The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Rebel” it comes from the Hebrew Word “marah” which means “to rebel, to be contentious.”
Nearly forty years after a similar crisis, Israel faces the same problem, and Moses responds very differently this time. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Numbers 20.
Miriam dies and is buried at Kadesh. With no water for the congregation, the people gather against Moses and Aaron once again, wishing they had died alongside their brethren rather than face this wilderness thirst. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before the Lord, and God instructs Moses to take the rod, gather the congregation, and simply “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes,” and it will yield its water.
Instead of speaking to the rock as instructed, Moses, frustrated with the people, cries out, “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” and strikes the rock twice with his rod. Water gushes out abundantly regardless, but God tells Moses and Aaron directly that because they did not believe Him, to sanctify Him in the eyes of the children of Israel, neither of them will bring this congregation into the promised land.
Israel then requests passage through Edom’s territory, but the king of Edom refuses and comes out against them with an army, forcing Israel to travel around rather than through. At Mount Hor, God tells Moses that Aaron will die there, since he too will not enter the promised land because of what happened at the water of Meribah. Moses removes Aaron’s priestly garments and places them on Eleazar, his son, and Aaron dies on the mountain, and the whole congregation mourns him for thirty days.
The difference between speaking to the rock, as commanded, and striking it in frustration might seem small, but God treated it seriously enough to bar even Moses himself from the promised land. Leadership under God carries real accountability, and even a lifetime of faithful obedience doesn’t exempt anyone from consequences for a single moment of disobedience.
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