Reference: Massah and Meribah
Hastings
Ex 17:1-7 (Jewish Encyclopedia) tells of a miraculous gift of water at a spot near Horeb, which was called Massah and Meribah ('testing' and 'contention') because the people tested Jahweh by doubting His providence and contended with Moses. It is implied that this occurred about a year after the Exodus. Nu 20:1-18, a later narrative (Priestly Narrative), gives a similar account, but puts it thirty-seven years later, and with important variations. The scene is now laid at Kadesh, which receives the name Meribah from the contention of Israel with Jahweh. Moses and Aaron also sin against Him. There are references to the first passage in De 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8; and to the second in De 32:51; Ps 106:32; in Ps 81:7 the two are apparently confused. De 33:8 regards the events at Kadesh in a peculiar light: here Jahweh proves Levi at Massah and strives with (or for) him at Meribah. The tendency of recent criticism is to consider Ex 17 and Nu 20 as duplicate records of the same event, the locality of which must be fixed at Kadesh, where the spring 'Ain Kad
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So they returned and came in unto En-mishpat, the same, is Kadish, and smote all the field of the Amalekites, - and the Amorites also that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar,
And all the assembly of the sons of Israel set forward out of the desert of Sin, by their removings, at the bidding of Yahweh, - and encamped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people found fault with Moses, and said - Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why should ye find fault with me? Why should ye put Yahweh to the proof? read more. So the people thirsted, there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, - and said - Wherefore is it that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill me and my sons and my cattle, with thirst? And Moses made outcry unto Yahweh saying, What am I to do, with this people? Yet a little, and they will stone me. Then said Yahweh unto Moses - Pass over before the people, and take with thee some of the elders of Israel, - thy staff also wherewith thou didst smite the river, take thou in thy hand, so shalt thou go thy way. Behold me! standing before thee, there upon the rock in Horeb, then shalt thou smite the rock and there shall come forth therefrom water, and the people shall drink. And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place, Massah, and Meribah, - because of the fault-finding of the sons of Israel, and because of their putting Yahweh to the proof, saying, Is Yahweh in our midst or is he not?
Then came the sons of Israel the whole assembly, into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt in Kadesh, - and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no water for the assembly, - so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people contended with Moses, - and spake saying, Would then we had died a when our brethren died, before Yahweh! Wherefore then hast thou brought the convocation of Yahweh into this desert, - to die there, we, and our cattle? And wherefore did ye cause us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? - not a place of seeds, and figs, and vines and pomegranates, even water, is there none to drink. And Moses and Aaron went in from the presence of the multitude unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces, - and the glory of Yahweh appeared unto them.
Take the staff and gather together the assembly, thou, and Aaron thy brother, then shall ye speak unto the cliff before their eyes and it shall give forth it waters, - so shalt thou bring forth unto them water, out of the cliff, and shalt cause the assembly, and their cattle to drink. And Moses took the staff from before Yahweh, - as he commanded him. read more. And Moses and Aaron gathered together the convocation before the cliff, - and he said unto them: Hear I pray you ye rebels! Out of this cliff, must we bring forth for you water? And Moses lifted high his hand and smote the cliff with his staff, twice, - and there came forth water in abundance, and the assembly and their cattle, did drink. Then said Yahweh unto Moses and unto Aaron, Because ye believed not in me, to hallow me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore, shall ye not bring in this convocation into the land which I have given unto them. The same, were the waters of Meribah that is "Contention"in that the sons of Israel contended with Yahweh, - and so he hallowed himself among them. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh, unto the king of Edom, - Thus, saith thy brother Israel, Thou thyself, knowest all the distress which befell us; and how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we abode in Egypt, many days, rod that the Egyptians ill-treated us, and our fathers; and we made outcry unto Yahweh, and he heard our voice, and sent a messenger, and brought us forth out of Egypt, - lo! then, we, are in Kadesh, a city at the extremity of thy boundary, Let us, we pray thee, pass through thy land - we will not pass through field or vineyard, nor will we drink the waters of a well, - by the kings road, will we go - we will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, until we get through thy boundary. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass through my land, - lest with the sword, I come out to meet thee.
and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and hewn cisterns which thou hewedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, - and shalt eat and be full,
Ye shall not put Yahweh your God to the proof, - as ye put him to the proof in Massah that is, "The place of proving" .
Also, at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation, became ye unto Yahweh.
Also, at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hataavah, a cause of provocation, became ye unto Yahweh.
for that ye acted unfaithfully against me in the midst of the sons of Israel, regarding the waters of Meribah-Kadesh in the desert of Zin, - for that ye hallowed me not in the midst of the sons of Israel.
And he said - Yahweh from Sinai, came near, - Yea he dawned, out of Seir, upon them, He shone forth out of Mount Paran, Yea he came out of holy myriads, - Out of his right hand proceeded fire to guide them.
And of Levi, he said: Let, thy perfections and thy lights, belong unto thy man of lovingkindness, - Whom thou didst put to the proof at Massah, With whom thou didst contend over the waters of Meribah;
In distress, thou didst cry, and I delivered thee, - I answered thee, within a hiding-place of thunder, I proved thee by the waters of Meribah. Selah.
Do not harden your heart as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah, in the desert;
And they provoked by the waters of Meribah, - And it fared ill with Moses, for their sakes;
And for the east side, from between Hauran and Damascus and from between Gilead and the land of Israel the Jordan, from the boundary by the sea eastward, shall ye measure - even the east side. And for the south side southward, from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, towards the torrent bed unto the great sea, - even the south side southward.
And on the boundary of Gad, by the south side southward,,- so shall there be a boundary from Tamar unto the waters of Meribath-kadish, towards the torrent-bed, as far as the great sea.