The Wilderness Journey Gains & Losses Numbers 17:1-29; 20:1-13 So Israel became Shasu, a nomad wandering from place to place without plan or direction, waiting. Waiting until this time of dying was over When they lacked water, the people complained to Moses and Moses prayed on their behalf. Once, when God had commanded Moses and Aaron to speak to a rock that it might pour forth water for the people, the brothers chose rather to strike it with Aaron s rod. The striking worked. Water indeed came out, and the people drank. But unto Moses and Aaron the Lord said, Because you did not believe in me, neither of you shall bring this assembly into the land which I have promised. One night Achan was awakened by a strange sound in the tent a strangled, choking sound, as if someone couldn t breathe. Achan was seventeen years old by now; he slept in a compartment of his own; the sound was coming through the wall of his father s room. He almost got up to see what the trouble was, but then he heard his mother s voice. She, too, had heard the sound and had crept into Carmi s room. What s the matter? she whispered in her low, gentle voice. Nothing! Achan s father was gasping for air. Go away. His mother whispered, But why are you crying, Carmi? Because the man sobbed, because I think I will never have a plot of land for myself. Hush, hush. His mother s voice was so familiar, so consoling. Don t worry about land, she said. Go to sleep now, Carmi. 1 Actually Wangerin made one mistake in his account. It wasn t Aaron s rod, but Moses staff that was used to strike the rock. The people of Israel including their leaders have constantly attacked Moses and Aaron. God has judged them on an ongoing basis. But Moses and Aaron constantly demonstrated the love and mercy of God by intervening before Him for the people. Now God is going to identify with total clarity who is to be the High Priest of the nation. He s made it clear before, but now He is going to show the people without a shadow of a doubt who is in charge. I Who s Our High Priest Numbers 17: 1-29 II What s Wrong With this Picture Numbers 20: 1-13 1 Wangerin, Jr., Walter, The Book of God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1996, p. 153-154.
I Who s Our High Priest: We can t tell exactly when this event occurred, but it seems to flow directly after the previous one and certainly appears to be a response to the rejection of Moses and Aaron. It may be God was doing this to forestall another round of rebellion. Once again God, in His mercy?, is willing to show the people who is His choice for leadership is, in the case for the office of High Priest. He calls for a sign to show the sign people. He instructs Moses to have one leader from each of the twelve tribes, including Levy present a rod to be placed in the Tabernacle in front of the Place of the Testimony. Allen explains it this way. These several staffs were to be placed in front of the Testimony (v.4). This means that the staffs were brought not only to the Tent of Meeting but within the Most Holy Place. I suspect the staffs would have been placed as near the ark as practical. The symbolism is that these staffs were right, as it were, in the lap of God. The very issue of bringing these staffs into the Most Holy Place must have been chilling. Moses, who brought these staffs near, must have realized that he was doing a most unusual act. The most immediate placement of the staffs in the presence of God is assured by these words. The intention was to rid the nation from the grumbling concerning the validity of the priests (v.5). 2 And so the rods were placed in the Tabernacle. And the next morning Moses goes back into the Tabernacle and brings out the rods. Aaron s has budded. The dead wooden staff has blossomed. The people see this. What would we call it when the dead is brought back to life? Resurrection. This is how Dr. McGee speaks to this: This is life out of death. Aaron s priesthood was confirmed by resurrection. Aaron s rod brought forth buds, and blossoms, and fruit! Life out of death. Resurrection. In the springtime the blooming of plants which have been dormant all winter does not illustrate life out of death. Neither does the egg. There is a germ of life in the egg. The perfect illustration of the resurrection of Christ is Aaron s rod that budded. The priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ rests upon the fact of His resurrection. We are told very frankly in the seventh chapter of Hebrews that if He wre here on earth. He would not be a priest. He did not come from the priestly tribe of Levi. His resurrection made Him a priest. Then it tells us that not every man becomes a priest. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron (Heb. 5:4). Aaron was God s called priest. The evidence was the budded rod the resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and He became our High Priest. He has an unchangeable priesthood and so he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25). 3 Moses, taking the budding rod, places it within the Ark of the Covenant, a constant reminder to the people that Aaron and his family are to serve as High Priest. They, like Christ would be later, where chosen by God to be in their roles as servants of the Nation. And how do the people react to all of this? They panic. This seems to be the final piece of the puzzle which makes them understand the full weight of all they had done in attacking Moses and more specifically Aaron. Now they don t even want to go near the Tabernacle. They re- 2 Allen, Ronald B., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Numbers, Zondervan I nteractive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, Electronic text hypertexted and prepared by OakTree Software, Inc. 3 McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Volume 1, Genesis-Deuteronomy, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, TN 1981, p. 497. ) 68 (
