Moses Heavy Hands and the Stone He Sat Upon

"But the hands of Moses were heavy" (Exodus 17:12) the hands of Moses became heavy at that hour like a man on whom two jugs of water are hung; these are the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Elazar the Modaite says: From here we learn that one must not be slack in a matter of a commandment, for had Moses said to Joshua "choose me men" at once, he would not have come to that distress; instead he said "tomorrow." "And they took a stone." Now was there not a single cushion or bolster there to set down for him to sit upon? Rather he said: As long as Israel dwells in distress, I too will be with them in distress. From here they said: Happy is the person who shares distress with the community. "And Aaron and Hur supported his hands" this teaches that they would raise them up and lower them. "And his hands were faith until the going down of the sun" this teaches that Israel was in fasting that whole day; these are the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Eliezer the Modaite says: "But the hands of Moses were heavy" the sin weighed heavy upon the hands of Moses and he could not endure it. What did he do? He turned to the first fathers, as it says, "And they took a stone and placed it beneath him" these are the deeds of the fathers; "and he sat upon it" these are the deeds of the mothers. "And Aaron and Hur supported his hands" why does it say "on this side one and on that side one"? This teaches that Aaron would invoke the merit of Levi and Hur would invoke the merit of Judah. From here they said: We do not have fewer than three who go down before the ark on a public fast. "And his hands were faith" the hand with which he took nothing from Israel was "faith until the going down of the sun." Another explanation: "And his hands were faith" Moses said before the Omnipresent: Master of the world, by my hand You brought them out of Egypt, and by my hand You split the sea for them and brought down the manna for them and brought the quail across for them and performed for them miracles and mighty acts; and by my hand perform for them miracles and mighty acts in this hour. Another explanation: "Faith until the going down of the sun" he said: I have seen that all the kingdoms wage war only until six hours, but this guilty kingdom wages war from morning until evening.