Musar zu Schemot 17:7

Commandment 424 forbids us to put G–d to the test; the Torah (6,16) writes: לא תנסו את ה' אלוקיכם. What is meant is that one must not make exorbitant demands on G–d to prove Himself, such as demanding miracles from prophets who have rebuked us for our sins and who have previously legitimised themselves as prophets. The Torah quotes an example from the incident at מסה, where the people had demanded proof from Moses that G–d was in their midst (Exodus 17,7). We must not put the onus of proof on a prophet to show that G–d punishes the sinners and rewards the righteous.

(Ibid. 17:7): "And he called the name of the place Massah and Merivah because of the "quarrel" (riv) of the children of Israel and because of their "proving" (nasotham) the L-rd, saying: 'Is the L-rd in our midst or not?'" This is followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred, etc." From the juxtaposition of the verses we learn that the sin of Merivah also contributed to bringing Amalek upon them. The same holds true for other idolatries — wherefore one must take great care to avoid merivah (quarreling).

The spies commenced their report very deviously by referring to Amalek, whom they described as inhabiting the South of the land (13,29), thereby hinting at the role promised Joshua at the time he had led the battle against Amalek. What they meant to convey was that since Moses was alive and well, it was clear that the time to attempt to dislodge Amalek had not yet come, since that was to be Joshua's task only after Moses had died. Another reason they did so was that the very name of Amalek conjured up the time Israel had sinned when they had questioned G–d's presence in their midst, as a result of which Amalek had attacked them (see Rashi on Exodus 17,8). By mentioning Amalek they hinted that Israel was too enmeshed in sin to emerge victorious at this time from an encounter with Amalek. Concerning the Canaanites themselves the spies reported that they were אנשי מדות, i.e. people of considerable virtues, as we shall explain. Since G–d had told the people that the conquest of the land would not be on account of Israel's superior virtues, but on account of the inhabitants' moral inferiority, it was clear that the sin of the Emorite which was the precondition of successful battle against them had not yet reached the desired measure (comp. Genesis 15,16, and Deut. 9,5).