Numbers 20:13
These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
Sermons
God's Use of Insufficient MeansGeorge Breay, B. A.Numbers 20:2-13
How it Went Ill with MosesF. B. Meyer, B. A.Numbers 20:2-13
Moses At the RockBritish Weekly PulpitNumbers 20:2-13
Moses Striking the RockT. R. Stevenson.Numbers 20:2-13
No WaterPreacher's AnalystNumbers 20:2-13
Sin in the Child of GodDavid Lloyd.Numbers 20:2-13
The Gift of Water At MeribahD. Young Numbers 20:2-13
The Muddy BottomQuiet Thoughts for Quiet HoursNumbers 20:2-13
The Privations of Man and the Resources of GodW. Jones.Numbers 20:2-13
The Scene At MeribahR. D. B. Rawnsley, M. A.Numbers 20:2-13
The Sin of MosesT. Boston, D. D.Numbers 20:2-13
The Sins of Holy Men, and Their PunishmentW. Jones.Numbers 20:2-13
The Smitten RockE. S. Atwood.Numbers 20:2-13














There must have been something in this sin of Moses at the crag in Kadesh very unworthy of his high place, and very displeasing to God. The sharpness of the Lord's reprimand and the severity of the punishment make this sufficiently clear. By Moses himself the punishment was felt to be severe. And no marvel. For eighty long years he had waited and laboured for the fulfillment of the promise. During the last thirty-seven of these he had been cheering himself with the hope that he, along with Joshua and Caleb, and the men of the younger generation, would be suffered to take possession of the land. This lay so near his heart that, after learning that he was not to set foot within the promised rest, he laboured hard to get the sentence reversed (Deuteronomy 3:25).

I. WHAT THEN WAS MOSES' SIN? Two circumstances are obvious on the face of the story.

1. Moses, being directed to speak to the rock that it might give forth its water, smote it instead with the rod of God which was in his hazed; and this he did not once only, but twice.

2. He spoke to the people, not with meekness and calm authority, but in heat and bitterness. "Ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Thus he "spake unadvisedly with his lips" (Psalm 106:33). It is not difficult to understand how Moses should have so far forgotten himself on this occasion. Let the facts be weighed. The servant of the Lord is now 120 years old. The generation which sinned thirty-seven years ago, and was condemned to die in the wilderness, is nearly all gone. Moses is mortified to find that the new generation is infected with a touch of the same impatient unbelief which wrought in their fathers so much mischief. No sooner are they at a loss for water than they rise against Moses with rebellious murmurings. For once he loses command of himself. On all former occasions of the kind his meekness was unshaken; he either held his peace, or prayed for the rebels, or at most called on the Lord to be his Witness and Judge. Now he breaks out into bitter chidings. At the root of this there was a secret failure of faith. "Ye believed me not," - did not thoroughly rely on my faithfulness and power, - "to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel" (verse 12). His former meekness had been the fruit of faith. He had been thoroughly persuaded that the Lord who was with him could accomplish all he had promised, and therefore he faced every difficulty with calm and patient resolution. Now a touch of unbelief bred in him hastiness and bitterness of spirit.

II. LESSONS.

1. The failings of good men may be culpable in God's sight and displeasing to him out of all proportion to the degree of blameworthiness they present to our eye. So far is it from being true (as many seem to think) that believers' sins are no sins at all, and need give no concern, that, on the contrary, the Lord dislikes the stain of sin most when it is seen in his dear children. The case of Moses is not singular. Sins which the Lord overlooks in other men he will occasionally put some mark of special displeasure upon, when they are committed by one who is eminent for holiness and honourable service. It is, no doubt, a just instinct which leads all right-thinking people to be blind to the failings of good men who have been signally useful in their day. But if the good men become indulgent to their own faults they are likely to be rudely awakened to a sense of their error. The better a man is, his sins may be the more dishonouring to God. A spot hardly visible on the coat of a labouring man, may be glaringly offensive on the shining raiment of a throned king.

