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Why Aaron and Chur Stood at Moses' Sides at Rephidim

Aaron and Chur held Moses arms at Rephidim because Levi and Judah had earned the honor through acts their descendants had not yet performed.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Arms That Could Not Stay Raised
  2. What Levi Had Not Yet Done
  3. What Judah Had Not Yet Done
  4. Moses Chose Joshua for the Same Reason

The Arms That Could Not Stay Raised

Moses stood on the hill above Rephidim with his arms lifted toward heaven while Joshua commanded the army below. When his arms were raised, Israel prevailed. When they fell, Amalek gained ground. The Torah makes the mechanism explicit and leaves the solution practical: find someone to hold the arms up. Aaron took one side, Chur took the other, and the battle was won.

The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael refused to read this as a practical solution to a physical problem. Nothing in the divine arrangement of Rephidim was accidental. The placement of Aaron on one side and Chur on the other was not determined by who was standing nearby. It was a reward paid in advance to two tribes for what their descendants had not yet done.

What Levi Had Not Yet Done

Aaron stood on Moses' right side because Aaron was a Levite, and the tribe of Levi had been assigned the position of honor on the basis of what would happen at the Golden Calf. After the catastrophe with the calf, when Moses stood at the gate of the camp and called for whoever was on God's side, it was the Levites who answered, every one of them. They came forward when the rest of the nation stood paralyzed between regret and fear. And then they carried out what was demanded of them, moving through the camp with swords, willing to pass judgment even on their own kin for the sake of the covenant.

At Rephidim, that moment was in the future. The Golden Calf had not yet been made. But the divine structure of the battle was already honoring the choice the Levites would make. Aaron held Moses' arm because his tribe had already been credited, in the eternal accounting, with a loyalty they had not yet demonstrated.

What Judah Had Not Yet Done

Chur stood on Moses' left side because Chur, by the tradition, was a prince of the tribe of Judah, and Judah had been designated for a different honor: the tribe that would lead the camp in march and in battle throughout the wilderness years. Numbers 10:14 records that the banner of the camp of Judah set out first. In every movement of the Israelite nation, Judah went at the front.

But more than march order, Judah's honor at Rephidim anticipated the kingship. The Davidic line would come from Judah. The messianic future, the Mekhilta's chain of reasoning implies, was already shaping the battle arrangements at Rephidim. Chur held Moses' arm not just because Judah led the marches but because Judah would in the end give Israel its kings, and the founding battle of the nation deserved to be framed by that future dignity.

Moses Chose Joshua for the Same Reason

The Mekhilta does not stop with Aaron and Chur. It asks why Moses chose Joshua to command the army at all. There were other capable leaders. Joshua was young. The answer the tradition preserves is that Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim, a descendant of Joseph. Moses chose him because Ephraim would eventually inherit the bones of Joseph and bring them to burial in the land. The man who would lead the first Israelite army was chosen because his tribe would complete the oldest promise: Joseph's insistence that when God remembered Israel and brought them out of Egypt, they would carry his bones with them.

The battle at Rephidim, on this reading, is held together by anticipation. Every figure in the scene carries the weight of what their descendants will do. Aaron and Chur are not selected for their physical presence. They are selected because their tribes have already earned the right to stand there.

AaronMosesAmalekMiraclesLeviJudahMekhiltaBattle
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Mekhilta Tractate Amalek 1:33Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael

During the battle against Amalek, Moses stood on a hilltop with his arms raised, channeling divine power to the Israelite warriors below. But holding your arms up for hours is grueling work, and Moses could not do it alone. Two men stepped forward to support him, Aaron on one side and Chur on the other.

The Mekhilta explains that this was no random arrangement. Aaron represented the tribe of Levi, whose descendants would prove their loyalty by refusing to worship the golden calf. Chur represented the tribe of Judah, whose ancestor would one day lead the Israelites into the Red Sea before it had fully parted, an act of breathtaking faith.

Together, Aaron and Chur held Moses' hands steady, one on each side, until the sun went down and Joshua defeated the Amalekite army in the valley below (Exodus 17:12). The rabbis derived a lasting legal principle from this scene: just as three righteous men stood before God during battle. Moses, Aaron, and Chur. So too, no fewer than three people may officiate before the ark on a public fast day.

