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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And they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the command of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink. And the people wrangled with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you wrangle with me? Why do you tempt Jehovah? read more. And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, Why is this, that You brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go on in front of the people, and take with you the elders of Israel. And take your rod with which you struck the river, in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb. And you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the wrangling of the sons of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?
Then the sons of Israel came, the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month. And the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation. And they gathered themselves against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, Oh that we had died when our brothers died before Jehovah! And why have you brought up the congregation of Jehovah into this wilderness, so that we and our cattle should die there? And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us into this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates. And there is no water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces. And the glory of Jehovah appeared to them. And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes. And it shall give forth its water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock. So you shall give the congregation and their animals drink. And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now you rebels. Must we bring water for you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice. And the water came out plentifully, and the congregation and their animals drank. And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. These are the Waters of Strife, because the sons of Israel fought with Jehovah, and He showed Himself holy among them. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, So says your brother Israel, You know all the trouble that has happened to us, how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians troubled us and our fathers. And when we cried to Jehovah, He heard our voice and sent an Angel, and has brought us forth out of Egypt. And behold! We are in Kadesh, a city in the outermost part of your border. Let us pass, I pray you, through your country. We will not pass through a field, nor through a vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of a well. We will go by the king's highway. We will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed your borders. And Edom said to him, You shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword.
and houses full of every good thing which you did not fill, and wells which are dug, but which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be full,
You shall not tempt Jehovah your God as you tempted in Massah.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked Jehovah to anger.
And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at the Graves of Lust, you provoked Jehovah to anger.
because you sinned against Me among the sons of Israel at the Waters of Strife in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the sons of Israel.
And he said: Jehovah came from Sinai and rose up from Seir to them. He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints. From His right went a fiery law for them.
And of Levi he said, Let Your Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one whom You proved at Massah; You strove with him at the Waters of Strife,
You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
harden not your heart, as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness;
And they angered Him at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes;
And you shall measure the east side from between Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan, from the border to the Eastern Sea. And this is the east side. And the south side, southward from Tamar, to the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, the torrent to the Great Sea. And this is the south side southward.
And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, and to the torrent toward the Great Sea.