2. The sins we are least inclined to may nevertheless be the sins which will bring us to the bitterest grief. Every man has his weak side. There are sins to which our natural disposition or the circumstances of our up-bringing lay us peculiarly open; and it is without doubt a good rule to be specially on our guard in relation to these sins. Yet the rule must not be applied too rigidly. When Dumbarton Rock was taken, it was not by assailing the fortifications thrown up to protect its one weak side, but by scaling it at a point where the precipitous height seemed to render defense or guard unnecessary. Job was the most patient of men, yet he sinned through impatience. Peter was courageous, yet he fell through cowardice. Moses was the meekest of men, yet he fell through bitterness of Spirit. We have need to guard well not our weak points only, but the points also at which we deem ourselves to be strong. - B.

The people abode in Kadesh.
The fortieth year is now running its course. The time of the curse has nearly expired. And now preparations may be begun for entering a second time on the march to Canaan, where a new generation must vindicate the claim of Israel to be indeed "the hosts of the Lord," by taking possession of the land of promise. It was at Kadesh that the sentence had been pronounced which doomed their fathers to these dreary years of wandering. It is at Kadesh again that the camp is reorganised. It seems likely that during the interval there was no definite aim or object before the people, so that they moved about as suited their convenience or necessities, very much as the wandering tribes of the desert do still. This would lead to a relaxation of discipline and order in the camp, and more or less scattering of the people. Their unity was indeed to a certain extent kept up, and their marching orders given as of old, probably at long intervals. So at least we would infer from the itinerary in chap. Numbers 33.; but there must have been no little disorganisation and dispersion, rendering it necessary that there should be a reassembling of the forces. For this purpose no place could be better or more appropriate than Kadesh, not only because it must have been so familiar to all, but also because, by making it their point of departure, they resumed the thread that had been broken by the unbelief of their fathers. The total loss of the long interval of time, moreover, is more distinctly marked by the gathering of the people together at the old halting-place. There is a striking contrast between the new departure and the old. The first began with the numbering and mustering of the armed men, and all the bustle, activity, and energy of a youthful host setting out to victory. The second seems to have a much less hopeful beginning. The twentieth of Numbers is one of the saddest chapters in the book. It begins with the death of her who had been the leader in the song of victory on the shores of the Red Sea. It ends with the death of him who had so long been the honoured representative of Israel in the Holy and the Most Holy Place. And, between the two, we have the old story of murmuring on the part of the people, and mercy on the part of God, but with this sad addition, that Moses himself has a fall — a fall so serious that it leads to his own, as well as Aaron's, exclusion from the land of promise. It seems a hopeless beginning indeed. But was there not something hopeful in its very hopelessness? Recall that scene of wrestling at Peniel, when the patriarch Jacob gained the new name of Israel. How did he gain it? By his own strength? Nay. It was through weakness that he was made strong. It was when his power was utterly broken that his hope of victory began. This will illustrate what we mean when we say that there is something hopeful in the very hopelessness of this chapter. And this prepares the way for the great lesson of the next chapter, which may be expressed in the very words which follow the passage just quoted from the 146th Psalm, "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God."

(J. M. Gibson, D. D.)

Miriam died there.
I. DEATH TERMINATES THE MOST PROTRACTED LIFE. Miriam must have been about 130 years old when she died.

II. DEATH TERMINATES THE MOST EVENTFUL LIFE.

1. The girl watching over the life of her infant brother (Exodus 3:4-8).

2. The experienced woman sharing in the interest and action of the stirring events which led to the great emancipation from Egypt.

3. The prophetess leading the exultant songs and dances of a triumphant people (Exodus 15:20, 21).

4. The envious woman aspiring after equality with, and speaking against her greater brother (Numbers 12:1, 2).

5. The guilty woman smitten with leprosy because of the sin (Numbers 12:9, 10).

6. The leprous woman healed in answer to the prayer of the brother whom she had spoken against (Numbers 12:13-15). The most stirring and eventful life is closed by death, as well as the quiet and monotonous one.

