Exodus 17:1 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”
“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”
So, this is the second time the Bible mentions that the people did not have water to drink. What happened the first time? God gave them drinkable water by turning the bad water to good. This time there was no water at all that could be seen. The people then complained to Moses about having no water.
Exodus 17:3 But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Now they are complaining that they will die of thirst because they left the land of Egypt. Oh, why Moses? Why did you bring us here to die?! We could die just as well in Egypt! Do they not realize it was God who told Moses to bring them out of Egypt? There grumblings against Moses, God's servant, is really against God, though they direct it towards someone else. The people of Israel did not have their focus on God. It was their physical needs they were focused on. Even after being shown several times that God was going to provide their physical needs, so God could keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the people still grumbled and complained. They did not see their provision as being from the Lord. When we take our focus off of God, we fail to see how he will provide (or has provided) for our every need. We need to stay focused on His and know that all we have and receive is from Him. Our grumbling and complaining about needing this or that are us grumbling and complaining against God thinking he hasn't given us what we needed, or better yet, what we THINK we need.
Exodus 17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”
The people became so upset at Moses that he felt his life was threatened.
Exodus 17:5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. 6 I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
God sent Moses and the elders of Israel to a rock. Moses hit the rock and water poured out. The people drank, thanked God and went on their way. Soon, they would grumble again, as if forgetting all that has happened here!
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