In Exod. 21:18 rı̂yb is used in connection with a physical struggle: “And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not.…” rı̂yb appears in Judg. 6:32 with the meaning of “to contend against” through words.

B. Nouns.

rı̂yb (רִב, Strong's #7379), “strife; quarrel; dispute; case; contentions; cause.” This noun has a cognate only in Aramaic. Its 60 occurrences appear in all periods of biblical Hebrew. The noun rı̂yb is used of conflicts outside the realm of law cases and courts. This conflict between individuals may break out into a quarrel, as in Prov. 17:14: “The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.” In Gen. 13:7-8 (the first occurrence of rı̂yb) the word is used of “contention” prior to open fighting between two groups: “And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle.…” In such a case the one with the “strife” is clearly the guilty party.

Rı̂yb sometimes represents a “dispute” between two parties. This “dispute” is set in the context of a mutual law structure binding both parties and a court which is empowered to decide and execute justice. This may involve “contention” between two unequal parties (an individual and a group), as when all Israel quarreled with Moses, asserting that he had not kept his end of the bargain by adequately providing for them. Moses appealed to the Judge, who vindicated him by sending water from a rock (cliff?) smitten by Moses: “And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding [quarrel] of the children of Israel …” (Exod. 17:7). God decided who was the guilty party, Moses or Israel. The “contention” may be between two individuals as in Deut. 25:1, where the two disputants go to court (having a “case or dispute” does not mean one is a wrongdoer): “If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” So in Isa. 1:23 the unjust judge accepts a bribe and does not allow the widow’s just “cause” (NASB, “widow’s plea”) to come before him. Prov. 25:8-9 admonishes the wise to “debate thy cause with thy neighbor” when that neighbor has “put thee to shame.”

Rı̂yb may represent what goes on in an actual court situation. It is used of the entire process of adjudication: “Neither shalt thou [be partial to] a poor man in his cause” (Exod. 23:3; cf. Deut. 19:17). It is also used of the various parts of a lawsuit. In Job 29:16, Job defends his righteousness by asserting that he became an advocate for the defenseless: “I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.” Here, then, the word means the false charge brought against a defendant. Earlier in the Book of Job (13:6), rı̂yb represents the argument for the defense: “Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.” Elsewhere the word represents the argument for the prosecution: “Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me [literally, “the men presenting the case for the prosecution”]” (Jer. 18:19). Finally, in Isa. 34:8 rı̂yb signifies a “case” already argued and won and awaiting justice: “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.”

Two other related nouns occur rarely. Meribah occurs twice, and it means “strife.” The word refers to an extra-legal (Gen. 13:8) and to a legal confrontation (Num. 27:14). Yarib appears 3 times to mean “disputant; opponent; adversary” (Ps. 35:1; Isa. 49:25; Jer. 18:19).

Bibliography Information
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Strife'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/s/strife.html. 1940.

Bible Dictionaries Strife

Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Bible Dictionaries
Strife