Side Kicks: Aaron & Hur

A definition of a leader is one who goes first where others follow.  Leaders can't lead without the help of others. 

When we think of great inventions or innovations, certain names come to mind: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, or Steve Jobs. But these men did not accomplish what they did without the help of others, they had many who worked alongside them. 

Not everyone carries the title of leader, and being a true leader is more than carrying a title. We can all contribute, and many times, our greatest service to God is in helping and supporting those in leadership positions. As I like to put it, sometimes being a good leader is to be a GREAT follower.

We look at Exodus 17:8-13; 24:13-15 Where following the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery, the Israelite people were learning to trust God as they journeyed to the promised land God provided them with water. When they grumbled against Moses and Aaron because they wanted food, God provided manna and quail. As they camped at Rephidim, they again found no water to drink so they complained to Moses that the Lord must have deserted them. Again God proved His faithfulness to Israel as Moses followed His instructions to provide them with water. 

God continued to meet Israel’s physical needs and He surrounded Moses with capable men who could provide the support he would need for the long haul. We look at a couple of these men.

Exodus 17:8-10

8 At Rephidim, Amalek came and fought against Israel. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us and go fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with God’s staff in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

In this passage we learn that the Israelites stopped at Rephidim in the wilderness on just before they reached Sinai.  Moses and the people faced a military threat at Rephidim from a formidable foe in the Amalekites. This nomadic desert tribe's history of fighting began with the Esau-Jacob rivalry described in Genesis. The descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, used ruthless battle tactics including surprise and unprovoked attacks on the sick, aged, and weary. Through the domestication of camels, they possessed an extreme advantage over any enemy. Traveling up to forty-five miles per hour, camel-riding Amalekite raiding parties could swoop down quickly, pillage their target, and escape with the loot.

Israel never had to engage in battle in their exodus from Egypt because God fought the Egyptians for them. They had not encountered any direct confrontation until they came to Rephidim. Moses selected Joshua as his military leader to mobilize and command an army to defend Israel. Joshua would assemble an army that would need to fight the enemy on a single day’s notice. The swiftness with which Israel responded with an army to counter the Amalekite attack suggests that Joshua had already spent time during their march from Egypt preparing men of Israel in martial skills and strategy. These fighters, though perhaps having trained along the journey, had never experienced a single combat, yet would go up against a cutthroat band of guerrilla warriors.

The staff referred to in this passage belonged to Moses during his forty year period of shepherding the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. Moses was the shepherd of the people of God. God used the staff to convince Moses of His authority by changing it into a serpent. Moses held it over the Red Sea as God parted the waters so He could deliver Israel. By now this staff had become anchored in the hearts of all the people as the authenticating symbol of God’s powerful presence. It was the "banner" behind which the people would rally. As long as they could see the symbol that the leadership was still present, they would fight. When the banner left it indicated that the leadership had left, or retreated, and so it was time to run away. While Joshua and his men fought, Moses promised to go atop the overlooking hill with the symbol of the Lord’s power. 

Moses and Miriam’s brother, Aaron, who stood alongside Moses throughout the Exodus narratives and served as an intermediary between Moses and the people, foreshadowing his later intermediary role as the high priest, went with Moses to a visible spot on the hill where he could see, and more importantly BE SEEN by his warriors.

Another man who went with Moses was Hur. This marks the first reference in the Bible to Hur. The scant references do not reveal many details. His name in Hebrew means “white” which may indicate something about one of his physical characteristics. Josephus referred to him as Moses’s brother-in-law (married to Moses’s sister, Miriam). Later Hur, along with Aaron, helped to rule the tribes while Moses went up Mount Sinai. So Moses and his brother and (perhaps) brother-in-law went up to oversee the battle with the Amelekites.  

