Plead your case

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, “Give us water to drink!” Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me?’

Exodus 17:2 [NET]

Read Exodus 17:1-7

“You keep using the word inconceivable, but I do not believe you know what it means,” says Iñigo de Montoya to one of his companions in the film, “The Princess Bride.” How often have you used only to discover it had a different meaning than you thought?

Often we read this passage and it seems to have the ring of a bunch of spoilt children whinging to their older siblings and parents. Most translations lose the force of the word “contend” (vayyarev). The word means “strive, quarrel, be in contention” and even “litigation.” A translation “quarrel” does not appear to capture the magnitude of what is being done here. The people have a legal dispute — they are contending with Moses as if bringing a lawsuit.  But their lawsuit is not truly with Moses, it is with God.

At the heart of this episode is an intensely human desire for justice. We all desire to be treated fairly. We all desire to be cared for. The people of Israel are plaintiffs in a case asking for vindication. They feel like they have been wronged and misled. As we continue to read we see that Moses feels this same sense of injustice. “Why do you contend with me? It is unfair for you to litigate against me? It is God who has brought us to the wilderness.”

God is well aware of the children of Israel and their formal complaint.  The very language and structure of the Hebrew is one in which a a complaint is logically being laid out. They are all building a case against God. If God were who he said he were he would not rule this universe in the way it currently runs.

The people are ready to lynch Moses. They are taking justice into their hands. Before the end of the day Moses will be stoned if they can get their way. God, ever attentive of their cries for help, intervenes.

“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.”
Exodus 17:6

Once again the vocabulary is lost on us. The word which God uses to say he will stand before his people is the same word used a chapter later to speak of the people of Israel standing before a judge. (Exodus 18:13).

In the midst of our misdirected sense of justice and outright unthankfulness, God himself intervenes. His honor and justice are at stake. He is a God who is both good and loving. The only way to satisfy their thirst for justice is for the guilty to be punished. God loves his people too much to allow them to stand trial. He stands in their place. The Just Judge is judged in our place.

Moses strikes the rock and the wounded rock bursts with living water.

Today reflect on his justice and drink deeply of his grace. Throw away any misperceptions of justice and embrace his righteousness.

This post is also available in: Spanish

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