Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
In August 1814, after defeating an American force twice its size in Bladensburg, MD, the 5,000-member British force entered Washington, D.C. and set fire to several public buildings, including the Capitol.
Then they set their sites on Baltimore, and planned to attack the city both by land and sea.
The American army had an extensive network of defenses around Baltimore, anticipating a British attack.
An American sharpshooter killed the British General when their forces attacked.
But on the sea, on September 13, the British naval fleet began a 25-hour bombardment of Ft.
McHenry.
At the beginning of the battle, the American guns couldn’t reach the British ships.
But as the ships began to advance, the Americans were able damage them significantly, forcing them to pull back out of range.
Amazingly, some might say miraculously, the small American force held the fort through the night, and in the morning the British fleet withdrew.
This was the turning point in the War of 1812.
In August 1814, after defeating an American force twice its size in Bladensburg, MD, the 5,000-member British force entered Washington, D.C. and set fire to several public buildings, including the Capitol.
Then they set their sites on Baltimore, and planned to attack the city both by land and sea.
The American army had an extensive network of defenses around Baltimore, anticipating a British attack.
An American sharpshooter killed the British General when their forces attacked.
But on the sea, on September 13, the British naval fleet began a 25-hour bombardment of Ft.
McHenry.
At the beginning of the battle, the American guns couldn’t reach the British ships.
But as the ships began to advance, the Americans were able damage them significantly, forcing them to pull back out of range.
Amazingly, some might say miraculously, the small American force held the fort through the night, and in the morning the British fleet withdrew.
This was the turning point in the War of 1812.
Throughout the battle, because it took place during a rainstorm, Ft.
McHenry flew its smaller storm flag.
But at dawn, as the British began to retreat, they lowered the storm flag and raised the great garrison flag.
This great flag was 30’x42’.
It is the original Star Spangled Banner.
It was made in Baltimore in the summer of 1813.
It was raised over Ft.
McHenry that morning, September 14, 1814, to signify American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore.
That same flag today is in the care of the National Museum of American History, and great care is being taken to preserve it.
Why?
Because that flag is a memorial.
It is a banner, a standard, a symbol under which the people rallied together to defeat the enemy.
This isn’t an idea or symbolism that’s limited to wars of the past.
Do you remember just a few years ago when we were again exposed to the seemingly bottomlessness of humanity’s capacity for evil?
Terrorists attacked soft targets in Paris, France.
What happened on social media after that?
Countless people changed their profile picture on FB, overlaying the French flag on their profile pic.
One World Trade in Manhattan changed the lighting at the top of the building to the colors of the French flag.
Why did people do this?
They did it because they wanted to express anger, sorrow, grief, and solidarity with the people of France.
They wanted to rally around the French people.
And we naturally turn to flags as visible rallying points.
When we look at our text, we see God raising a standard, a rallying point for his people.
I readily admit to you that texts like this, I would prefer to skip over.
I’m challenged by these warfare texts that speak of God annihilating people in warfare.
It’s easier to talk about spiritual warfare than it is to deal with the actual physical warfare that we have, particularly in Israel’s journey to the Promised Land.
But here’s why, as hard as it is to deal with, we don’t skip over difficult texts.
We’ve got to wrestle with God’s words in v. 14 of our passage.
“Write this as a memorial in the book.
And set it in the ears of Joshua.
For I will surely wipe out the memory of Amelek from under heaven.”
It’s harsh language, but here’s the deal.
Last week Pastor Russ preached on vv.
1-7 of this chapter where the people complained out of a heart of unbelief.
“Is the Lord among us or not?” the asked.
And in that passage, the Lord pictured for us as the Divine Sufferer.
The staff of God in Moses’ hand came down in judgment upon him.
Moses struck the rock and God took the judgment that the people deserved upon himself so that they would get mercy, and not the destruction they deserved.
This week the Lord is pictured for us as the Divine Warrior, who executes judgment on his enemies.
What do we do with this contrast; the Divine Sufferer showing mercy one minute, and the Divine Warrior executing judgment in the next minute?
We’re going to answer that by working through the text with these three things, The War, The Warrior, and The Witness.
The War
In v. 8 Israel is still camped at Rephidim.
They’re only a couple of months out of Egypt, and they’ve come through a period of grumbling and complaining against God.
The story moves from the Lord testing them in ch.
16 (), whether they would walk in his law or not, to them testing the Lord in ch. 17.
The first time they faced a water crisis in , they asked Moses, ‘What are we to drink?’
The second time they face a water crises, they demanded from Moses in , ‘Give us water to drink!’
Even though they’re testing the Lord by saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not,’ the Lord has responded to their growing discontent with mercy, and supplies an abundance of food and water for them in the wilderness.
Now, for the first time as a free people, they face war.
We’re told in v. 8 that Amelek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
Remember, when they first left Egypt, back in ch.
13, we are told that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearby.
God’s reason for not leading them in that direction was that they would become regretful when they see war, and return to Egypt.
They weren’t ready to fight.
They were a ragtag group of newly freed slaves.
Well, here we are just a few months after that, and does it seem to you like these people are ready for war?
Ready or not, here it comes.
They didn’t go seeking it out, it found them.
Why did the Amelekites come and declare war against Israel?
We’re not given the reason here, but the original readers of this book would’ve known that there’s a long history of problems between Israel and the Amelekites.
The people of Israel get their name from their forefather, Jacob.
The Lord changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
Jacob had a twin brother named Esau.
We find out in that Esau had a grandson named Amelek.
He’s the ancestor of these people in .
tells us that the Amelekites were an early nation.
They were a nomadic group, and we find out in that they lived partly by attacking other groups of people and plundering their wealth.
says that they had numerous and swift camels that they used in their warfare.
That same verse says that they were like locusts in abundance and their camels were without number.
In fact, the Amelekites don’t only attack Israel here.
They attack them again, about a year from this point, in .
Even when Israel is settled in the Promised Land they have to deal with the Amelekites.
King Saul leads Israel in battle against the Amelekites in , and he spares Agag, king of the Amelekites.
All the way into their exile, Amelekites are trying to destroy Israel.
In the book of Esther, Haman, who plots to annihilate the people of Israel, is an Amelekite.
We’re disconnected from this, but at whatever point Israel was in their OT history, this wouldn’t have been just some story about what happened way back when.
The ongoing hostility between them and the Amelekites was rooted in this first battle.
The generation that gets to enter the Promised Land is reminded of this in .
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