Moses didn't just go up to oversee and direct the battle, he interceded for them. His location atop the hill positioned Moses as the standard bearer of Israel as he prayed for their success. Moses did not merely take these men with him as adjutants to convey battle strategies, but to support him as he appealed to God on Israel’s behalf.

Moses needed others to remain with him while he prayed for the battle. Let's see what role they filled.

Exodus 17:11-13

11 While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

Moses’s raised hands played a significant role in the battle’s outcome. Have you ever tried to hold your arms up as an exercise?  After a number of minutes it becomes a fatiguing endeavor.  Over a course of hours, mostly impossible.  As Moses become tired from holding his hands above his head. Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him, and Moses sat down on it. He could not keep his hands raised without the help of Aaron and Hur. Moses was interceding for the Israelite warriors, and Aaron and Hur were interceding for Moses.

There are MANY forms of "hand raising" in prayer, but as in the case of rendering a blessing by "laying hands on" someone's head, I suspect that Moses was directing his hands toward the warriors as he prayed.  He and his associates noted that when his arms got tired and and he lowered his arms that the tide of battle shifted, but when he raised them again Israel again prevailed.  

Moses had God’s staff in his hand and would hold it up high. His lifting up the staff served to encourage the Israelites as their banner. By lifting the staff of God in his hands, Moses confessed total dependence on the authority and power of the Lord. As the warriors looked up and saw Moses praying for their success, they prevailed over the Amalekites and found encouragement to continue in their fight.  

While at the Red Sea Moses raised his staff to allow the parting of the sea. So Moses and his staff were a visual symbol of God's supernatural power at work.  By allowing the Amalekites to prevail at times during the battle, God taught Israel a striking lesson. Just as they began their journey to the promised land, they needed to learn that their victories would only come through the Lord. No matter what enemy they faced, only God could carry them victoriously to the promised land.  

God reinforced the truth that Israel’s war was God’s war and that He alone served as the deciding factor. The position of the staff with the favorable and unfavorable ebb and flow of the battle would communicate unmistakably to Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua, and the warriors that the only reason Israel could defeat the Amalekites came from the Lord. Just as God had defeated the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, He vanquished this enemy on Israel’s behalf. 

So while Moses with his staff was God's leader, Moses tuckered out from holding up the staff because he could not bear this burden alone for the duration. However, God had provided for him two men who could support him. Aaron and Hur came to his rescue. They stayed with Moses throughout the battle and partnered with him in prayer by supporting his arms on either side. So with Moses seated on the stone and his hands held above his head by Aaron and Hur, kept the staff of God held high above Moses’s head.  Aaron and Hur anchored themselves on either side of Moses, keeping his hands steady until the sun went down. The three of them stood strong throughout the heat of the day interceding for Israel’s survival as the battle raged in the valley. 

Moses could not have done this alone. He needed Aaron’s and Hur’s support. The raised staff played a significant role in the battle’s outcome. Joshua could not have defeated the Amalekites without Moses’s intercession, and Moses could not have kept his hands raised all day without Aaron and Hur. Although their contributions might seem insignificant, Aaron and Hur played an important part in Israel’s victory over the Amalekites. 

While Moses, Aaron, and Hur prayed on the hill, Joshua and his men conquered the enemy by means of hand-to-hand combat. Joshua could not have defeated the Amalekites by the sword alone. Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua, and the warriors all cooperated through prayer and physical battle as God gained the victory. In this Israel learned that in all its conflicts with the ungodly powers of the world, strength for the victory would come by continually lifting up their hands in prayer and relying upon God.

Finally we see Moses and Joshua and Aaron and Hur in another leadership setting.

Exodus 24:13-15

13 So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God. 14 He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.” 15 When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it.

The Israelites camped at the base of Mount Sinai for about a year. God called Moses to come up and prepare to stay for a long time. Moses obeyed and took Joshua with him, although Moses did not reveal how far up Joshua climbed. This verse marks the first of four times the Bible identifies Joshua as Moses’s assistant.

