Water from the rock
Exodus & Wilderness · Reviewed · BSB
Content revision: 7cd12f1450e60567 · Editorial review: 2026-09-23
Date: c. 1446 BC · Year 1, before Sinai. Dated from 1 Kings 6:1, which places the Exodus 480 years before Solomon began the temple (c. 966 BC). Many scholars instead date the Exodus to about 1260 BC.
At Rephidim there is no water for the people. They quarrel with Moses, God provides water, and Israel encounters Amalek.
Exodus 17 places the camp and Amalek’s attack at Rephidim, and describes Moses going ahead to a rock at Horeb. This is distinct from the later water episode at Kadesh in Numbers 20.
Primary Scripture
17:1 Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
17:2 So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
17:3 But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
17:4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”
17:5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
17:6 Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
17:8 After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”
17:10 Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
17:11 As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.
17:12 When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.
17:13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his army with the sword.
17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
17:15 And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner.
17:16 “Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
33:14 They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
33:15 They set out from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Related Scripture
Direct recollection: Deuteronomy 6:16 names Massah, the testing associated with Exodus 17; 25:17–19 recalls Amalek’s attack on the vulnerable during the journey.
Deuteronomy 6:16 · recollection
Deuteronomy 25:17–19 · recollection
Location evidence
Wadi Rufaiyil is one of several proposed identifications. Its precise relationship to the events is uncertain.
Event map marker: Proposed site; [longitude, latitude] = [33.880278, 28.623056]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Rephidim: Proposed site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [33.880278, 28.623056]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible · site identifications
OpenBible · site identifications
For the class
What is the difference between bringing need to God and putting him to the test?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (src/data/journey.ts)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm