Numbers 20:13

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. ²Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered against Moses and Aaron. ³The people quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had perished when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! ⁴Why have you brought the LORD's assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵Why have you led us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates-and there is no water to drink!" ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. ⁷And the LORD said to Moses, ⁸"Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock." ⁹So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as He had commanded. ¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, "Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the water: Deuteronomy 33:8, Psalms 95:8, Psalms 106:32-48

Meribah: i.e. Strife, Exodus 17:7, Deuteronomy 32:51, Meribah-Kadesh

he was: Isaiah 5:16, Ezekiel 20:41, Ezekiel 36:23, Ezekiel 38:16

Reciprocal: Numbers 27:14 - Meribah Deuteronomy 6:16 - tempted him Psalms 81:7 - proved Isaiah 8:13 - Sanctify Ezekiel 47:19 - strife Ezekiel 48:28 - strife in Kadesh

Cross-References

Genesis 12:1
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you.

Genesis 12:9
And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

Genesis 20:3
One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman."

Genesis 20:5
Didn't Abraham tell me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands."

Genesis 20:11
Abraham replied, "I thought to myself, 'Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.'

1 Samuel 23:21
"May you be blessed by the LORD," replied Saul, "for you have had compassion on me.

Psalms 64:5
They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. "Who will see them?" they say.

Acts 5:9
"How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter replied. "Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."

Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

This is the water of Meribah,.... Or "strife": this is the name by which the water had in this place, and from this rock, was called; and which is the same name given to the place at Horeb, where a rock had been smitten, and water had flowed, as now, the first year they came out of Egypt; and to distinguish this from that, this is sometimes called Meribah-Kadesh, Deuteronomy 32:51, this being at Kadesh, as that was at Rephidim:

because the children of Israel strove with the Lord: for their chiding and striving with Moses was interpretatively striving with the Lord himself, whose ministers and servants they were:

and he was sanctified in them; that is, the glory of his divine perfections was displayed in them; either in the waters fetched out of the rock, which was a proof of the almighty power of God, and of his truth and faithfulness to his promises; or in the children of Israel, in whose sight, and for whose sake this miracle was wrought: the Targum of Jonathan expressly says, in Moses and Aaron, in not sparing these his saints, but expressing severity towards them for their sin; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The water of Meribah - i. e. “Strife.” The place is called “Meribah in Kadesh” Numbers 27:14, and “Meribah-Kadesh” Deuteronomy 32:51. to distinguish it from the “Meribah” of Exodus 17:2 ff.

And he was sanctified in them - An allusion doubtless to the name “Kadesh” (holy), which though not now bestowed, acquired a new significance from the fact that God here vindicated His own sanctity, punishing Moses and Aaron who had trespassed against it.