Provocation

In The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, reference is made to "the days of provocation in the wilderness." I sometimes had wondered what this meant. Last semester in PathwayConnect, an article we read enlightened me significantly on this question (see "The Provocation in the Wilderness and the Rejection of Grace," M. Catherine Thomas).

God swore in his wrath that the Israelites would not enter into the promised land. What was the nature of their offense? After witnessing the plagues sent upon Pharoah, The Passover and slaying of the Egyptians' firstborn, being delivered from Egypt and from the Egyptian armies, passing through the Red Sea on dry ground, and being fed in the wilderness with manna and quail, the children of Israel still did not comprehend the nature of God! After so many benevolent acts of saving, these delivered captives did not comprehend. The straw that broke the camels back was their unbelief at Massah and Meribah.