What Does Exodus 17:2 Mean?
Therefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us waters that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you strive with me? Why do you test the LORD?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?THE KEY
The argument is aimed at Moses, but the test beneath it is whether the LORD is present.
THE MEANING
The verse holds both truths together: thirst is real, and a demand for relief can also challenge whether the LORD is present. When pressure is directed at a human mediator, the question beneath it can reach beyond that person to God. Need and accusation coexist in the same plea.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a demand for relief is only practical: when lack is made a test of God’s presence, the request carries a deeper challenge.
THE ROOT
וַיָּרֶב
vayarev
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
To contend, dispute, or strive.
“strove / strive” in this verse is vayarev. The Hebrew verb names contention, a conflict that keeps its force when the same root appears in Meribah. Moses answers the dispute with him by naming the deeper question: whether the LORD is being tested.
ALSO GROWS
riv: Contend or dispute.
רִיב
This is the root verb behind the people’s quarrel with Moses.
merivah: Strife or contention; also the place-name Meribah.
מְרִיבָה
The place-name in the next part of the account preserves the dispute in the same word-family.
תְּנַסּוּן
tenassun
GROWS FROM
נסה
n-s-h
To test or put to the proof.
The verb means putting the LORD to a test, not merely tempting someone toward wrongdoing. Its root returns in the name Massah, linking the people’s question about God’s presence to the act of testing.
ALSO GROWS
massah: Testing; also the place-name Massah.
מַסָּה
The place-name in Exodus 17:7 marks this episode as a test of the LORD.
nissah: He tested or put to the proof.
נִסָּה
This verbal form makes explicit the testing action that Moses identifies beneath the dispute.
תְּנוּ
tenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is tenu. The request uses a form of nathan, whose range includes giving and setting something in place. Here the requested gift of water becomes the point at which the question of God’s presence is pressed.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb behind the people’s demand for water.
mattanah: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root brings out the gift-like dimension of what the people ask to receive.
THE PATTERN
A real need becomes a test when lack is turned into a verdict on whether God is present.
And he called the name of the place Massah, the testing, and Meribah, the striving, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD in our midst, or not?You shall not test the LORD your God, as you tested him at Massah, the testing place.Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not test the LORD your God.THE THREAD
And he called the name of the place Massah, the testing, and Meribah, the striving, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD in our midst, or not?Massah carries the root of testing, and Meribah carries the root of contention, the two actions held together in this verse. The closing question makes the hidden issue plain: the demand for water has become a question about whether the LORD is among them.
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