Go to Related Reading
About this book

Psalms

About this book
Psalm 95

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout out praises to our Protector who delivers us. 2 Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout out to him in celebration. 3 For the Lord is a great God, a great king who is superior to all gods.⁠ 4 The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land. 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.’ 11 So I made a vow in my anger, ‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’”

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 17:7 and Psalm 95:8

Hebrew Bible

Share:

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.

Your feedback

Exodus 17:7 and Psalm 95:8

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library