rich’s blog

Introduction:

So today we are going to walk through Numbers 20:1-13.  This is another text that can seem difficult for us sometimes, and one that was suggested as something we could look at.

 

I hope that by walking through it, looking at this passage, we’ll understand it better, we’ll take all sorts of lessons from it, and we’ll see especially how seriously God takes drawing attention away from Himself, and toward us.

 

Closing the Series:

And with today’s passage, we’re really closing this series, this closer look at passages that are either difficult, or ones we seldom see, or both, in some cases.

 

We’ll look at some traditional things the next couple of weeks; Palm Sunday stuff, we’ll have a bilingual Easter service on Easter Sunday, after that we’ll do some quick summaries of a few smaller books, we’ll have some guest speakers in to tell us about the ways God is using the church today.  Interesting stuff, I promise.

 

But let’s walk through this Numbers passage today.  And first, why don’t we pray.

 

Prayer:

jesus jesus jesus: I love you.  Richard.

 

     In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

 

Thoughts: v1

Now lets set this up for us, shall we.  Some miracles have happened.  God has parted a sea so that Israel could go through it and escape ethnic slavery in Egypt.  God has traveled with Israel, fire by night & a storm by day. God has been provided Israel food–called “Manna”–which probably means something like “What is this?”  And throughout all this Moses, along with his brother Aaron & his sister Miriam have led the Israelites.  And Miriam has just died.

 

And in Numbers, our passage lands near the end of the first Part of this book, which really focuses on the generation that came out of Egypt, which was not a group of role models.  One person calls the first 25 chapters of Numbers “stories of rebellion,” and our passage fits right in there. (Dozeman, NIBC, 4)

 

More specifically, our passage occurs right before Israel is really preparing to enter Canaan, the promised land—although none of the generation that left Egypt is invited to enter there because of some events that happen earlier in this book.

 

Aaron dies at the end of Chapter 20, and Miriam dies at the start of it, and we’re supposed to see in their deaths the transition from this rebellious generation, who won’t enter Canaan, but will die, to a new generation, “The…Generation of Hope,” one scholar calls it (Dozeman, NIBC 3-5).

 

      Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

 

Thoughts: vv2-5

And so Aaron & Moses are left.

 

They are in this desert, many thousands of people, hauling their livestock & their belongings behind them…Miriam has just died, which is a huge blow to the community, because in so many ways, Miriam was one of their leaders.  And they are thirsty!  It’s uncomfortable.  And its uncomfortable now, right?  So what if God did amazing things for them recently, so what if God even gave them food this morning?  What good is food without water!  And miracles fade away really fast when you’re really thirsty.

 

And they blame Moses.  They don’t say, “Why did God do this? Why did God do that?”  They say to Moses “Why did you bring God’s people, us, into this wilderness, where we are dying and will die. Why did you bring us out of Egypt into this terrible place.  It’s fruitless!  There’s no grain, no figs, no grapes or pomegranates–all the signs of healthy land, prosperity, and there’s no water!  It’s sucks!”

 

They blame Moses, when, let’s be really honest: Moses isn’t doing this cause he thinks its a great idea.  We can read about Moses’ first call; he’s not a resolute, take charge, sort of hero. He wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t God’s will, right?  He’d be gone.

 

     Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

 

Thoughts: vv6-8  

 

And Moses and Aaron just leave.  They just leave.  This is too much; they go the Lord, and just drop to their faces.  Which is what we do when we’re at the end of our rope, or when we’re frustrated, or when we have a need, and we know the Lord knows it, and we just go to him.  For any or all of these reasons, Moses and Aaron head to the Lord.  And the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

 

This could mean all sorts of things; but it is an old testament way of speaking about God showing up, in a visible, powerful way.  And he tells Moses, take the staff—this is Aaron’s staff, it had budded, blossomed, and bore almonds—not usual—a thing God did to set Aaron apart at the institution of the priesthood. So get the staff that is kept here in my tent. (cf. Dozeman, nibc, 160). You and Aaron gather the assembly together, and before them, tell the rock to pour out its water and it will–and all will drink.

