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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Next they turned back and came to En-mishpat (which was also known as Kadesh) and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, along with the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
The whole congregation of the Israelis set out from the desert of Sin, traveling from place to place according to the command of the LORD. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses: "Give us water to drink." Moses told them, "Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the LORD?" read more. But the people were thirsty there for water, so they complained against Moses: "Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?" So Moses cried out to the LORD: "What am I to do with these people? Just a little more and they'll stone me." Then the LORD told Moses, "Go over in front of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I'll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock and water will come out of it, so the people can drink." Moses did this in front of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelis quarreled and tested the LORD by saying: "Is the LORD really among us or not?"
The entire community of the Israelis entered the Zin wilderness during the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. But there was no water for the community, so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. read more. As the people argued with Moses, they told him, "We wish that we had died when our relatives died in the LORD's presence! Why did you bring the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness? So we and our cattle could die here? Why did you take us out of Egypt and bring us to this terrible place? There's no place to plant seeds, fig trees, vines, or pomegranates! And there's no water to drink!" Then Moses and Aaron went into the presence of the community at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD told Moses, "Take the rod, gather the community together, and then you and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock right before their eyes. It will release water. As you bring water to them from the rock, the community and the cattle will be able to drink." So Moses took the rod in the LORD's presence, just as he had commanded. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock. "Pay attention, you rebels!" Moses told them. "Are we to bring you water from this rock?" Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Lots of water gushed out, and both the community and their cattle were able to drink. But the LORD rebuked Moses and Aaron, telling Moses: "Because you both didn't believe me, because you didn't consecrate me as holy in the presence of the Israelis, you won't be the ones to bring this congregation into the land that I'm about to give them." Because the Israelis argued with the LORD and he was set apart among them, this place was called the Meribah Springs. Later, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom with this message: "This is what your relative Israel says: "You know all the hardships we've encountered. Our ancestors went down to Egypt, where we lived for many years. But the Egyptians treated us and our ancestors viciously. Then we cried to the LORD and he heard our voice, sending us a messenger who brought us out of Egypt. Now look! We've arrived in Kadesh, a city at the extreme end of your territory. Permit us now to pass through your land. We won't pass through your fields or vineyards, and we won't drink water from your wells. We'll keep to the King's Highway without turning either right or left until we have passed through your territory.'" But Edom replied, "You are not to pass through my land. If you do, I'll come out and start a war with you."
houses filled with every good thing that you didn't supply, wells that you didn't dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you didn't plant. When you eat and are satisfied,
"Don't test the LORD your God like you did in Massah.
Both of you acted unfaithfully against me among the Israelis at Meribah-kadesh in the desert of Zin, when you failed to uphold my holiness among the Israelis.
He said: "The LORD came from Sinai. Rising from Seir upon us, he shone forth from Mount Paran, accompanied by a myriad of his holy ones, with flaming fire from his right hand for them.
About Levi he said: "Let your Thummim and Urim be with the man to whom you showed gracious love, whom you tested at Massah and with whom you struggled at the waters of Meribah,
In a time of need you called out and I delivered you; I answered you from the dark thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Interlude
do not be stubborn like your ancestors were at Meribah, as on that day at Massah, in the wilderness,
They provoked wrath at the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered on account of them.
"The eastern extremity is to proceed from between Hauran and Damascus, then between Gilead, and then through the land of Israel the Jordan River. You are to measure from the northern border to the Dead Sea. This is to be the eastern perimeter. "You are to determine the southern extremity running from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then from there proceeding to the Wadi, and then to the Mediterranean Sea. This is to be the southern perimeter.