The conflict between Israel and the Amalekites in the desert is the first armed struggle between God's people and a Gentile people. This wandering people clashed with Israel again at various other times. Two centuries later, King Saul's sin of disobeying God's command to completely exterminate the Amalekites is precisely what causes God to withdraw his favor from Saul. King Saul spares the Amalekite king's life, and the Israelites take the best material possessions of their enemies. Saul should have exterminated them all and their belongings.

In today’s reading, Amalek and his people come to attack Israel. Moses draws up a battle plan. Moses stands on an elevated place where the Israelites can see him while they fight. Moses holds God's staff in his hands. On the battlefield, when Moses holds his hands high, while holding the staff, Israel dominates. But when he grows tired and lowers his hands, Amalek and his people dominate. Then Aaron, Moses' brother, and Hur, his companion, sit Moses on a rock and help him hold his arms up high. In this way, Moses can keep his hands raised until sunset, and Israel defeats and destroys its enemies.

The Amalekites represent a mystery. They represent the hostility of foreign nations toward God's people. It is a mystery because through this hostility, God allows Israel to purify its religious intentions. This hostility also shows the envy that the Gentiles feel toward God's people.

It is interesting to understand what lies behind Moses' sign. It seems as if God's power to save his people was caused by this sign (his raised hands holding God's staff), but that is not the point. Moses knew that God's staff worked because it was a manifestation of God's power. This staff had performed wonders in the presence of Pharaoh. In these miracles, Moses did not extend the staff as if it were a magic wand, as the magicians of Egypt did. Instead, miracles happened because of Moses' faithful obedience to God's command.

Here on the battlefield, Moses' faith in the sign (holding God's staff high) also makes a miracle possible. Here we see that God conquers through a sign and makes obedience in faith to the sign the condition for his victory. Obedience to God's commands is the lesson God teaches Israel on that occasion. This is one of the most important teachings of Exodus. Spiritually, this event signifies that Israel's survival through the centuries is ensured by obedience to the Law of Moses.

Moses chooses the top of a mountain to perform the sign. Moses uses a staff and raises his hands in an attitude of supplication. It is a tireless supplication, and Moses remains in that position until sunset. Moses, supplicant and victorious to the end, foreshadows the Lord atop Mount Calvary with God's staff, the cross, and his hands raised tirelessly until he saves humanity from the power of death. The Church, the new people of God, survives all its enemies throughout the centuries by the power of the Lord's cross, a power that is present in the sacraments of the Church.

In this Sunday's Gospel, Saint Luke tells us how the Lord teaches his disciples about the need to pray always without being tired. The Crucified Lord is the intercessor of humanity. He never ceases to raise his hands in supplication for humanity, for all of us. He will do so until the sun sets, that is, until the end of time.

We walk through this world being attacked by the spiritual enemy. From Saul's experience, we must learn never to compromise with evil, but rather, obeying God's command, eradicate it by its roots. From God's people in the desert, we learn to obey God's Law to survive and overcome until the end. We place the crucifix high so that we may see the sign by which God has saved us, a sign that is placed before us every time we participate in the sacraments. The sacraments demand our faith. Through the sacraments, God now conquers evil, making faithful obedience to these signs the condition for achieving his victory in each of us. Let us humbly ask the crucified Lord to give us his grace to believe in the sacraments and his commandments.