Psalms 78:40

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ¹  in the desert!

Psalms 81:7

81:7 In your distress you called out and I rescued you.

I answered you from a dark thundercloud. ² 

I tested you at the waters of Meribah. ³  (Selah)

Numbers 20:2

20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.

Numbers 20:6

Moses Responds

20:6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

Numbers 20:13

20:13 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained ⁴  among them.

[78:40]  ¹ tn Or “caused him pain.”

[81:7]  ² tn Heb “I answered you in the hidden place of thunder.” This may allude to God’s self-revelation at Mount Sinai, where he appeared in a dark cloud accompanied by thunder (see Exod 19:16).

[81:7]  ³ sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at the place called Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.

[20:13]  ⁴ tn The form is unusual – it is the Niphal preterite, and not the normal use of the Piel/Pual stem for “sanctify/sanctified.” The basic idea of “he was holy” has to be the main idea, but in this context it refers to the fact that through judging Moses God was making sure people ensured his holiness among them. The word also forms a wordplay on the name Kadesh.