Israel: Complain for Lack of Water in Meribah; the Rock is Struck
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The episode of Israel's complaint for lack of water at Meribah and the subsequent striking of the rock is a significant event in the wilderness journey of the Israelites, recorded in the Pentateuch. This narrative highlights themes of faith, obedience, and divine provision, and it is found in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Numbers.

Biblical Context

The Israelites, having been delivered from slavery in Egypt, were journeying through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Despite witnessing numerous miracles, including the parting of the Red Sea and the provision of manna, the people frequently expressed doubt and dissatisfaction. The incident at Meribah is one such occasion where their faith was tested.

Exodus 17:1-7

The first account of the water from the rock occurs at Rephidim, as recorded in Exodus 17:1-7. The Israelites camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, saying, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" (Exodus 17:2). The people's grumbling escalated, and they accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to die of thirst.

In response, Moses cried out to the LORD, fearing the people's anger might lead to violence against him. The LORD instructed Moses to take some of the elders of Israel and his staff, with which he had struck the Nile, and go to the rock at Horeb. The LORD promised to stand before Moses on the rock, and Moses was to strike the rock, bringing forth water for the people to drink. Moses obeyed, and water gushed out, satisfying the people's thirst. The place was named Massah and Meribah because of the Israelites' quarreling and testing of the LORD.

Numbers 20:1-13

A similar event is recounted in Numbers 20:1-13, occurring later in the wilderness journey, at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. Here, the community again faced a lack of water, and they gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. The people lamented their situation, expressing regret for leaving Egypt and accusing Moses of leading them to a barren land.

Moses and Aaron went to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD instructed Moses to take the staff and, along with Aaron, gather the assembly. He was to speak to the rock before their eyes, and it would yield its water. However, Moses, perhaps in frustration, struck the rock twice with his staff instead of speaking to it as commanded. Water flowed abundantly, but the LORD was displeased with Moses and Aaron for not upholding His holiness before the Israelites.

As a result of their disobedience, the LORD declared that Moses and Aaron would not lead the assembly into the Promised Land. The waters were called the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed Himself holy among them.

Theological Significance

The events at Meribah underscore the importance of faith and obedience in the relationship between God and His people. Despite the Israelites' repeated complaints, God demonstrated His faithfulness by providing for their needs. However, the incident also serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of disobedience, even for leaders like Moses and Aaron. The striking of the rock, contrary to God's command, was seen as a failure to uphold God's holiness, resulting in significant repercussions for Moses and Aaron.

These narratives continue to be a source of reflection on the nature of faith, leadership, and the necessity of trusting in God's provision and commands.
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Numbers 20:1-13
Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.
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Resources
What is the difference between Israel and Palestine? | GotQuestions.org

When and how was Israel conquered by the Assyrians? | GotQuestions.org

Should Christians support the nation of Israel? | GotQuestions.org

Israel: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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Subtopics

Israel

Israel and Palestine

Israel and the End Times

Israel Becoming a State

Israel in the Last Days

Israel Today

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: Captivity of Cyrus Directs the Rebuilding of the Temple

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: Captivity of Nehemiah is Commissioned to Lead the Remainder of the Captivity

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: Captivity of One-Tenth of the People

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: Josiah is Succeeded by Jehoahaz

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: Judah in the Historical Books of First and Second Kings

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: The Nation Composed of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin, Called Judah

Israel, Prophecies Concerning: The Poorest of the People Were Left to Occupy the Country

Israel: (Foreshadowing Circumstances Indicating the Separation): Disagreement After Saul's Death

Israel: (Foreshadowing Circumstances Indicating the Separation): Providential

Israel: (Foreshadowing Circumstances Indicating the Separation): The Rebellion of Sheba

Israel: A Name Given to Jacob

Israel: A Name Given to the Descendants of Jacob, a Nation: Also Called Israelites, and Hebrews

Israel: A Name Given to the Descendants of Jacob, a Nation: Etc

Israel: A Name of the Messiah in Prophecy

Israel: Abide at Kadesh

Israel: Ai Captured

Israel: All Who Were Numbered at Mount Sinai Perished in the Wilderness Except Caleb and Joshua

Israel: are Refused Passage Through the Country of: Edom

Israel: are Scourged With Fiery Serpents

Israel: Army of Syria Invades Israel, But Peacefully Withdraws Through the Tact of the Prophet Elisha

Israel: Arrive at Sinai

Israel: Arrive at the Border of Canaan

Israel: Arrive in the Plains of Moab, at the Fords of the Jordan River

Israel: At the Suggestion of Jethro, Moses' Father-In-Law, They Organize a System of Government

