Much Quarrelling

 

Haiku of testing

In the wilderness,

 

pitched their tents at Rephidim.

 

Dry, with no water.

 

 

The people quarrelled

 

with Moses. We need water,

 

can you give us some?

 

 

Don’t quarrell with me!

 

The Lord brought us to this place;

 

Why do you test God?

 

 

They kept complaining.

 

You brought us out from Egypt

 

to kill us with thirst!

 

Moses cried to God.

 

What shall I do with this mob,

 

they might just stone me?

 

Take your staff and go

 

with some elders to Horeb,

 

I’ll be at the rock.

 

Strike it with your staff,

 

water will spring from the rock;

 

the people can drink.

 

 

It was as God said,

 

the elders saw the wonder;

 

the Lord passed the test!

Massah, Meribah;

 

good names for a testing place

 

with much quarrelling!

 

Is the Lord with us

 

or not? It seems the people

 

were the ones tested.

 

© Ken Rookes 2023

Complaining place

Haiku for the thirsty

Water; essential

for all creatures, without it

there can be no life.

Understandably

they thirsted, craving water;

I would complain, too.

In the wilderness

with no river, pool, or spring;

what was he thinking!

How about it, Mo?

Did you bring us here to die,

along with our kids?

Where’s your God, Moses?

It’s getting hard to believe

when our throats are parched!

Okay God, your turn!

They are ready to stone me;

what am I to do?

Take your staff, Moses,

stand at the rock of Horeb,

I’ll give you water!

Moses struck the rock,

water gushed out. He called it,

Place of Complaining.

© Ken Rookes 2023