leader of the Sages in the years after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

This is where we come in. As followers of Yeshua, we too are to write down and share what the Spirit continues to say to us in these days. The word is incredibly powerful and we must not lose it by forgetting it; we must write it down and tell others. Much will be verses from the Bible itself, amplified and underlined by the Spirit as He directs our lives and applies the written texts to people and situations in our fellowships and congregations. Some also will be words of prophecy, knowledge and wisdom given to individuals and groups of disciples for the building up of the body of Messiah at this time. It too must be written down so that it can be referenced and checked, proved to be consistent with Scripture and previous words. This also provides a means for holding each other accountable, to make sure that what G-d has said, we have done. Like love-letters, it provides a precious record of the way our relationship with Yeshua has developed and affirms His promise never to leave us or forsake us, no matter what!

1. - Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, (Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1983), page 206.

2. - Terence E. Fretheim, Exodus, Interpretation, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), page 194.

3. - Walter Brueggemann, "Exodus", in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary Vol I, edited by Leander E. Keck, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), page 389.

4. - Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus, Eerdmans Critical Commentaries, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 2009), page 396.

5. - Leon R. Kass, Founding G-d's Nation - Reading Exodus (New Have, Yale University Press, 2021), page 255.

Further Study: John 14:25-27; Acts 10:39-43; 1 John 5:11-14

Application: Do you write a journal of what the Spirit is saying to you each day so that you can track what He says through the Bible and elsewhere and make sure that you are hearing Him correctly? How might you review your journal to show the trends and directions in the Spirit's words so that you can hear His heart more clearly and grow more faithful to His direction?

Comment - 20:01 23Jan24 Caz Jones: Thanks for this drash. It spurs me to remember to keep my journal as organised as I can, which isn't very ... but I do always date things, and try to refer back if Holy Spirit speaks words that pop up more than once. The most important words from Him are marked by the page being folded over at the corner ... not very professional but the best I can do for the time being. I am finding the Spirit has a LOT to say at the moment.

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© Jonathan Allen, 2024

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