Notice how the questions alone tell the story:

"Why do you quarrel with me?"
"Why do you test the LORD?"
"Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?"
"What shall I do with this people?"
"Is the LORD among us or not?"

• Life in the wilderness is precarious at best; bidden by God, (v 1), Israel can find no water to drink—the most elemental resource for life.
• The narrator adds a sidebar in verse 7: "He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD . . ."

. . . the narrator is . . . [interested] with issues of faith and unfaith. It is not that Yahweh must demonstrate a capacity for giving life . . . What is to be exhibited is not the power of God, but Israel’s inappropriate and remarkable lack of faith. In the context of the narrative account of wonder in Egypt, Israel should have known and trusted . . .Israel dares to ask a demanding question that presumes upon Yahweh (verse 7). The question makes the religious issue completely pragmatic, resulting in an affirmation about Yahweh that in fact is a demand that Yahweh must now (right now!) give an account of Yahweh’s sovereignty. [1]

 

Ever tried one of those if-you-bless-me-then-you-can-be-my-God prayers (Gen. 28:20-21)?

• Quote:

The point of prayer is not to tell God what you want . . . it is not approaching God with our demands, but listening for God’s leading. It is not seeking our will, but learning to discern God’s will. This is so important to understand in a culture that caters to our every whim. Prayer isn’t about me—it is about God. [2]

• Have you read The Prayer of Jabez? (It may be useful to be aware of it as you listen to this passage.)

 

Describe a television commercial that follows the same plot as this text: problem or need / solution / happy ending.

• Use the commercial to enter the story in Exodus 17. At the center of the narrative is the faithful intervention of God.
• How is our perception of God like television commercials? How is God portrayed / judged by the desired outcomes for the asking community. If we lack our answers and provisions, then God is not as present for us.
• The temptation to reduce our faith-based worship to utilitarian effect is one that’s made the rounds for a long time. The text—among other things—confronts our own communities of faith and probes our own tendencies to program God to do the wonders required by the community.

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible I (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), page 818.
[2] James Mulholland, Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2001.