Read Exodus 17:1-7 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Exo 17:1-17 {p} YHVH provides water from the rock at Massah and Meribah
Hebrew roots
Strive is Strong’s H7378 ריב riyb, a primitive root meaning, “to strive or contend.” The ancient pictographs are resh + yud + bet.
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
yud י = the closed hand, thus work, throw, worship
bet ב = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
The story the pictographs are telling is that the head man (resh) settles all the contentions (yud, i.e., a closed hand representing fighting rather than the open hand, kaph, representing friendship) of the family and extended family or tribe (bet). The patriarch of the family, the head of the father’s house, settled all the disputes within the family, whose decisions were final.
Massah is Strong’s H4532, Maccah, a proper noun; from Strong’s H4531, maccah, a concrete noun meaning, “temptation, trial;” from Strong’s H5254 נסה nacah, a primitive root meaning, “to test, to try, to prove.” We have seen this word before.
Meribah is Strong’s H4809, Meriybah, a proper noun; from Strong’s H4808, meriybah, a concrete noun meaning, “strife contention;” from Strong’s H7378 ריב riyb, the same primitive root as riyb above.
Exo 17:1-7 {p} chiastic structure
This structure has another unusual central axis, the murmuring of the people against Moses in saying,
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt?
As I was thinking about this central axis, it reminded me of Israel’s similar complaint of no water and no food that we just studied. Moses said something unusual then:
And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel: “At evening, then you shall know that YHVH has brought you out from the land of Egypt; and in the morning, then you shall see the glory of YHVH; for that He has heard your murmurings against YHVH; and what are we, that you murmur against us?” Exo 16:6-7
Could the first generation of Israel who were born slaves in Egypt have been laboring under the belief that the whole Exodus was all Moses’ doing, and that he was just telling them that YHVH had told him this or that, but that it wasn’t so? I wonder if that is why they kept charging Moses with bad motives in him bringing them out from Egypt.
And it makes me wonder, for myself, when a complaining attitude tries to rear its ugly head, is that a red flag waving on top of a big lie which says, YHVH has not really brought you to this (place, moment, circumstance, take your pick), but it is your (husband’s, boss’, parent’s, children’s, pastor’s) fault.
Do I really believe it is YHVH who is leading me, with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, through this wilderness that is the kingdoms of this world, ever since my departure from the kingdom of darkness, while I am journeying toward the Promised Land? Is that where a contentious spirit arises among the redeemed? Because if I had remembered, when faced with a perceived lack or difficulty, that it is YHVH Himself who led me to that place, then perhaps the realization of the lack would break upon me with a spirit of joy rather than dread, knowing that YHVH was getting ready to do His God thing again in meeting an impossible situation!
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