What Does Exodus 17:2 Mean?

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" The Rephidim complaint crosses from grumbling (previous crises) to quarreling: the Hebrew riv (to quarrel, contend, dispute) is legal/judicial language: a formal contention or claim against a party. Israel is rather than complaining; it is making a legal claim against Moses. The escalation from grumbling to quarreling marks the Rephidim faith-crisis as the most intense water test in the wilderness period so far.

"Give us water to drink": the demand-form of the request contrasts with Moses' instruction at Marah (Exodus 15:25, Moses cried to YHWH who showed him a log) where the solution came through prayer. At Rephidim, Israel skips prayer and goes straight to demand on Moses. The quarrel bypasses the proper covenant protocol (cry to YHWH, receive from YHWH through Moses) and makes Moses the direct target of a supply demand. The covenant structure is being short-circuited by the quarrel.

"Why do you test the LORD?". Moses identifies the quarrel as a YHWH-test rather than a Moses-supply failure: the real issue is not Moses' water provision but Israel's trust in YHWH's provision. The "testing YHWH" charge (Hebrew: nassot, to test/prove/tempt) becomes the theological category for impatient covenant unbelief: testing YHWH means demanding that YHWH prove himself rather than trusting him to provide.

The site will be named "Massah" (testing) for exactly this reason (verse 7). Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 ("You shall not put the LORD your God to the test") in his wilderness temptation (Matthew 4:7), connecting the Rephidim test-pattern to the temptation context.