The Israelites present a threat to the nomadic Amalekites’ water sources in the wilderness. Thus the Amalekites viciously attack weary Israel, cutting off stragglers, with no fear of the Lord (Deut. 25:17–18). The rod of God raised up by Moses is a visible symbol indicating that the battle is the Lord’s. When Moses tires and his hands sink, the Amalekites prevail until Aaron and Hur, representing the tribes of Levi and Judah, sustain him. Almost uniformly, the church fathers saw in Moses’s symbolic action the uplifted cross of Christ, effecting victory over spiritual enemies (e.g., Epistle of Barnabas 12; Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 90–91; Tertullian, Answer to the Jews 10). This is the first mention of Joshua, whose name …