The Rock Remains The Same

3.12.23 Exodus 17:1-7

The entire Israelite community set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin as the Lord had commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up out of Egypt to let us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”

4 Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go in front of the people, and take the elders of Israel with you. Also take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Watch me. I will stand there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Moses did that in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Rock Remains the Same

How much does it take to set you over the edge? I can recall one instance like that when trying to teach one of our children how to drive stick shift. Everything was going great, until we were on our way home. He kept on killing the car at a stop sign, and we had a line of about three cars behind us waiting to go. In the course of 30 seconds I went from calm, cool and collective to being panicked, angry and agitated. Somehow he put it in reverse, and the lady behind us honked. That was it for me. I had hit my breaking point.

That’s what happened with the Israelites in the desert. It wasn’t something so fickle as being honked at.

They didn’t have any water to drink at Rephidim. Water is kind of an important thing! You can only survive maybe 2 or 3 days without water. Rephidim was near the mountain range of Horeb, not far from Mt. Sinai. The hills would have been getting higher and the valleys would have been more narrow and full of huge rocks. They weren’t riding in air conditioned cars. They were WALKING with children and animals and carrying their stuff on their shoulders. The Israelites had reached that point, and Moses knew it. They were beyond a little testy. The gloves came off. We get a little snippet of their conversation here in vs. 2-3. “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up out of Egypt to let us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”

Notice first of all how they went after Moses. There were no magic words here and no humility. “Give us water to drink.” The word for “quarrel” means to accuse, to be in a state of hostility. Imagine someone pointing their finger at you, yelling and accusing you. They blamed Moses. Moses had led them out to this deserted area and they needed water. They didn’t have any. But it wasn’t even Moses’ fault. God told him to do it and God was the one leading them. When they complained to Moses, they were complaining against God.

The same thing can be true when we complain to our parents or our bosses or our teachers, and it’s not always all their fault. If your parent is asking a lot of you and maybe a little bit rude, maybe they have some health problems. Maybe they aren’t sleeping well. Maybe they’re under pressure to meet quotas that you know nothing about. Maybe they’ve been handed an impossible situation. So what do you do when their failures affect you? You lash out at them. You get angry at them. “Why can’t we get a new car?” “Why do I have to use this old junky phone?” “Why don’t we have any decent food in the house?” “Why can’t you find someone else to work?” You threaten to leave, or maybe even violence. But then you forget the Fourth Commandment. Honor your father and mother. Who are you to get so angry and demanding with people that God has placed you under? Are they trying to make your life miserable? Or have they been placed in an impossible situation?