So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. The victory is Joshua's — his command, his soldiers, his sword. The complementarity of the spiritual and the physical is complete: Moses' raised hands on the hill and Joshua's sword in the valley together produce the victory. Neither alone is sufficient; together they are decisive. This is the theological structure of all subsequent military victory in the Old Testament: the Lord fights for Israel through the arms He equips. 2 Chronicles 20:15 says the battle is not yours but God's — and immediately God tells Jehoshaphat where to position his forces. The battle belongs to God in the sense that Moses' hands determine the outcome; it is fought by Israel in the sense that Joshua and his men actually wield the swords.

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