When your fathers tempted me
Or, "where" F9; that is, in the wilderness, particularly at Meribah and Massah; it was Christ they tempted, as appears from ( 1 Corinthians 10:9 )
proved me:
had proof of his power, goodness, and mercy, in providing for them, and in the preservation of them: or "tried" F11 him, his patience, longsuffering, and forbearance, by their repeated provocations of him:
and saw my work;
his work of judgment upon their enemies the Egyptians, by inflicting plagues upon them, and by the destruction of Pharaoh and his host at the Red sea; and his work of goodness to them, in bringing them out of bondage, leading them through the Red sea safely, raining manna about their tents, and giving them water out of the rock; or particularly his work in consuming them in the wilderness, as he swore he would, and which they saw with their eyes, and was near forty years a doing. The Syriac version joins the "forty years" at the beginning of the next verse to this; the phrase standing in such a situation as to be connected with both, and is true of each; so the apostle uses it both ways, ( Hebrews 3:9 Hebrews 3:17 ) .