Deuteronomy 32:51
For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
For both of you broke faith with Me
This phrase refers to Moses and Aaron, who were leaders chosen by God to guide the Israelites. The Hebrew root for "broke faith" is "ma'al," which implies an act of treachery or unfaithfulness. In the context of the covenant relationship between God and His people, this breach of faith was a serious offense. Historically, this highlights the gravity of leadership responsibilities and the expectation of unwavering faithfulness to God's commands. It serves as a reminder that even the most revered leaders are not above accountability.

among the Israelites
The Israelites were God's chosen people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This phrase emphasizes the communal aspect of the sin; it was not just a private failure but one that occurred in the sight of the entire nation. The historical context here is significant, as the Israelites were on a journey from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, a journey that required trust and obedience to God. The leaders' failure had implications for the whole community, underscoring the interconnectedness of the covenant community.

at the waters of Meribah-kadesh
Meribah-kadesh is a specific location in the Wilderness of Zin, where the incident of striking the rock occurred (Numbers 20:1-13). The name "Meribah" means "quarreling" or "strife," reflecting the contentious nature of the event. Archaeologically, this site is significant as it represents a place of testing and failure. The historical context of this location serves as a reminder of the Israelites' repeated struggles with faith and obedience during their wilderness journey.

in the Wilderness of Zin
The Wilderness of Zin was a desert region that the Israelites traversed during their 40-year journey. This harsh environment was a place of testing and reliance on God's provision. The wilderness experience is often symbolic of spiritual testing and growth. In this context, it highlights the challenges faced by the Israelites and their leaders, and the necessity of maintaining faith in God's promises despite difficult circumstances.

by failing to treat Me as holy
The Hebrew root for "holy" is "qadash," which means to set apart or consecrate. This phrase underscores the importance of recognizing and honoring God's holiness. Moses and Aaron's failure to do so at Meribah-kadesh was a significant transgression because it misrepresented God's character to the people. Theologically, this serves as a powerful reminder of the reverence due to God and the responsibility of leaders to reflect His holiness accurately.

in their presence
This phrase emphasizes the public nature of the sin. The leaders' actions were witnessed by the entire community, which magnified the impact of their failure. Scripturally, this serves as a cautionary tale about the influence of leadership and the importance of setting a godly example. It also highlights the communal aspect of faith, where individual actions can have far-reaching consequences for the entire body of believers.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who was chosen by God to lead His people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Despite his close relationship with God, Moses disobeyed God's command at Meribah.

2. Aaron
Moses' brother and the first high priest of Israel. He also participated in the disobedience at Meribah and faced the same consequence as Moses.

3. Israelites
The chosen people of God, who were led by Moses and Aaron through the wilderness. Their journey was marked by moments of faith and rebellion.

4. Meribah Kadesh
A location in the Wilderness of Zin where Moses and Aaron disobeyed God by striking the rock to bring forth water, instead of speaking to it as God had commanded.

5. Wilderness of Zin
A desert region where the Israelites wandered and where the incident at Meribah Kadesh took place.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Obedience
Moses and Aaron's failure at Meribah underscores the critical importance of obeying God's commands fully. Partial obedience or altering God's instructions can lead to serious consequences.

God's Holiness
The incident highlights the necessity of treating God as holy. Leaders and believers alike must reflect God's holiness in their actions and attitudes.

Leadership Accountability
As leaders, Moses and Aaron were held to a high standard. This serves as a reminder that those in leadership positions bear a significant responsibility to model faithfulness and obedience.

Consequences of Disobedience
The consequence of not entering the Promised Land serves as a sobering reminder that disobedience can lead to missed blessings and opportunities.

God's Faithfulness Despite Human Failure
Despite Moses and Aaron's failure, God remained faithful to His promise to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land, demonstrating His unwavering commitment to His covenant.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the incident at Meribah Kadesh illustrate the importance of obedience to God's specific instructions?

2. In what ways can we ensure that we are treating God as holy in our daily lives and decisions?

3. How does the accountability of Moses and Aaron as leaders apply to modern-day Christian leadership?

4. What are some potential consequences of disobedience in our own spiritual journeys, and how can we avoid them?

5. How does God's faithfulness to the Israelites, despite their leaders' failures, encourage us in our walk with Him?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Numbers 20:1-13
This passage provides the detailed account of the incident at Meribah, where Moses and Aaron failed to uphold God's holiness before the people by striking the rock instead of speaking to it.

Psalm 106:32-33
This psalm reflects on the rebellion at Meribah and highlights how the actions of Moses and Aaron provoked God's anger.

