Psalm 81

“Sing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.  Raise a song and strike the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the lute.  Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day.  For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob.  This He established in Joseph as a testimony, when He went throughout the land of Egypt, where I heard a language I did not understand.  I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the baskets.  You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. – Selah”  Psalm 81:1-7 (NKJV)

In Psalm 80, Asaph asked God to restore Israel, the vineyard of His making.  Today’s psalm is a call for Israel to repent.  The imagery Asaph uses is of the Passover seder; the ordered retelling, not only of the Passover, but God’s provision and preservation of Israel as they were in the desert.  He mentions “Meribah,” which, in Hebrew, means “tempted/quarrels/contention” because the people quarreled with Moses & Aaron (and amongst themselves) instead of faithfully following the Lord.  Meribah (aka Massah) is the name given to a place where twice God made water flow from a rock to miraculously provide for His people amid otherwise impossible circumstances.  In the first instance, Moses was commanded to strike the rock with his rod, symbolic of the ways of God.  The idea was that if Israel would surrender themselves to God’s ways, they would find living water in the desert.  And that is the theme of today’s psalm.  Hence, the mention.  

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel.  Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.’ And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’” Exodus 17:5-7 (NKJV)

In the second instance of the rock at Meribah, Moses was commanded to speak to the rock, symbolic of the power of God’s Word apart from Moses’ direct involvement.  Moses sinned by disobeying God and striking the rock again with his rod.  The effect was that water gushed forth, but God was belittled in the eyes of the Israelites, while Moses’ supposed power was elevated in their eyes.  It communicated that the power of God resided in Moses, exclusively.  In reality, the power resided in Messiah all along.  Messiah followed Israel around the desert.  (1 Corinthians 10:1-7)

“Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.  Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.’ This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.” Numbers 20:11-13 (NKJV)