After leaving their encampment in the wilderness of sin, the Is'ra-el-ites journeyed in the direction of Mount Si'nai. They halted for a short time at places called Doph'kah and A'lush, and finally pitched their tents at a place called Reph'i-dim, which was near Mount Ho'reb and Mount Si'nai.
The region called Reph'i-dim was without water; although the Is'ra-el-ites were being supplied with food from Heaven, they were suffering intensely with thirst. They began to murmur again; knowing that Mo'ses had been aided by the LORD many times before in serving them, they said to him, "Give us water that we may drink."
In reply to the prayer of Mo'ses, the LORD said to him, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Ho'reb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink."
Facing the multitude of thirsty men and women, whose little children were crying for water, and whose sheep and cattle were panting with thirst, Mo'ses asked them to gather before the rock in Ho'reb. He struck the rock as the LORD had commanded, and suddenly there burst forth from the mountain of stone a stream of fresh water which ran like a river through the encampment of the Is'ra-el-ites. Both people and cattle had water in abundance, and the stream continued to flow as long as they remained in the valley.
Living in A-ra'bi-a at that time was a large and fierce tribe of wanderers known as the Am'a-lek-ites. They were descendants of E'sau, about whom we learnt in a previous story.
When the Am'a-lek-ites learnt that the descendants of Ja'cob who were now called the Is'ra-el-lites encamped in the wilderness near Mount Si'nai, they made a crafty attack upon the weakest point in the defenses of their ancient enemy.
