REPHIDIM

(Rephʹi·dim) [from a root meaning “spread out”; or, “refresh”].

One of the places where the Israelites encamped on their journey from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai. Upon leaving the Wilderness of Sin, they encamped at Dophkah, then Alush, and finally Rephidim. (Ex 17:1; Nu 33:12-14) Lacking water at Rephidim, the people complained and quarreled with Moses. At God’s direction Moses took some of the older men to “the rock in Horeb” (evidently the mountainous region of Horeb, not Mount Horeb) and struck a rock with his rod. Water flowed, apparently reaching to the people camped in Rephidim.​—Ex 17:2-7.

The Amalekites attacked the Israelites in Rephidim, but with Joshua leading in the fighting, God’s people vanquished the attackers. (Ex 17:8-16) The placement of the account in the record indicates that it was while the Israelites were at Rephidim that Moses’ father-in-law brought Zipporah and her two sons to Moses and suggested that he select chiefs to aid in judging the people.​—Ex 18:1-27.

The exact location of Rephidim is uncertain. The various locations offered by geographers have been determined in accord with their understanding as to the route the Israelites traveled from the Wilderness of Sin to Mount Sinai. Many modern geographers identify Rephidim with a site in Wadi Refayied, not far to the NW of the traditional location of Mount Sinai. Adjacent to the wadi is a hill of the same name, on which Moses might have stood with arms elevated during the battle with the Amalekites.