Massah

Massah (meaning temptation or testing) was the name given to Rephidim, where the Israelites quarreled with Moses over the lack of water and put the LORD to the test, demanding "Is the LORD among us, or not?" (Exodus 17:7). Moses struck the rock at Horeb and water came forth; the site was given the double name Massah and Meribah (meaning contention) to memorialize both Israel's testing of God and their contention with Moses.

Massah became a byword for faithless rebellion in later Scripture. Deuteronomy 6:16 warns Israel not to put the LORD to the test as at Massah, and Psalm 95:8–9 calls the wilderness generation to account: "Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work." The New Testament applies this warning directly: Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 in refusing Satan's temptation at the pinnacle of the temple (Matthew 4:7), and Hebrews 3:8 applies Psalm 95 to warn the church against the same unbelief.