Day 1127: What's in a name? - Exodus 17 vs 1 - 7

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2-3 Therefore the people quarrelled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But 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?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah (testing) and Meribah, (quarrelling) because of the quarrelling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exodus 17:1-7 English Standard Version

We come to the third trial Israel experienced after leaving Egypt. They’d already thirsted at a stop where the water had been too bitter to drink - until Moses had cast a log into it, and it became sweet. Then, just two months into their journey, they grumbled that they would all die of hunger! And God had sent quail, and provided them with manna from heaven. Now we see that they were thirsty again, and ready to stone Moses to death. But what is the interesting thing about this situation? (vs 1)

It was at 'the commandment of the Lord'. God had told them when, and where, they should move to. And now He brought them to a place where the wadi was dry. (A dictionary defines a wadi as “a valley, gully, or streambed in northern Africa that remains dry except during the rainy season.”) Do we realize that as we go through life, God Himself may bring us into a place of testing. That's why James could write “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” God will never tempt us to do evil, but He does indeed test our faith.

But testing can lead to quarrelling. And vs 2-3 show us that this is what happened. The people grumbled that Moses was intent on destroying them and their livestock! And Moses did what he always did – he took the problem to the Lord. Our deepest trials ought to drive us to God with our most earnest prayers.

And God heard Moses. James later wrote concerning our prayers: “You don't have because you don't ask God. When you ask, you don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3) But, in the case of Moses, this wasn't just a personal 'want', it was a matter of life and death for many. So God gave instructions for the provision of water from a rock.

Using the same staff that he had struck the Nile with to turn the water to blood, he now struck a rock (on which God stood), and a stream of water gushed forth. (See Psalm 105:41) The apostle Paul later said that the people “drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4) Jesus said “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

But the episode led to Moses naming the place Massah (testing), and Meribah, (quarreling), because Israel had quarreled and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” How is it with you and me today? Are there places in our journey that we could call Marah, or Meribah? Have there been times when we questioned whether God was with us or not? May we earnestly repent of such times, and learn to trust Him wholeheartedly in any trial which He might send our way.