Reflections on Numbers 20

Numbers 20 (Contemporary English Version)

1. The people of Israel arrived at the Zin Desert during the first month and set up camp near the town of Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried.
   
2. The Israelites had no water, so they went to Moses and Aaron
   
3. and complained, "Moses, we'd be better off if we had died along with the others in front of the LORD's sacred tent.
   
4. You brought us into this desert, and now we and our livestock are going to die!
   
5. Egypt was better than this horrible place. At least there we had grain and figs and grapevines and pomegranates. But now we don't even have any water."
   
6. Moses and Aaron went to the entrance to the sacred tent, where they bowed down. The LORD appeared to them in all of his glory
   
7. and said, "Moses, get your walking stick. Then you and Aaron call the people together and command that rock to give you water. That's how you will provide water for the people of Israel and their livestock."
   
8. (SEE 20:7)
   
9. Moses obeyed and took his stick from the sacred tent.
   
10. After he and Aaron had gathered the people around the rock, he said, "Look, you rebellious people, and you will see water flow from this rock!"
    
11. He raised his stick in the air and struck the rock two times. At once, water gushed from the rock, and the people and their livestock had water to drink.
    
12. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you refused to believe in my power, these people did not respect me. And so, you will not be the ones to lead them into the land I have promised."
    
13. The Israelites had complained against the LORD, and he had shown them his holy power by giving them water to drink. So they named the place Meribah, which means "Complaining."
    
14. Moses sent messengers from Israel's camp near Kadesh with this message for the king of Edom: We are Israelites, your own relatives, and we're sure you have heard the terrible things that have happened to us.
    
15. Our ancestors settled in Egypt and lived there a long time. But later the Egyptians were cruel to us,
    
16. and when we begged our LORD for help, he answered our prayer and brought us out of that land. Now we are camped at the border of your territory, near the town of Kadesh.
    
17. Please let us go through your country. We won't go near your fields and vineyards, and we won't drink any water from your wells. We will stay on the main road until we leave your territory.
    
18. But the Edomite king answered, "No, I won't let you go through our country! And if you try, we will attack you."
    
19. Moses sent back this message: "We promise to stay on the main road, and if any of us or our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. We just want to pass through."
    
20. But the Edomite king insisted, "You can't go through our land!" Then Edom sent out its strongest troops
    
21. to keep Israel from passing through its territory. So the Israelites had to go in another direction.
    
22. After the Israelites had left Kadesh and had gone as far as Mount Hor
    
23. on the Edomite border, the LORD said,
    
24. "Aaron, this is where you will die. You and Moses disobeyed me at Meribah, and so you will not enter the land I promised the Israelites.
    
25. Moses, go with Aaron and his son Eleazar to the top of the mountain.
    
26. Then take Aaron's priestly robe from him and place it on Eleazar. Aaron will die there."
    
27. Moses obeyed, and everyone watched as he and Aaron and Eleazar walked to the top of Mount Hor.
    
28. Moses then took the priestly robe from Aaron and placed it on Eleazar. Aaron died there. When Moses and Eleazar came down,
    
29. the people knew that Aaron had died, and they mourned his death for thirty days.
    
    

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    Between chapters 19 and 20 approximately 38 years have elapsed, but by the nature of the account in chapter 20 it could have taken place immediately following the account of chapter 19. Nothing in chapter 20 gives us a time reference except for verse one in which it says the Israelites arrived at the Wilderness of Zin in the first month. But no year is given. However, we can tell from the context of the passage that the death of Moses' sister Miriam was in close proximity to that of her brother Aaron. Numbers 33:38 dates Aaron's death at the "first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt." Therefore, we can place Israel's arrival in the Wilderness of Zin in the first month of the fortieth year. Only four months before Aaron's death.
    
    This means that Miriam and Aaron were some of the last of the adults who left Egypt to die before Israel's entry into the new land. The Israelite community that arrived in the Wilderness of Zin in this first month was a new generation of adults, but they complained like their parents. Their arrival at Zin was during a dry season, but it was normally a well-watered oasis. Seeing that there was no water, the people "assembled against Moses and Aaron." (20:2) Even after 40 years they were saying, "Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place?" (20:5) We have no reason to believe that this was not the attitude Moses had been up against for the past 38 years. I can imagine Moses to be at his wits end by this time. He still enquired of the Lord about how to deal with the situation, though. He was told to "Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water." (20:8) What he did deviated only slightly from these instructions: "'Listen, you rebels!'" Moses told them, "'Must we bring water out of this rock for you?' Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out." (20:10-11)
    
    Though Moses' actions deviated only slightly from what he was told to do, their implications were significant.  We are told of the implications in verse 12: "Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them." It was a lack of trust. God intended to demonstrate His holiness by bringing water from the rock by no actions from Moses other than to "speak to the rock." But by striking the rock and inferring that it came at his bidding ("Must we bring water out of this rock for you?") Moses implied that he brought the water. At the heart of it, the issue at hand is little different from the worship of idols. The worship of idols credits God's creative work and His miracles to inanimate objects. Moses was crediting God's miracle of providing water from the rock to his own efforts. God enjoys providing for His people but does not enjoy having the credit for His provision to be stolen from Him. And can we blame Him?
    
    How often do we credit God's provisions for us to coincidents? And what of God's blessings do we miss as a result?