Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Numbers 20:2-13

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 being similarly named Meribah. It is probable that these are two traditions of the same event. In E it is placed at Horeb, early in the journeyings; here it is placed at their close. This two-fold striking of the rock appears to have influenced S. Paul's language in 1 Corinthians 10:4. See on Numbers 21:18.

Continues after advertising

See also Numbers 20:2-13 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Numbers 20:2. _AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION_] The same occurrence took place to the children of Israel at _Kadesh_, as did formerly to their fathers at _Rephidim_, see Exodus 17:1...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The language of the murmurers is noteworthy. It has the air of a traditional remonstrance handed down from the last generation. Compare marginal references....

  • 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...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION— Here, almost all the commentators say, God permitted the water which flowed from the rock in Horeb, and followed the Israelites through the wilderness, to...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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

    AND THERE WAS NO WATER... — Kadesh may have comprised a considerable portion of the wilderness of Zin, and there may have been a supply of water in some parts of the district and a scarcity in others;...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ לֹא ־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָ † עֵדָ֑ה...

  • 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

    And there was no water for the congregation: and they (c) gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. (c) Another rebellion was in Rephidim (Exo. 17:1-16), and this was in Kadesh....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    It is very awful to consider in our corrupt nature, (for Israel in all ages is the same), that neither past judgments for rebellions, nor past mercies when dispensed instead of punishments, have any e...

  • 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

    2._And there was no water for the congregation. _We have already seen a similar, though not the same, history. For, when the people had hardly come out of Egypt, they began to rebel in Rephidim on acc...

  • 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

    AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION,.... Which was so ordered, for the trial of this new generation, to see whether they would behave any better than their fathers had done in a like circumsta...

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

    _No water_ Which, as is generally thought, having followed them through all their former journeys, began to fail them here, because they were now come near countries where waters might be had by ordin...

  • 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...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE AT KADESH...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And there was no water for the congregation; and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, in a dissatisfied mob, just as their fathers had done before them....

  • 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...

  • 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

    The water having followed them through all their former journeys, began now to fail them here, because they were now come near Canaan and other countries, where waters might be had by ordinary means,...

  • 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 20:2 water H4325 congregation H5712 gathered H6950 (H8735) Moses H4872 Aaron H175 no -...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    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 pro...

  • 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

    1 Corinthians 10:10; 1 Corinthians 10:11; Exodus 15:23; Exodus 15:24;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    No water — Which having followed them through all their former journeys, began to fail them here, because they were now come near countries, where waters might be had by ordinary means, and therefore...

Continues after advertising