 

vv6-8: Triple Provision

God knows Moses & Aaron’s need, knows the anger they are receiving, and provides.  God provides for the people & their livestock; satiates their thirst and their anger; the first provision.

 

And God also provides for Moses & Aaron, provides a way for them to avoid the anger of this people; the second provision.

 

And in doing this, God also provides a way for Moses & Aaron to remind the people that this is not Moses’ fault, that they’re out there.  This is God’s fault; and it’s a blessing for them, not something they’re supposed to blame anyone for.

 

God is taking many of them—though not all, because of their prior distrust—but many, this is an intermingling time, the new generation and the old generation are together right now, and God is taking the new generation to a life that will be so unlike the old generations slavery in Egpyt.

 

This isn’t Moses’ doing; it’s God’s. And the opportunity for Moses & Aaron to remind the Israelites of this is a third provision. Because God’s people need reminded.

 

    So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

 

Thoughts: vv9-11

 

And Moses gets his staff, which is kept safe before the Lord.  And instead of reminding Israel of why they are out there, where many of them—though not all—are headed, instead of reminding them of God’s promise to provide for them, instead of reminding them that it’s not Moses & Aaron’s fault they are out in the desert, Moses says “Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock!” and bangs the rock with his staff a couple of times—rather than speak to it, as God tells him to. (cf. Dozeman, NIBC, 160).

 

It bursts open, of course, pours our, floods out, and everyone drinks.

 

But this isn’t the way things were supposed to happen, and God isn’t pleased.

 

    But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

 

Thoughts: v12

God says, to both Moses & Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

 

People argue about where we see the lack of trust: was it because Moses hit the rock twice instead of speaking to it?

 

Do we see the lack of trust in the way Moses curses the Israelites?  We’ve talked about anger recently, and how we need to send our anger to the Lord, like an arrow to a safe target, where it can be diffused healthily–Moses just calls the Israelites a bunch of “rebels.”

 

Do we see the lack of trust in the way Moses talks about how he & Aaron are the ones bringing the water out of the rock, not God?

 

I mean, whether or not this is a “trust” issue it certainly ignores that third provision we saw before, the chance for Aaron & Moses to turn the Community of the Lord back to the Lord, instead of toward Moses & Aaron.  And whether or not this is a trust issue, it definitely doesn’t set up the Israelites to honor God as holy.  It sets up the Israelites, God’s People, to honor Moses & Aaron as holy.  It sets them up to continue putting their attention toward Moses & Aaron–whether that’s positive attention, as agents of provision, or negative attentions, as the leaders who got them in the mess they are in right now.

 

Israel turned in anger to Moses & Aaron.

 

Moses & Aaron turned in need to the Lord.

 

God offered Moses & Aaron a way to both provide for Israel and turn Israel back to Himself.

 

But they blew it.  They kept the attention of God’s people right on them, and cursed them in the same moment.  They were agents of God’s providence; but not cheerfully, begrudgingly and resentfully.

 

This wasn’t their best moment.

 

And it costs them.  They are withheld the chance to see the promised land, the land flowing with Milk & Honey, along with that first distrusting generation.

 

    These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them.

 

Thoughts: v13

And we’re given an epilogue.  We’ve been to Meribah, where the water still rushes & flows.  We know that place.  Meribah shares the same root as “quarrel,” hence the name.

 

We’re told that God is proved holy; and we should wonder if it’s because God did, in the end, provide for them, or maybe if it’s because God took back the gift he had been holding out to Moses & Aaron.  Both of these things would be proofs of God’s power, God’s holiness.

