Thursday, December 10, 2020

Numbers 20:1-13 comments: waters of Meribah

 


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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