Exodus 17:1-7
Another incident at a place called Meribah, where God provided water from a rock, emphasizing the recurring theme of God's provision and the people's testing of Him.
Death a Judgment Even to the Most Faithful Servants of GodR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 32:48-52
Moses' EndJ. Orr Deuteronomy 32:48-52
Obedient unto DeathD. Davies Deuteronomy 32:48-52
Good Cheer Frown GodR. Betts.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
Moses Commanded to Ascend the Mount and DieD. Davies.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
The Devil a LiarDeuteronomy 32:49-52
The Happy PeopleHomilistDeuteronomy 32:49-52
The Happy People: Who and WhyJ. Smith, M. A.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
The Scene and Circumstances of Moses' DeathJohn Stuart, D. D.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
The Sin and Punishment of MosesR. Cattermole, B. D.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
What Dying IsEpiscopal Recorder.Deuteronomy 32:49-52
People
Aaron, Adam, Hoshea, Israelites, Jacob, Joshua, Moses, Nun
Places
Abarim, Bashan, Canaan, Gomorrah, Jericho, Jordan River, Meribah-kadesh, Moab, Mount Hor, Mount Nebo, Sodom, Zin
Topics
Broke, Desert, Didn't, Faith, Hallowed, Holiness, Holy, Israelites, Kadesh, Meribah, Meribahkadesh, Meribah-kadesh, Meribath, Meribath-kadesh, Mer'i-bath-ka'desh, Midst, Presence, Revere, Sanctified, Sanctify, Sin, Sons, Treat, Trespassed, Uphold, Waste, Waters, Wilderness, Zin
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 32:51

     1185   God, zeal of

Deuteronomy 32:48-52

     4254   mountains

Library
The Eagle and Its Brood
'As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.'--DEUT. xxxii. 11. This is an incomplete sentence in the Authorised Version, but really it should be rendered as a complete one; the description of the eagle's action including only the two first clauses, and (the figure being still retained) the person spoken of in the last clauses being God Himself. That is to say, it should read thus, 'As an eagle stirreth up his nest,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Their Rock and Our Rock
'Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being Judges.' DEUT. xxxii. 31. Moses is about to leave the people whom he had led so long, and his last words are words of solemn warning. He exhorts them to cleave to God. The words of the text simply mean that the history of the nation had sufficiently proved that God, their God, was 'above all gods.' The Canaanites and all the enemies whom Israel had fought had been beaten, and in their awe of this warrior people acknowledged that their
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Memento Mori
I propose this morning, as God shall help me, to lead you to consider your latter end. May the Holy Spirit bend your thoughts downward to the tomb. May he guide you to the grave, that you may there see the end of all earthly hopes, of all worldly pomp and show. In doing this, I shall thus divide my subject. First, let us consider Death, secondly, let us push on the consideration by considering the warnings which Death has given us already; and then, further, let us picture ourselves as dying,--bringing
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Religion --A Reality
Now we will grant you this morning that much of the religion which is abroad in the world is a vain thing. The religion of ceremonies is vain. If a man shall trust in the gorgeous pomp of uncommanded mysteries, if he shall consider that there resides some mystic efficacy in a priest, and that by uttering certain words a blessing is infallibly received, we tell him that his religion is a vain thing. You might as well go to the Witch of Endor for grace as to a priest; and if you rely upon words, the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

At a Public Fast in July, First Sabbath, 1650. (257)
At A Public Fast In July, First Sabbath, 1650.(257) Deut. xxxii. 4-7.--"He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment," &c. There are two things which may comprehend all religion,--the knowledge of God and of ourselves. These are the principles of religion, and are so nearly conjoined together, that the one cannot be truly without the other, much less savingly. It is no wonder that Moses craved attention, and that, to the end he may attain it from an hard hearted deaf people,
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jeremy Taylor -- Christ's Advent to Judgment
Jeremy Taylor, born in Cambridge, England, in 1613, was the son of a barber. By his talents he obtained an entrance into Caius College, where his exceptional progress obtained for him admission to the ministry in his twenty-first year, two years before the canonical age. He was appointed in succession fellow of All Souls, Oxford, through the influence of Laud, chaplain to the King, and rector of Uppingham. During the Commonwealth he was expelled from his living and opened a school in Wales, employing
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Vol. 2

a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Appendix xvi. On the Jewish views About Demons' and the Demonised,' Together with Some Notes on the Intercourse Between Jews and Jewish Christians in the First Centuries.
IT is not, of course, our purpose here to attempt an exhaustive account of the Jewish views on demons' and the demonised.' A few preliminary strictures were, however, necessary on a work upon which writers on this subject have too implictly relied. I refer to Gfrörer's Jahrhundert des Heils (especially vol. i. pp. 378-424). Gfrörer sets out by quoting a passage in the Book of Enoch on which he lays great stress, but which critical inquiries of Dillmann and other scholars have shown to be
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Truth of God
The next attribute is God's truth. A God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he.' Deut 32:4. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.' Psa 57:10. Plenteous in truth.' Psa 86:15. I. God is the truth. He is true in a physical sense; true in his being: he has a real subsistence, and gives a being to others. He is true in a moral sense; he is true sine errore, without errors; et sine fallacia, without deceit. God is prima veritas, the pattern and prototype
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Finding
Heinrich Suso Deut. xxxii. 10 Now have I seen Thee and found Thee, For Thou hast found Thy sheep; I fled, but Thy love would follow-- I strayed, but Thy grace would keep. Thou hast granted my heart's desire-- Most blest of the blessed is he Who findeth no rest and no sweetness Till he rests, O Lord, in Thee. O Lord, Thou seest, Thou knowest, That to none my heart can tell The joy and the love and the sorrow, The tale that my heart knows well. But to Thee, O my God, I can tell it-- To Thee, and
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

