Exodus 17:1-9

Water in the Rock

1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of ¹Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at ²Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

2 Therefore the people ³quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "⁴Why do you quarrel with me? ⁵Why do you test the LORD?"

3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they ⁶grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and ⁷our livestock with thirst?"

4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A ⁸little more and they will stone me."

5 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of ⁹the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which ¹⁰you struck the Nile, and go.

6 "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at ¹¹Horeb; and ¹²you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 He named * the place ¹³Massah and ¹⁴Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they ¹⁵tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

Amalek Fought

8 Then ¹⁶Amalek came and fought against Israel at ¹⁷Rephidim.

9 So Moses said to ¹⁸Joshua, "Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with ¹⁹the staff of God in my hand."

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Exodus 17:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 17

The children of Israel coming to Rephidim, want water, and chide with Moses about it, who, crying to the Lord, is bid to smite the rock, from whence came water for them, and he named the place from their contention with him, Ex 17:1-7 at this place Amalek came and fought with Israel, who, through the prayer of Moses, signified by the holding up of his hands, and by the sword of Joshua, was vanquished, Ex 17:8-13, for the remembrance of which it was ordered to be recorded in a book, and an altar was built with this inscription on it, "Jehovahnissi": it being the will of God that Amalek should be fought with in every generation until utterly destroyed, Ex 17:14-16.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 19

1. Exodus 16:1; Numbers 33:12
2. Exodus 19:2; Numbers 33:14
3. Exodus 14:11; Num 20:2, 3, 13
4. Exodus 16:8
5. Deuteronomy 6:16; Psalms 78:18, 41; Matthew 4:7; 1 Corinthians 10:9
6. Exodus 16:2, 3
7. Exodus 12:38
8. Numbers 14:10; 1 Samuel 30:6
9. Exodus 3:16, 18
10. Exodus 7:20
11. Exodus 3:1
12. Numbers 20:10, 11; Deuteronomy 8:15; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:15; Psalms 105:41; Psalms 114:8; 1 Corinthians 10:4
13. Deuteronomy 6:16; Deuteronomy 9:22; Psalms 95:8
14. Numbers 20:13, 24; Numbers 27:14; Psalms 81:7
15. Numbers 14:22; Deuteronomy 33:8
16. Genesis 36:12; Numbers 24:20; Deuteronomy 25:17-19; 1 Samuel 15:2
17. Exodus 17:1
18. Exodus 24:13
19. Exodus 4:20

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "their journeyings"
[b]. Lit "mouth"
[c]. Lit "the people"
[d]. Lit "me"
[e]. Lit "my"
[f]. Lit "my"
[g]. I.e. test
[h]. I.e. quarrel