NUMBERS

Numbers Chapter 20

• Numbers 20:1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 
• 2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 

Here seems to be another great test of faith to prove who is worthy to enter the promised land and who really was going along to get along and didn't have faith. 

This was a test of faith. The lesson of faith that is followed by the works will prove that faith as the way of salvation is found in the Old Testament as well as the New. We can see salvation by faith taught because true faith produces the good works that follows it. Lest we become too critical of Israel here, let us remind ourselves that we too would not want to do without water for very long. Yet in their case God had provided for them many times before. Here though we will see a place where even Moses fails. 

• Numbers 20:3 And the people chided with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 
• 4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 
• 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 
• 6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. 
• 7 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 
• 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 

Notice the instructions given by God to Moses was to speak to the rock. 

• Numbers 20:9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 
• 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 

In Moses' anger he fails to give God the glory here but says that they are the ones that are bringing the water forth out of the rock. 

Notice also that the water does come forth. 

There are miracles that occur that God truly gives but sometimes people fail to glorify and thank God. This causes those that witness the miracles to look to the person God is using instead of God who is the one that really does the miracles. People tend to get their eyes on the person and the glory goes to them. This should never be because God is the source of our salvation, never man except in the case where God (the Son) became a man or human flesh and dwelt among us.

• Numbers 20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 

The rock was only struck once at the rock at mount Horeb recorded in Exodus 17. The rock that followed them was Christ. Christ was only to die or be struck once, not twice. I don't know if that has anything to do with this but I've heard it preached that way so that is why I am mentioning it. God does say that Moses didn't go to the promised land because He didn't sanctify the Lord in the eyes of Israel. He didn't say anything about striking the rock more than once as being the reason. I don't know if men added the meaning of the rock being struck more than once or if it indeed does have significance, but to be fair God does not mention it as being significant. 

•  Deuteronomy 32:51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. 
• 52  Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel. 

Nothing is mentioned about the rock being struck twice as the reason God was displeased here. We must be careful not to add things to the meaning of the word but take God at His word. The great sin here is unbelief for the children of Israel and Moses' failure to give God the glory and sanctify Him in the eyes of the people. 

Our whole ministry should be to bring people to God and lift up the name of Jesus as the only way of salvation. There is no other way. We must never take any glory upon ourselves and allow people to think that any mighty work of God is done by our own holiness or goodness. 

God is our salvation and He brings our salvation through no other name but the name of Jesus or by the authority of Jesus Christ even if His name is another name in Hebrew or Greek. That is a minor issue. It is by the authority of the Son of God that we are given salvation. He died for our sins. Our faith in Him is what brings us salvation and brings to us the cleansing of sin so that we can enter into His kingdom. 

He that believes in Him (Jesus) will receive a fountain of living water within his (her) soul. This is given to men, women or children who believe in Him as the Christ, the one God sent to save us from sin. 

• John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 

To women:

• John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 
• 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
• 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 
• 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 
• 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 

Includes children: 

• Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus died for all. Salvation is not just for some so called elect. The elect are those that receive the free gift of salvation. It is for everyone that will believe. The elect means also the nation of Israel as being the elect of God chosen to bring forth the Messiah.

• Numbers 20:12 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 

Unbelief was mentioned also as one of the reasons. "Ye believed me not." Perhaps Moses didn't believe that speaking only to the rock would bring forth water. At any rate we see that something occurred here that displeased God and caused Moses to be denied a place in the promised land. We see in the New Testament that a vison of Moses and Elijah appeared and they were talking to Jesus while Jesus was on the earth before He was crucified. Three of His apostle witnessed this. We see from that vison that Moses didn't lose out with God. He was with God as well as Elijah. So Moses didn't get to lead the people in the land of Canaan, that was given to Joshua, but he didnt lose his soul. 

It does remind us here that we must lift up the name of the Lord and get people to look to Him for salvation and never to ourselves. We can do nothing without God. We are vessels of the Holy Ghost or vessels that the Lord uses but we are not the Lord and do not do works in ourselves.  

• Numbers 20:13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them. 

When we strive with a God appointed and anointed leader chosen of God it is the same as striving with God. Jesus said that when we fail to feed or clothe the least of one of his brethren it is the same as failing to feed the Lord Himself. Unbelief is the main reason anyone didn't enter the promised land. Unbelief in Jesus Christ as savior will keep us out of heaven. 

• Numbers 20:14 And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us: 
• 15 How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: 
• 16 And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border: 

They didn't have the news media or newspapers but somehow all the mighty works that God did for them in the wilderness was told to people of surrounding nations. We can assume they received visitors because provision was made for the sacrifices and offerings to be made for strangers at times. 

We know that Jethro also visited Moses and may have left at some point to return to his own land. If he didn't leave himself, others of his company might have left and told by word of mouth the works of God and eventually traveling caravans of traders would have brought word to other places. We know that the harlot Rehab feared the Lord and had heard of the conquests of Israel long before they got to Jericho. 

• Numbers 20:17 Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. 
• 18 And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

This was a very inhospitable way to treat their former brethren. It could be they didn't trust them, they were jealous of them or they just didn't believe in their God. Anyway they wanted nothing to do with Moses or Israel. 

• Numbers 20:19 And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. 
• 20 And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 
• 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him. 
• 22 And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. 
• 23 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, 
• 24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 

Now we see that Aaron was also not allowed to enter the promised land also as well as Moses and God chooses to take him by way of death at this time. The reason given is rebellion against the word of God, so that is a hint that in some way the word was not kept. We see a hint that just to speak to the rock may have been what is referred to. In this verse we may also have a hint as to why many have preached about it being wrong to strike the rock instead of speaking to the rock. I can see where they get it but it really doesn't actually say that the sin was in striking the rock more than once. Somehow they had unbelief, did not sanctify the Lord and rebelled at Meribah. That we know for sure. 

• Numbers 20:25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 
• 26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 
• 27 And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 
• 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 

Notice that there was no sickness, suffering or accident that caused his death. He just gave his position as head of the priesthood to his son and died. His soul departed to a place prepared, probably the bosom of Abraham since Jesus Christ had not yet died and had not yet taken souls to heaven. I repeat what I said before above. We see in the mount of transfiguration that Jesus appears on the mount talking to Moses and Elijah. This shows us that Moses died a natural death but his soul was alive. It also shows us that Elijah who didn't die was alive and with Moses. 

• Mark 9:2  And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. 
• 3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 
• 4  And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.  

We see a type of rapture. Those that die in Christ and those that are taken in a rapture alive like Elijah go to the same place. The soul and spirit does not die, only the body. 

• Numbers 20:29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. 

In spite of all the trouble Israel had, the wars and fighting they did with one another, they still mourned and grieved at the death of anyone they loved. 

Notice also that Miriam died before entering the promised land also probably because of her rebellion against Moses at one time. These are all given to us to read and we are to look at these things as learning tools that we do not make the same mistakes and walk in unbelief, rebellion, lack of respect and honor to God and also that we take heed to His word. 

The lack of the fear of the word is scary. I see this in today's world. They may mention God once in a while but in works they deny Him. 

Works of faith will follow a true believer in Jesus Christ. DC