We are in chapter seventeen of Exodus with our word for today. רִיב strive, quarrel, attack, contend, complain. It is used 68 times in the Old Testament. We find our word used of people fighting against each other. Genesis 26:20 But the herders of Gerar וַיָּרִ֜יבוּ quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. Numbers 20:3 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They וַיָּ֥רֶב quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord!
We also see our word used of people fighting against God. Now logically this makes no sense because there is no way you would win. You will only end up hurting yourself. Which is the consistent theme throughout the Bible. 1 Samuel 2:9-10 It is not by strength that one prevails; those who מְרִיבוֹ oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who רָ֚ב strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Jeremiah 2:29 Why do you תָרִ֖יבוּ contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the Lord. This absurdity is also the sense of how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 17:1-2 There was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people וַיָּ֤רֶב quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you תְּרִיבוּן֙ quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
Instead of fighting and striving against God. God himself has a better idea for us. We need to let God fight for us when we join him and come over to his side. We do this when we turn from our sin, let him make us like him, and follow him. There is a lot of challenges in this broken corrupted place so we need God to fight for us. Lamentations 3:58 רַ֧בְתָּ You have taken up רִיבֵ֥י my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. Isaiah 49:25 For thus says the Lord: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for יְרִיבֵךְ֙ I will contend with those who אָרִ֔יב contend with you, and I will save your children.” Psalm 35:1 רִיבָ֣ה Contend, O Lord, with those who יְרִיבַ֑י contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! I’ll close with this great passage. Romans 8:31, 33-34 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?...Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
