Exodus 17a
13 May 2026 - Theology
Test of the Soul
The story picks up here where people of God are still on their 40 day journey to Mt. Sinai. This chapter contains God’s next test of the people - a test of their souls.
soul (nephesh) = body and spirit, seat of emotions, consciousness
There is something going on with the people. They begin to want something more beyond survival. They want the Lord to prove that He is present and can give them what they crave. The people begin to test the Lord, and make demands of Him.
Exodus 17:2 - “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 people would not give themselves (their soul) to the Lord unless He proved Himself to them.
Referring to the people of Israel during the Exodus:
Psalm 78:22 - “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:”
Even when the Lord was working miracle after miracle for the Israelites, the Israelites continued to complain to Moses and even asked the question in verse 7, “Is the Lord present among us, or not?” The people did not fully trust that the Lord was present and actively working to save His people.
Unfortunately, is often the same with believers today. Sometimes we remember the Lord as our Savior, and other times we seek to save ourselves. We can grow our faith in the Lord by remembering His promises to His people (by reading His word). We can then grow in confidence because we have seen many of those promises come to pass. Read Genesis 2-3 to see what happens when we forget that the Lord is present among us, and that He cares for us. We will see later in this chapter what true faith looks like.
Exodus 17:4 - “And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.”
Moses cries out to the Lord because he fears for his life. The Lord’s response is to ask for Moses’ soul. Moses is afraid of being stoned and God immediately asks him to go out before the people.
Exodus 17:5 - “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.”
Moses is to take the staff that he has been using since the burning bush and strike the rock in Horeb (same mountain range as Mt. Sinai). The Lord promises that when Moses strikes the rock, He will make water come out of it, so that the people may drink.
Exodus 17:6 - “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
Notice that the Lord says He will stand before Moses there upon Horeb. The rabbis interpret this to mean that the Lord will stand between Moses and the rock.
“smite” - Strong’s Concordance [5221]
- to strike, smite, hit, beat, slay, kill
This is the same word used in Exodus 2:12 when Moses slew [5221] the Egyptian who was smiting [5221] a Hebrew slave.
Moses here is, at the Lord God’s command, striking the Lord who was before Him. This is a picture of Jesus Christ, who was smitten in His work of providing salvation.
Paul referrences this moment of the Exodus in 1 Corinthians 10:
1 Corinthians 10:4 - “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”
Even when the people tested the Lord, He proved that He is a God of grace and love, who would take the blow for the people on their behalf. Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel (6), so that they would yada (know) from experience that He was present with them and was responsible for their salvation. The people did not pass the test of the soul, but they did get to learn something about who the Lord is.
References:
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The BEMA Podcast, Episode 21: With All Your Soul & “Very”
- The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)