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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And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people did strive with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why do you strive with me? why do you test the LORD? read more. And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, 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 striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified among them. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the travail that has befallen us:
For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
And of Levi he said, Let your Thummim and your Urim be with your holy one, whom you did test at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah;
And of Levi he said, Let your Thummim and your Urim be with your holy one, whom you did test at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah;
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.
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
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
And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people did strive with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why do you strive with me? why do you test the LORD? read more. And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, 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 striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have you brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather you the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak unto 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 the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their animals also.
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their animals also. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified among them. read more. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the travail that has befallen us: How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians afflicted us, and our fathers: And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and has brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border: Let us pass, I pray you, through your country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: 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 unto him, you shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with the sword. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway: and if I and my cattle drink of your water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet. And he said, you shall not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: therefore Israel turned away from him. And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
And of Levi he said, Let your Thummim and your Urim be with your holy one, whom you did test at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah;
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.
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.
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And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have you brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather you the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak unto 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 the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he struck the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their animals also. And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified among them.
And from there they went to Beer: that is the well of which the LORD spoke unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of trials in the wilderness:
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips.
For the people turn not unto him that strikes them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, You shall not test the Lord your God.
He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the age has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. read more. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
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
This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified among them.
Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you hallowed me not in the midst of the children of Israel.