Exodus 17:1-7 Good News Translation
The whole Israelite community left the desert of Sin, moving from one place to another at the command of the Lord. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there to drink.
2 They complained to Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses answered, “Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were very thirsty and continued to complain to Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
4 Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord and said, “What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Take some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile.
6 I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.
7 The place was named Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained and put the Lord to the test when they asked, “Is the Lord with us or not?”
The whole Israelite community left the desert of Sin, moving from one place to another at the command of the Lord. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there to drink.
2 They complained to Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses answered, “Why are you complaining? Why are you putting the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were very thirsty and continued to complain to Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
4 Moses prayed earnestly to the Lord and said, “What can I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Take some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go on ahead of the people. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile.
6 I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did so in the presence of the leaders of Israel.
7 The place was named Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained and put the Lord to the test when they asked, “Is the Lord with us or not?”
Reflection
So last week we looked at Genesis the book that really introduces us to Yahweh
– the God of creation,
– the God of Adam and Eve
– the God of Cain and Abel
– the God who makes a promise to Noah ( and humanity) that never again shall the world be in jeopardy of total destruction with a flood and the rainbow is a sign of this promise
– the God who destroys the tower of Babel and scatters people everywhere
– the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael Esau and Jacob (who gets renamed Israel) all whom God blesses and makes promises of land and descendants
– the God of Joseph with his coat of many colours and 11 pretty angry brothers, who lie to their father telling him that Joseph is dead then selling Joseph off to some traders; who take him to Egypt where years later he welcomes his whole family into Egypt during a time
of famine. The family does very well in Egypt under Joseph’s (and the Pharaoh's) protection until a new Pharaoh comes on the scene.
Yahweh is the God who brings order out of chaos, Yahweh is the God who makes promises with creation, Yahweh is the God who makes covenants, I was going to say individuals, but really he makes covenants with people who represent the beginning of Israel: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. End of Genesis
Exodus: The new Pharaoh notices the Israelites multiplying, and enslaves them. He is afraid of that they will lead an uprising, so he orders all Hebrew sons should be cast into the Nile at birth. But one baby boy escapes this fate: the Hebrew child, Moses, grows up in Pharaoh’s household. When he is an adult Moses kills an abusive Egyptian slave driver, and he flees the Egypt.
Fast forward forty years, and we hear in Exodus that:
During that long period, the king of Egypt died.
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out,
and their cry for help because of their slavery went up
to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered
his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
God looked on the Israelites and was concerned
about them. (Exodus 2:23-25)
So God appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him back to Egypt where with Aaron, his older brother, he is to liberate the Israelites (Let my people go so that they may worship God in the wilderness: Mount Sinai is in the wilderness).
Pharaoh refuses and we have ten plagues, pitting Yahweh against all those Egyptian gods:
Hapi: the god of the Nile and the Nile runs red with blood,
Heket: the goddess of fertility and agriculture and the land is overcome with frogs – did I mention that Heket has the head of a frog,
Ra: the sun god who is almost indistinguishable from the Pharaoh and what does Yahweh do: Yahweh blots out the sun,
and Osiris: the god of death, and Yahweh kills the first born of everything and everyone, including the Pharaoh’s first born son, but passes over the houses of the Israelites who have smeared the blood of a sacrificial lamb on their door posts.
In the battle of Yahweh versus the Egyptian gods,Yahweh wins every time, and the Pharaoh lets the Israelites go – kind of – because he, then, changes his mind and sends his army to chase after them – leading to the parting of the sea and all the Egyptians being drowned.
Yahweh, the God of slaves in Egypt wins, God is in control, the God of the Israelites is better than any other God, even the gods of a large and powerful nation like Egypt. This God is the only God worthy of Israel’s worship!
God delivers the Israelites from Egyptian slavery not because they are enslaved but because God made a promise to Abraham, a promise to Isaac and a promise to Jacob. In the English bibles it says something like God was concerned, or God took notice when the Israelites were crying out but the Hebrew it is much more like “God saw the Israelites. God knew”. And you have to ask: “What did God know?” God knew about his promises!
So, now, guided by pillars of cloud in the day and pillars of fire by night, the Israelites are really and truly out of Egypt. And into the wilderness- you know; the wilderness where water and food are really, really important and let’s just say the campers are not happy!
At Marah, (Exodus 15:22-25) they find lots of water, but it’s bitter so they complain; I’m guessing loudly and often to Moses, Moses goes to tell God, God says “ Moses, get a stick and throw it in the water.” Moses does what God commands, gets a stick, tosses it in the pool of bitter water and instantly the water is sweet and drinkable.
Then, they move on to the Oasis at Elim,(Exodus 15:27) where water and fruit abound. But this is a road trip with pillars to guide them, so off they go into the desert of Sin between Elim and Mount Sinai and they are getting hungry, so again they complain and grumble loudly to Moses and God responds to their hunger with a daily supply of manna and quail (Exodus 16:1-5)- except on the seventh day when God and everyone else rests so they a double quantity on the sixth day.
