Reference: Meribah
American
Strife,
1. A station of the Israelites between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai, where they murmured against the Lord, and a fountain gushed from the rock for their use, Ex 17:1-7. It was also named Massah, temptation, when they tempted God there, De 33:8; Heb 3:8.
2. A similar miraculous fountain in the desert of Zin, near Kadesh, which see, Nu 20:13-14. This was the scene of the transgression of Moses and Aaron, for which they were precluded from crossing the Jordan. It is called "the waters of Meribah," De 33:8; Ps 81:7; 106:32, and also Meribah-kadesh, Nu 27:14; De 32:51; Eze 47:19.
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The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord's instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink. So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?" read more. But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What will I do with this people? -- a little more and they will stone me!" The Lord said to Moses, "Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "Thus says your brother Israel: 'You know all the hardships we have experienced,
For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water -- the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin."
for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.
Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.
Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.
In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)
They made him angry by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them,
On the south side it will run from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, the river, to the Great Sea. This is the south side.
Easton
quarrel or strife. (1.) One of the names given by Moses to the fountain in the desert of Sin, near Rephidim, which issued from the rock in Horeb, which he smote by the divine command, "because of the chiding of the children of Israel" (Ex 17:1-7). It was also called Massah (q.v.). It was probably in Wady Feiran, near Mount Serbal.
(2.) Another fountain having a similar origin in the desert of Zin, near to Kadesh (Nu 27:14). The two places are mentioned together in De 33:8. Some think the one place is called by the two names (Ps 81:7). In smiting the rock at this place Moses showed the same impatience as the people (Nu 20:10-12). This took place near the close of the wanderings in the desert (Nu 20:1-24; De 32:51).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The whole community of the Israelites traveled on their journey from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord's instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. Now there was no water for the people to drink. So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?" read more. But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What will I do with this people? -- a little more and they will stone me!" The Lord said to Moses, "Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink." And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Then the entire community of Israel entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron. read more. The people contended with Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! Why have you brought up the Lord's community into this wilderness? So that we and our cattle should die here? Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!" So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses: "Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink." So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?"
Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?" Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.
Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."
Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them. read more. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "Thus says your brother Israel: 'You know all the hardships we have experienced, how our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly. So when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent a messenger, and has brought us up out of Egypt. Now we are here in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your country. Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well. We will go by the King's Highway; we will not turn to the right or the left until we have passed through your region.'" But Edom said to him, "You will not pass through me, or I will come out against you with the sword." Then the Israelites said to him, "We will go along the highway, and if we or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else." But he said, "You may not pass through." Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful force. So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border; therefore Israel turned away from him. So the entire company of Israelites traveled from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom. He said: "Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.
For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water -- the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin."
for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.
Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.
In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah. (Selah)
Fausets
("chiding".) The designation which Moses gave the place at Rephidim where Israel, just before they reached Sinai in the second year after leaving Egypt, did chide with Moses, "give us water that we may drink," and tempted (from whence came the other name Massah) Jehovah, saying "is Jehovah among us or not?" (Ex 17:7; compare as to the sin, Mt 4:7.) The severity of Israel's trial, however, is to be remembered; our Lord's own only expression of bodily suffering on the cross was "I thirst." Thirty-eight years afterward at Kadesh, bordering on the promised laud, again, untaught by the severe discipline of the wilderness (Isa 9:13), Israel in want of water cried, "would God we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!"
God's glory appeared, and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "take the rod, and speak unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water." But here Moses' old hastiness of spirit, which he had showed in the beginning of his career (Exodus 2), returned; "they provoked his spirit so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips" (Ps 106:32-33): "ye rebels, must we (forgetting that the power was that of God alone) fetch you water out of this rock?" Then lifting up his hand he smote twice, whereas God had told him, "speak unto the rock." So Jehovah excluded Moses and Aaron from entering Canaan, for not "sanctifying" Him (Nu 20:1-13). This repetition of the miracle disproves the notion from 1Co 10:4 that the stream literally "followed" them from Rephidim (Exodus 17) to Canaan; all that is meant is a supply of water from time to time was provided naturally or miraculously, so that they never perished from thirst (so Ex 15:24-25; Nu 21:16).
Christ is the Rock (Joh 7:38); the water flowed, and the people drank, at Meribah Kadesh. Moses and Aaron typify ministers. The Rock Christ was smitten once for all, never to be so again (Heb 9:25-28; 10:10,14). If Moses was so severely chastised for smiting again in violation of the type, what peril ministers run who pretend to offer Christ the Antitype in the Eucharist again! Ps 95:8, "provocation ... temptation," alludes to Meribah Massah. Also Nu 27:14; De 32:51. The Hebrew for "rock" in Exodus 17 at Rephidim is tsur, but in Numbers 20 cela' at Kadesh, marking undesignedly the distinctness of the miracles.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So the people murmured against Moses, saying, "What can we drink?" He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord made for them a binding ordinance, and there he tested them.
He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Then the entire community of Israel entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron. read more. The people contended with Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! Why have you brought up the Lord's community into this wilderness? So that we and our cattle should die here? Why have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!" So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses: "Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink." So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?" Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.
And from there they traveled to Beer; that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, "Gather the people and I will give them water."
For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water -- the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin."
for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.
He says, "Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness,
They made him angry by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them, for they aroused his temper, and he spoke rashly.
The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation with the Lord who commands armies.
Jesus said to him, "Once again it is written: 'You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.'"
let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, 'From within him will flow rivers of living water.'"
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. read more. And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.
Hastings
Morish
Mer'ibah Meribahkadesh. Mer'ibah-ka'desh
See KADESH.
Smith
Mer'ibah
(strife, contention). In
we read, "he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah," where the people murmured and the rock was smitten. [For the situation see REPHIDIM] The name is also given to Kadesh,
See Rephidim
(Meribah-kadesh), because there also the people, when in want of water, strove with God.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained among them.
"Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.
For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water -- the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin."
for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the desert of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.