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July 17, 2016 |
| Moses At Meribah | ||
In a previous lesson we saw how the Israelites in the desert came to the understanding that they really would die in the desert and never enter the promised land. The only two from their generation who would enter the promised land were Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who brought back positive reports.
Even Moses and Aaron would never enter the promised land, though not because they refused to enter the promised land as the rest had done. In this lesson we will look at what happened that Moses and Aaron were punished this way.
In that previous lesson about Korah's rebellion, Korah and 250 men were trying to take the leadership role away from Aaron. The Israelites had always complained to Moses about their situation, but this was different. They had just learned that they would never see the promised land because they refused to trust in God. This rebellion was an attempt to take control of their situation and hopefully change the outcome. Instead God killed all of the rebels and their families.
The very next day the people complained to Moses again and blamed Moses for the deaths of those people. God sent a plague and 14,700 people died.
Immediately after that God instructed each tribe be provided a rod on which they would write the name of the head of the tribe. On the rod for Levi was to be written the name of Aaron. God's promise was that the rod of the man whom God would choose would sprout. God's purpose here was to show, beyond doubt, who he wanted to be in charge. Moses placed all these rods in the tent where the presence of the Lord resided.
Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. (Numbers 17:8)
But the Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die." (Numbers 17:10)
Then many years pass and we catch up with Israel near the end of their time in the wilderness. Most of the people who were alive a few chapters ago are now dead, but their lack of trust in God lives on.
1 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.
Miriam dies. This is Miriam, the sister of Moses, the one who placed his basket in the Nile river to save him. Later on in this chapter Aaron will also die.
2 There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why then have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? 5 Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink."
The people do what they always have done. Instead of trusting in God, they come to Moses with another whiney complaint. These complaints always contain statements about how their lives would have been better if different choices had been made. Here they say they were better off in Egypt, which is a common complaint. They add something new though, the idea that they would have been better off if they had died of the plague that God sent against them. All of this they blame on Moses.
6 Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them; 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink."
The exasperated response to these complaints by Moses and Aaron is always to take it to the Lord. Moses is given specific instructions for how this is to be handled.
Moses is to get "the rod". This is a reference to Aaron's rod that budded. God had said that this was to be a sign to the people when they were rebellious. For Moses to carry it is a statement that they are sinning against God again.
Moses and Aaron are to assemble the people so that they can see God's provision for them, in the hope that they will learn to trust him.
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9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
Moses has made a horrible mistake here. It may seem a trivial difference for Moses to have struck the rock instead of speaking to it, but it isn't. The Israelites have been ignoring God and treating Moses and Aaron as though they were demi-gods, half man and half God. With this provision of water God wants them to see that it isn't anything that Moses has done, that it is all God's doing.
"Until then, every miracle Moses had done was through actions. He raised his cane; he threw it down; he parted his hands; he threw up dust."2 This time God wants Moses to take no action so there can be no reason for the people to associate the miracle with Moses. But now the people will describe the event as "Moses struck the rock and water gushed out."
Not only that, but Moses has used words that tie himself to the miracle. By saying "shall we bring forth water" Moses has declared that it is both him and Aaron who are doing this. Moses probably included God in that "we" but the people would not have understood it that way.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
God himself explains the problem with what they have done. God says they didn't believe him. His point is that Moses himself wasn't comfortable with the idea that just speaking would make water come from the rock. Moses felt there needed to be something more and he improvised on God's instructions.
God also says that Moses failed to treat God as holy in the sight of the people. In a previous lesson we talked about the difference between holy and common. By not obeying God's instructions Moses had treated God's words as though they were the words of a common man.
I think many Christians don't understand the importance of adhering to the letter of God's instructions. In many ways we do something that is a little different, we improvise. Sometimes we do that because our way is more convenient, or maybe we do it because we think we are doing something better, or maybe we think we are showing initiative. The Biblical example of this is King Saul and the Amalekites.
Often we justify the changes we make by saying "God knows my heart; he knows my intentions are good; he knows I love him." Other times we justify it by saying some other person says it's alright to do it a little different. Sometimes we find an obscure verse in the Bible to justify it.
Then, having rationalized the change in God's words, we obey our own words, tell ourselves we've done something good, and never realize that we are being disobedient. The Biblical example of this comes when King David tried to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and a person died … all while the crowd celebrated.
This is an area where Christians need to be very careful. It's even more important for those people whom God has placed in positions of authority. Just as with Moses in his position, God expects that the closer relationship will result in following instructions more closely.
13 Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
The phrase "those were the waters of Meribah" sounds a little strange because it has two meanings. Meribah is the place where these waters flowed. But the word Meribah has the meaning of "quarreling." Therefore, the verse is telling us that the place was given that name because Israel quarreled with God.
The verse closes by saying "he [God] proved himself holy." Even though they quarreled against him and didn't trust him, by providing water to them God showed that his promises were good and not like the promises of men.
The Israelites were never really able to trust in God. All the Israelites who left Egypt died in the desert because of that. Even Moses and Aaron had a time when they did not trust in God. They never set foot in the promised land because of that.
1 http://eikonik.deviantart.com/art/Struck-Twice-81575351
2 http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2202/what-exactly-did-moses-do-wrong-at-meribah