Massah [testing, temptation].

A name given by Moses to the place at Horeb where the smitten rock yielded water, because the Israelites there in unbelief put Yahweh to a test (Ex. 17:7; Ps. 95:8-9, RSV; and also Deut. 33:8, where the thought is expressed that Yahweh tested the fidelity of the Levites in the person of Moses). In Ex. 17:7 the place is called Meribah also; possibly so in the 2 other passages already cited, although there 2 distinct events and places may be in the writer's mind. The name Massah alone is used in Deut. 6:16; 9:22...