SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome. I'm Cliff Hedges. This is Pastor Cliff's Notes. This is a podcast where we are studying the Bible. We're working our way through the book of Numbers. Today is episode 1639, and we're looking at Numbers chapter 20, verses 1 through 13. So God brought the Israelites to the edge of the promised land, but they rebelled, so God's response was to send them back into the wilderness, and they were to remain there until the faithless generation died. He said it'd be 40 years. Then sometime later there was another rebellion, and this was led by Korah. He challenged the priesthood. He said everyone was holy, everyone could approach God. There was some pretty severe judgment on Korah and his followers. And all this was to demonstrate that no, God had chosen who the priests were, and Aaron was a high priest. Even had Aaron's staff bud and produce almonds to show that he was the chosen one to be the high priest. So now we're at Numbers chapter 20. We start verse 1. The entire Israelite community entered the wilderness of Zen in the first month, and they settled in Kedish. Miriam died and was buried there. Okay, so we'll start some narrative again. The last couple chapters have been more instructions for how the tithe was to work, how the priests were supported, how the Levites were supported, how you purify after contact with the dead body. Now we're starting back into some narrative. These are things that happened. And so it has them entering the wilderness of Zen in the first month. And your first question is well, what year? First month doesn't tell us much. No, it doesn't here, but later in this chapter, here we have Miriam dying. In the verses 22 to 29 of this chapter, Aaron will die. And in that description, later on in Numbers 33, looking back at Aaron's death, it says he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year out of Egypt. So it seems we're starting now the fortieth year. So whoa, where did the time go? Yeah, where did it go? Where have they been? What have they been doing? And we don't really have much. We had the rebellion at Keddish Barnea when they were at the promised land, ready to go in, but they rebelled, and God says, You're going back out into the wilderness for this generation to die off, and apparently there's not much heard from them. They're pretty much all died off, not quite, but we're getting there. So this now is beginning the 40th year out of Egypt. And it starts off with the death of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Not much made of it. Miriam was a prophetess. She led singing, was very well known. She rebelled at one point against Moses and said, How come Moses is so special? Aren't Aaron and I prophets? And the Lord's response was, Yes, you are, but not like Moses. And he actually struck Miriam with some kind of skin disease. And Moses prayed and she was healed. We never really saw any more of her after that. But then we don't see much more of anything after that. So now, here in this 40th year, Miriam dies and she is buried there near Kadesh. So the rebellion led by Korah didn't have a date or a location. So we don't know whether they were just out of Kadesh Barnea, the rebellion, or years later, don't know. But it may be that this whole time period they've never gone very far from Kadesh Barnea. They're in the vicinity, because now they're in the wilderness of Zen, which is near Kadesh. Verse 2, there was no water for the community. So they assembled against Moses and Aaron. We've seen this before. Verse 3, the people quarreled with Moses and said, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. What they are saying here, they're talking about Korah's rebellion. If only God had killed us when he killed everyone, all those others, when he killed the 250 with fire, killed the three families with the earth swallowing up, and killed the thousands with the plague. Gosh, if only we had died then with them. Wow. Verse 4. Why have you brought the Lord's assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? They're not taking responsibility for their own actions, obviously. Why are we here? Verse 5. Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It's not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates. There is no water to drink. They're basically saying this is not the promised land. Why have we for forty years been in the wilderness and not been in the promised land? So it sounds like they're blaming Moses for their own sin. Which people do. People want to deflect and blame other people. Well, I didn't have a choice, or it's not really my fault, or it's not really that bad. And they're blaming Moses. Verse 6. Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell face down, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock. We've seen this before. The people cry out for water. They complain to Moses. Moses goes to God. God tells Moses what to do. Moses does it, and they get water. So it seems to be going along that pattern so far. And what's God's plan here? Yes, the people are grumbling. They are complaining. They're complaining against Moses, but they're in effect complaining against God. They're blaming Moses, and essentially blaming God, for the predicament they are in by their own sin. But God's plan here is mercy. He wants to show them that they can depend on him, that he will provide what they need. And they need water, and he will provide it. So his plan is mercy. Verse 9. So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence just as he commanded him. Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, Pause there. Things are going okay to this point. He is following God's instructions. To this point. Continuing. Moses said to them, Listen, you rebels, 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 abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. Problems here. Well one, do the people see a problem? No. Looked fine to them. Everything went fine. Other than Moses calling them rebels. They know deep down they are. Are they? Yeah they are. But where in the instructions did God say, I want you to scold the Israelites? He said, Bring them, gather, and speak to the rock, and water will come out. So first problem here is Moses basically making a judgment on them. Moses passing judgment. Not the Lord said, You're a bunch of rebels. The Lord said, Go give them water. I can't blame Moses too bad. These people have been rough. Rough to deal with. Then he says, Must we bring water out of this rock for you? So by we means he and Aaron. Are they really going to bring water out of the rock? Who's he leaving out of this? The one who's really bringing the water out, the Lord. So a little bit of arrogance there on the part of Moses, as if he has the power to bring water out of this rock. Then Moses raised his hand, struck the rock twice with his staff. Not what God said to do. God said speak to the rock. Was that really a big deal? Well, as we've said all along, doing what God said to do is always a big deal. God didn't say, and you know, do whatever you want and water will come out. God said, speak to the rock. So there is no room for any kind of last minute interpretations here. Speak to the rock. He didn't speak to the rock, he struck the rock twice with the staff. But the water still came out. So even though Moses was disobedient, God still provided for the people. He still gave mercy to the people. Verse 12. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them. What's he saying here? You didn't trust me. How can you say he didn't trust them? Because they didn't do it the way God said to do it. They were improvising. Well, Moses was, but Aaron seems to be being held responsible for it also. So his little improvisation there has hurt because God said, You're not going into the promised land with the people. He said the fortieth year, the last of the faithless generation is going to die off. Then we'll go into the promised land. So we are poised to go into the promised land here very soon. But now he says, Aaron and Moses, you're not going with them. Verse 13. Same name used in Exodus 17, where they quarreled and God provided water out of a rock. So is this the same place? No, no, it's not the same place. And this is years later, but it's the same name because it's the same issue. The name Mirabah means quarreling, means strife, contention. If we compare this to Exodus 17, Exodus 17, the people were grumbling. Why did you bring us here to kill us? Numbers 20. The people are grumbling. Why did you bring us here to kill us? But then they add, but it'd been better to die with Korah. And this isn't the promised land, and we really think it's your fault that it's not the promised land. In Exodus 17, Moses cries out to God. Here, Moses and Aaron go to the tabernacle. They go to God. In Exodus 17, God said, strike the rock. Here God said, Speak to the rock. Exodus 17, Moses struck the rock. Here he rebukes the people, he acts as if it's his ability to get the water, and then he strikes the rock, not speak to the rock. So he calls the name Meribah here. Back in Exodus 17, they called it Massah and Meribah. Massa means testing, because they were testing the Lord. And Meribah for strife. They were grumbling. So very similar to Exodus 17, but with a real twist at the end there, where Moses does do exactly what God said to do. And the result of that is Aaron and Moses will not enter the promised land themselves. Thanks for joining me. Join me again next time as we continue working through numbers.