Metaphysical meaning of Meribah (mbd)
Meribah, mer'-l-bah (Heb.)--pleading; contention; strife; quarrel.
A place in the wilderness where there was no water to drink, and the people "strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink." It was there that Moses smote the rock, at the command of Jehovah, and water came out of it for the people to drink (Exod. 17:7; Num. 27:14).
Meta. The seemingly ever present tendency in the carnal of us to murmur, complain, and doubt God every time we have an opportunity to prove Him true and to overcome some error in ourselves. So long as everything is going along smoothly we are happy and we think that we have abundant faith in God, the good. But just so soon as some apparent lack or inharmony descends upon us we begin to wonder why God ever let it come, and doubts and complaints creep in if we are not very watchful. (Jesus said to Peter, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" Matt. 26:41.)
The tendency to complain diminishes as we progress in our understanding of Truth and in putting off the "old man of sin and putting on Christ, until finally the tendency will disappear entirely. It is very apparent in virtually every one, however, at the beginning of his unfoldment Spiritward. It was because of giving way to this tendency of the carnal to doubt and complain that the Children of Israel who left Egypt, all but Joshua and Caleb, lost their bodies in the wilderness and failed to enter the Promised Land. We must fully overcome this tendency if we would enter God's sabbath of rest here and now, the perfection of life and good that is our divine inheritance (see Heb. 3:8-19; 4; see MASSAH, also).
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Preceding Entry: Meres
Following Entry: Merib-baal