 

And this is the only place in Numbers where we see Israel complaining and God not judging them for it, like he will soon in chapter 21. The language that is used here emphasizes the idea that Israel complained properly, the word we translate “quarrel” carries positive legal tones, that they appropriately brought their complaints to the Lord, and the Lord supplied—and this would highlight even more how negative Moses’ behavior really is (Dozeman NIBC 160). One scholar suggests that part of Moses’ failure is his inability to see how their complaint is reasonable, not simply rebellious.  There’s a little tension here, though, right, because they really do seem to blame Moses for where they are, but.  Moses ends up being the rebel and “prompts his own death sentence, rather than Israel’s” as we see elsewhere in Numbers. (ibid, 161)

 

What to say? 

So what should we say about this?  What can we take away from this passage? Because we read to not only understand more but to become more like Jesus, right?

 

Faulty Memories:

There are basic things we could note from this passage.  We could note how quickly we find ourselves ungrateful, how quickly we forget the things God has done in our lives.  We act like the Israelites all the time; fondly remembering days gone by, erasing in our memories the hardships and trials, and falsely recalling “back then” as so much better than “right now.”

 

And if we start to entertain these things, entertain how good it used to be, we will always find ourselves dissatisfied with how good it is right now.  So we could explore that, and some of us in this room need to maybe check ourselves.  I don’t know; the Spirit does.

 

Short-sighted

We could note how sometimes desert places, places where our trust is tested, are on the road to places of milk & honey & easy-to-spot providence.  And we can’t get to those good places we’re going unless we go through deserted, waterless places.  There is only one road.  I am being metaphorical here, of course.

 

But some of us in this room might be feeling deserted, feeling waterless, and our tendency in those times is to rail against whoever we perceive has power to change the situation.  And often, we choose to rail against a person, blame another person, instead of turning our needs and our emotion to the Lord, the one who really has the power to provide for us what we long for–whether that’s water because we’re thirsty, or joy or pleasure or any other thing we need.  So this real event could be a metaphor for any of us, and a model of how not to act.

 

Difficulty, Maybe? 

Maybe we could talk about what’s difficult with this passage, which is I think not really that God withholds from Moses & Aaron something he had said they could have–it was God’s gift to give, even if we feel they were entitled to it. Moses & Aaron were complicit in their own small rebellion, and personal responsibility matters in Numbers; our actions have costs, and the costs are high because our actions are so important.  And we know this, right? The New Testament ups the ante on personal responsibility even more. It’s part of the Christian life.

 

I think maybe what’s difficult about this passage is not the way God responds so much as the fact that we’ve all acted like Moses & Aaron, and this creates a little anxiety in us.

 

We’ve all been frustrated, we’ve all been impatient, we’ve acted out of frustration & impatience & assumptions.  We’ve cursed God’s people–or insinuated things against them at least, which is just as bad but feels less like it.  And we don’t really want anything God has promised to us to be withheld.  Of course, we shouldn’t worry about this as Christians, but we should take seriously the negative example of Moses & Aaron.

 

The Church & God’s Promises to us:

We are all given the promise that if we want God will use us in some great way, some important way.  Some of us still don’t believe it, after years, which is a triumph of the enemy, and if you’re there, let’s talk.

 

But we are promised to have usefulness in the Kingdom of God.  We are important. And as a church, we are each of us gifted by the Holy Spirit in a way that the rest of us needs.  This is church-life 101 stuff; without one another, acting out of the gifts we have, we’re simply not as powerful an agent of love & mercy & God’s Kingdom as our church could be.  Right? And the governance task force is right now spending time in prayer & gathering together & communicating about ways we can structurally position each of us for the usefulness we’re destined for.  A lousy Commercial!

 

But we will always be tempted, and especially when we are frustrated, to present what we do with our gifts, with the power the Spirit has given us, as work that we’re responsible for,  as something that has very little to do with God and a lot to do with our training or personality or  competencies.  As though God hasn’t had a hand in shaping us.

 

We will always be tempted to not honor God as Holy, as the provider of the good things we offer each other, but instead either honor or draw attention to ourselves instead of the Lord.

