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Lenten Season · Third Sunday of Lent · Year A

Exodus 17:3-7

Water from the Rock at Massah and Meribah

March 8, 2026

Moses Striking the Rock, Jan Steen
Moses Striking the Rock, Jan Steen, c. 1660–1661Philadelphia Museum of Art
Steen, usually a painter of disorderly households, paints the miracle as another crowded domestic scene: children, dogs, mothers with jugs, everyone jostling.Give us water to drink: the reading is a complaint before it is a miracle, and Steen painted the complaining.Jan SteenA Dutch painter and brewer whose chaotic households gave the language a phrase, and who treated biblical subjects the same way.Philadelphia Museum of ArtA vast neoclassical museum at the end of a boulevard, with steps that are visited more often than the collection.Philadelphia Museum of Art
Roman Lectionary
GospelJohn 4:5-42Jn 4:5-42 orJohn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42Alt. GospelIf First Scrutiny of the Elect: John 4:5-42If First Scrutiny of the Elect: Jn 4:5-42 orJohn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42Jn 4:5-15, 19b-26, 39a, 40-42
Second ReadingRom. 5:1-2, 5-8Rom 5:1-2, 5-8Alt. 2nd ReadingIf First Scrutiny of the Elect: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8If First Scrutiny of the Elect: Rom 5:1-2, 5-8
First ReadingExod. 17:3-7Ex 17:3-7Alt. 1st ReadingIf First Scrutiny of the Elect: Exodus 17:3-7If First Scrutiny of the Elect: Ex 17:3-7
Responsorial PsalmPs. 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)Alt. PsalmIf First Scrutiny of the Elect: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)If First Scrutiny of the Elect: Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)

Overview & Insights

"Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?" (Exodus 17:3)

Israel has followed the Lord out of Egypt only to run dry in the wilderness, and the people turn on Moses rather than trust the God who has already fed and led them. God tells Moses to strike the rock at Horeb in front of the elders, and water flows for a grumbling people who did not deserve it, leaving the place named for their testing and quarreling rather than for the gift they received.

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Take it further: Exodus 17:3-7

Commentary

Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7Commentary on Ex 17:1-7 Working Preacher

A Luther Seminary reading of the third wilderness crisis and the natural, prophetic shape of the water's release.

Exodus 17:1-7 CommentaryEx 17:1-7 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

A Reformed preaching commentary on Moses striking the rock as an instrument of life, not death.

Exodus 17 Commentary: God's Provision and ProtectionEx 17 Commentary: God's Provision and Protection Enduring Word · David Guzik

A verse by verse evangelical commentary on the thirst crisis and the rock as a picture of Christ.

Exodus 17 CommentaryEx 17 Commentary Precept Austin

A detailed study page on the people's grumbling and God's provision at Massah and Meribah.

Exodus 17:6, classic commentatorsEx 17:6, classic commentators BibleHub

Barnes, Gill, and other historic commentators gathered on the striking of the rock.

Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A Agape Bible Study

A Catholic study of the Sunday's readings that opens with Israel's thirst in the desert and its tie to Christian baptism.

Background & Word Study

Book of Exodus Summary (Part 1)Book of Ex Summary (Part 1) BibleProject

An animated overview of Exodus 1-18, the chapters containing the water from the rock story.

Exodus 17Ex 17 Sefaria

The Hebrew text of the chapter, including the naming of Massah and Meribah.

The Church Fathers

Exodus 17:6, patristic commentaryEx 17:6, patristic commentary Catena

Patristic comment reading the struck rock as a figure of Christ, the source of living water.

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