MERIBAH ( = "strife"): 1. A place in Rephidim in the wilderness;
called also "Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the
children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord" (Ex.
xvii. 7). It is certainly this Meribah which is alluded to in
Ps. xcv. 8. 2. A place at Kadesh in the wilderness, the name
occurring either as "Me Meribah" (= "the water of Meribah"; Num.
xx. 13, 24) or as "Me Meribath-Kadesh" (= "the water of Meribah
in Kadesh"; Num. xxvii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 51). The latter name
appears as the southern limit of the land of Canaan in Ezek.
xlvii. 19, xlviii. 28 (= "the waters of strife in Kadesh"). It
must be said, however, that the Septuagint invariably translates
the word "Meribah" by λοιδόρησις; and that the Targumim and the
later commentators regard it as a common noun. It may be seen
that the two narratives which give the origin of the name differ
only in that in Ex. xvii. 7 Moses is ordered by God to strike
the rock, while in Num. xxvii. 14 he is ordered to speak to the
rock, and for di