Again the Israelites complained because there was no water to drink when they camped at Rephidim (cf. 15:24). At Marah there was bad water, but now there was none.
". . . the supreme calamity of desert travellers befell them--complete lack of water."273
Rephidim was near the wilderness of Sinai (v. 1; cf. 19:2; Num. 33:15) and the Horeb (Sinai) range of mountains (v. 6).
The Israelites' grumbling demonstrated lack of faith since God had promised to supply their needs (v. 2). They wanted Him to act as they dictated rather than waiting for Him to provide as He had promised. This was how they tested or challenged the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 10:10). It was proper for God to test them (15:25; 16:4), but it was improper for them to test Him.
"One of Moses' most characteristic and praiseworthy traits was that he took his difficulties to the Lord (v. 4; 15:25; 32:30; 33:8; Num 11:2, 11; 12:13; 14:13-19 et al.)."274
By using his staff (v. 5) Moses proved that God was still enabling him to perform miracles as he had done in Egypt. He still had divine regal authority, and the power of God was still with him. The elders apparently accompanied Moses as representatives of the people since the whole nation could not get close enough to witness the miracle.
Horeb may refer to the mountain range at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula (v. 6; cf. Deut. 1:2; 1 Kings 19:8) also called Sinai.275Wherever the Horeb range may have been, Moses struck the rock somewhere near these mountains.276
Massah means "testing"or "proof"and Meribah "murmuring,""dissatisfaction,"or "contention"(v. 7).277The first name commemorated the Israelites' second action toward God and the second name their first action toward Moses. They failed to believe that the Lord was among them as He had promised He would be.
"In our own time the same demand is made, the same challenge repeated. Men are not satisfied with the moral evidences of the Being and providence of God, they point to the physical evils around, the hunger and thirst, the poverty and misery, the pollution and self-will of our times, crying--If there be a God, why does He permit these things? Why does He allow suffering and sorrow? Why does He not interpose? And then, when the heavens are still silent, they infer that there is no God, that the sky is an empty eye-socket, and that there is nothing better than to eat and drink, because death is an eternal sleep."278
God had assured the Israelites in Egypt that He would bring them into the Promised Land. Consequently all their grumbling demonstrated a lack of faith. This second instance of complaining about lack of water was more serious than the first because God had provided good water for them earlier in the desert (15:25).