Meribah, 1
Mer´ibah (quarrel, strife), one of the names given by Moses to the fountain in the desert of Sin, on the western gulf of the Red Sea, that issued from the rock which he smote by the divine command (Exo 17:1-16). He called the place, indeed, Massa (temptation) and Meribah, and the reason is assigned ’because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they did there tempt the Lord’ [WANDERING].
Meribah, 2
Mer´ibah, another fountain produced in the same manner, and under similar circumstances, in the desert of Zin (Wady Arabah), near Kadesh; and to which the name was given with a similar reference to the previous misconduct of the Israelites (Num 20:13; Num 20:24; Deu 33:8). In the last text, which is the only one where the two places are mentioned together, the former is called Massah only, to prevent the confusion of the two Meribahs, ’Whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.’ Indeed this latter Meribah is almost always indicated by the addition of ’waters,’ i.e. ’waters of Meribah,’ as if further to distinguish it from the other (Psa 81:7; Psa 106:32); and still more distinctly ’waters of Meribah in Kadesh’ (Num 27:14; Deu 32:51; Eze 47:19). Only once is this place called simply Meribah (Psa 95:8).
Strife,\par 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, Exo 17:1-7 . It was also named Massah, temptation, when they tempted God there, Deu 33:8 Heb 3:8 .\par 2. A similar miraculous fountain in the desert of Zin, near Kadesh, which see, Num 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," Deu 33:8 Psa 81:7 106:32, and also Meribah-kadesh, Num 27:14 Deu 32:51 Eze 47:19 .\par
Mer’ibah. (strife, contention). In Exo 17:7, 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, Num 20:13; Num 20:24; Num 27:14; Deu 32:51, (Meribah-kadesh), because there also the people, when in want of water, strove with God.
("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?" (Exo 17:7; compare as to the sin, Mat 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 cf6 "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" (Psa 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 (Num 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 Exo 15:24-25; Num 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; Heb 10:10; Heb 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! Psa 95:8, "provocation ... temptation," alludes to Meribah Massah. Also Num 27:14; Deu 32:51. The Hebrew for "rock" in Exodus 17 at Rephidim is
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= "strife"):
By: Isidore Singer, M. Seligsohn
1. A place in Rephidim in the wilderness; called also "Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord" (Ex. xvii. 7). It is certainly this Meribah which is alluded to in Ps. xcv. 8. 2. A place at Kadesh in the wilderness, the name occurring either as "Me Meribah" (= "the water of Meribah"; Num. xx. 13, 24) or as "Me Meribath-Kadesh" (= "the water of Meribah in Kadesh"; Num. xxvii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 51). The latter name appears as the southern limit of the land of Canaan in Ezek. xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28 (= "the waters of strife in Kadesh"). It must be said, however, that the Septuagint invariably translates the word "Meribah" by
It may be seen that the two narratives which give the origin of the name differ only in that in Ex. xvii. 7 Moses is ordered by God to strike the rock, while in Num. xxvii. 14 he is ordered to speak to the rock, and for disobeying God's order is punished by not being allowed to enter into the promised land. Otherwise they are similar. It is for this reason that some critics regard the one narrative as a duplicate of the other.
MERIBAH.—See Massah and Meribah.