Are they satisfied yet? Nope, travelling from place to place, they come to Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-7), where things get really bad, and people are really thirsty, they have no water and there is no water in sight! The Israelites become a little testy, maybe even, mutinous as they berate Moses for even having them leave the safety and security of Egypt.
And despite their bad attitude, God guides Moses and other leaders to a place on Mount Sinai and using the same staff he had used in Egypt, Moses strikes the rock, water gushes forth and finds its way all the back to Rrephidim and the thirsty people there. They rejoice I am sure but I think Moses is till a little miffed, because he changes the name of Rephidim to Massah and Meribah which means something like “complaining and testing”
So what we have today is this story (and yes lots of other things happen in Exodus) but at the heart of it, all we have a story of God, who is faithful to Israel; God’s chosen people.
A little further on, Exodus 19:4-6 we get a glimpse of the purpose of the story so far and a glimpse into the rest of the Pentateuch.
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,
and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought
you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation.’
Israel has a purpose; it is to be priestly, to mediate between God and all those other nations. That’s why Israelites were rescued from Egypt, to become holy, set apart from other peoples and nations for these special purposes.
Israel, this extended family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is to be first of all a nation – just like God promised to Abraham, it is to be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation and that is their purpose, that is what gives meaning to the whole big Bible book story, the history of Israel and extends on into today. That is God’s plan.
But this, it’s not just that God is going to do the work for Israel, and Israel sits back, contented and satisfied. This is a reciprocal relationship between God and Israel. Abraham acknowledges God’s promise by building an alter, and circumcision becomes a sign of the continuation of participation in that promise. Over and over in these stories we see the people of Israel make promises of fidelity to worship Yahweh, but their promises, like their rejoicing in the desert when water and food are provided, is short lived, other gods lure them away, they want the golden calf, they intermarry, and they have to be reminded again and again – that this is a collaboration- we (God and Israel) have to work together to bring about God’s plan. The Ten Commandments are just the beginning of laws and rules to help the Israelites stay focused; to make Israel that holy nation, who become a light unto the Gentiles, a lamp on the hilltop keeping the darkness at bay. They are the chosen people.
They are in a relationship with Yahweh and Yahweh proves time and time again that he is God, the supreme God, and eventually the only God who can be trusted. As we see in these stories God remembers the promises, God is participating in the plan to bring the nations, all the nations to be a holy people.
As Christians, you and me, we live in that line of promises. As followers of Jesus, who see God create and re-create, we are a people who believe in new beginnings. Genesis and Exodus, the whole Old Testament is not a separate book for us; it is part of the story, our story.
We are collaborators in bringing about the Kingdom of God in the here and now. God didn’t work in isolation in the Old Testament but in and through people, and God doesn’t work in isolation now. We are God’s people, followers of Jesus, and we are called into this creation / re-creation process with our God.
May it be so Amen
So last week we looked at Genesis the book that really introduces us to Yahweh
– the God of creation,
– the God of Adam and Eve
– the God of Cain and Abel
– the God who makes a promise to Noah ( and humanity) that never again shall the world be in jeopardy of total destruction with a flood and the rainbow is a sign of this promise
– the God who destroys the tower of Babel and scatters people everywhere
– the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael Esau and Jacob (who gets renamed Israel) all whom God blesses and makes promises of land and descendants
– the God of Joseph with his coat of many colours and 11 pretty angry brothers, who lie to their father telling him that Joseph is dead then selling Joseph off to some traders; who take him to Egypt where years later he welcomes his whole family into Egypt during a time
of famine. The family does very well in Egypt under Joseph’s (and the Pharaoh's) protection until a new Pharaoh comes on the scene.
Yahweh is the God who brings order out of chaos, Yahweh is the God who makes promises with creation, Yahweh is the God who makes covenants, I was going to say individuals, but really he makes covenants with people who represent the beginning of Israel: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. End of Genesis
Exodus: The new Pharaoh notices the Israelites multiplying, and enslaves them. He is afraid of that they will lead an uprising, so he orders all Hebrew sons should be cast into the Nile at birth. But one baby boy escapes this fate: the Hebrew child, Moses, grows up in Pharaoh’s household. When he is an adult Moses kills an abusive Egyptian slave driver, and he flees the Egypt.
Fast forward forty years, and we hear in Exodus that:
During that long period, the king of Egypt died.
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out,
and their cry for help because of their slavery went up
to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered
his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
God looked on the Israelites and was concerned
about them. (Exodus 2:23-25)
So God appears to Moses in a burning bush and sends him back to Egypt where with Aaron, his older brother, he is to liberate the Israelites (Let my people go so that they may worship God in the wilderness: Mount Sinai is in the wilderness).
