In every great movement of God, there are leaders. Leaders are necessary. They carry a calling and a great weight. But most leaders do not carry out God’s call on their lives without the support of others. There are men and women called to hold up the arms of those leaders. One of the most overlooked supporters in the Bible is a man who literally held up Moses’s arms—a man in the Bible named Hur.
Where Does Hur Appear in the Bible?
Just as you may know several men named Mark and several women named Linda, so there is more than one Hur mentioned in the Bible.
Two Hurs in the Bible are mentioned in passing. Numbers 31:8 reads, “They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.” In this verse, Hur is the name of a Midianite king. The same kings are listed in Joshua 13:21.
Then in Nehemiah 3:9 we read, “Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired.” This Hur was the father of Rephaiah, a leader in rebuilding the Jerusalem wall under Nehemiah’s direction.
The Hur who supported Moses appears in Exodus. He is most well known because of the story where we first meet him in Exodus 17 but is also mentioned in other chapters in Exodus, including 24, 31, 35, and 38.
What Role Did Hur Play During the Battle of Amalek?
The Battle of Amalek, detailed in Exodus 17, is an intriguing battle. God had only just delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. At this time, Egypt was the ruling nation and Pharaoh the most powerful of all known kings. Word of the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the defeat of Pharaoh’s army would have spread to all the tribes. For most tribes, this was sufficient information to let the children of Israel pass through their territory untroubled, but not the Amalekites.
Amalek attacked Israel at Rephidim. Because of this, Moses sent Joshua with some chosen men to fight back. He took the staff of God to the top of a hill over the valley of the battle, along with Aaron and Hur. As long as Moses held up the staff with his hand, Israel prevailed against the enemy. When he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the upper hand. Finally, Moses sat down on a stone and Aaron and Hur stood on either side of him and held up his hands so that the Israelites would utterly defeat Amalek and his army.
Exodus 17:14-16 ends the story with this epitaph, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, ‘A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’”
That sounds harsh, but imagine the arrogance of a tribal leader to take on the people of Israel, knowing their God had just delivered them from slavery under Pharaoh, walked them dry across the Red Sea, and defeated the trained chariots, horsemen, and warriors of Egypt! To defy this God in the face of evidence that He is the Almighty God who created heaven and earth is honestly asking to be defeated and blotted out of memory.
Hur clearly had the trust of Moses and enough maturity to settle disputes. When Moses brought the seventy elders on Mount Sinai to worship in Exodus 24 and then left them to go further up to meet with the Lord (bringing Joshua), he left them in the care of Aaron and Hur. “And he said to the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them,’”(Exodus 24:14 ESV).
Is Hur Related to Any Other Prominent Biblical Figures?
As with many ancient biblical figures, we have some conflicting information regarding how they were related to others.
Josephus wrote about the battle with the Amalekites in Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter 1, “So the armies joined battle; and it came to a close fight, hand to hand, both sides showing great alacrity, and encouraging one another. And indeed while Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, the Hebrews were too hard for the Amalekites: but Moses not being able to sustain his hands thus stretched out, (for as often as he let down his hands, so often were his own people worsted,) he bade his brother Aaron, and Hur their sister Miriam's husband, to stand on each side of him, and take hold of his hands, and not permit his weariness to prevent it, but to assist him in the extension of his hands.”
However, according to the National Jewish Outreach Project, “The Bible (Exodus 17:10 and 12) tells us that Hur, along with Aaron, held up Moses’s hands, as he prayed to God for the Children of Israel’s victory over the Amalekites. Rashi, citing the Talmud (Sotah 11b) explains that Hur is the son of Miriam and Caleb, which would make Hur Moses’ nephew.”
In a genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2:19, there is a verse that reads, “When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur. Hur fathered Uri, and Uri fathered Bezalel.” According to Jewish tradition, Ephrath was another name for Miriam.
Whatever the details, we can see Hur related to Miriam’s household and closely involved with Moses and Aaron.
We do know from Scripture that Hur’s grandson, son of Uri, was Bezalel. Bezalel was a key figure in the craftsmanship of the Tabernacle.
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft’” (Exodus 31:1-5 ESV).
Was Hur a Leader Among the Israelites?
Moses and Aaron were clearly leaders during the time the Israelites wandered in the Wilderness (with Miriam charged with the women). It is interesting that they were from the tribe of Levi, while Hur, who is clearly “leadership-adjacent,” is from the tribe of Judah, which would be the Messianic tribe. So, Moses’s hands were upheld, one by a Levite and one by a Judean.
To call Hur a leader would, perhaps, be begging the question. Instead, I believe Hur is representative of all the men and women who stand close beside leaders, listening, supporting, working, and managing assignments and oversight when the leaders are otherwise involved. He appears to be faithful, reliable, dependable, and trusted. I would love to have this said of me or of my children. We don’t have to be leaders to have positions of responsibility and pivotal ministries in the kingdom of God.
Image created using AI technology and subsequently edited and reviewed by our editorial team.
