Exodus 17:2-7

2 Therefore the people 1quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "2Why do you quarrel with me? 3Why do you test the LORD?"
3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they 4grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and 5our livestock with thirst?"
4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A 6little more and they will stone me."
5 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of 7the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which 8you struck the Nile, and go.
6 "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at 9Horeb; and 10you 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 11Massah and 12Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they 13tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

Exodus 17:2-7 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.

Cross References 13

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

Footnotes 6

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