Israel: Borrowed Jewels from the Egyptians

Israel: Children Were Spared when the Firstborn of the Egyptians Were Killed

Israel: Circumcision Observed and the Passover Celebrated

Israel: Commit Idolatry With the People of Moab

Israel: Complain Against Moses and Aaron

Israel: Complain for Lack of Water in Meribah; the Rock is Struck

Israel: Complained for Food

Israel: Complained for Lack of Water at Rephidim

Israel: Complained on Account of the Bitter Water

Israel: Complaining Over the Report

Israel: Conquest of the Land

Israel: Conquest of the Midianites

Israel: Covenant Renewed, Death of Joshua

Israel: Cross the Jordan River

Israel: Defeat the Amalekites

Israel: Defeat the Amorites

Israel: Defeat the Canaanites

Israel: Defeat the Five Amoritish Kings

Israel: Defeat the King of Baasha

Israel: Delivered for Their Idolatry to the King of Mesopotamia During Eight Years

Israel: Divided Into Families, Each of Which had a Chief

Israel: Exempt from the Plagues

Israel: Famine Prevails During the Reign of Ahab

Israel: First Sacrifice offered By, Under the Law

Israel: for the Itinerary, See

Israel: Gifts Consecrated for the Creation of the Tabernacle

Israel: God Withdraws his Presence

Israel: Idolatry of

Israel: Instituted the Passover

Israel: Israel Defeated by the Philistines, and Saul and his Sons are Killed

Israel: Israel, Also Called Samaria, Invaded By, But Defeats, Ben-Hadad, King of Syria

Israel: Jericho Captured

Israel: Joshua Appointed the Leader

Israel: Joshua's Exhortation Immediately Before his Death

Israel: Journey from Rameses to Succoth

Israel: Journey from Succoth to Etham

Israel: Journey to Elim

Israel: Journey to Marah

Israel: Journey to Pi-Hahiroth

Israel: Led by God

Israel: Lived in Egypt for Four-Hundred and Thirty Years

Israel: Lived in Goshen

Israel: Lukewarmness of the Ten Tribes, and Zeal of Judah for David in Absolom's Rebellion

Israel: Made the Journey by Night

Israel: Make a Treaty With the Gibeonites

Israel: March out of the Wilderness

Israel: Men Chosen to Allot the Lands of Canaan Among the Tribes and Families

Israel: Moab Rebels

Israel: Moses Commissioned As the Deliverer

Israel: Moses Dies, and the People Mourn

Israel: Moses' Indignation

Israel: Names of, Seen in John's Vision, on the Gates of the New Jerusalem

Israel: Nations Dread

Israel: Number of, After the Captivity

Israel: Number of, After the Plague

Israel: Number of, at Sinai, by Tribes

Israel: Number of, at the Time of the Exodus

Israel: Number of, Fit for Military Service when They Left Egypt

Israel: Number of, in John's Apocalyptic Vision

Israel: Number of, when David Counted

Israel: Number of, Who Went Into Egypt

Israel: Obduracy of

Israel: Pass Through the Red Sea

Israel: Pattern for the Tabernacle and the Appurtenances, and Forms of Worship to be Observed

Israel: Piety of Those Who Entered Canaan

Israel: Prophecies About the Multitude of

Israel: Prophecies Concerning

Israel: Prophecies of Their Captivity in Eqypt

Israel: Provided With Manna and Quail

Israel: Providentially Cared For

Israel: Punished by a Plague

Israel: Punished by a Plague in Consequence, Twenty-Four Thousand People Die

Israel: Pursued by the Egyptians

Israel: Reaction, and Their Purpose to Enter the Land; are Defeated by the Amalekites

Israel: Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

Israel: Religious Fidelity During the Life of Joshua

Israel: Remove from Shittim to the Jordan River

Israel: Renew the Covenant

Israel: Renew Their Idolatry

Israel: Return to the Wilderness, where They Remain for Thirty Eight Years

Israel: Return With a Majority Report and a Minority Report

Israel: Revolt Consummated Under Rehoboam, Son and Successor of Solomon

Israel: Sanctify Themselves for Receiving the Law

Israel: Scandal of the Bethlehemite's Concubine

Israel: Second Passover Observed

Israel: Send Twelve Spies to View the Land

Israel: Tables Renewed

Israel: The Anger of the Lord in Consequence

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Israel: The City of Samaria Captured, and the People Carried to Assyria

Israel: The Conflict Between the Two Political Factions

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Israel: The Day of Their Deliverance to be a Memorial

Israel: The Death of Aaron

Israel: The Descendants of Levi Were Consecrated to the Rites of Religion

Israel: The Erection of the Tabernacle

Israel: The Judgment of God Upon Them in Consequence of Their Unbelief and Complaining

Israel: The Land Allotted

Israel: The Land Repopulated

Israel: The Law Delivered To

Israel: The Message of God to Them

Israel: The Mourning of, when God Refused to Lead Them

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Israel: The Order of the March

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Israel: The People Numbered for the Allotment of the Land

Israel: The People Receive It and Covenant Obedience to It

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Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Eli for Forty Years

Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Elon for Ten Years

Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Ibzan for Seven Years

Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Jair for Twenty-Two Years

Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Samson for Twenty Years

Israel: Under the Judges: Led by Tola for Twenty-Three Years

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Israel: Under the Judges: People Turn to Idolatry

Israel: Under the Judges: Public Affairs Administered Four-Hundred and Fifty Years by the Judges

Israel: Under the Judges: Reproved by an Angel for not Casting out the Original Inhabitants