What began as a desperate wartime measure became the blueprint for communal prayer. The image endures, one man lifting his hands to heaven, two others holding him steady, all three channeling the merit of their tribes into a single act of intercession.

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Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 6:16Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus

The Torah gives Levi's lifespan as a hundred and thirty-seven years (Exodus 6:16), but Targum Pseudo-Jonathan adds a single clause that changes the entire feel of the verse. Levi, the Targum says, lived to see Mosheh and Aharon the deliverers of Israel.

The detail is chronologically improbable and spiritually exact. By the plain reckoning, Levi would not have lived long enough to see his great-great-grandchildren lead Israel out. But the meturgeman is not running the numbers, he is running the meaning. The tribe that received no land in Egypt, the tribe whose founder had once drawn a sword for his sister Dinah, is now granted a prophetic glimpse: the children who would draw Israel itself out of bondage.

In the Pseudo-Jonathan imagination, Moses and Aharon are not surprises. They are the answer Levi was waiting for when he closed his eyes. The old ancestor dies knowing the tribe's zeal will be refined into priesthood and prophecy.

The takeaway is quiet but strong. You may not live to see the redemption your life was preparing, but you can die knowing it will come through the children you taught. That is enough.

Full source
Shemot Rabbah 26:3Shemot Rabbah

Take the story of the war against Amalek in (Exodus 17:9). Moses tells Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out and wage war with Amalek; tomorrow I will be standing on top of the hill and the staff of God will be in my hand." But… why Joshua?

Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, asks this very question. Why single out Joshua for this crucial task? It wasn’t just a random selection.

One explanation, as we find in Shemot Rabbah, suggests Moses was training Joshua for his future leadership role. After all, Joshua was destined to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. This was a hands-on lesson in warfare, preparing him for the battles to come. Makes perfect sense. But there's more! Shemot Rabbah offers another fascinating layer. It connects Joshua's lineage to the events that led the Israelites down to Egypt in the first place. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim, a son of Joseph. The text suggests that the descent into Egypt was triggered by the strife between Joseph and his brothers. Therefore, Moses was essentially saying, "It was through your grandfather that they descended into Egypt, so go and wage war with the one who attacked them in their ascent from Egypt!"

There’s still another angle. The text draws a contrast between Joshua's ancestor and the very nature of Amalek. Joshua's grandfather, Joseph, declared, "I fear God" (Genesis 42:18). But regarding Amalek, it is written, "And not God-fearing" (Deuteronomy 25:18). The logic, according to Shemot Rabbah, is powerful: "Let the grandson of the one who said, 'I fear God,' come and exact vengeance from the one in whose regard it is stated, 'And not God-fearing.'" It's a beautiful example of poetic justice, connecting character traits across generations.

Now, when Moses says, "Choose men for us," what kind of "men" are we talking about? Not just any warriors. Shemot Rabbah emphasizes that they should be "men of wisdom and who fear sin." It wasn't just about brute strength; it was about moral character.

The phrase "Go out and wage war with Amalek" also provides a clue. The rabbis in Shemot Rabbah interpret "go out" as implying that the Israelites were already within a protected space – under the protective clouds of glory that accompanied them in the wilderness. The command to "go out" suggests leaving that protected sphere to confront the enemy.

Finally, let's consider "the staff of God" in Moses' hand. The text highlights the significance of this staff. Moses tells Joshua that the staff will be in his hand always, as God commanded. Shemot Rabbah notes that when Aaron performed miracles with it, it was called "the staff of Aaron" (Exodus 7:12). When Moses used it, it was called by his name. But when the Holy One, blessed be He, performs miracles, it is called "the staff of God." It emphasizes the idea that the power ultimately comes from God, regardless of who is wielding the instrument.

So, what can we take away from this deeper look into a single verse? It's more than just a battle plan. It's about leadership, lineage, character, divine protection, and the source of true power. It reminds us that even seemingly simple instructions can be packed with layers of meaning, waiting to be uncovered. And that, my friends, is the beauty of diving into Jewish texts.

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