Rabbi Roodyn

ח) אַל תַּקְשׁוּ לְבַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָה כְּיוֹם מַסָּה בַּמִּדְבָּר

Do not harden your heart as [in] Merivah, as [on] the day of Massah in the desert.

We now take a look at Jewish history and the lessons that can be learnt from it. As is well know there is no classical Hebrew word for history and modern Hebrew uses the borrowed term historia.  Rabbi Sacks offers a beautiful explanation that history is his-story whereas we have zikaron, memory. Memory is important in as much as it impacts the present and the future. In the coming pesukim we therefore recall past events in order to learn lessons for today.

Rav Hirsch notes that the errors of Massah and Merivah took place at the very start of our wanderings in the desert. These events characterised the moral weakness of the generation which showed almost no improvement until the end of the exodus.  The episode at Merivah showed dissatisfaction with Hashem’s guidance and Massah was an instance of doubting Hashem’s power and ability to protect us. The Jewish people exclaimed היש ה’ בקרבנו אם אין, is Hashem amongst us or not?

In the wilderness where every moment of our continued survival should have been proof of Hashem’s ability to take care of everything the Jewish people should have had no doubts at all. Instead the place is called Massah because they put Hashem to the test, to see if He was capable of protecting them. Rather than demanding new proofs they should have drawn strength from Hashem’s track record in taking them out of Egypt. This alone should have imbued them with a sense of confidence during challenging times.