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Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Numbers 20:13

This is the water of Meribah (strife), because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, in murmuring against His dispensations, and He was sanctified in them, both by exposing the unbelief of the people and by punishing the weakness of Moses and Aaron. Cf Psalms 106:32. This incident is a warning, lest any one become secure. Even firm and tested Christians are not safe against temptation and falling, against disobedience, foolishness, doubt, unbelief. It is fortunate that the merciful God does not desert His children at such times, but renews faith in their hearts and keeps them safe unto the end.

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See also Numbers 20:13 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    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....

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    10. AT KADESH IN THE FORTIETH YEAR: MURMURING AND CONQUEST CHAPTER 20 _ 1. The death of Miriam (Numbers 20:1)_ 2. The murmuring of the people (Numbers 20:2) 3. The divine instruction (Numbers 20:6...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    NUMBERS 20:2 (mainly JE). THE LACK OF WATER SUPPLIED BY A MIRACLE. The account of the people's demand for water, and of the means by which it was supplied, seems to be a duplicate of the narrative in...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    MERIBAH. contention. Psalms 106:32, &c. HE WAS SANCTIFIED. He hallowed Himself. See note on "holy", Exodus 3:5. Compare Ezekiel 38:23....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _he was sanctified in them_ The verb is from the same root as that of Kadesh (-sacred"), and there is perhaps an intentional play on the name. The expression means -he proved, or vindicated, himself a...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _The striking of the rock at Meribah_. Many characteristics of language indicate that this is mainly the work of P. In Exodus 17:1-7 there is another account (E) of the striking of the rock, the place...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THIS IS THE WATER OF MERIBAH— So called from _chiding_ or _strife;_ and in Deuteronomy 32:51 distinguished from the other _Meribah_ at Horeb, by the name of Meribah Kadesh. Here _God was sanctified in...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    B. SIN OF MOSES AT MERIBAH vv. 2-13 TEXT Numbers 20:2. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3. And the people chode with...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION: AND THEY GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST MOSES AND AGAINST AARON._ There was no water for the congregation. There was at Kadesh a fountain, En-mishp...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    20:13 Meribah, (a-6) Contention....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    DEATH OF MIRIAM. MURMURING AT MERIBAH. DEATH OF AARON 1. Miriam dies while the people are at Kadesh (see on Numbers 13:21; Numbers 13:26). The first month is the first month of the fortieth year. As t...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    MERIBAH] 'strife.' In Numbers 27:14; Deuteronomy 32:51 it is called Meribah of Kadesh to distinguish it from the Meribah of Exodus 17:7 (see note there). 14-21. The people prepare for the last stage o...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF NUMBERS IN THE DESERT NUMBERS _MARION ADAMS_ CHAPTER 20 WATER COMES OUT OF A ROCK – NUMBERS 20:1-13 V1 The *Israelites arrived at the Zin *desert during the fir

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THIS IS THE WATER OF MERIBAH. — _i.e.,_ of strife. (See Exodus 17:7, and Note; also Numbers 27:14, where the words “in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin,” are added to distinguish the latter from the e...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    הֵ֚מָּה מֵ֣י מְרִיבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר ־רָב֥וּ בְנֵֽי...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    SORROW AND FAILURE AT KADESH Numbers 20:1 THERE is a mustering at Kadesh of the scattered tribes, for now the end of the period of wandering approaches, and the generation that has been disciplined i...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE SIN OF MOSES AND AARON Numbers 20:1 Again the people, as the long years of their Wilderness life drew to an end, gathered around the Tabernacle at Kadesh. Again the murmuring spirit broke out, a...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    We now reach the record of events at the close of the forty years. The people were again at Kadesh. Here Miriam died and was buried. A study of the district will show that perhaps the severest part of...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    This [is] the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he (h) was sanctified in them. (h) By showing himself almighty and maintaining his glory....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _The water of contradiction or strife. Hebrew Meribah. (Challoner) --- Sanctified: he shewed the effects of his power and clemency towards the people, and he treated his ministers with a just severity...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    It should be observed, that there are two Meribahs. The one is mentioned, Exodus 17:7. The other is this Meribah-Kadish. Deuteronomy 32:51....

