Difference between revisions of "Meribah"

<p> ("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?" (&nbsp;Exodus 17:7; compare as to the sin, &nbsp;Matthew 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 (&nbsp;Isaiah 9:13), [[Israel]] in want of water cried, "would God we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!" </p> <p> 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" (&nbsp;Psalms 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 (&nbsp;Numbers 20:1-13). This repetition of the miracle disproves the notion from &nbsp;1 Corinthians 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 &nbsp;Exodus 15:24-25; &nbsp;Numbers 21:16). </p> <p> Christ is the Rock (&nbsp;John 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 (&nbsp;Hebrews 9:25-28; &nbsp;Hebrews 10:10; &nbsp;Hebrews 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! &nbsp;Psalms 95:8, "provocation ... temptation," alludes to Meribah Massah. Also &nbsp;Numbers 27:14; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 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. </p>

<li> Another fountain having a similar origin in the desert of Zin, near to [[Kadesh]] (&nbsp;Numbers 27:14 ). The two places are mentioned together in &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:8 . Some think the one place is called by the two names (&nbsp;Psalm 81:7 ). In smiting the rock at this place Moses showed the same impatience as the people (&nbsp;Numbers 20:10-12 ). This took place near the close of the wanderings in the desert (&nbsp;Numbers 20:1-24; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 32:51 ). <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Meribah'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/m/meribah.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>