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Exodus

About this book
Chapter 17

1 The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the wilderness of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!”⁠ Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world did you bring us up from Egypt—to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with this people?—a little more and they will stone me!” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb,⁠ and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”⁠ And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”⁠ 8 Amalek came and attacked Israel in Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses would raise his hands, then Israel prevailed,⁠ but whenever he would rest his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 12 When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword. 14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”⁠ 15 Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” 16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord—that⁠ the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 6:7 and Exodus 17:14

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The phrase “blot out” in Genesis 6, where God plans to erase humanity, is repeated in Exodus 17, where he vows to erase Amalek’s memory. In ancient Near Eastern tradition, this describes removing impurity, showing how judgment was seen as cleansing.

Passages

Genesis 6:7

Hebrew Bible
6 The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out* humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Exodus 17:14

Hebrew Bible
13 So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword. 14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” 16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord—that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

References

"... Certainly, God will corrupt that which is (already) corrupt (Genesis 6:13, 17), but the more frequent verb is מחה ("blot out" in Genesis 6:7, 7:4, 23). מחה suggests purging. Very occasionally it is used directly for destruction of people (2 Kings 21:13, Proverbs 31:3), but more often it appears as the blotting out of the memory/name of a people (Exodus 17:14, Deuteronomy 9:14). It is also used for the blotting out of sin (Nehemiah 4:5, Isaiah 43:25). Alonso-Schökel suggests that the literal meaning evokes the eradication of a stain or spot, from which 'wipe/blot out' developed. So, it is used for the cleansing of a dirty dish (2 Kings 21:13) and for washing a curse from a clay tablet (Numbers 5:23). Clines argues that none of these passages involve cleansing by water. Even if correct, and the passages are too terse to be dogmatic, the verb involves eradicating the 'contamination' but not the destruction of the container. The addition of the face of the ʾădāmā (Genesis 6:7, 7:4, 23) to the verses is not, therefore, superfluous, but the very indication of what is to be cleansed of its stain ..."
Elizabeth Ann Harper, “It's All in the Name: Reading the Flood Narrative through the Lens of Genesis 5:29 (Noah's Naming)” (PhD diss., Durham University, 2013), 136–137.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 6:7 and Exodus 17:14

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