Exodus 17:5, commentary and pictures

God brought Israel to waterless Rephidim by His own command, and when the thirsty people murmured against Moses and were ready to stone him, He answered by telling Moses to go on before the people with the elders of Israel and with the rod in his hand. That rod was the one by which He had delivered them in Egypt, and He now made it an instrument of mercy to bring water from the rock for them to drink. Moses was to strike the rock at Horeb in the sight of the elders, with the Lord standing upon the rock before him, and Christ Himself caused the life-giving stream to flow forth. He led His people into that hard place on purpose to test their faith and loyalty, to reveal their helplessness and teach their dependence on Him, and to make their emergency His opportunity to show His power and love. Everyone who follows Christ comes to such a Rephidim, and the verse calls for implicit trust that He who leads there for their good and His glory will in His own time open the flinty rock, instead of dishonoring Him by unbelief, murmuring, and asking if He is among them.

Command at Rephidim

Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin by the commandment of the Lord and pitched at Rephidim where there was no water to drink. They were brought to waterless Rephidim by His express command, led enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, and He who is General of the armies of heaven knew beforehand that there was no water there. He led them there to test their faith and their faithfulness and loyalty to Him.

At Rephidim the thirsty people chided Moses, thirsted and murmured that he had brought them and their children and cattle up out of Egypt to kill them with thirst, and were almost ready to stone him. Moses asked them why they chided him and why they tempted the Lord, and then cried to the Lord for help because of their threat. In answer the Lord commanded Moses to go on before the people, to take with him of the elders of Israel, and to take in his hand the rod wherewith he smote the river, and go. That direction prepared Moses to strike the rock so the people could drink, showing that God was guiding them even through hardship and knew their need.

The rod was the one he had used to strike the river in Egypt, the rod associated with deliverance. Its river was the one whose waters God had turned back so Israel could cross and then released to overwhelm the Egyptians. It now became an instrument of mercy and deliverance, used in the following act to bring water from the rock for the people.

The Lord said He would stand before Moses upon the rock in Horeb, and Moses should smite the rock so water would come out for the people to drink. Christ stood by Moses, beside him, and caused the water to flow from it. Moses did so in the sight of the elders. The place was called Massah, Temptation, and Meribah, Strife, because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not.

This was the first occasion when God brought water from the rock in the wilderness. That stream continued to flow until Israel returned to the place nearly forty years later, when God stopped it to test whether they would trust Him or murmur again. The wilderness provision of water is commemorated at the Feast of Tabernacles by its most impressive ceremony calling forth greatest rejoicing. In it at the first dawn of day the priest in most imposing manner dips a flagon of water from the flowing waters of the Kedron, lifts it on high in the presence of the people before them, ascends the broad steps of the temple into the court of the priests, and pours the water out before the altar.

God's Purpose in Testing

God Himself brought His people to waterless Rephidim by express command, leading them enshrouded in the pillar of cloud though He knew beforehand there was no water there, to test their faith and their faithfulness and loyalty to Him after He had promised to bring them into the promised land. The command to go on before the people with the elders of Israel and the rod with which the river had been smitten was His answer when Moses cried to Him, and it prepared the way to strike the rock so the people could drink. Their emergency was His opportunity to show Himself as helper, for He longed to manifest Himself in emergency and to reveal abundant supplies at His disposal independent of surroundings.

The trial was permitted to reveal their helplessness, to teach their dependence on Him, and to give them reason to call upon Him for help as a hungry and thirsty child calls upon its father. His benefits and strength come from Him, and the heavenly Father has power to turn flinty rock into life-giving and refreshing streams, bearing burdens for His people that will only be fully known when face to face with God. In mercy He does not always place His people in the easiest places, lest in self-sufficiency they forget that He is helper in time of necessity. He could have avoided the difficulty at Rephidim, but He permitted it for their good and for His name's glory, so He could reveal His matchless love through miracles of grace.

A Rephidim is still permitted in His institution and among workers in His cause and the church, to try the hearts of all connected with His work and to reveal true, steadfast principles in contrast with selfish, ambitious sentiments. The trying process reveals gold of character and the faith cherished in His instrumentalities, while exposing those unfit for a leading position until convicted by the Holy Spirit and thoroughly converted in heart, mind, and strength. It shows how easily souls are deceived and misled by temptation, and how little faith professed believers have in God and how much confidence they have in themselves. Such a Rephidim proves a blessing to the institution and to the church because it leads to self-examination and establishes faith on better principles. It produces striving for higher moral perception and better preparation for work, causes sincere, honest, earnest, God-fearing souls to see all things in clearer light and to walk in that light blessed, and sets minds biased in a wrong direction right with a lesson never forgotten and of lasting benefit.

Trusting God in Trials

Everyone who takes up the cross to follow Christ comes to a Rephidim in experience, where disappointment, privation, and grievous trials and difficult places come even while following in the narrow way. Coming there does not mean walking away from God by human wisdom or being unloved and forsaken by Him, for Christ Himself leads there because He sees it is for their good and for His name's glory, and no tribulation there can separate them from Him. In mercy 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, but permits disappointment and trial that they may realize their own helplessness and learn to call upon the Lord for aid as a hungry and thirsty child calls upon its father.

The command teaches implicit faith in His power to guide when the way is rough and when brought into hard places by His own leading. Instead of waiting patiently for Him and reviving faith by recounting His great goodness and wonderful works in their behalf, and remembering His past manifestations of power, kindness, and love with praise and thanksgiving, Israel forgot their heavenly Leader. They should have asked God simply and trusted Him to provide, remembering His kindness.

Looked to in trusting faith and with remembrance of His many past manifestations of power in their behalf, He will in His own time deliver by opening the flinty rock and causing cooling streams to flow forth. As He turned the bitterness of Marah into sweetness, so He proves Himself an ever-present Saviour and an ever-present help in time of trouble who knows all about trials and is as willing to help now as on former occasions. His past help gives reason to trust Him and to go forward with full assurance.

The opposite course dishonors God and grieves Him by short-sighted unbelief, doubt, despondency, rebellion, distrust, wrath, bitterness, murmuring, complaining, and fretting against Him and against His appointed leader, and by asking, Is the Lord among us. Their murmuring was against God, and forgetting that their emergency was God's opportunity to reveal His help, their conduct is a warning to God's people upon whom the ends of the world are come not to imitate Israel at Rephidim when brought into difficulties. The lesson is not to imitate Israel in that unbelief but to trust His guiding hand.

In this setting Moses struck the rock in anger and took glory that belonged to God, failing to honor and magnify Him before the people. Israel's unbelief in this test, despite their earlier deliverance, was followed by war with their enemies.