“All the congregation of the children of Israel,” we read (Exodus 17:1), “journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.”—“And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” (v. 3.)
Moses upon this entreats the Lord for Israel; and the narrative proceeds in the words of the Almighty—“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that my 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 children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?” “Then came Amalek,” the narrative continues, “and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”
Now this last incident is mentioned, as must be perceived at once, without any other reference to what had gone before than a reference of date. It was “then” that Amalek came. It is the beginning of another adventure which befell the Israelites, and which Moses now goes on to relate.
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Author: John James Blunt
Keywords: Rephidim, Massah and Meribah, Massah, Meribah, chiding of the children of Israel, Amalek, Amalekites, well, wells, water, water rights
Bible reference(s): Genesis 21:25, Gen 26:19-20, Exodus 2:17, Exodus 17:1, Exodus 17:3, Numbers 20:17, Numbers 21:22, Deuteronomy 2:6, Judges 5:11, Deuteronomy 25:18
Source: Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings of the Old & New Testament (London: John Murray, 1869).
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