All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why […]
⛓ Read Exodus 17 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Allusion1
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
The Pharisees 'testing' Jesus by demanding a sign from heaven inverts Massah/Meribah, where Israel 'tested the LORD' by demanding proof ('Is the LORD among us or not?'). Mark casts the sign-seekers as the new wilderness generation that puts God to the test; the testing-in-the-desert motif coheres with the feeding context just preceding.
Medium confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
Massah/Meribah, where Israel 'tested the LORD' demanding water — the very event Deut 6:16 names — supplies the recurrent background for the temple-pinnacle scene where Jesus refuses to put God to the test.
Medium confidence