In 17:7 we are told that the name of the place was called Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord. The original name of this place, perhaps the native name, was Rephidim. Massah means tried, tested, tempted, proved. Meribah means quarreling or strife. Massah was a place of testing. Three parties were involved in the test at Massah: Moses, the children of Israel, and God. Israel tested God, and God tested Moses on the one hand and the children of Israel on the other. Hence, at Massah all three parties were put to the test. Psalm 81:7 confirms the fact that God put Israel to the test at Massah and Meribah, for it says God proved the people “at the waters of Meribah.” The only one who passed the test at Massah was God. Moses and the children of Israel failed. Although Moses and the children of Israel failed this test, God did not condemn them.
God tested the people by purposely guiding them by the pillar to a dry place. After leading the people to a place without water, God was silent and did nothing for a period of time. If He had immediately provided living water, the people would not have been exposed. In order to expose the people, God deliberately refrained from acting to quench their thirst. This put them to the test. As we have pointed out, because they quarreled with Moses and tempted God, they failed God’s test. If they had known God’s ways, however, they would have passed the test at Massah. They would have said, “The Lord has brought us here with a purpose. He will never let us down. Rather, He will surely meet our need. Let us thank Him, sing praises to Him, and dance before Him.”
Moses also failed the test at Massah. At that time Moses was an old man, more than eighty years of age. Because he was an elderly person, we might expect him to be patient. But in this situation Moses was not patient. When the children of Israel quarreled with him, he reacted immediately by asking why they were quarreling with him and tempting the Lord. It seems as if Moses was saying, “There is no reason for you to quarrel with me. I haven’t done anything wrong. Don’t you realize that I was not the one who led you to this place?” Moses’ reaction to the people’s quarreling indicates that in this situation he was defeated. Like the rest of the children of Israel, he did not pass the test.
Although Moses reacted to the people’s complaint, in chapter seventeen he did not react too strongly. After speaking to them, he cried to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me” (v. 4). It is difficult to tell whether Moses here is praying or making an accusation. As he was crying out to the Lord, he seems to be making an accusation against the people.
If you had been Moses, how do you think you would have reacted? Doctrinally, we may be more knowledgeable than Moses was, but actually we are no better than he. According to our doctrinal understanding, we know that Moses should have said, “Lord, I thank You for Your faithfulness. I praise You and worship You for bringing us to this dry region. Lord, even though there is no water in this place, I look to You and believe in You. Your supply will come in time.” Moses, however, did not pray like this. On the one hand, he reacted to the children of Israel; on the other hand, he accused them of wanting to stone him. All this shows that at Massah Moses was a failure.
Although the Lord did not condemn Moses and the children of Israel for their failures at Massah in Exodus 17, He did condemn them for their failures at Kadesh in Numbers 20. When the people complained again about the lack of water, Moses, having learned the lesson at Massah, did not react at first. But unable to tolerate the situation, he eventually reacted very strongly, saying, “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10). Then, disobeying the Lord’s command to speak to the rock, “Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice” (v. 11). In doing this Moses violated God’s economy. As a result, he was forbidden to bring the children of Israel into the good land. According to Numbers 20:12, the Lord said to him and Aaron, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them” (Heb.). Like their sister Miriam who died at Kadesh, Moses and Aaron were to die in the wilderness. They were to have no share in bringing the people into the land of Canaan.
The incident in Exodus 17:1-6 took place at the beginning of their time in the wilderness, when the children of Israel had just begun to follow the Lord. For this reason, although the children of Israel behaved very poorly and although Moses himself failed, God was not angry with them. Actually, He was fully prepared to meet the situation. As we pointed out, in His work of creation, He had prepared the rock which was to be smitten. Then by the pillar God led them to this very place. Even though the people quarreled with Moses and tempted God, the Lord was not angry with them. Thirty-eight years later, at Kadesh, the situation was much different. By this time, most of those who were there in 17:1-6 had died. This means that those present at Kadesh were of the new generation, those who had been born in the wilderness. In the chapters prior to Numbers 20 a large number of people had been slain by the Lord. In Numbers 20:1 we are even told of the death of Miriam. After her death the quarreling broke out in Kadesh concerning the lack of water. This instance of the people’s quarreling was toward the end of their years of wandering. Therefore, the Lord was very angry with them. Furthermore, the Lord was strict in dealing with Moses.
In Exodus 17 Moses’ failure consisted only in reacting to the quarreling of the children of Israel. But in Numbers 20 he not only reacted to the people’s quarreling; he also broke the basic principle of God’s redemption. Christ, typified by the rock, should have been smitten just once. This was the reason in Numbers 20:8 the Lord charged Moses to speak to the rock, not to smite it. The rock had already been smitten in Exodus 17. Nevertheless, Moses failed by smiting the rock a second time. Christians throughout the centuries have done the same thing, in effect crucifying Christ again. To do this is a serious violation of God’s principle in His redemption and administration. Far more than merely a personal matter, this was a matter relating to God’s administration. This was the reason God dealt with Moses so severely.
We need to learn from this failure of Moses to be careful in our reactions that we do not touch God’s administration. When we lose our temper, we need to take heed lest we act in such a way as to break a basic principle of God’s redemption and administration. It is extremely serious to react in such a way as to touch God’s administration.