Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
People did chide with Moses. The want of water was a privation, the severity of which we cannot estimate, and it was a great trial to the Israelites; but their conduct on this new occasion was outrageous: it amounted even to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an opposition to his minister, a distrust of his care, an indifference to his kindness, an unbelief in his providence, a trying of his patience and fatherly forbearance.