 

God’s Double Faithfulness:

God is the faithful one, right? God is the provider of our needs, even as He uses us. God is the faithful provider, even in today’s passage: Moses is simply the tool–beloved tool, favorite tool, special hook in the garage for him–but the tool God uses to get the water to His people who need it.

 

And there’s mercy in this.  Moses could have struck the rock twice, called attention to himself, and cursed God’s community, and God could have decided, “No Water.”  You blew it!  Sorry.

 

But God didn’t.  God didn’t.  God gave the provision that was needed. And also, God didn’t destroy Moses’ credibility, steal Moses & Aaron’s ability to serve the community of His people, when it was totally within His bounds to do so. There’s really a double-faithfulness on the part of God here.

 

So while we may very well fail in these ways Moses & Aaron failed–drawing attention to ourselves instead of turning the attention of God’s people to God’s providence–God still remains faithful to us.  God will still give us the water or what-ever that is needed by those around us, and us too.  But we should not lightly decide to draw attention to ourselves, or receive honor that’s not for us to receive.  We should watch our hearts, and find out just how much of what we do–even good stuff–is out frustrated misunderstanding, because we want to get people off our backs and shut them up.

 

The Aaron Factor: 

There’s something else, though.  Aaron had power; was a leader of the traveling Israelites; and again, we all have power in our community as servant leaders, because the Holy Spirit has given each of us power to lead one another.

 

But Aaron sure does seem passive in this passage, doesn’t he? But he’s disallowed passage to the Holy Land, too.  Because, I think, he didn’t act when he could have, didn’t use the role that God had put him in to stop Moses from his actions.

 

So if we think that it’s safer to just stay out of the way, not get too involved, not risk anything, not do what we can to figure out how to help one another, and instead we choose to stand nearby those who are risking–offering their gifts for the church’s blessing– we should remember Aaron, and wonder what would have been different if he had calmed Moses down before he spoke, or held Moses hand when Moses went to hit the rock, or stopped Moses in mid-sentance when he heard Moses say “we bring you water,” or when he realized that Moses was returning blame for blame.

 

Aaron could have been a hero in this story, as any of us could be heroes in the stories going on around us, the story of Smoky Row, but instead he’s almost a side-note, and in the end gets the same withholding that Moses got, simply because he didn’t act.  Just a few verses later in Chapter 20 we read about Aaron’s death, and his son takes his position, and this foreshadows the end of the first generation out of Egypt, and the “generation of hope” that goes into Canaan. But Aaron’s behavior is a caution against passivity.

 

Conclusions:

So we could consider all sorts of things this morning.  We could look at God: and see His faithfulness to the Israelites, to Moses & Aaron, when so much more could have been taken from them—their credibility, their lives at this moment. We could look at Moses, and learn from his frustration, from the attention he & Aaron brought to themselves. We could look at Aaron, and learn from his passivity, and wonder how things might have been different.  We could look at the Israelites, and learn from the way they have edited their memories to make life right now seem so much worse than life back then, could learn from the way they forget that sometimes the road to the land of milk & honey passes through deserted, lonely, dry places.

 

We’ll leave here.  And we are in different places, you know; but we are people who have influence and power in the lives of one another and should think about where we draw the attention and honor of each other, think about how costly the path of passivity can be.  We are people who are on our way to good places, wide open spaces, even though today might be deserted, and the path there rough-going.  We are people of memory, and can forget how hard things have been compared to right now, and that right now isn’t as terrible as it seems.

 

But this passage has relevance for all of us, I am sure of it.  Maybe the greatest difficulty we have with it is simply listening to the ways it can speak into our lives.

And this holds true, I think, for most of what we’ve seen as we’ve walked through this series together.  Maybe we can be one another’s hearing aids, helping each other to hear the voice of God in this library of ours, knowing that all scripture is useful for all sorts of reasons.