“Do not test the LORD”
Deuteronomy 6:16
IdiomWell-supportedMoses
Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16 BSB)
* Massah means 'testing'; there Israel demanded water and doubted whether God was with them (Exodus 17). Jesus quotes this verse to refuse Satan's dare to leap from the temple (Matthew 4:7).
What it sounds like today
A warning not to annoy God.
The cultural key
'Testing' God here does not mean examining Him but demanding that He prove Himself on our terms, as Israel did at Massah (the name means 'testing'), where they grumbled for water and asked, 'Is the LORD among us or not?' To manufacture a crisis so God must rescue you is not faith but its opposite. Jesus quotes exactly this verse when Satan dares him to throw himself from the temple: refusing to force God's hand is itself the deeper trust.
Recovered meaning
Faith does not stage-manage emergencies to make God perform on cue. Jesus turns this verse against the tempter, showing that trusting God and testing Him are opposites.
Parallels: Exodus 17:7; Matthew 4:7