alize the full weight of their rebellion and that the judgment of God could have just as easily fallen on them as it did on those who had already died. What a relief! Now we can get back to business. And so Moses does. He instructs Aaron in the functioning of the Priesthood. Chapters 18 and 19 focus on these instructions, offerings and the red heifer. And so just zipping along, we come to Chapter 20 and the next problem. II What s Wrong With this Picture?: We start with what appears to be a reminder from Moses regarding what was a base of operations for Israel during their wandering years. And so you stayed in Kadesh many days all the time you spent there (Deuteronomy 1:46). One additional piece of information is provided. Miriam has now died and was buried there in the wilderness. She too never was able to see the Land God had promised. This would have been a loss for both Moses, Aaron and the nation as well. But this was a foreshadowing of many losses to come. So what is the people s response to Miriam s death? Who knows. What we do know is they re grumbling again. And it s the same old thing. We should have died with those God struck down. Moses brought them, and their animals, into the desert to die. They didn t have all the good stuff they had back in Egypt. It was all Moses fault. The biggest complaint presented to Moses is, there is no water. Isn t this a valid complaint? Well if it is then what is the problem? Don t we often have valid complaints? Don t we have legitimate concerns and desires? Why is Moses so concerned about the people? The Hebrews problem and frequently ours is not that desires, concerns and even needs are wrong, but our trust in the Lord isn t there. They/we have seen God constantly care for us, but fear and even a rebellious spirit get in the way of our trust. As a result Moses goes before the Lord. This time the Lord doesn t bring any charges against the people. Instead God instructs Moses to go before the people with his staff and Aaron and strike the rock to bring forth the water, right? No! He was told to speak to the rock and the water would rush out. Sadly Moses has had it with the people. He went before them. He took Aaron with him. He took his staff with him. But out of his frustration, which was warranted, instead of talking to the rock, he struck it twice. And the water come out. God didn t punish the people because of Moses action. But, Moses disobeyed the Lord and God would hold him accountable. The Hebrew in verse 12, a plural you, states that both Moses and Aaron were acting out of distrust. Clearly in some way he was involved because God s judgment was that neither men would be able to lead the people into the Land. Moses had lived for the day when the nation would see God s promises fulfilled, when he would be the Lord s instrument of fulfillment. But that day was never to come, all because Moses had finally had it with the people and acted impulsively ) 69 (
and out of anger. Is that fair? It certainly would seem so. Allen fairly describes what he believes was happening with Moses: Then, at long last, Moses exploded! Was he disappointed that the Lord had not burst out against his people, as had happened time after time? Moses burst out against them and against the rock to his lasting regret (vv.10b-11?). Suddenly the accumulated anger and frustration of forty years bore down on Moses, servant of Yahweh. The death of his sister was the end of an era. Yet nothing had changed; the children were as rebellious as ever. He addresses the assembly in harsh words, Listen, you rebels (v.10). In a sense all Moses was saying was what God had said numerous times to the same people and for the same reasons. The term rebels (hammorim a plural Qal active participle) that Moses uses is very similar to the noun the Lord uses to describe their contentious behavior in 17:10 (17:25 [MT]; libne-meri lit., to [these] rebellious sons ). Moses words must we bring you water out of this rock? express the intense level of his exasperation and pain. At this point he reached out with the rod of wonder and struck the rock twice (v.11). In his rage Moses disobeyed the clear instructions of the Lord to speak to the rock (v.8). While the water was released and the people and their livestock were refreshed with its blessing, the rash action of Moses brought a stern rebuke from the Lord. 4 Moses doesn t tell us why the Lord judged him so apparently harshly. But notice, Moses doesn t complain against the judgment either. Allen lists some of the explanations given for God s judgment. These include: 1. Lack of trust. God states it was a lack of trust in God that lead to the dishonoring behavior of the two men. It is unclear what was the trust problem. Allen speculates that Moses was angry because God didn t come to him with a threat to judge the people. Maybe Moses was ready to take God up on it this time. Clark sees the striking of the rock itself as a lack of trust. Moses may not have thought his words would have been enough. So trust was a factor. 2. The second possibility is this was an affront to the holiness of God. In some way this rock represented God Himself, which might be why Moses was to talk to it instead of striking it. This position is supported by 1 Corinthians 10:4. for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. In fact, one could argue that because the rock was struck it was a better illustration. Moses struck it twice, but Christ was sacrificed but once for our sins. Dr. McGee focuses more on this view because of the importance of the imagery of Christ as the rock. This would have been something Moses wouldn t even have understood. But that doesn t change the fact Moses disobeyed God. So this was a factor. 3. Moses was himself acting in rebellion against God s words. This certainly seems to be supported by scripture, for though Moses is quiet here, the psalmist isn t. By the waters of Meribah they 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 (Psalms 106:32-33). 4 Allen, Ronald B., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Numbers, Zondervan I nteractive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, Electronic text hypertexted and prepared by OakTree Software, Inc. ) 70 (
