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Third Millennium Study Bible
Notes on Numbers 20:1-25:18

Israel's Later Travels - Numbers 20:1-25:18

The narrative moves to the final stages of Israel's journey. The first generation began to move to the background and the new generation to emerge. These chapters divide into two main sections: (1) transitional incidents as the generations changed (Num 20:1-21:35) and (2) Israel's encounters with the Moabites (Num 22:1-25:18).

Changing Generations - Numbers 20:1-21:35

A number of events took place as Israel moved from Kadesh to Moab. These chapters divide into seven sections: (1) Moses' sin at Meribah (Num 20:1-13), (2) troubles at Edom (Num 20:14-21), (3) the death of Aaron (Num 20:22-29), (4) victory over Arad (Num 21:1-3), (5) the bronze snake (Num 21:4-9), (6) blessings on the way to Moab (Num 21:10-20), and (7) victory over Sihon and Og (Num 21:21-35).

Moses and the Rock - Numbers 20:1-13

In the fortieth year (cf. Num 20:1, 22-29; 33:38) Israel's wonderings were nearing their end. Most of those who had been at least 20 years old when they came out of Egypt had died, and it was time for a new generation to begin the next part of God's plan: entrance into Canaan and conquest of the Promised Land.

Israel once again complained (Num 20:2-5) - an echo of previous episodes of grumbling (Num 16:12-14). There was "no water" (Num 20:2). Water was the greatest need in desert travel (cf. Gen 21:14-19; Exod 17:1-7).

For Moses enough was enough. Miriam had just died (Num 20:1). Moses' sister was a godly woman. When Moses was a baby she had helped in preserving him from destruction (Exod 2:4-10). After the deliverance at the Red Sea, she had led the victory celebration (Exod 15:20-21). Yet Numbers 12 reveals her serious sin (Num 12:1) and the resulting punishment (Num 12:5-15). And now Israel is back to their old sin - sin renewed! Duguid says:

the miraculous provision of water from the rock, was a mirror image of a similar event that had taken place in the very first year of their wandering (Exodus 17). That previous event is one of several backdrops against which we need to see this passage. At that first occasion in the wilderness of Sin (a similar sounding, yet different location from that in Num 20:1), the people quarreled with Moses and put the Lord to the test because there was no water for them to drink (Exodus 17:2, 3). They charged Moses with bringing the people out of Egypt simply to make them die of thirst in the wilderness (v. 3). However, on that occasion the Lord instructed Moses to bring the people to the rock at Horeb and to strike the rock there; water would flow from the rock for the people to drink (Exodus 17:6). In that first test Moses did exactly what the Lord told him to do, and the needs of the people were graciously met (Exodus 17:6).

That brief recap enables us to see what was still the same and what was new forty years later. The people's quarrel with Moses was the same on the surface, but now it was amplified by the resuscitation of all of their intervening grumbles. . . . once the Complaints Department was open for business, everything and anything was fair game. They repeated the complaint they had made when Moses had first brought them and their livestock into the wilderness - that he had led them there to die (Exodus 17:3), but now with an added edge. Now it was directed at Moses and Aaron together: "Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place?" (20:4, 5). That complaint has a familiar ring to it because it combines the charge made against Moses and Aaron by Dathan and Abiram in Numbers 16:13 ("Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness?") with that of the people as a whole in Numbers 16:41 ("You have killed the people of the LORD"). In fact, the people now identified themselves explicitly as kindred spirits with Dathan and Abiram and the other rebels when they said, "Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD!" (Num 20:3). In spite of the Lord's grace to them as seen in the last three chapters, they declared that they would rather have died with those who had rebelled against the Lord.

In Numbers 20:9-11 after years of dedicated service and unparalleled patience, Moses fell at the point of his strongest trait - his humility - by (1) speaking in anger; (2) usurping the place of God, asking, "Must we bring you water out of this rock?" (Num 20:10); and (3) acting violently, striking the rock twice, when God had told him only to speak to it. Wenham says:

there is a marked divergence between what was commanded and what was done. Moses was instructed to take the rod, assemble the congregation and speak to the rock (Num 20:8), but in the event he took the rod, gathered the assembly, spoke to them instead of to the rock, and then struck the rock (Num 20:9-11). Though this brought forth water, it was not produced in the divinely intended way, and counted as rebelling against God's command (Num 20:24) and unbelief.

Duguid says, "Instead of bringing water from the rock by the simple expedient of speaking to it, as he had been commanded, Moses launched into an impromptu speech to the people and then struck the rock, not once but twice (Num 20:10, 11). Both of these acts were problematic, and together they show us that Moses too had been caught up in the people's sinful mind-set, even while he was ostensibly doing what the Lord told him to do." So, Moses failed to honor the holiness of God and was prohibited from entering the Promised Land. Moses and Aaron (because he helped Moses) would not lead the people into the Promised Land (Num 20:12). In part, this punishment demonstrated that even as great a man as Moses could fail at his strongest point. It also recognized that Moses had completed his great work and soon would turn over the leadership to others.

In Numbers 20:13 "Meribah" is mentioned. This name, which means "quarreling," was also used on the first occasion of bringing water from the rock (Exod 17:7). That location was also called "Massah," meaning "testing" (cf. Psa 95:8).

Related Resources

• Worship: How Should I Worship God?
• Divine and Human Holiness: What is Holiness?
• The Law of God: What Is God's Law?
• The Three Uses of the Law: What Good Is the Law?
• Legalism and Antinomianism: Why do I have to obey God's law?
• The Covenants of Works and Grace: What Is Covenant Theology?

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