The Way
Water from the Rock
Is the Lord among us or not?
Story
Leaving the Wilderness of Sin, the people passed from place to place and camped at Rephidim. There was no water to drink there either. The sun beat down on the rocky valley, and the cries of thirsty children and animals filled the camp. The people crowded around Moses and quarrelled with him. Give us water to drink. Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to make us and our children and our livestock die of thirst?
Moses cried out to the Lord. What am I to do with this people? A little more and they will stone me. The Lord said, Take some of the elders of Israel with you, and in your hand take the staff with which you struck the Nile, and walk on ahead of the people. I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.
As the elders watched, holding their breath, Moses brought his staff down on the rock. Water gushed from the split rock and flowed. Moses called the place Massah, which means testing, and Meribah, which means quarrelling. For the people had quarrelled, and they had tested the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Walk this scene on the map →God's Words
Look, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will burst out of it for the people to drink.
Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?
What am I to do with these people? A little more and they will stone me.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Ex 17:1–7
Background
Rephidim is thought to be near Wadi Feiran in the southern Sinai Peninsula, but this is uncertain. Massah means testing and Meribah means quarrelling, and Psalm 95 recalls this event as an example of a hardened heart.
Pause and Reflect
When I am thirsty and worn out, do I doubt that God is with me?