Israel: Under the Judges: Return to Idolatry

Israel: Under the Judges: Seven Years of Bondage to the Midianites; Delivered by Gideon

Israel: Under the Judges: Shamgar Resists a Foray of the Philistines and Delivers Israel

Israel: Under the Judges: Struck Down by the Philistines at Eben-Ezer

Israel: Under the Judges: The Ephraimites Go to War Against Other Tribes

Israel: Under the Judges: The Original Inhabitants not Fully Expelled

Israel: Under the Judges: The People Backslide Again are Chastened by the Philistines for Forty Years

Israel: Under the Judges: They Demand a King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Absalom's Rebellion

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Amalekites Defeated

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Ammonites Invade Israel, are Defeated

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Conquests of David

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: David Anointed As King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: David Defeats the Amalekites

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: David Made King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: David Made King Over all Israel

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Goliath Killed

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Ish-Bosheth Made King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Philistines Struck Down

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Saul Anointed As King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Solomon Anointed As King

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Solomon's Death

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: Solomon's Palace Built

Israel: Under the Kings Before the Separation Into Two Kingdoms: The Temple Built

Israel: Urged by the Egyptians to Depart

Israel: War Continued Between Baasha and Asa

Israel: War Continued Between Jeroboam and Abijam

Israel: War Continued Between the Two Kingdoms all the Days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam

Israel: Water Miraculously Supplied from the Rock at Meribah

Israel: Water of, Sweetened

Israel: were Enslaved and Oppressed by the Egyptians

Miscegenation: Israel

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Abijam's Wicked Reign

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Ahaz Changes the Nature of the Altar in the Temple

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Ahaziah Killed by Jehu

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Ahaziah Succeeds Jehoram

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Ahaziah, Also Called Azariah

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Amaziah Reigns, and Judah is Invaded by the King of Israel

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Amon Succeeds Manasseh on the Throne

Prophecies Concerning Israel: And Jehoahaz

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Asa Makes a Treaty With Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, to Make War Against Israel

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Asa's Good Reign

Prophecies Concerning Israel: Athaliah, his Mother, Succeeds Him

Related Terms

Israel's (72 Occurrences)

El-elohe-Israel (1 Occurrence)

El-el'ohe-Israel (1 Occurrence)

Sojourners (37 Occurrences)

Saveth (36 Occurrences)

Home-born (14 Occurrences)

Killeth (23 Occurrences)

Sojourning (35 Occurrences)

Sojourneth (27 Occurrences)

Shrine (34 Occurrences)

Vexed (37 Occurrences)

Homes (43 Occurrences)

Zerub'babel (23 Occurrences)

Spear (55 Occurrences)

Selected (23 Occurrences)

Seashore (20 Occurrences)

Sihon (34 Occurrences)

Sabbatical (1 Occurrence)

Kills (38 Occurrences)

Zimri (16 Occurrences)

Slayeth (28 Occurrences)

Yoked (10 Occurrences)

Kingship (17 Occurrences)

Slaying (21 Occurrences)

Spakest (12 Occurrences)

Selleth (17 Occurrences)

Spreadeth (37 Occurrences)

Sojourns (18 Occurrences)

Killing (41 Occurrences)

Seeketh (60 Occurrences)

Shrines (40 Occurrences)

Seemeth (36 Occurrences)

Spy (27 Occurrences)

Voluntary (17 Occurrences)

Sheweth (34 Occurrences)

Speakest (30 Occurrences)

Sprout (25 Occurrences)

Savior (60 Occurrences)

Zechari'ah (51 Occurrences)

Supplications (32 Occurrences)

Kadesh (30 Occurrences)

Sacrificing (39 Occurrences)

Stamp (25 Occurrences)

Se'ir (36 Occurrences)

Zealous (40 Occurrences)

Quarreled (8 Occurrences)

Simile (61 Occurrences)

100 (8 Occurrences)

Violated (23 Occurrences)

Vanities (14 Occurrences)

Zidon (25 Occurrences)

Zachariah (6 Occurrences)

Zobah (15 Occurrences)

Kir'iath-je'arim (18 Occurrences)

Kirjath-jearim (17 Occurrences)

Kirjathjearim (17 Occurrences)

Shoulders (38 Occurrences)

Zoroastrianism

Seventeen (12 Occurrences)

Seers (8 Occurrences)

Spoilers (19 Occurrences)

Signets (4 Occurrences)

Serveth (24 Occurrences)

Signet (21 Occurrences)

Sands (9 Occurrences)

Smites (10 Occurrences)

Slaughtering (14 Occurrences)

Sojourned (20 Occurrences)

Sacrificeth (22 Occurrences)

Victuals (32 Occurrences)

Spoiled (69 Occurrences)

Visited (40 Occurrences)

Singers (41 Occurrences)

Zerubbabel (25 Occurrences)

Zerah (22 Occurrences)

Kenites (8 Occurrences)

Spies (22 Occurrences)

Visions (43 Occurrences)

Shallum (27 Occurrences)

Israel: Complain Against Moses and Aaron
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