It would appear that Moses rash words may have also been rebellious, but to draw on the psalmist is troublesome because it is the people who are described as rebellious while Moses is described as rash. Rebellion was a factor. 4. Finally the last factor in God s judgment was that Moses wasn t alone. As we already noted, Aaron was also there. We have the two leaders of God who were to walk faithfully before the people and they had damaged their own testimony. God, if he was to be just had to lead with equal justice for all. He couldn t let His own avoid the consequences of their acts. Because of the seriousness of God s actions against what appears to be only one failure, and obviously Moses wasn t able to intervene for himself as he was for others, I thought I d present a few more assessments of this passage. Clark picks up on what I think is one of the most important issues: He did not acknowledge GOD in the miracle which was about to be wrought, but took the honor to himself and Aaron: Must WE fetch you water out of this rock? Thus it plainly appears that they did not properly believe in God, and did not honor him in the sight of the people; for in their presence they seem to express a doubt whether the thing could be possibly done. As Aaron appears to have been consenting in the above particulars, therefore he is also excluded from the promised land 5 Moses took credit for what God had done. Unfortunately, this is a sin often committed by those in leadership. And what is worse than then message they send to others, they begin to believe this self crediting themselves which leads to even greater problems. One last point. It is important to note though Moses sinned and lost his right to be leader into the land, God nevertheless accounts him faithful in his walk. We see this in Hebrews 3. Brett Scott notes this in his article analyzing the Hebrews passage. In Hebrews, both Jesus and Moses are portrayed as faithful. If the contrast had been the superior faithfulness of Jesus over Moses, Moses unfaithfulness in Egypt (Exod. 2:11 12) and at the rock of Meribah (Num. 20:10 12) would surely have been presented as evidence. In fact in Hebrews, Moses faithfulness is commended (Heb. 3:2, 5; 11:23 28). The contrast is between the position of a servant and that of a son and the difference in the resulting access (or mediation) provided. Moses as a faithful servant provided a certain level of access to God Moses was faithful in (ejn) God s house as a servant (qeravpwn54), whereas Christ is faithful as a son (uijov") over (ejpiv) God s house (3:5 6). Jesus is more highly honored than Moses, not because Moses faithfulness was in any way defective,55 but because Jesus occupies a higher office,56 as Son, High Priest, King, and Mediator of a greater covenant. Each is pistov" appointed/ faithful as leader or head of the people, but the former as servant, the later as son. 6 So the place is named Meribah which means a place of strife or quarreling. Allen notes: The same name was used forty years earlier at the first occasion of bringing water from the rock (Exod 17:7; also called Massah, testing ). Psalm 95:8 laments the rebellion at Meribah and Massah, and 5 Clarke, Adam, Clarke s Commentary, The Old Testament, Vol. 1, Genesis Through Deuteronomy, The Master Christian Library, AGES Software, Albany, OR, Version 7.0 1998 6 Scott, Brett R., Jesus Superiority Over Moses in Hebrews 3:1-6, Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 155, #618, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX, April June 1998, p. 209. ) 71 (
Psalm 114:8 celebrates both occasions of God s grace. For Meribah/Massah is both: a reminder of the rebellion and a symbol of celebration of God s mercy. 7 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water (Psalm 95:8; 114:8). The message of this passage is a warning to God s own. We can and do fail, but this passage also gives us a message of hope. While God judged Moses for his failure, at the same time He tells us Moses was accounted faithful. When we do fail, God can and still does use us and blesses others through us. For while Moses struck the rock twice, against the command of God, God still brought out water out of the rock for the people. Our desire is to walk in obedience. And we are not to fail God. And, when we do there are consequences. But there are no consequences to our eternal destiny. And even though we do fail, we are still to walk faithfully before the Lord. He knows that we will never achieve perfection, so His expectations of us are realistic. Even though we sin, we fail, we still can trust in God, and depend on the Holy Spirit to empower us and allow for that day when we will hear Well done, good and faithful servant. Let us, through prayer, the word and the Holy Spirit, strive to live this week in the reality of our pilgrimage instead of falling into the trap of living as if this is all there is. What decisions, interactions, behaviors will change if we live for eternity instead of the present? I d like you to be aware this week and if you find there are any differences that would benefit us, let us know next time. 7 Allen ) 72 (
The Wilderness Journey Gains & Losses Numbers 17:1-29; 20:1-13 I Who s Our High Priest (HEBREWS 5:4, 7:25) II What s Wrong With this Picture? A. Home Base (Deuteronomy 1:46) B. Where s the Water C. Moses & Aaron s Sin
D. What s the Problem? 1. 2. (1 Corinthians 10:4) 3. (Psalms 106:32-33) 4. E. Clark F. Scott G. God s Judgment Personal Application: How can I experience trust in the Lord this week? How can I demonstrate the reality of the trust to others? How can I offer them the opportunity to experience this same trust? Prayer for the Week: Lord, I praise You for being Who You are. It is because of Who You are that I have a foundation for my trust. Amen.