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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's episode 1641. And we're looking at Numbers chapter 20, verses 22 through 29. So looking back, God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, brought them up, spent some time in Mount Sinai, then brought them up to the edge of the promised land. But they rebelled. They said it was too scary. So God sent them back into the wilderness to remain there until that faithless generation all died off. And he said it'd be forty years. Now we're in the fortieth year. And so Moses' sister Miriam, she passed away. Then Moses and Aaron disobeyed God and how they brought water from the rock for the people. So God said that they would not enter the land of Canaan with the people. But the community has started moving to the north to get ready to move into the land of Canaan, because it's the fortieth year. And the most direct path would be through Edom. But the king of Edom said he would not allow that. So they've got to go around Edom. That brings us to Numbers chapter 20, verse 22. After they set out from Kedish, the entire Israelite community came to Mount Hoor. So they've left the Kedish Barnea area. They asked to go through Edom. King of Edom said no. And now they come to Mount Hoor. Now where is this? You can't really say. You look at different maps people put together, that's all over the place. It's just not really known exactly what the modern day place is where this Mount Hoar is. The word Hoar literally means mountain. So it's just the mountain. Verse 23. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hoor on the border of the land of Edom. Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, and here we are told that this Mount Hoar is on the border of the land of Edom. Well, we know they're skirting the edge of Edom, go around Edom versus go through it. And one of the places they come to is this Mount Hoor. Can't further define where Mount Hoor is because we can't really define where the border of Edom was. Verse 24. Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I have given the Israelites because you both rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. So God says Aaron is going to be gathered to his people. Well, that's a euphemism for death. Often we see that as being buried in the family crypt, basically, being gathered your people. Well, that's not the case here. Some say it's reunification with ancestors in the abode of the dead. It's a euphemism. Gathered your people means dying. And the reason for this is his rebellion. You both rebelled, Moses and Aaron. Now the faithless generation, they've been dying in the wilderness for the last 38 years because of their rebellion. And that was the word that was used, rebellion. And God uses that same word here to describe what Moses and Aaron did. We saw that was earlier in this chapter, chapter 20, when they provided water for the people. And interestingly enough, in that very instance of Moses and Aaron's rebellion, Moses calls the people rebels. And it turns out God considers him a rebel too. So what did they do wrong? We saw Moses judging the people, calling them rebels. We saw Moses taking credit. Do we have to provide water for you by striking the rock? That Moses didn't do what God said to do, because he struck the rock with the staff rather than speak to it. And so all that God is calling rebellion by Moses and Aaron. So interesting that God uses the word rebelled against my command. Verse 25. Remove Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people and die there. So the instructions are, Moses, you're to go up this Mount Hoor with Aaron and his son Eleazar, and you're to take these high priest garments from Aaron, put them on Eleazar, and then Aaron is going to die. Now the word remove in verse 26, he says, remove Aaron's garments. A lot of translations use the word strip, strip Aaron of his garments. And a lot of people want to attach a negative tone to this. This is more than just a transfer to the next generation, but an actual demotion for Aaron. I don't know, because Aaron's dying, so we've got to have the transfer to the next generation. But does this word that here's translated remove, but does it really carry the connotation of strip as more of a negative tone? I I don't know. People disagree on this, so it's not certain. But they're going to go up the mountain and transfer the high priesthood from Aaron to his son Elieazar. Verse 27. So Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. So everyone watches them go up the mountain. Now Aaron and Moses' sin was committed in the sight of all the people. So here this consequences of his sin are being seen by all the people. Verse 28. After Moses removed Aaron's garments and put them on his son Eliezer, Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eliezer came down from the mountain. When the whole community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days. Now standard period of mourning was seven days. And this shows just how big a deal Aaron was in the community by mourning thirty days. Later when Moses dies, there'll be thirty days of mourning for that. Aaron's been the high priest, and that is an incredibly important position in the community of Israel. He is the one who is the intercessor for the people. Now Moses does a lot of it, but particularly after Moses is gone, the high priest will be the one to be the intercessor between God and the people. So the position of high priest is incredibly important. And Aaron's been in that position for about 38 years. And so there is 30 days of mourning. Now we're in a transition time in the book of Numbers. Chapter 20, it opens with the death of Miriam and it closes with the death of Aaron. So we're actually losing the leadership who were part of this first generation to come out of Egypt. And God had said, by the fortieth year, that entire generation will be gone, and then it'll be time for the next generation to enter the promised land and take possession of the land of Canaan. We don't know how many people are left from that first generation. There's quite a few. Join me again next time as I continue working through numbers.