What is the significance of Meribah in the Bible?

Thus the Lord met the murmurings of His people by grace, and gave them water to drink; but the names — Massah and Meribah, given to the place — remained as the monument of their sin.

Before considering the precious truths connected with the smiting of the rock, it might be profitable to note how the Spirit uses two words as though to perpetuate the sin of the children of Israel. In verse 6, God says to Moses, "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb," then in verse 7 it states, "And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they had tempted Jehovah saying, "Is Jehovah among us, or not?"

Massah means temptation, Meribah means contention, and these names, expressly used by the Spirit, are descriptive of the moral state of the people, and indisputably proved their hardened hearts of unbelief towards God. For in chiding or contending with Moses, who was God's representative, they were veritably contending with God and putting Him to the proof by doubting or virtually denying His presence among them. Solemn words! and there they stand today with all their solemn and seasonable admonition for our own souls. May they produce that watchfulness against every movement of the flesh, lest we too should be guilty of manifesting those morally disfiguring features of contention and unbelief. Rather let us profit thereby and, as walking in the consciousness of companionship with the Lord Jesus, be able to say with the beloved Psalmist, in deep assurance of faith, "For Thou art with me"; the One of whom he had said at the beginning of the Psalm, "Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters."

The unmixed grace of God shines equally clear and bright in the next instance, when they murmur for water. Moses cried to Jehovah that the people were ready to stone him. This aggravated their sin of murmuring. Still there is no judgment upon them for this, but Jehovah at once brings water from the rock, as if there had been no murmuring against Him, nor murderous feeling toward Moses. He called the place Meribah, because of the chiding of the people; he would perpetuate the remembrance of their sin by a local name. But God did not tell him to give that name. Grace would hide the sin. if the people said, "Is Jehovah among us?" God proves His presence, not by judgment, but by supplying their need.

This was called the water of Meribah (strife) because of Israel's contention with the Lord and His being hallowed, set apart from them in His character of grace, so different than their attitude (v.13).

"And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice." He has been told to speak to the rock; but he smites it twice, as though divine power has need of being seconded by human energy. But still "the water came out." God's faithfulness is not touched by the failure of His servant. So is it with us; one may preach the gospel of strife and contention - Paul could rejoice even in this, since Christ was preached (Phil. 1:18) - and yet not hinder God's sovereignty in owning His own ordinance. Moses fails; but God does not deny Moses to be His servant, neither does He deny the power of the rod. "Moses took the rod, and smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also." (v. 11.) God may be using an individual's ministry for blessing to the souls of others, when He is about to discipline that very person, so used of Him. He abideth faithful; He will not (blessed be His name!) deny His own truth, though mixed up with much of weakness, of foolishness, and even of self, in those who preach it.

"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 Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and He was sanctified in them."

"But Jehovah 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 Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord and He was sanctified in them." Moses and Aaron sanctified Him not, but gave up grace for the vindication of their injured authority. Had this been God's feeling, they had fetched no water out of the rock. Jehovah was sanctified; but it was in maintaining His own word, His own grace, notwithstanding the failure of Moses and Aaron: a failure which brought immediate reproof on themselves, and the sharp chastening of dying outside the land, the land of Canaan, whither grace was conducting the people.

"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 pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast 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 be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on 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 before thee there upon the rock in Horeb: and thou shalt smite 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 chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not!" (vv. 1-7.)

As in the case of the manna, so with the smitten rock, the people's sin was the occasion for this display of power and grace. In Rephidim there was "no water for the people to drink." And what did the people do? Were they not encouraged, by their past experiences of God's faithfulness and tender care, to turn to Him in the confidence that He would interpose on their behalf? Were not the quails and the manna fresh in their recollection as the evidence of the all-sufficiency of Jehovah to meet their every need? Had they not learnt that the Lord was their shepherd, and that therefore they should not want? All this, indeed, might have been expected; and, were we ignorant of the human heart, of the character of the flesh, it might have been expected as the natural results of what they had seen of the wonderful works of the Lord. But so far from this being the case, they chode with Moses, and said, "Give us water that we may drink." In their sinful murmurings and unbelief, they looked upon Moses as the author of all their misery, and were almost ready to kill him in their anger.

An observation or two may be made upon the character of their sin, before the gracious provision accorded to their need is considered. The people chode with Moses; but in reality, as Moses said, they tempted the Lord (v. 2); saying, by their acts, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" (v. 17.) Moses was their appointed leader, and was, therefore, for the people Jehovah's representative. To chide with him was thus to chide with the Lord; and to complain of their privations was in fact to doubt, if not to deny, the Lord's presence. For had they believed that He was among them, every murmur would have been hushed, and they would have rested in the assurance that He who had brought them out of Egypt, parted for them the waters of the Red Sea, delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, and guided them in all their journeys by the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day, would in His own time hear their cry, and supply their need. It shows the very solemn nature of the sin of murmuring and complaints, because of the trials of the wilderness, and teaches us, at the same time, that the essence of all such is doubting whether the Lord is with us. Hence the antidote to all such tendencies, to these common snares of Satan, by which he so often entangles the feet of the Lord's people, and robs them of their peace and joy, even when he does not compass their fall, is a firm, unwavering hold upon the truth that the Lord is among us, that He leads His people like a flock through every stage of their wilderness journey. How beautiful, in contrast with the conduct of Israel, is the perfect attitude of our blessed Lord. When tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He in immovable dependence, repelled his every suggestion with the simple word of God.

Such, then, is the teaching conveyed to the spiritual mind by the smitten rock; but the name of the place in which this significant type was presented is a standing memorial of man's unbelief. "He called the name of the place Massah (i.e., temptation,) and Meribah, (i.e., chiding,) because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?" (Ver. 7) After such repeated assurances and evidences of Jehovah's presence, to raise such an enquiry proves the deep-seated unbelief of the human heart. It was, in point of fact, tempting Him. Thus did the Jews, in the day of Christ's presence amongst them, seek of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. Faith never acts thus; it believes in, and enjoys, the divine presence, not by a sign, but by the knowledge of Himself. It knows He is there to be enjoyed, and it enjoys Him. Lord, grant us a more artless spirit of confidence.

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted by proving Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved [or, displeased] with this generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known [or, but they did not know] My ways. So [or, as] I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest" (Heb. 3:7-11). Israel's past history was to teach lessons for their children. The Psalm in the original would remind all of the incidents at Meribah, as detailed in Num. 20:1-13, by the word translated provocation, and then of those at Massah, related in Ex. 17:1-7, by the word translated temptation.* God among them, God's power and care for them, they doubted on these two occasions, but wholly without reason. Let the Hebrews then take care, lest any of them should act in a similar manner.

A sad page of their history is now brought before them, the time of their "strife" with God at Meribah, and "tempting" Him at Massah. And this was but a sample of forty years in which He was grieved by a generation finally cut off in the wilderness for unbelief. They are exhorted not to harden their hearts as did their fathers, when they tempted and proved God, and saw His work, — found Him alike faithful in His promises and in His threatenings. And now the rest of God is so near at hand, and in proportion to the blessedness of all implied in it, is the awful irremediable ruin of being cut off from it.