Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Numbers 20:1-3
1). The Waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:1).
This first incident occurred through lack of water (Numbers 20:1). Shortage of water in the hot and dry desert and semi-desert areas had been a continuing problem throughout the wilderness experience and it raised its head here seemingly for the last time. Note the play on words. The passage begins with the death of Miriam (mrym) and the dearth of water at Kadesh (qdsh = holy place) and ends with the life-giving waters of Meribah (mrybh) and the ‘making holy' (yqdsh) of Yahweh.
This can be analysed as follows:
a “The children of Israel” come into the wilderness of Zin and dwell in Kadesh (qdsh) (Numbers 20:1 a).
b Miriam (mrym) dies there and the people strive (ryb) with Moses and Aaron for lack of water (Numbers 20:1).
c The people complain because they are excluded from the pleasures of Egypt and Moses and Aaron intercede before Yahweh (Numbers 20:4).
d Yahweh promises water from a rock at the voice of command (Numbers 20:7).
d Water gushes out from the rock when Moses strikes the rock in anger (Numbers 20:9)
c Yahweh complains at Moses and Aaron because they have not sanctified Him in the eyes of Israel and He punishes them by exclusion from the land (Numbers 20:12).
b The place is called the waters of Meribah (mrybh) because water is provided in the face of the people's striving (ryb)(Numbers 20:13 a).
a This was because ‘the children of Israel' strove (ryb) there with Yahweh and He was sanctified (yqdsh) in them (Numbers 20:13 b).
We must now consider this in detail.
Miriam (mrym) Dies and The People Strive With Moses and Aaron For Lack of Water (Numbers 20:1).
‘And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month. And the people abode in Kadesh, and Miriam died there, and was buried there.'
In the first month the people arrived at the wilderness of Zin in the Negeb. (This was probably the first month of the fortieth year after leaving Egypt (Numbers 33:38). But the emphasis here is on which month it occurred in). ‘The first month' would spring out at those early readers. It was the anniversary of the Passover. It should have reinvigorated the people and encouraged their hopes of deliverance, but instead of the joyous celebration and hope that there should have been we find sorrow. As the people settled down in the area of Kadesh (qdsh) Miriam died there.
There was a threefold reason for the mention of this sad event. The first was because her death linked with the shortage of water. There was both physical drought and spiritual drought. This suggests what a blow this was to the people. In spite of her failings Miriam had been a provider of spiritual sustenance to the people, and they recognised that her death would bring them a spiritual drought along with the physical drought caused by lack of water.
The second was that Miriam's death brought home God's warning that the generation of which she was a member were doomed to die in the wilderness. It was even true of Miriam.
The third was because the death of Miriam (Mrym) would lead on both to the production of abundance of water at Meribah (Mrybh), and the ‘contention' (mrybh) of God both with the people and with Moses and Aaron. When the people of God are at their lowest God always meets them with greater blessing, but in this case it would be a mixed blessing, for at Meribah Aaron and Moses would disqualify themselves from entry into the land. This would lead on to the death of Aaron, and more gloom. But it would then result in the appointment of a new High Priest and the even greater abundance of water at Beer (Numbers 21:16). Man proposes, but God disposes, and then comes in with even greater blessing for His people. He is ever ready to begin with us again.
Life is like that. God takes our disappointments and uses them to make us look to Christ. There we find in Him sustenance and life. But how easily we can then spoil it all by allowing sin to take over, so hindering our growth.
The arrival at Kadesh (qdsh) would also result in the ‘sanctifying' (yqdsh) of Yahweh ‘in (by) them' (Numbers 20:13), that is either by the provision of the waters of Meribah or in the people. His holiness was revealed either by the demonstrating of His compassion in miraculously providing water or through His being made holy in the sight of His people.
As previously mentioned above this can be compared with Deuteronomy 10:6, where Moses preceded the death of Aaron with being at ‘the springs of the sons of Yaakan', leading on to Moserah (chastisement), and followed it with arrival at ‘Yotbathah, a land of brooks of water'. The final emphasis of the whole section is therefore on blessing beyond Aaron.
The shortage of water at Kadesh (qdsh) is at first sight surprising. The site we identify with it included a group of oases in the Negeb. If that was the Kadesh mentioned here then this shortage of water may thus have been due to exceptionally dry conditions, to drought, which might explain why the people were so disappointed as a result of finding Kadesh short of water when they had been expecting an abundance. Coming to such a place with such expectation and finding insufficient water would have been a huge shock, which might well have precipitated their despair. Or it may be that it was another Kadesh (it was likely to be a common name), on the borders of Edom, where there was no water.
It will be noted that the name Kadesh (qdsh - holy place) relates to yqdsh in Numbers 20:13. It was to be the place where Yahweh was sanctified. God's holiness and mercy is often revealed when an unexpected period of darkness is followed by a period of blessing.
‘And there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.'
At the same time as Miriam died there was a real shortage of water. The dry wilderness and the hot sun were beginning to tell. So instead of a feast of rejoicing all was gloom. Miriam had died and Kadesh had failed them. They had no song and they had no water. They were at a low ebb.
‘And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, “Would that we had died when our brethren died before Yahweh” '
The result was that once more the people began to rebel. They sent their leaders to make their feelings known to Moses. They ‘strove' (ryb) with Moses, and their cry expressed the wish that they had never survived to have to face up to such thirst. They rather wished that they had died when their fellow-tribesmen had died ‘before Yahweh'. Judgment would have been better than this. Their thoughts were seemingly still on the ground that had swallowed up Dathan and Abiram, and the fire that had destroyed the rebellious Levites (Numbers 17). Better had it been for them, they said, if they had been included. Although it is equally possible that they were referring to those who had died throughout the period in the wilderness as having died ‘before Yahweh', because it was seen as His specific judgment on them.