Meribah

Biblical Text

In the Bible, the name Meribah is associated with two events.

• Exodus 17:1–7: While encamped at Rephidim, the people quarreled with Moses because they had no water to drink. God commanded Moses to strike "the rock in Horeb" with his rod, and when he struck it, water came out. Moses named the place "Massah" and "Meribah" (Exodus 17:7).
• Numbers 20:1–13: At Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, after the death of Miriam, the people again rose up against Moses and Aaron because there was no water. God told them to "speak ye unto the rock," but Moses said, "Hear now, ye rebels," and struck the rock twice with his rod. Water came out, but God declared that because the two of them had not believed Him or sanctified Him before the people, they would not enter Canaan. The text calls this water "the water of Meribah" (Numbers 20:13).

The event is mentioned several times later in Scripture, including in connection with the death of Aaron (Numbers 20:24), Moses' being permitted only to view the Promised Land from Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 32:51), and Moses' blessing of the Levites (Deuteronomy 33:8), as well as in Psalms 81:7, 95:8, and 106:32–33.

Background

The Hebrew Meribah means "strife" and derives from the verb rib, "to contend" or "to bring a lawsuit." The accompanying name Massah means "testing." Both names commemorate the occasion when the people tested God and contended with Him.

Because the Numbers account is linked with the region of Kadesh, Deuteronomy 32:51 refers to the site as "Meribah-Kadesh." Ezekiel 47:19 and 48:28 name "Meriboth-kadesh" (rendered in the KJV as "the waters of strife in Kadesh") as the southern boundary of the land of Israel. The location of Kadesh is discussed in the article Kadesh Barnea. Scholars disagree about the exact location of Rephidim.

Broader Biblical Significance

Meribah became a byword for Israel's unbelief during the forty years in the wilderness. Psalm 95 warns against hardening the heart "as at Meribah" (Psalm 95:8; the KJV renders this "as in the provocation").

Hebrews 3:7–4:11 quotes this psalm and exhorts believers to labor to enter into God's rest. The Septuagint translated the Hebrew Meribah and Massah as the common nouns "provocation" and "testing," and Hebrews follows this rendering. As a result, the place names do not appear in the text of Hebrews in Korean Bible translations.

1 Corinthians 10:4 states that the people in the wilderness drank "of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."

Interpretation and Debates

• One event or two: The traditional reading holds that similar incidents occurred twice, once early in the wilderness period (at Rephidim) and once near its end (at Kadesh). Some historical-critical scholars, however, regard the accounts as two strands of tradition attached to a single place name.
• Moses' fault: The text identifies the fault only as unbelief ("ye believed me not"). Interpreters differ over what this specifically involved. Suggestions include striking the rock contrary to the command, striking it twice, and obscuring God's glory by speaking in anger, "must we fetch you water out of this rock?" (compare Psalm 106:33). Some preachers regard the rock as a type of Christ and explain that the fault lay in striking again the rock that had already been struck once. This interpretation, however, is not stated directly in the text.
• The tradition of the following rock: The story that the rock or well that supplied water followed Israel throughout the wilderness is known as a tradition found in later Jewish literature. No such account appears in the Old Testament text. Scholars are also divided over whether 1 Corinthians 10:4 draws on this tradition.

In the Korean Church

In Korean preaching, Meribah is frequently used as a text warning against a faith that grumbles and complains in the face of hardship. The example of Moses is presented as a lesson that even leaders can fail to obey. Psalm 95 is widely read as a call to worship, and in liturgical traditions such as the Anglican tradition it has been used as the invitatory psalm at Morning Prayer.