Exodus 17:1, commentary and pictures

By God's own command the whole congregation left the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water to drink. Their heavenly Leader went with them in cloud by day and fire by night, knowing beforehand that the place lacked water. He purposely brought them there to test whether they would trust Him in distress or murmur, though He could have led them elsewhere. Want while following His direction did not mean He had abandoned them, failed them, or ceased to love them, but called for trust rather than complaint. When they failed by unbelief, forgetting past deliverance and reviling Moses instead of humbly asking God, He in mercy still caused pure cooling water to flow from the rock at Horeb as unmistakable proof of His ever-present help.

Journey to Waterless Rephidim

All the congregation of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Rephidim according to the commandment of the Lord, and there was no water for the people to drink. Their heavenly Leader knew the place lacked water and brought them there, journeying with them Himself in the pillar of cloud. Christ Himself was their leader and teacher, shading them from the fierce sun by day in the cloud and leading them by pillar of fire by night, keeping them by preserving power. No tribulation in that strait place could separate them from Him, for He is an ever-present Saviour who knows their trials.

The leaders bore serious responsibility to carry out God's purpose to bring Israel to a land of plenty where they would not lack food and could learn to know the Lord. The want of water belonged to His forty-year guidance after deliverance from Egyptian bondage and its temptations, to make them a separate people and to reform their habits of eating. Water previously given from the rock had continued until they returned to the place, when God stopped it to test whether they would trust Him or murmur again.

The wilderness-sojourn begun in that journey to Rephidim is commemorated at the Feast of Tabernacles by the most impressive and rejoicing ceremony. At first dawn the priest dips a flagon from the flowing waters of the Kedron, lifts it on high before the people, ascends the temple steps into the court of the priests, and pours the water out before the altar. Israel's obedience in making the journey by God's command did not mean they trusted Him when tested by the lack of water. Yet God was still working on their behalf as He led them through the wilderness despite the lack of water.

God's Test of Faith

God Himself led Israel to camp where there was no water in order to test their faith and faithfulness and loyalty, whether they would trust Him in distress or murmur, though He could have led them elsewhere. He who led them in the cloud knew the place lacked water, yet by His express command they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched at waterless Rephidim. The lack came while they were following His direction, and such a trial calls for trust rather than complaint.

Hardship in that strait place did not mean He had abandoned His people, nor that they had wandered from Him by human wisdom, nor that the Lord had failed or did not love them. Difficulty while walking in the narrow way is no proof of having strayed, and need becomes an occasion to seek His help and remember His past care. The emergency was His opportunity to reveal His help in His own time, as when He caused water to flow from the rock.

He brought this newly delivered, undisciplined people from slavery into that difficult place for their own good and for His name's glory, to test and prove them and to teach them His will concerning them. It was in mercy, to keep them from self-sufficiency and forgetting that the Lord is helper in necessity, to reveal human helplessness and dependence on Him, and to teach them to call upon Him for aid as a hungry and thirsty child calls upon its father. He longed to manifest Himself, to reveal His power to deliver and His matchless love by miracles of grace, to make them know His merciful and wonderful ways, and to reveal abundant supplies independent of surroundings, having power to turn the flinty rock into life-giving and refreshing streams and to turn the bitterness of Marah into sweetness.

Israel failed the test and dishonored God by unbelief. Though He had delivered them from Egypt, provided food, and promised to bring them into the promised land, they distrusted His care, forgot their Leader and their dependence on Him, and blamed and reviled Moses and Aaron, accusing them of bringing them into the wilderness to die of thirst. Instead of humbly asking God to provide, they demanded water, showing how quickly unbelief arises when need goes unmet and how complaint comes between the heart and God.

They should have trusted the Lord with all heart and mind, learned patience, remembered His past care and manifestations of power, and simply asked Him for water as a plea for His kindness, which would have pleased Him. Had they waited patiently recounting His goodness, He who had promised the promised land would have shortened their test and provided help in His own time. Murmuring and complaining dishonor Him, while looking to Him in trusting faith, remembering past mercies, and helping others gives reason for praise and thanksgiving.

In mercy He delivered them despite unbelief. Christ stood by Moses and caused pure, cooling water to flow from the rock at Horeb, opening the flinty rock to cause refreshing streams to flow forth when they were thirsty. That miracle gave unmistakable evidence that they were being led and protected by divine power, giving reason for praise and full assurance going forward that He is an ever-present help in trouble from whom no tribulation can separate them.

Rephidim Repeated for Believers

Everyone who takes up the cross to follow Christ comes to such a Rephidim in personal experience. Life is not all green pastures and cooling streams, but disappointment, privation, strait places, and grievous trials come even while following in the narrow way. Such hardship comes not by straying from God by human wisdom but by His own leading, for He knows the strait places and permits suffering and difficulty in mercy to test faithfulness and loyalty. He does not always place His people in the easiest places, lest in self-sufficiency they forget that the Lord is helper in time of necessity, and He longs to manifest Himself in emergency and reveal abundant supplies independent of surroundings, with power to turn the flinty rock into life-giving and refreshing streams. Such hardship exposes human helplessness to teach calling upon the Lord for aid as a hungry and thirsty child calls upon its father, and the full measure of the burdens He has borne and would have borne if brought to Him with childlike faith will never be known until face to face with God.

A Rephidim trial is permitted to reveal true, steadfast principles in contrast with selfish, ambitious sentiments, to bring out the gold of character and show the faith cherished in the Lord's instrumentalities. It tries the hearts of all who have any connection with the Lord's work in the church or His institutions. These trials reveal how easily souls are deceived and misled by temptation, how little faith some professed believers have in God, and how much confidence they have in themselves. They expose those who cannot glorify God in a leading position unless convicted by the Holy Spirit and thoroughly converted in heart, mind, and strength.

The trial becomes a blessing by leading to self-examination, establishing faith on better principles, and producing striving for higher moral perception and judgment and better preparation for work. It gives sincere, honest, earnest, God-fearing souls clearer light in which to walk. It sets minds formerly biased in a wrong direction right. It teaches a lesson never forgotten, of lasting benefit to workers and church.

The experience was recorded so that later believers may learn its lessons, and it proves Christ is just as surely with His people now when trials are permitted. Their conduct at Rephidim stands as an ensample and admonition for God's people upon whom the ends of the world are come not to imitate unbelief when brought into difficulties in His work. Doubt, despondency, murmuring and complaining, and the complaint that the Lord has failed and does not love dishonor God and are unbelief imitating Israel, and must not be indulged. No tribulation there can separate them from Christ, for He is an ever-present Saviour who knows their trials. Instead they are to look to Him in trusting faith, remember His past manifestations of power and great goodness and wonderful works in their behalf, and help others, and in His own time He will provide, turning the bitterness of Marah into sweetness and opening the flinty rock to cause cooling streams to flow forth, giving reason for praise and thanksgiving for past mercies and full assurance going forward that He is an ever-present help in trouble.