Massah

Massah (Hebrew: מַסָּה‎) is one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites, during the Exodus;[1] although the list of visited stations in the Book of Numbers does not mention it.[2] In the Book of Exodus, Massah is mentioned at the same time as Meribah, in a context which suggests that Massah is the same location as Meribah, but other biblical mentions of Massah and Meribah, such as that in the Blessing of Moses,[3][4] seem to imply that they are distinct locations.[5][6]

Not to be confused with Masah, Massa, or Massiah.
For the town in Libya, see Massah, Libya.

The Biblical text states that the Israelites argued with Moses about the lack of water, with Moses rebuking the Israelites for testing Yahweh,[7] hence the name Massah,[1] which means testing. In an earlier narrative concerning Marah, a similar argument is related, in which Yahweh tested the Israelites;[8] some textual scholars regard this latter episode, which doesn't mention Massah explicitly, as being the Elohist version of the naming of Massah, while the former account, in which the name Massah refers to the testing of Yahweh by the Israelites, is attributed to the Jahwist.[5]

During his sermons in Deuteronomy, Moses explicitly calls out the Israelites for tempting the Lord at Massah[9].

Psalm 95,[10] a call to worship and obedience, recalls the incident at Massah:

O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

As Psalm 95 indicated, this act of testing and defiance led to the entire generation of Israel forbidden to enter promised land:

For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.” Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”


References
  1. Exodus 17:7
  2. Numbers 33
  3. Deuteronomy 33:8
  4. Massah and Meribah are also referenced in Deuteronomy 32, Ezekiel 47, and Psalms 81, 95, and 106
  5. Peake's commentary on the Bible
  6. Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
  7. Exodus 17:2
  8. Exodus 15:25
  9. Deuteronomy 6:16
  10. Ps. 95:7-9
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