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 company of the children of Israel went on their journeys from the wilderness of Sin at the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: where was no water for the people to drink. And the people chode with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said unto them, "Why chide ye with me, and wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?" read more. There the people thirsted for water, and murmured against Moses and said, "Wherefore hast thou brought us 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 be almost ready to stone me!" And the LORD said unto Moses, "Go before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel: and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand there before thee upon a rock in Horeb: and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out thereof, that the people may drink." And Moses did even so before the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place: Massah-and-Meribah: because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
This is the water of strife, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified upon them. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, "Thus sayeth thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the travail that hath happened us,
For ye were disobedient unto my mouth in the desert of Zin in the strife of the congregation, that ye sanctified me not in the water before their eyes." That is the water of strife in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.
For ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of strife, at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin: because ye sanctified me not among the children of Israel.
And unto Levi he said, "Thy perfectness and thy light be according unto the man of thy mercy, who thou hast tempted at Massah, when ye strove by the waters of strife.
And unto Levi he said, "Thy perfectness and thy light be according unto the man of thy mercy, who thou hast tempted at Massah, when ye strove by the waters of strife.
When thou calledest upon me in trouble, I delivered thee, and heard thee, what time as the storm fell upon thee. I proved thee also at the waters of strife. Selah.
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that he punished Moses for their sakes,
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 company of the children of Israel went on their journeys from the wilderness of Sin at the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: where was no water for the people to drink. And the people chode with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said unto them, "Why chide ye with me, and wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?" read more. There the people thirsted for water, and murmured against Moses and said, "Wherefore hast thou brought us 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 be almost ready to stone me!" And the LORD said unto Moses, "Go before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel: and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand there before thee upon a rock in Horeb: and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out thereof, that the people may drink." And Moses did even so before the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place: Massah-and-Meribah: because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
And the whole multitude of the children of Israel, came into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt at Kadesh. And there died Miriam, and was buried there. Moreover, there was no water for the multitude, wherefore they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people chode with Moses and spake, saying, "Would God that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD. Why have ye brought the congregation of the LORD unto this wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die here? Wherefore brought ye us out of Egypt, to bring us into this ungracious place, which is no place of seed nor of figs nor vines nor of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?" And Moses and Aaron went from the congregation unto the door of the tabernacle of witness, and fell upon their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Take the staff and gather, thou and thy brother Aaron, the congregation together; and say unto the rock, before their eyes, that he give forth his water. And thou shalt bring them water out of the rock and shalt give the company drink, and their beasts also." And Moses took the staff 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, ye rebellious, 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, ye rebellious, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And Moses lift up his hand with his staff and smote the rock two times, and the water came out abundantly, and the multitude drank and their beasts also.
And Moses lift up his hand with his staff and smote the rock two times, and the water came out abundantly, and the multitude drank and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them."
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." This is the water of strife, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified upon them. read more. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, "Thus sayeth thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the travail that hath happened us, how our fathers went down into Egypt, and how we have dwelt in Egypt a long time, and, how the Egyptians vexed both us and our fathers. Then we cried unto the LORD and he heard our voices, and sent an angel and hath fetched us out of Egypt. And behold, we are in Kadesh, a city hard by the borders of thy country: let us go a good fellowship through thy country: we will not go through the fields nor through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the fountains: but we will go by the highway and neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left, until we be past thy country." And Edom answered him, "See thou come not by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword." And the children of Israel said unto him, "We will go by the beaten way: and if either we or our cattle drink of thy water, we will pay for it, we will do no more but pass through by foot only." And he said, "Ye shall not go through." And Edom came out against him with much people and with a mighty power. And thus Edom denied to give Israel passage through his country; And Israel turned away from him. And the children of Israel removed from Kadesh and went unto mount Hor with all the congregation. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, hard upon the coasts of the land of Edom, saying, "Let Aaron be put unto his people, for he shall not come into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel: because ye disobeyed my mouth at the water of strife.
For ye were disobedient unto my mouth in the desert of Zin in the strife of the congregation, that ye sanctified me not in the water before their eyes." That is the water of strife in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.
For ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of strife, at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin: because ye sanctified me not among the children of Israel.
And unto Levi he said, "Thy perfectness and thy light be according unto the man of thy mercy, who thou hast tempted at Massah, when ye strove by the waters of strife.
When thou calledest upon me in trouble, I delivered thee, and heard thee, what time as the storm fell upon thee. I proved thee also at the waters of strife. 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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Then the people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" And Moses cried unto the LORD, and he showed him a tree: and he cast it into the water, and they waxed sweet. There he made them an ordinance and a law, and there he tempted them,
And he called the name of the place: Massah-and-Meribah: because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
And the whole multitude of the children of Israel, came into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt at Kadesh. And there died Miriam, and was buried there. Moreover, there was no water for the multitude, wherefore they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. read more. And the people chode with Moses and spake, saying, "Would God that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD. Why have ye brought the congregation of the LORD unto this wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die here? Wherefore brought ye us out of Egypt, to bring us into this ungracious place, which is no place of seed nor of figs nor vines nor of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?" And Moses and Aaron went from the congregation unto the door of the tabernacle of witness, and fell upon their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Take the staff and gather, thou and thy brother Aaron, the congregation together; and say unto the rock, before their eyes, that he give forth his water. And thou shalt bring them water out of the rock and shalt give the company drink, and their beasts also." And Moses took the staff 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, ye rebellious, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And Moses lift up his hand with his staff and smote the rock two times, and the water came out abundantly, and the multitude drank and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." This is the water of strife, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified upon them.
And from thence they came to Bear, which is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, "Gather the people together, that I may give them water."
For ye were disobedient unto my mouth in the desert of Zin in the strife of the congregation, that ye sanctified me not in the water before their eyes." That is the water of strife in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.
For ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of strife, at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin: because ye sanctified me not among the children of Israel.
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that he punished Moses for their sakes, because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
For the people turneth not unto him, that chastiseth them, neither do they seek the LORD of Hosts.
And Jesus said to him, "It is written also, 'Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God.'"
He that believeth on me, as sayeth the scripture, 'Out of his belly shall flow rivers of water of life.'"
and did all drink of one manner of spiritual drink. And they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, Which rock was Christ.
Not to offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with strange blood: for then must he have often suffered since the world began: But now in the end of the world, hath he appeared once, to put sin to flight, by the offering up of himself. read more. And as it is appointed unto men that they shall once die, and then cometh the judgment, even so Christ was once offered to take away the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, shall he appear again, without sin, unto their salvation.
By the which will we are sanctified, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For with one offering hath he made perfect 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 strife, because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified upon them.
"Let Aaron be put unto his people, for he shall not come into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel: because ye disobeyed my mouth at the water of strife.
For ye were disobedient unto my mouth in the desert of Zin in the strife of the congregation, that ye sanctified me not in the water before their eyes." That is the water of strife in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.