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The previous portion of the Book of Numbers, viewed as a history, has evidently a prefatory character, however important and divinely wise. It is in a great measure preparatory for that which we have...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    13._This is the water of Meribah. _(110) This name was given: to the place in order that the ingratitude of their fathers might be detestable to their descendants, and hence the mercy of God more illu...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Miriam the prophetess dies; this character of testimony is closed. Israel grows old, so to speak, in the wilderness; and the voice which sang songs of triumph in coming up from the depths of the Red S...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole 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 ro...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    This [is] the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. Ver. 13. _And he was sanctified in them._] By overcoming their evil with good; stri...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Meribah_ That is, strife. _In them_ Or, _among them, the children of Israel_, by the demonstration of his omnipotency, veracity, and clemency toward the Israelites, and of his impartial holiness and...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The children of Israel come to Zin, where Miriam dieth. 2 They murmure for want of water. 7 Moses smiting the rocke bringeth forth water at Meribah. 14 Moses at Kadesh desireth passage thorow Edo...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    MOSES DISOBEDIENT BECAUSE PROVOKED (vs.1-13) Journeying again, the congregation came to the wilderness of ZIN and stopped at Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried. The forty years of wandering ha...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    MERIBAH: that is, strife...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-13 After thirty-eight years' tedious abode in the wilderness, the armies of Israel advanced towards Canaan again. There was no water for the congregation. We live in a wanting world, and wherever w...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    MERIBAH, called _Meribah Kadesh_, to distinguish it from another _Meribah_, EXODUS 17:7. _Sanctified in them_, or, _among them_, to wit, the children of Israel last mentioned, by the demonstration of...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    "Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin, in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there." Verse 1. The c...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Numbers 20:13 This H1992 water H4325 Meribah H4809 children H1121 Israel H3478 contended H7378 (H8804) LORD...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE PLACE IS CALLED THE WATERS OF MERIBAH (MRYBH) BECAUSE ‘THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL' STROVE (RYB) THERE WITH YAHWEH AND HE WAS SANCTIFIED (YQDSH) IN THEM (NUMBERS 20:13). Numbers 20:13 ‘These are the w...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Water from the rock and Moses' sin. CHARACTERS: God, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Eleazar, King of Edom. CONCLUSION: God is able to supply His people with necessaries even in their greatest strai...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Numbers 20:1. _The desert of Zin._ Critics are not agreed whether this was the same wilderness, and the same Kadesh to which the people arrived on the eighth journey after leaving Egypt. The arguments...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Neither is there any water to drink._ THE PRIVATIONS OF MAN AND THE RESOURCES OF GOD I. There are privations in the pilgrimage of human life. One man thinks that without health his life would be wor...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    NUMBERS—NOTE ON NUMBERS 20:1 Marching from Kadesh to the Plains of Moab. After nearly 40 years of aimless wandering in the wilderness, Israel is ready to enter the Land of Promise. Most of the older g...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    NUMBERS—NOTE ON NUMBERS 20:2__ Even though Moses’ error seems minor, v. Numbers 20:12 indicates that carelessness in responding to God’s command was the real issue: Bec

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES We now enter upon the narrative of the third and last stage of the journey of Israel from Sinai to the Promised Land: this narrative is given in this and the following c...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION THE LAST MARCH: FROM KADESH TO HOR (Numbers 20:1). NUMBERS 20:1 THEN CAME THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, EVEN THE WHOLE CONGREGATION. T

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Chapter twenty records the verse, the death of Miriam, the sister of Moses. And she died there in Kadesh the desert of sin and was buried. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gather...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Deuteronomy 32:51; Deuteronomy 33:8; Exodus 17:7; Ezekiel 20:41;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Meribah — That is, strife. In them — Or, among them, the children of Israel, by the demonstration of his omnipotency, veracity, and clemency towards the Israelites, and of his impartial holiness and s...

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