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. 3 And the people chode with
Moses, and spake, 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 spake 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. 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? 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. 12 And the LORD spake 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. 13 This is the
water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he
was sanctified in them.
Enough water for a
large number of people was always going to be a problem. But, God would and did
provide for them. Still, Moses and Aaron were told to speak to the rock in this
passage but they elected to do something more dramatic and strike the rock.
Paul tells us that that Rock was Christ. Perhaps this is a metaphor or perhaps
God allowed Himself to be bruised for the transgressions of the Hebrews as a
type of His sacrifice for all mankind to come.
1Corinthians
10:1 ¶ Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and
all passed through the sea; 2 And were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock
was Christ.
Let’s recall another
incident where the rock was to be struck and not merely spoken to, back in
Exodus.
Exodus 17:1
¶ And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys,
according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there
was no water for the people to drink. 2
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that
we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye
tempt the LORD? 3 And the people
thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said,
Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our
children and our cattle with thirst? 4
And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people?
they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the
elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine
hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and
there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so
in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the
chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying,
Is the LORD among us, or not?
The wilderness
or desert of Zin was along by the border of Edom.
Numbers 34:3 Then your south quarter shall be from the
wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be
the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward:
The wilderness of Sin was
between Elim and Sinai.
Exodus 16:1 And they took their journey from Elim, and
all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin,
which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after
their departing out of the land of Egypt.
The argument is also made that
both are the same location which is a contradiction of what the Bible clearly
says in the list of wanderings in Numbers 33:12 and 36.
Moses and Aaron’s sister,
Miriam dies here. She played a prominent role in Moses’ ministry. First she was
instrumental in Moses’ survival as a child.
Exodus
1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people,
saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter
ye shall save alive.
Exodus 2:1 ¶ And there went a man of the house of Levi,
and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2
And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he
was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein;
and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what
would be done to him.
5 ¶
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and
her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among
the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6
And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe
wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’
children. 7 Then said his sister to
Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women,
that she may nurse the child for thee? 8
And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the
child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter
said unto her, Take this child away, and
nurse
it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and
nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and
she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called
his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
The Holy Spirit called
her a prophetess.
Exodus
15:20 And Miriam the prophetess, the
sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after
her with timbrels and with dances.
And like Aaron she gave
Moses a hard time at one point.
Numbers
12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against
Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an
Ethiopian woman.
For which she paid a
price for a brief period but was allowed to recover.
Numbers
12:10 And the cloud departed from off
the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron
looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous…15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven
days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.
Miriam was buried in Kadesh.
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