viii
We have not treated the Latin Church after that fashion. There is not a hymn of real merit in the Latin which has not been translated, and in not a few cases oftener than once, with the result that the gems of Latin hymnody are the valued possession of the Christian Church in all English-speaking lands. One does not proceed far without making some discoveries which may account, to a certain extent, for the neglect of Greek hymnody by those men who are best qualified to pursue the study of it. The
John Brownlie—Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church

The Call of Moses
There is a great deal more room given in Scripture to the call of men to God's work than there is to their end. For instance, we don't know where Isaiah died, or how he died, but we know a great deal about the call God gave him, when he saw God on high and lifted up on His throne. I suppose that it is true to-day that hundreds of young men and women who are listening for a call and really want to know what their life's mission is, perhaps find it the greatest problem they ever had. Some don't
Dwight L. Moody—Men of the Bible

Perhaps There is no Book Within the Whole Canon of Scripture So Perplexing and Anomalous...
Perhaps there is no book within the whole canon of Scripture so perplexing and anomalous, at first sight, as that entitled "Ecclesiastes." Its terrible hopelessness, its bold expression of those difficulties with which man is surrounded on every side, the apparent fruitlessness of its quest after good, the unsatisfactory character, from a Christian standpoint, of its conclusion: all these points have made it, at one and the same time, an enigma to the superficial student of the Word, and the arsenal
F. C. Jennings—Old Groans and New Songs

Epistle cxxvii. From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory .
From S. Columbanus to Pope Gregory [89] . To the holy lord, and father in Christ, the Roman [pope], most fair ornament of the Church, a certain most august flower, as it were, of the whole of withering Europe, distinguished speculator, as enjoying a divine contemplation of purity (?) [90] . I, Bargoma [91] , poor dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace to thee and peace from God the Father [and] our [Lord] Jesus Christ. I am pleased to think, O holy pope, that it will seem to thee nothing extravagant
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

God's True Treasure in Man
'The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.'--DEUT, xxxii.9. 'Jesus Christ (Who) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.'--TITUS ii. 14. I choose these two texts because they together present us with the other side of the thought to that which I have elsewhere considered, that man's true treasure is in God. That great axiom of the religious consciousness, which pervades the whole of Scripture, is rapturously
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Necessity of Regeneration, Argued from the Immutable Constitution of God.
John III. 3. John III. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. WHILE the ministers of Christ are discoursing of such a subject, as I have before me in the course of these Lectures, and particularly in this branch of them which I am now entering upon, we may surely, with the utmost reason, address our hearers in those words of Moses to Israel, in the conclusion of his dying discourse: Set your hearts unto all
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Lix. The Preacher and his Hearers.
22nd Sunday after Trinity. S. Matthew xviii. 23. "The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." INTRODUCTION.--I have been a good deal abroad, over the Continent of Europe, and whenever I am in a little country inn, I make a point of going into the room where the men are smoking and drinking wine or beer, and hearing their opinions on the politics of the day, and of their country. Now, my experience tells me that in country taverns in France, and
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Jewish Dispersion in the West - the Hellenists - Origin of Hellenist Literature in the Greek Translation of the Bible - Character of the Septuagint.
When we turn from the Jewish dispersion' in the East to that in the West, we seem to breathe quite a different atmosphere. Despite their intense nationalism, all unconsciously to themselves, their mental characteristics and tendencies were in the opposite direction from those of their brethren. With those of the East rested the future of Judaism; with them of the West, in a sense, that of the world. The one represented old Israel, stretching forth its hands to where the dawn of a new day was about
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Early Life of Malachy. Having Been Admitted to Holy Orders He Associates with Malchus
[Sidenote: 1095.] 1. Our Malachy, born in Ireland,[134] of a barbarous people, was brought up there, and there received his education. But from the barbarism of his birth he contracted no taint, any more than the fishes of the sea from their native salt. But how delightful to reflect, that uncultured barbarism should have produced for us so worthy[135] a fellow-citizen with the saints and member of the household of God.[136] He who brings honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock[137]
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Christian's God
Scripture References: Genesis 1:1; 17:1; Exodus 34:6,7; 20:3-7; Deuteronomy 32:4; 33:27; Isaiah 40:28; 45:21; Psalm 90:2; 145:17; 139:1-12; John 1:1-5; 1:18; 4:23,24; 14:6-11; Matthew 28:19,20; Revelation 4:11; 22:13. WHO IS GOD? How Shall We Think of God?--"Upon the conception that is entertained of God will depend the nature and quality of the religion of any soul or race; and in accordance with the view that is held of God, His nature, His character and His relation to other beings, the spirit
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

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