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Exodus 17:1–7
“The people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ ” (v. 3).
Israel did not do very well when God tested them in the provision of manna. Not only did they grumble against God, but many of them did not follow the Lord’s instructions for gathering and saving the bread (Ex. 16). That was the second occasion of their grumbling against their Redeemer in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, the first being at Marah when the water was bitter to drink (Ex. 15:22–27). Surely they learned from their complaining and God’s gracious provision of bread and water that the Lord would not fail to supply their needs, did they not? Today’s passage tells us that the answer to that question is no.
Having left the wilderness of Sin, where the manna was first given, Israel then arrived at Rephidim, another place where there was no water to drink (Ex. 17:1). Clearly, the Lord was intending to test them again, for the lack of potable water mirrors the earlier test at Marah, which the people had failed. Israel, however, responded to the absence of water by grumbling against Moses and thus against God (Ex. 17:2). Instead of praying and humbly asking the Lord to supply their needs, they again spoke against God. John Calvin points out their evident lack of faith: “The root of the whole evil was their unbelief; because they neither ascribed due honor to God’s power nor believed Him to be true to His promises. For He had taken charge of them, and had promised that He would never fail them; why then, now, when circumstances demand it, do they not assure themselves that He will assist them, except because they wickedly detract both from His power and His truth?”
This time, however, Moses joined them in their quarreling. He complained to the Lord about the people, fearing that they would stone him for putting them in their predicament (Ex. 17:3–4). This foreshadowed his greater failure later in the wilderness wandering when Moses struck a rock to get water instead of speaking to it as the Lord had commanded (Num. 20:2–13). As good a leader as Moses was, he was not the perfect ruler that Israel actually needed.
Unsurprisingly, the Lord graciously provided water to His ungrateful people, working a miracle through Moses to draw water from the rock by having him strike it with his staff (Ex. 17:5–6). The bitter memory of the people’s failure here would live on, for Moses called the place Massah and Meribah, which mean “testing” and “quarreling,” respectively (Ex. 15:7).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The quarreling and complaining of the people as recorded in today’s passage had a negative influence on Moses, for he responded to the problem with less faith than he should have. Our grumbling and complaining can create occasions for our leaders to sin, and while their transgression is always their fault, we must endeavor not to make their job harder than it needs to be by complaining for no just cause.
For Further Study
- Deuteronomy 32:48–52
- Psalm 106:32
- Philippians 2:14–16
- Hebrews 13:17