A Thirsty People—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 3A (Exodus 17)


Exodus 17:1-7  New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

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                When the Hebrew people cried out to God for deliverance from bondage in Egypt, God heard their cries and sent Moses to rescue them from Pharaoh’s grip. It took some doing, but eventually, Pharaoh gave in and Moses led the people out of Egypt. Off they went, heading toward the Promised Land, a Land filled with milk and honey. Unfortunately, their journey took longer than expected—a lot longer. Apparently, Moses’ GPS wasn’t working very well because what should have taken a few weeks takes forty years. In fact, it takes so long that Moses doesn’t get to cross the finish line (but that’s a different story).              

                The story we have before us in Exodus 17 reports that the people are not happy with Moses’ leadership. Yes, he delivered them from slavery, but here they were out in the desert and their water supplies had dwindled to the point that people had begun to wonder whether it would have been better to stay back in Egypt where they at least had enough to drink. So, when they camped at Rephidim they began to quarrel and demand that Moses give them something to drink as if Moses could do something about their situation. Moses told them that by complaining as they were testing God, who had heard their cries and delivered them from slavery (I’m assuming the reason why their complaints served as a test for God). They wanted freedom and God showed them the way. So, what more did they want? Of course, this isn’t the first nor the last time the people murmured against Moses and God. That was a rather common theme. If we step back to chapter 16, we’ll see that the issue at hand was a lack of food, which God took care of with the manna. Now it was a lack of water.

                When we read a passage like this, where do we find ourselves? Do we identify with Moses or the people? Do we criticize the people for their lack of faith in God? Or, do we wonder whether, had we been in their place, we would have been right there with them demanding that Moses fulfill his responsibilities and find them some water? After all, isn’t that why they agreed to follow Moses? He told them he represented God and that God would lead them to the Promised Land. They agreed to the terms but now they begin to wonder if they had been sold a bill of goods.

                So here is Moses, being forced to defend himself and God. The people are understandably upset, and Moses is caught in the middle. He is the one God charged with leading them out of Egypt, but now everyone, perhaps even Moses, wonders if all he had done was lead them out of slavery to their deaths from thirst in the wilderness. At this point, Moses might be wondering why he even checked out the burning bush. He had a nice job tending sheep for his father-in-law. He’d traded that for trying to shepherd these people who didn’t seem grateful for his sacrifice. While had been able to perform a few miracles along the way like parting the sea none of that mattered now that the people demanded water. What good was his staff now? Moses might have even wondered at this point what he’d done to deserve this. It’s a question that many who have been tasked with leadership, including pastoral leadership, have been known to ask. It’s a question many clergy asked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, many older clergy chose to retire, and many younger ones left for greener pastures. Who needs this? was the word I heard in many corners. Maybe Moses told God, what a lot of us told God during the pandemic: “I didn’t learn how to deal with this kind of a problem in seminary. So, what am I supposed to do?” In Moses' case, he was worried that the people might stone him to death. So, it appears that if given the chance, Moses would resign his position and let God find someone else to shepherd these people. Now, the fact is, the people did have a right to gripe. After all, they surely hadn’t signed up for a trip leading to their death in a waterless land.

                As Moses cried out to God for help in this matter, we discover that the God who parted the sea and provided manna each day had a solution to the problem at hand. God told Moses to take the elders with him, along with the staff he used to strike the Nile and go to the rock at Horeb. When they arrive at the rock, they will find God standing on the rock. God then instructs Moses that he should strike the rock with his staff. That’s what he did and when he struck the rock, water began to flow from the rock. What a blessing that must have been. If only drought-stricken lands today could produce water from a rock.

                As is often the case in Exodus, this place where the people camp takes on a new name. It is called Massah (Test) and Meribah (Quarrel). That is because the people tested God and quarreled. As they quarreled and tested God, they asked “Is the LORD among us or not?” They had seen God at work, but they still weren’t sure that God was with them. This episode might be remembered as one of those times when Israel tested God. That is, they showed a lack of faith. Consider the word of the Psalmist: “They tested God again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel” (Ps.78:41).

                I have never seen the parting of the sea, bread fall from heaven, or see someone strike a rock to get water to flow from it. Now, I know that there will be those who want to explain how all of this could happen. We moderns love natural explanations of biblical miracles. Regardless of the explanations, I’ve not seen anything close to what is described here with my own eyes. Stories like this sound fantastic, and they are. We wonder what God might be up to in our context. Why doesn’t God resolve all our problems with a snap of a finger? Wouldn’t it be great if God took care of hunger and disease and reversed climate change? If God can do this, why doesn’t God take care of things? Or, perhaps there are things God can’t do? Maybe these problems we face in life lie beyond God’s ability to deal with them. If so, what good is God? That is a question many ask. Philosophers and theologians put together what is known as theodicies, or defenses of God in the face of evil. Personally, I’ve not found any of them that helpful. I embrace the belief that God is good and has power, but doesn’t have all power (omnipotent). So, there are things God can’t do. But perhaps there are things we can do in partnership with God.

                In this story, God provides the people with water to sustain their lives and they continue toward the Promised Land. Moses keeps his job, and no one stones him to death. So it’s all good in the end. But what might we learn from the story? One possibility is that we can read this spiritually, such that even in the most difficult times God sustains us and empowers us spiritually. God provides us with water as well that will sustain us—spiritually. Remember the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. He offers her living water. He tells her that everyone who drinks the water of Jacob’s well would again thirst, but “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman told Jesus, “I want some of that water” (Jn. 4:13-15).  So do I!  

                As the Psalmist puts it

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
    the face of God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?
” (Psalm 42:1-3)

The answer comes in verse 11 of Psalm 42:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
    my help and my God.

                   So, the answer is—yes, God is with us!


Image attribution: Swanson, John August. Moses, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56554 [retrieved March 4, 2023]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.

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