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Exodus

About this book
Chapter 17

1 The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the wilderness of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!”⁠ Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world did you bring us up from Egypt—to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with this people?—a little more and they will stone me!” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb,⁠ and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”⁠ And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”⁠ 8 Amalek came and attacked Israel in Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses would raise his hands, then Israel prevailed,⁠ but whenever he would rest his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 12 When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and so his hands were steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua destroyed Amalek and his army with the sword. 14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”⁠ 15 Moses built an altar, and he called it “The Lord is my Banner,” 16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord—that⁠ the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 17:7 and Psalm 95:8

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 95 recalls Massah and Meribah, where the people questioned God and provoked conflict over water in the wilderness. By naming both, the psalm merges memories from Exodus 17 and Numbers 20, reshaping them into a general call to avoid rebellion.

Passages

Exodus 17:7

Hebrew Bible
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 8 Amalek came and attacked Israel in Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Psalm 95:8

Hebrew Bible
6 Come, let us bow down and worship. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Creator. 7 For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture, the sheep he owns. Today, if only you would obey him. 8 He says, “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors challenged my authority and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work. 10 For 40 years I was continually disgusted with that generation, and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; they do not obey my commands.’
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Rebellion and Meribah - a dual allusion ... Psalm 95:8 exhorts its readers not to harden their hearts “as in the provocation” or “... rebellion” (τῷ παραπικρασμῷ; Psalm 94:8 LXX), where the Masoretic Text reads “as at Meribah”, which could be considered a dual allusion on the part of the psalm. The term Meribah was used both in Exodus 17:7 and Numbers 20:13 to memorialize those moments of strife and conflict associated with drawing water from a rock in the desert. Psalm 95 Masoretic directly mentions “Massah” and “Meribah,” two names affixed to the place after the people grumbled against the LORD in their thirst, Moses struck a rock and water poured forth in Exodus 17. There both names are used, and of course Psalm 94 LXX translates the terms as “rebellion” and “testing.” ..."
Scott Ronald Moore, “A Conviction of Texts Not Seen: Perceiving Exodus as the Generative Text of Hebrews” (diss., University of Denver, 2017), 165.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 17:7 and Psalm 95:8

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