The Book Of NUMBERS
Numbers 21:8 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole:
and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."
Verse 1: Between chapters 19 and 20, a period of about thirty-eight years has passed. We know this because Aaron’s death is recorded in verse 28, and Numbers 33:38 tells us that he dies in the fortieth year after Israel’s exodus from Egypt. All the events of the book thus far have taken place in the second year following the exodus. (Numbers 9:1) This is also the third and last travel narrative found in Exodus through Numbers. The first was from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai (Exodus 13-19), and the second was from Sinai to Kadesh (Numbers 11-12). Now, thirty-eight years later, the children of Israel return to the site of their last major rebellion against God and the reason for their wandering in the desert for this whole time.
Shortly after arriving in the wilderness of Zin and setting up camp at Kadesh, Miriam dies and is buried there. (Exodus 15:20, Numbers 26:59) Verses 2-13: It’s clear from verse 2 that the nation’s rebellious attitude and predilection for complaining has not changed since their last visit here. The incident described in this passage is very similar to the one from Exodus 17, and Moses even gives both sites the same name: Meribah. (v.13) In both cases there is no water readily available, and the people immediately resort to complaining against Moses. This time, rather than wishing they had died in Egypt, they moan, “…Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!” (v.3) (Exodus 17:2, Numbers 14:2) The brethren they are referring to are all the ones that died instantaneous deaths for rebellion against God. (Numbers 11, 14 and 16) Since the ones complaining here are the remnant of the first generation that will be dead within a year, perhaps they feel they have nothing to lose by murmuring and grumbling now. Thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert has done nothing to correct their contentious spirit and bad attitude. Not only that, the Israelites actually blame Moses for bringing them back to Kadesh, as if it wasn’t their own disobedience that caused them to wander in the wilderness since their last sojourn here! (v.4) Yet they also have the audacity to call themselves the “…congregation of the LORD…” as if they have always been upright, faithful and obedient to God since the exodus! But then they throw in the usual complaint about Moses bringing them out of Egypt where they had plenty to eat and drink (v.5), as if it was all Moses’ plan in the first place and had nothing at all to do with the LORD! (Exodus 17:3) In response to all of this, Moses and Aaron, as usual, throw themselves prostrate before God at the entrance of the tabernacle. (v.6) (Numbers 14:5, 16:4, 22, 45) God, as always, is quick to appear and give guidance to His faithful servants. (v.8) As with the previous incident with the rock in Horeb, He will bring forth water, but this time Moses is to “…take the rod…”, gather the people in the presence of the rock, and then speak the command instead of striking the rock with the rod. (Exodus 17:6, Deuteronomy 8:15, Nehemiah 9:15, Psalm 78:15-16, Psalm 105:41, Isaiah 43:20, 48:21, 1 Corinthians 10:4) Verse 9 states that Moses takes “…the rod from before the LORD…” which suggests that God was referring to the rod of Aaron that is within the ark of the covenant (Numbers 17:10) instead of Moses’ own staff, another key difference between this miracle and the previous one. As before, Moses does all that God commands him, but this time his anger gets the better of him, and he makes two critical errors. The first is in verse 10: “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Psalm 106:33) God didn’t tell Moses to say anything to the children of Israel. He was told to speak only to the rock. Furthermore, by using the pronoun “we”, Moses implies that it is him and Aaron that are responsible for this miracle, not the LORD. The second transgression is in verse 11: Moses strikes the rock twice with Aaron’s rod. In spite of Moses’ disobedience, God still provides water for the Israelites, but both Moses and Aaron are rebuked by God afterwards for their sin of unbelief. Though the text does not say so specifically, it can be logically inferred that Aaron’s sin was not standing up to Moses and correcting him when he first spoke in anger to the people. Instead, Aaron once again displays an inability to stand for what’s right and be a godly example to the people. He stands by and remains silent when he knows that Moses is not doing what God commanded them. In this way, Aaron is also culpable in Moses’ sin of faithlessness and rebellion against the LORD. That’s why God uses the phrase “…ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel…”. (v.12) (Leviticus 10:3, Ezekiel 20:41, 36:23, 1 Peter 3:15) This is the root of their sin: their lack of faith. God is not punishing them for Moses speaking angrily to the people, or taking credit for the miracle, or for striking the rock instead of