Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died in yesterday's portion of the book of Numbers. She was buried at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin and during their sojourn there the people ran out of stored water and it became apparent that there was no source of fresh water. The Israelites could not move on until the Lord told them to move on (Exodus 40:36, Numbers 9:17) by lifting the cloud of His presence up from the tabernacle. So the people "gathered in opposition against Moses and Aaron" in yesterday's passage and accused Moses of bringing them into the wilderness to die. The two brothers fell to their knees before the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord appeared to them there. This is where we pick up today, with the Lord advising them what to do.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so that they and their livestock can drink.'" (Numbers 20:7-8) This is the rod that was used to call down plagues in Egypt. This is the rod that sprouted, budded, and produced ripe almonds overnight in Numbers 17, signifying the Lord's choice of Aaron as high priest and the tribe of Levi for service at the tabernacle. It has been placed, upon command of the Lord, in front of the ark inside the tabernacle as a perpetual "sign to the rebellious" of the Lord's sovereign power. (Numbers 17:10) The Lord said it would be used to "put an end to their grumbling", so here in Numbers 20 the Lord tells Moses to retrieve the rod while the people are grumbling and to display it while performing an act intended to end their current bout of grumbling.
"So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as He commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, 'Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?' Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank." (Numbers 20:9-11) I love the way the late Christian minister and scholar and author, Matthew Henry, sums up the grumbling of the people in today's passage by saying that the Lord instructs Moses to speak to the rock, "which would do as it was bidden, to shame the people who had been so often spoken to, and would not hear or obey. Their hearts were harder than this rock, not so tender, not so obedient." The solid rock will do what the people are unwilling to do at this time: obey the Lord. By opposing Moses and Aaron, whom God clearly proved to be His chosen political and spiritual leaders earlier in the book of Numbers, they are opposing God.
"But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.'" (Numbers 20:12) The Lord is displeased with how Moses and Aaron (who apparently has the same attitude as his brother) handle the bringing forth of the water. There is no completely simple and clear explanation for exactly what kind of critical error these men make or why it was so grievous in the eyes of God. We will do our best to break down the various components of their behavior in verses 9-11 above.
First, the Lord told Moses to take the rod, not strike the rock with the rod. Back in Exodus 17, however, the Lord directed Moses to strike a rock with the rod to bring forth water in the area of Mount Sinai. Some scholars think his sin is in striking the rock (not once but twice) instead of merely speaking to it as the Lord said. Moses didn't follow the Lord's instructions to the letter.
I think this may be a partial explanation of what went wrong in our text today but I don't think it's the whole explanation. While we are on the subject of striking the rock, though, we'll ponder why Moses did it when he wasn't told to do it. Did he simply misunderstand and assume he was to strike this rock in the same manner as he struck a previous rock? I personally feel that he didn't misunderstand but that he was angry and frustrated with the people and that he may have believed that dramatically raising his arm high and bringing the rod down on the rock twice would make a more impressive spectacle than merely speaking the command of the Lord to the rock. The entire assembly might not be able to clearly hear what he said to the rock but they could witness him striking the rock and the rock bringing forth water, thus underlining his God-given authority over the assembly by having them see the water come forth as a result of his action. If this is the case then, in this moment, he may have sought his own glory more than the Lord's glory. The people continually grumble against him and accuse him of wanting them to die, but would a man who wants them to die bring water from the rock for them to drink? Moses only wants the best for them and the rock at Kadesh may have appeared to him as an opportunity to prove it. I think part of Moses' sin may be that he wants to enhance his own reputation and garner support for his leadership.
Another explanation for striking the rock not only once but twice is that he might have doubted whether speaking the Lord's word to the rock was enough. If that's the case then he's trying to "add to" the Lord's work---something which no man or woman can do. Whatever God does is complete and whole and perfect; there's no way we can improve upon it. If Moses felt he had to add anything to what the Lord is doing then he's operating on works and not on faith. He thinks the Lord needs his help. He thinks the Lord can't bring forth water from the rock without him. I think we've all probably made the mistake at least once of thinking the Lord needs us to accomplish something. Does He invite us to join Him in doing good things? Certainly He does at times. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, reaching out to others to help them in their hour of need. We are to be the voice of Jesus in this world, sharing the gospel message so souls can be saved. But we also have to keep in mind that God has existed eternally. He was here long before He ever created the first human being. He didn't require human help to call light out of darkness or create the galaxies or our own planet earth and everything on it. God could have spoken straight from heaven, and bypassed Moses altogether, to call forth water from the rock. But He invited Moses to play a supporting role in this scene because the people are verbally attacking Moses. His intention is that the people would see Him working through Moses and that this would help them to have more respect for the office Moses holds. Instead Moses seems to call the attention to himself by ad-libbing his lines in this scene and adding some action that wasn't in the script. This makes it appear as if the Lord needs his help or---worse yet---as if Moses performs the miracle on his own.
We've looked at what Moses did at the rock. Now we'll take a look at what he said because Psalm 106 indicates his words are the main issue here. Psalm 106:32-33 says that at the waters of Meribah (this is what the area will be named after the incident of Numbers 20) the children of Israel "angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips". What did Moses say at the rock? He said, "Must we (Aaron and I) bring you water out of this rock?" He didn't give credit to the Lord for the miracle that was about to take place. His words make it sound as if he and Aaron, through their own power, are going to cause water to gush forth. Moses and Aaron are just the instruments through which the Lord has chosen to work at this particular time; they have no power of their own to produce water from the rock. Yet Moses makes it sound as if he and his brother are performing the miracle on their own. I think this may be what the Lord meant when He said, "You did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites."
Did Moses not believe the Lord could bring water from the rock? Oh, I think he did. He'd seen the Lord do it before. I think Moses' trust issue is that he doesn't fully believe the Lord will protect him from the people. Because he doesn't feel confident the Lord will protect him from the people, he seeks to lift himself up in the eyes of the people so they will regard him as too powerful to oppose.
Why is Aaron lumped in with his brother when the Lord says to both of them that they will not be allowed to bring the Israelite into the promised land? I think Aaron was suffering from the same lack of faith. The same people who'd like to stone Moses to death would do the same to him. If they wouldn't hesitate to do bodily harm to Moses, they definitely wouldn't hesitate to kill Aaron as well. I believe both men harbor the same doubt. I think both of them feel compelled by their doubt to make themselves look like a big deal to the people. Aaron may not be the man striking the rock or addressing the crowd, but his thoughts and feelings are in alignment with those of Moses. He would have done the same thing if he were in Moses' shoes. He approves of how Moses is handling this situation.
Why does the Lord perform the miracle at all, seeing how much Moses and Aaron disrespect Him in this moment? Because the people and animals need water. The Lord isn't going to let them become dehydrated or die just because Moses and Aaron aren't in the right spirit.
Because of the sad incident that takes place at the rock in Kadesh, the area is given a new name by the people. "These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where He was proved holy among them." (Numbers 20:13) The word "Meribah" means "quarreling".
We are always in the wrong when we quarrel with the Lord because He is always right. The Apostle Paul once said, "Let God be true, and every human being a liar," because God will "be proved right" when He speaks and He will "prevail" when He judges. (Romans 3:4) We may not always understand why God says what He says or why He does what He does, but we can be certain He is always right.
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