III. DEATH TERMINATES THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LIFE.

1. Miriam was distinguished by her gifts. Prophetic gifts arc ascribed to her. "Miriam, the prophetess," is her acknowledged title (Exodus 15:20).

2. Miriam was distinguished by her position.

IV. DEATH, BY REASON OF SIN, SOMETIMES TERMINATES LIFE EARLIER THAN IT OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE DONE.

V. DEATH SOMETIMES TERMINATES LIFE WITH SUGGESTIONS OF A LIFE BEYOND. It was so in the case of Miriam. Can we think that the gifts with which she was so richly endowed, and the treasures of experience which in her long and eventful life she had gathered, were all lost at death? This would be in utter opposition to the analogy of the Divine arrangements in the universe.

(W. Jones.)

People
Aaron, Egyptians, Eleazar, Israelites, Miriam, Moses
Places
Edom, Egypt, Kadesh-barnea, King's Highway, Meribah, Mount Hor, Zin
Topics
Contended, Hallowed, Holy, Israelites, Meribah, Mer'ibah, Proved, Quarreled, Sanctified, Showed, Sons, Striven, Strove, Waters
Outline
1. The children of Israel come to Zin, where Miriam dies.
2. They murmur for want of water
7. Moses smiting the rock, brings forth water at Meribah
14. Moses at Kadesh desires passage through Edom, which is denied him
22. At Mount Hor Aaron resigns his place to Eleazar, and dies

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Numbers 20:13

     8672   striving with God

Numbers 20:1-13

     5924   quarrelsomeness

Numbers 20:7-13

     4512   staff

Numbers 20:10-13

     4354   rock

Library
August 17. "Speak Ye unto the Rock" (Num. xx. 8).
"Speak ye unto the Rock" (Num. xx. 8). The Holy Ghost is very sensitive, as love always is. You can conquer a wild beast by blows and chains, but you cannot conquer a woman's heart that way, or win the love of a sensitive nature; that must be wooed by the delicate touches of trust and affection. So the Holy Ghost has to be taken by a faith as delicate and sensitive as the gentle heart with whom it is coming in touch. One thought of unbelief, one expression of impatient distrust or fear, will instantly
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Waters of Meribah
'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. 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 Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4. And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Kadesh. Rekam, and that Double. Inquiry is Made, Whether the Doubling it in the Maps is Well Done.
The readers of the eastern interpreters will observe, that Kadesh is rendered by all Rekam, or in a sound very near it. In the Chaldee, it is 'Rekam': in the Syriac, 'Rekem': in the Arabic, 'Rakim'... There are two places noted by the name Rekam in the very bounds of the land,--to wit, the southern and eastern: that is, a double Kadesh. I. Of Kadesh, or Rekam, in the south part, there is no doubt. II. Of it, in the eastern part, there is this mention: "From Rekam to the east, and Rekam is as the
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Epistle xxviii. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [136] . Gregory to Augustine, &c. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14); because a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, has died, that it might not reign in heaven alone; even He by whose death we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose suffering we are rescued from suffering, through whose love we seek in Britain for brethren whom we knew not, by whose gift we find those whom without knowing them we sought.
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Travelling in Palestine --Roads, Inns, Hospitality, Custom-House Officers, Taxation, Publicans
It was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of "custom," when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow-publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he had found life and peace (Luke 5:29). For, it was the only truly international road of all those which passed through Palestine; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the world's commerce. At the time
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Peræa to Bethany. Raising of Lazarus.
^D John XI. 1-46. ^d 1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. [For Bethany and the sisters, see p. 478.] 2 And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair [John xii. 3 ], whose brother Lazarus was sick. [The anointing had not yet taken place, as John himself shows. For a similar anticipation see Matt. x. 4. There are five prominent Marys in the New Testament: those of Nazareth, Magdala and Bethany; the
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

Numbers
Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately, from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for determining the manner and amount of restitution
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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