Massah and Meribah

Spoiler Alert: the Israelites complained a lot!

Readers of the Bible are first introduced to Joshua in Exodus 17. At the start of the chapter, the Israelites have camped at Rephidim (which means “place of rest”). There is just one problem: there was no water for the people to drink. The author says that the people complained to Moses, again. 

Wait, again? Yes! Turn back a page to Exodus 16 and you will read about the previous conundrum facing the Israelites: hunger. One month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites found themselves without food. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death” (Exodus 16:3, NLT). Yes, this all came a few weeks after that whole walking through a parted Red Sea (thanks to God) to escape their Egyptian oppressors thing.

To make a long story short, God provided the Israelites with food. Weeks later they were thirsty. Did they ask God to provide them with water? No. They did, however, say to Moses, “Give us water to drink!” 

Notice Moses’ response: “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?” 

In the case of the Israelites it did not matter that God had provided them with food when they were hungry. There was not any water to be found. There were no wells, rivers or streams. 

But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

The Israelites were not hangry. They were thangry. No, stop. We won’t make that a thing. Isn’t it interesting that in a place of rest there was so much anger and dishonorable behavior? 

Thankfully, God being the gracious and patient God that He is, provided the Israelites with water. Moses in turn named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”). 

While Joshua does not appear in this part of Exodus 17, we have to remember that these are his people, too. Joshua was traveling with a group of people, his extended family, that turned on God and Moses every time something didn’t go their way. It didn’t matter that God was leading them to the Promised Land. Instead of resting in faith, Israel settled for Massah and Meribah.