And the children of Israel did so, and gathered manna more or less. And Moses said to them, “Let no man reserve of it till the morning.”
But some of them, Dathan and Abiram, men of wickedness, did reserve of it till the morning; but it produced worms, and putrefied. And they gathered from the time of the dawn until the fourth hour of the day; when the sun had waxed hot upon it, it liquefied and made streams of water, which flowed away into the great sea; and wild animals that were clean, and cattle, came to drink of it; and the sons of Israel hunted, and ate them.[[538]]
Some of the Gentiles, the Edomites and Midianites, came up, and, seeing the chosen people eating, they also gathered of the manna and tasted, but it was to them as wormwood.[[539]]
8. THE SMITTEN ROCK. (Exod. xvii. 1-7.)
And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin and encamped in Rephidim, a place where their hands were idle in the commandments of the law, and the fountains were dry, and there was no water for the people to drink.
And the wicked of the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why contend ye with me? Why tempt ye the Lord.”
But the people were athirst for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, “Why hast thou made us come up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle, with thirst?”
And Moses prayed before the Lord, saying, “What shall I do for this people? Yet a little while, and they will stone me.”
And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass over before the people, and take the rod, with which thou didst smite the river, in thine hand, and go from the face of their murmuring. Behold, I will stand before thee there, on the spot where thou sawest the impression of the foot on Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock with thy rod, and therefrom shall come forth waters for drinking, and the people shall drink.”
And Moses did so before the Elders of Israel. And he called the name of that place Temptation and Strife; because the people strove with him there, and tempted God.[[540]]