Exodus 17:10

Exo 17:10 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.

Ver. 10. Aaron, and Hur.] This Hur, saith Josephus, was husband to Miriam, and Moses’s deputy. {Exo 24:14}

Went up to the top of a hill.] To pray together. In the congregation where the saints are praying, there the arrow, shield, and spear are broken. {Psa 76:3} From thence shalt thou help us, said the people to David; {2Sa 18:3} that is, thy prayers shall prevail with God for our assistance. Non tam praeliando quam precando. The king of Sweden, as soon as he set foot in Germany, fell down to prayer, and he proved very victorious.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 17:10-11. Hur — A person of eminence, no doubt, but who he was is uncertain. Josephus, however, tells us, he was the husband of Miriam, Antiq., 50:3, chap. 2. And when Moses held up his hand in prayer (so the Chaldee explains it) Israel prevailed: but when he let down his hand from prayer Amalek prevailed — To convince Israel that the hand of Moses (with whom they had just now been chiding) contributed more to their safety than their own hands; the success rises and falls, as Moses lifts up or lets down his hand. The Church’s cause is ordinarily more or less successful, according as the Church’s friends are more or less fervent in prayer.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Moses . . . went up . . . the hill . . . held up his hand--with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up] It is likely that the Hur mentioned here is the same with that Hur mentioned 1Ch 2:19, who appears from the chronology in that chapter to have been the son of Caleb, the son of Ezron, the son of Pharez, the son of Judah. The rabbins and Josephus say he was the brother-in-law of Moses, having married his sister Miriam. He was a person in whom Moses put much confidence; for he left him conjoint governor of the people with Aaron, when he went to confer with God on the mount, Ex 24:14. His grandson Bezaleel was the chief director in the work of the tabernacle; see Ex 31:2-5.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up.—Moses, we know, was eighty years of age (Exo_7:7); Aaron was eighty-three; Hur, the grandfather of Bezaleel (Exo_31:2), the architect of the Tabernacle, can scarcely have been less. Unfit for battle themselves, they felt it was by prayer and intercession that they could best help forward a good result, and so withdrew themselves from the actual conflict to a place where they could command it.

Hur.—According to Jewish tradition (Joseph., Ant. Jud., iii. 2, § 4) Hur was the husband of Miriam, and so the brother-in-law of Moses and Aaron. He was a descendant of Judah through Pharez and Hezron. (1Ch_2:3-20.) Moses left him joint regent with Aaron When he ascended up into Sinai (Exo_24:14).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Hur] Although mentioned besides only in Exo_24:14, Hur must have been a man of some importance at the time of the Exodus. No particulars are given about his family. It is not probable that he is identical with the grandfather of Beẓal’el, of the same name, Exo_31:2, &c. Later Jewish tradition (Jos. Ant. iii. 2. 4) makes him Miriam’s husband.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him,.... He singled out some proper persons for the battle, and arrayed them with armour, and led them forth out of the camp, and went forth at the head of them:

and fought with Amalek; upon both armies meeting, a battle ensued:

and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, went up to the top of the hill; to the top of Mount Sinai or Horeb, not so much to see the battle fought, as to be seen by Joshua and the people of Israel, especially Moses with the rod in his hand lifted up, that they might behold it, and be encouraged through it to hope for and expect victory; and the other two went up with him to assist him in holding up his hands with the rod, as appears by what follows. Aaron, it is well known, was his brother, but who Hur was is not so clear, though no doubt a very eminent and principal man. There was an Hur, the son of Caleb, who descended from Judah in the line of Phares and Hezron, and which Hur was the grandfather of Bezaleel Ch1 2:5, but whether the same with this cannot be said with certainty; it is most likely that he was the husband of Miriam, as Josephus says (w), and so the brother-in-law of Moses and Aaron; though some Jewish writers say (x) that he was their sister's son, the son of Miriam.

(w) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 2. sect. 4. (x) Pirke Eliezer, c. 45. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hur - Again mentioned with Aaron, in Exo 24:14. He was grandfather of Bezaleel, the great sculptor and artificer of the tabernacle, Exo 31:2-5, and belonged to the tribe of Judah. (See 1Ch 2:18-20.)

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hur, grandfather of Beseleel, (1 Paralipomenon ii. 19,) grandson of Esron by Caleb.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Hur; a person of eminency both for wisdom and experience, and for place and authority, supposed to be the husband of Miriam. See Exo 24:14.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Hur. Hur has not been mentioned hitherto. According to one Jewish tradition, he was the son, according to another, the husband of Miriam. Scripture only tells us of him, that he was descended from Judah, through Caleb the son of Hezron, (1Ch_2:18-20) and that his grandson, Bezaleel, was the artificer of the tabernacle. (Exo_31:2) He is again associated with Aaron in Exo_24:14.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hur is supposed to have been the husband of Miriam.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

AND MOSES AND AARON AND HUR — From this we may infer as regards a public fast that three men must pass before the Holy Ark (i. e. must officiate at prayer) — we may infer this because they (the Israelites) were then engaged in fasting (Mekhilta).

חור HUR was the son of Miriam and her husband was Caleb (Sotah 11b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.