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 country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people did strive with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why do you strive with me? why do you test the LORD? read more. And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and there shall come water 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 striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Then came the children 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, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have you brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather you the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth its water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock: so you shall give the congregation and their animals drink. And 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, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their animals also. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified among them. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the travail that has befallen us: How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians afflicted us, and our fathers: And when we cried unto the LORD, he 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 your border: Let us pass, I pray you, through your 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 highway, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your borders. And Edom said unto him, you shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword.
And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full;
You shall not test the LORD your God, as you tested him in Massah.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, you provoked the LORD to wrath.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, you provoked the LORD to wrath.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you hallowed me not in the midst of the children 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 saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
And of Levi he said, Let your Thummim and your Urim be with your holy one, whom you did test at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah;
You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder: I tested you 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 the east side you shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by the Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.