speaking to it. Rather, God is rebuking them for the same sin which cost this current generation the promised land: the sin of unbelief. All the actions by Moses, as well as the inaction by Aaron to correct him, are just symptoms of a much greater problem, that of faithlessness. And by that sin they misrepresented God to the people. This is why Aaron’s punishment is as severe as Moses’, for he stood by silently as Moses failed to be the LORD’s messenger and representative, which is what God had called him to be from the very beginning. (Exodus 3:10) That is no small transgression and, therefore, the punishment is equally severe. Neither Moses nor Aaron will live to see the promised land. (Numbers 27:14, Deuteronomy 1:37, 3:26-27, 34:5) Moses names this place Meribah, the same name used for the location of the previous incident from Exodus 17, even though this site is a different place. (v.13) (Deuteronomy 33:8, Psalm 106:32) This verse also confirms that God was, in the end, sanctified before the Israelites, meaning that by His judgment and punishment of Moses and Aaron for their sin, the name of the LORD was honored and hallowed among the people. God will always have the honor and glory when all is said and done, despite mankind’s sin and disobedience. Verses 14-21: The Edomites are descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. (Genesis 36:8) They, along with the Moabites, settled in the land east of the Sinai Peninsula. (Refer to the map at the top of this post, courtesy of Logos.) Moses sends out messengers to the king of Edom (Genesis 36:31) to request safe passage for Israel through their country. (v.14) (Deuteronomy 2:4) Moses is hoping that there is goodwill on the part of the Edomites because of their distant relation to Israel. He relays to the king a brief history of Israel’s exodus from Egypt (v.15-16), perhaps in the hope that the king and his people will be sympathetic to their situation. He also promises that the Israelites will remain on established roads, leaving the fields and wells of the Edomites untouched and unmolested. (v.17) But the king refuses, threatening Israel with violence if they cross his border. (v.18) (Numbers 24:18, Judges 11:16-17, Psalm 137:7, Ezekiel 25:12-13, Obadiah 1:10) Even after a second plea where Moses promises to reimburse the Edomites for any water that Israel’s livestock might accidentally drink (v.19) (Deuteronomy 2:6, 28), the king still refuses and even calls out his army as a show of force along the border. (v.20) Moses and the Israelites have no choice but to turn away and start the longer route around the lands of Edom and Moab. (v.21) (Deuteronomy 2:8, Judges 11:18) Verses 22-29: The children of Israel journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor (v.22), which is along the coast of Edom (v.23). (Numbers 21:4, 33:37) God announces to Moses that the time has come for Aaron to “…be gathered unto his people…” (v.24), which is the typical phrase in the OT to describe the death of a righteous man. (Genesis 25:8, 17, 35:29, 49:33) He reminds Moses of the reason for this: “…ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.” (Deuteronomy 32:50) Moses is instructed to bring Aaron and Eleazar to the top of the mountain where Moses will remove Aaron’s priestly garments and put them on his son. (v.25-26) Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar do as God commands. (v.27-28) (Exodus 29:29-30, Deuteronomy 10:6) After this, Aaron dies. He is 123 years old. (Exodus 7:7) The whole congregation of Israel mourns Aaron for thirty days. (v.29) (Genesis 50:3, 10, Deuteronomy 34:8) The Believer’s Bible Commentary includes a quote from Matthew Henry regarding these final verses of chapter 20: “Aaron, though he dies for his transgression, is not put to death as a malefactor, by a plague, or fire from heaven, but dies with ease and in honour. He is not cut off from his people, as the expression usually is concerning those that die by the hand of divine justice, but he is gathered to his people, as one that died in the arms of divine grace. Moses, whose hands had first clothed Aaron with his priestly garments, now strips him of them; for, in reverence to the priesthood, it was not fit that he should die in them.” Matthew Henry is alluding to the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ that is described in Hebrews. The act of Moses removing the garments of the high priest from Aaron before his death and then putting them on Eleazar symbolizes what Jesus is today for all believers. He is our eternal High Priest, the final one that makes the animal sacrifices of the OT under the law no longer necessary in our current dispensation of Grace. (Hebrews 9-10) Because of what Christ did on the cross and His resurrection from the dead three days later, He is forevermore the High Priest that is continually making intercession for us at the right hand of God the Father.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Click here to get back to the chapter links on the Bible study homepage.
Archives
October 2024
Categories
All
|