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MASSAH AND MERIBAH.—Exo_17:1-7 (JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] ) tells of a miraculous gift of water at a spot near Horeb, which was called Massah and Meribah (‘testing’ and ‘contention’) because the people tested Jahweh by doubting His providence and contended with Moses. It is implied that this occurred about a year after the Exodus. Num_20:1-18, a later narrative (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ), gives a similar account, but puts it thirty-seven years later, and with important variations. The scene is now laid at Kadesh, which receives the name Meribah from the contention of Israel with Jahweh. Moses and Aaron also sin against Him. There are references to the first passage in Deu_6:16; Deu_9:22, Psa_95:8; and to the second in Deu_32:51, Psa_106:32; in Psa_81:7 the two are apparently confused. Deu_33:8 regards the events at Kadesh in a peculiar light: here Jahweh proves Levi at Massah and strives with (or for) him at Meribah. The tendency of recent criticism is to consider Exo_17:1-16 and Num_20:1-29 as duplicate records of the same event, the locality of which must be fixed at Kadesh, where the spring ‘Ain Kadîs creates a fertile oasis. There the tribes were blended into a strong unity. Meribah, on this interpretation, originally signified ‘the place of judgment,’ because Moses delivered there his oracular sentences; cf. ‘waters of Meribah’ and ‘En-mishpat’ (Gen_14:7).
Massah never stands alone, save at Deu_6:11; Deu_9:22. As variants of ‘Meribah’ we find ‘waters of Meribah,’ ‘waters of Meribah-kadesh,’ and, at Eze_47:18, ‘waters of Meriboth-kadesh,’ if the reading be correct. Eze_47:19; Eze_48:28 place Meribah on the southern border of the restored nation. It has been plausibly suggested that Meribôth-kadesh is the correct reading instead of ‘ten thousands of holy ones’ in Deu_33:2.
J. Taylor.