Tu’apulelulu Ma’asi 16, 2023
נסה Putting
Sin on the Map
Faka‘ilonga‘i
‘enau angahala
EXODUS 17:7
AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE MASSAH AND MERIBAH, BECAUSE OF THE QUARRELING OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, AND BECAUSE THEY TESTED THE LORD BY SAYING, "IS THE LORD AMONG US OR NOT?"
EXODUS 17:7
Pea na‘a ne fakahingoa ‘a e potu ko ia ko Masa (‘Ahi‘ahi), mo Mēlipa (ko Kē), koe‘uhi ā ko e kē ‘a ha‘a ‘Isileli, pea koe‘uhi ko ‘enau ala‘aki kia Sihova; he‘enau pehē, Pe ‘oku ‘i hotau lotolotonga ‘a Sihova pe ‘ikai?
Biblical names often tell a story. In the wilderness, those stories are frequently ugly. When God's fire burned up rebels, the place was Taberah ("burning" Num. 11:1-3). When greedy Israelites died during a plague, that place was Kibroth-hattaavah ("graves of greediness" 11:33-34). So here when Israel engaged in a riv ("strife or dispute") with God, and nasah ("tested") him, the location was forever stamped Meribah (from riv) and Massah (from nasah). Israel literally put sin on the map.
"Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness," the psalmist says (95:8). Those hard hearts prompted God to swear, "They shall not enter my rest" (v. 11). Indeed, they did not, but their "bodies fell in the wilderness" due to their unbelief (Heb. 3:17). There remains, however, "a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (4:9), a rest won for us by the Messiah. He, our greater Joshua, leads us into the promised land of the Father's rest, for his saving work mapped out life and hope for us.
Keep us far from testing and
striving with you, O Lord, that we may draw near to your throne of grace with
confidence to receive rest in your kingdom.
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