Bin Nun

My grandfather used to ask Yeshiva buchurs, "What was the name of the father of Yehoshua Bin Nun?"

More often that not they didn't know. 

Yehoshua's father's name was Nun, the word bin meaning no other than "son."

Why then, in this week's Parsha, when Yehoshua is first introduced, does his father's name evaporate into thin air, so conspicuously absent?

In Shemot, Chapter 17:9, the Torah states: "Moshe said to Yehoshua, 'Pick some troops for us, and go out and do battle with Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.'"

In other words, Yehoshua, totally anonymous - you may as well have called him, Davie or Jon, is commanded to be the chief of armed forces, form an army of freed slaves and defeat a very formidable enemy, and the question is: Why is the context, needed at face value, so absent?

It would seem that the nature of the beast is that Hashem wanted to communicate the miraculous nature of Amalek's defeat. Someone, without prior military experience, with no leadership background, whose father is equally anonymous is tasked with the most pressing and intimidating task, meaning that one can extrapolate that the victim was only in the hands of Hashem. Moshe's outstretched arms and minimal effort were all that was needed, very much in keeping with the surrounding events, from pheasants that swept into the camp, heavenly bread, or manna that came down from Hashem above. That was the experience of the Jewish people in the desert, and the battles they waged and fought were no different!