Numbers 27:14

14 for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah ^[a] in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.

Numbers 27:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 27:14

For ye rebelled against my commandment the desert of Zin
Both Moses and Aaron, which was the reason why they were not suffered to go into the land of Canaan, but died a little before the children of Israel came into it: what their sin was, called here a rebelling against the commandment of the Lord; (See Gill on Numbers 20:12), and is next suggested:

in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me before their eyes;
when the congregation of Israel strove against the Lord for want of water, they did not sanctify the Lord by believing in him; but expressed some degree of diffidence before the congregation about fetching water out of the rock, or questioning whether the Lord would give it to such a rebellious people, though they had his order for it:

that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin;
so called to distinguish it from another Meribah, or water of strife, at Rephidim, ( Exodus 17:7 ) ( Deuteronomy 32:51 ) .

Numbers 27:14 In-Context

12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.

13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

14 for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.

15 So Moses appealed to the LORD,

16 “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

Footnotes

• [a]. Meribah means quarreling; see Exodus 17:7.