Tuesday, 25 August 2026
They Held Up His Hands
3 min read
The Primary Text
“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.”— (KJV)Read Exodus 17 in full →
The Lexicon
תָּמַךְ (tamak) — Verb, qal imperfect
From the Hebrew תָּמַךְ (tamak): to sustain, to uphold, to grasp and hold steady. Semantic force: The word implies taking hold of something that would otherwise fall. It is used of upholding the poor and of a hand laid on a thing to keep it in place. Theological depth: The victory is God's and is tied to a raised rod — but the raised rod depends on two men holding an old man's arms. Scripture is entirely comfortable with divine power arriving through arrangements that look like manpower.