Reference: Massah and Meribah
Hastings
Ex 17:1-7 (Jewish Encyclopedia) tells of a miraculous gift of water at a spot near Horeb, which was called Massah and Meribah ('testing' and 'contention') because the people tested Jahweh by doubting His providence and contended with Moses. It is implied that this occurred about a year after the Exodus. Nu 20:1-18, a later narrative (Priestly Narrative), gives a similar account, but puts it thirty-seven years later, and with important variations. The scene is now laid at Kadesh, which receives the name Meribah from the contention of Israel with Jahweh. Moses and Aaron also sin against Him. There are references to the first passage in De 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8; and to the second in De 32:51; Ps 106:32; in Ps 81:7 the two are apparently confused. De 33:8 regards the events at Kadesh in a peculiar light: here Jahweh proves Levi at Massah and strives with (or for) him at Meribah. The tendency of recent criticism is to consider Ex 17 and Nu 20 as duplicate records of the same event, the locality of which must be fixed at Kadesh, where the spring 'Ain Kad
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And they returned and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the works of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and set up camp in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people chided with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Why do ye tempt the LORD? read more. So the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, Why hast thou brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? Then Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people and take with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod, with which thou didst smite the river take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding of the sons of Israel and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Then came the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month; and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation; and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, Oh, that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have ye caused the congregation of the LORD to come into this wilderness that we and our beasts should die here? And why have ye made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place? It is not a place to plant seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates; there is not even any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the congregation unto the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and they fell upon their faces; and the glory of the LORD appeared upon them. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod and gather the congregation together, thou and Aaron, thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. Then Moses took the rod from before the LORD as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? Then Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore, ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. These are the waters of Meribah; over which the sons of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. And Moses sent ambassadors from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that has befallen us: how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers; and we cried unto the LORD, who heard our voice, and sent an angel and has brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of thy border. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country; we will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells; we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders. And Edom replied unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me lest I come out against thee with the sword.
and houses full of all good things, which thou didst not fill, and hewn out wells, which thou didst not dig, vineyards and olive trees, which thou didst not plant; when thou shalt have eaten and be full,
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
because ye trespassed against me among the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because ye did not sanctify me in the midst of the sons of Israel.
And he said, The LORD came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of holiness, at his right hand the law of fire for them.
And to Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah,
Thou didst call in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
harden not your heart, as in the provocation and as in the day of trials in the wilderness
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
And to the east side through Hauran, and Damascus, and Gilead, and through the land of Israel to the Jordan, ye shall measure this from the border unto the east sea. And to the south side southward from Tamar even to the waters of strife; from Kadesh and the river to the great sea. And this shall be the south side southward.
And next to the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be from Tamar unto the waters of strife, and from Kadesh, and the river unto the great sea.