Exodus 17:2-3

"Wherefore the people strove with Moses, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt Jehovah? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

This is the second of three episodes in which the water problem was dominant. The first was at Marah (Exodus 15:22-25), and the third was at Meribah near Kedesh (Numbers 20:10-13).

"Give us water ..." The ugliness of this demand is amazing, the demand being, in effect, an outright rebellion against Moses, including actually a threat of stoning him (Exodus 17:4). Israel appears here in a very dark and sinful mood. Their sin consisted of:

1. their demand of a mortal man (Moses) only what GOD could give;

2. their failure to pray to God;

3. their demand for water, not in the form of an humble petition, but in the terminology of arrogant unbelief;

4. their false accusations against Moses, alleging that he had a design of killing them all with thirst; and

5. their refusal to believe that the problem could be solved. This is an excellent picture of that "evil heart of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:12) which persistently manifested itself throughout the whole period of Israel in the wilderness. Significantly, the N.T. writers have abundantly warned Christians against falling into the same sin.

Moses faithfully did what Israel should have done; he laid the situation before God in prayer (Exodus 17:4).

"The people strove with Moses ..." The word for "strove" here actually means "quarreled."[3] "Rebelled" is also very closely akin to the meaning here. The name Meribah given to this event also means "quarreled."[4]