Moses typically served as the judge and settler of disputes. Moses could not maintain that role while on the mountain of God, so Aaron and Hur stepped in and filled the role in his absence. Moses appointed Aaron and Hur as chief magistrates in his absence. He had good reason to believe they could handle this responsibility since they had proven and trustworthy track records. While both may have demonstrated dependability in settling disputes among the people, Aaron failed in remaining faithful. At some point while Moses and Joshua remained on Mount Sinai, the people grew weary of waiting and became restless. After nearly 6 weeks,  forty days, they presumed Moses would not return. They pressured Aaron, who succumbed to their demands to make new gods for them. He called for them to bring their gold to him and he fashioned a golden calf for them to worship. Even the best of leaders fall at times.

From Sinai, God summoned Moses, along with Aaron and his sons as well as seventy of Israel’s elders, to worship Him, and so He could establish a covenant with the nation. He called Moses to approach Him on the mountain but the others had to worship at a distance from Moses. The tribes could not climb the mountain at all. 

God told Moses what his covenant with the people was to be, the constitution and bylaws, so to speak.  When Moses came down from the mountain, he told the people the commands of the covenant and the people gave their verbal assent. Moses offered covenant sacrifices and sprinkled blood from the sacrifices on the people to ratify the covenant. With the covenant ratified, God summoned Moses to come up the mountain to receive the stone tablets and commandments related to worship. Previously God had given Moses the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:2-17) but now He would inscribe them in stone.

These leaders of the tribes assumed important leadership roles in governing the people. Moses did not know how long he would be on the mountain but ordered the elders to remain at a distance until Moses and Joshua returned. Though they waited for a while, they did not stay the entire forty day period Moses met with God on the mountain. At some point, they returned to camp. Their return may have spurred the Israelites to cry out to their leaders for new gods to lead in the absence of Moses. 

To portray a scene that we might relate to, imagine that a bonafide UFO lands somewhere in our nation and the president, a fully functioning president, says "I have to go talk with the aliens for a while, wait until I and my aid return before anybody does anything."  So he takes all of congress along and tells THEM to "wait outside the UFO until at this spot I come back."  

Congress, being Congress, after a time decides to do things their own way in the absence of their leader.  When Congress returns to the people without Moses who is still in the UFO the people start clamoring for the election of a new leader. Well, not just of a new leader, but a whole new divine being to worship and belief system to implement.

Much like today the people said "we don't like reality! Your god let us down, even though he has met our every need thus far. It has been a month and a half since we have heard ANYTHING from Moses. Aaron, YOU become the leader, make us a new god to look up to and implement a new human centric religion for us to practice." Humanity has not changed much. 

Take note that when Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it. I like to think that the cloud represents the privacy of the meeting between God and Moses.  No one else was privy to the intimate meeting on the mountain.  The cloud represented the glory of God. This statement indicates that God welcomed Moses into His presence as he reached the summit. Moses expected the readers to understand that God chose the cloud to represent Him. The cloud had already served to protect and guide the Israelites in their flight from the Egyptians. This current expression would confirm God’s awesome, multifaceted, and even mysterious presence.  Since the cloud engulfed Moses and hid him from the prying eyes of the world what better illustration of how our intimate time with God is to be. Becoming wrapped in the engulfing glory of God and being away from the world as we learn directly from God.

The point is that no leader can do it alone. Moses needed Aaron. Moses needed Aaron, Joshua and Hur. Moses needed those three AND the council of elders to govern the nation. Even Jesus needed his apostles for without the apostles managing the "backstage logistics" miracles such as the feeding of the 5000 would not have happened. 

All leaders need a sidekick. Someone who is the (at least) one who follows unconditionally to support, assist and defend the leader, and to on occasion lead when called upon. The question is, as we will learn in future studies, is are you a good leader, a good follower, or BOTH?

We are called upon to be be both in our relationship with God in spreading the Gospel of Jesus.