Pharaoh refuses and we have ten plagues, pitting Yahweh against all those Egyptian gods:
Hapi: the god of the Nile and the Nile runs red with blood,
Heket: the goddess of fertility and agriculture and the land is overcome with frogs – did I mention that Heket has the head of a frog,
Ra: the sun god who is almost indistinguishable from the Pharaoh and what does Yahweh do: Yahweh blots out the sun,
and Osiris: the god of death, and Yahweh kills the first born of everything and everyone, including the Pharaoh’s first born son, but passes over the houses of the Israelites who have smeared the blood of a sacrificial lamb on their door posts.
In the battle of Yahweh versus the Egyptian gods,Yahweh wins every time, and the Pharaoh lets the Israelites go – kind of – because he, then, changes his mind and sends his army to chase after them – leading to the parting of the sea and all the Egyptians being drowned.
Yahweh, the God of slaves in Egypt wins, God is in control, the God of the Israelites is better than any other God, even the gods of a large and powerful nation like Egypt. This God is the only God worthy of Israel’s worship!
God delivers the Israelites from Egyptian slavery not because they are enslaved but because God made a promise to Abraham, a promise to Isaac and a promise to Jacob. In the English bibles it says something like God was concerned, or God took notice when the Israelites were crying out but the Hebrew it is much more like “God saw the Israelites. God knew”. And you have to ask: “What did God know?” God knew about his promises!
So, now, guided by pillars of cloud in the day and pillars of fire by night, the Israelites are really and truly out of Egypt. And into the wilderness- you know; the wilderness where water and food are really, really important and let’s just say the campers are not happy!
At Marah, (Exodus 15:22-25) they find lots of water, but it’s bitter so they complain; I’m guessing loudly and often to Moses, Moses goes to tell God, God says “ Moses, get a stick and throw it in the water.” Moses does what God commands, gets a stick, tosses it in the pool of bitter water and instantly the water is sweet and drinkable.
Then, they move on to the Oasis at Elim,(Exodus 15:27) where water and fruit abound. But this is a road trip with pillars to guide them, so off they go into the desert of Sin between Elim and Mount Sinai and they are getting hungry, so again they complain and grumble loudly to Moses and God responds to their hunger with a daily supply of manna and quail (Exodus 16:1-5)- except on the seventh day when God and everyone else rests so they a double quantity on the sixth day.
Are they satisfied yet? Nope, travelling from place to place, they come to Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-7), where things get really bad, and people are really thirsty, they have no water and there is no water in sight! The Israelites become a little testy, maybe even, mutinous as they berate Moses for even having them leave the safety and security of Egypt.
And despite their bad attitude, God guides Moses and other leaders to a place on Mount Sinai and using the same staff he had used in Egypt, Moses strikes the rock, water gushes forth and finds its way all the back to Rrephidim and the thirsty people there. They rejoice I am sure but I think Moses is till a little miffed, because he changes the name of Rephidim to Massah and Meribah which means something like “complaining and testing”
So what we have today is this story (and yes lots of other things happen in Exodus) but at the heart of it, all we have a story of God, who is faithful to Israel; God’s chosen people.
A little further on, Exodus 19:4-6 we get a glimpse of the purpose of the story so far and a glimpse into the rest of the Pentateuch.
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,
and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought
you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation.’
Israel has a purpose; it is to be priestly, to mediate between God and all those other nations. That’s why Israelites were rescued from Egypt, to become holy, set apart from other peoples and nations for these special purposes.
Israel, this extended family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is to be first of all a nation – just like God promised to Abraham, it is to be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation and that is their purpose, that is what gives meaning to the whole big Bible book story, the history of Israel and extends on into today. That is God’s plan.
But this, it’s not just that God is going to do the work for Israel, and Israel sits back, contented and satisfied. This is a reciprocal relationship between God and Israel. Abraham acknowledges God’s promise by building an alter, and circumcision becomes a sign of the continuation of participation in that promise. Over and over in these stories we see the people of Israel make promises of fidelity to worship Yahweh, but their promises, like their rejoicing in the desert when water and food are provided, is short lived, other gods lure them away, they want the golden calf, they intermarry, and they have to be reminded again and again – that this is a collaboration- we (God and Israel) have to work together to bring about God’s plan. The Ten Commandments are just the beginning of laws and rules to help the Israelites stay focused; to make Israel that holy nation, who become a light unto the Gentiles, a lamp on the hilltop keeping the darkness at bay. They are the chosen people.
They are in a relationship with Yahweh and Yahweh proves time and time again that he is God, the supreme God, and eventually the only God who can be trusted. As we see in these stories God remembers the promises, God is participating in the plan to bring the nations, all the nations to be a holy people.
As Christians, you and me, we live in that line of promises. As followers of Jesus, who see God create and re-create, we are a people who believe in new beginnings. Genesis and Exodus, the whole Old Testament is not a separate book for us; it is part of the story, our story.
We are collaborators in bringing about the Kingdom of God in the here and now. God didn’t work in isolation in the Old Testament but in and through people, and God doesn’t work in isolation now. We are God’s people, followers of Jesus, and we are called into this creation / re-creation process with our God.
May it be so Amen
