Recap
- 2 Primary narratives - Empire vs Shalom
- Sacrifice vs Preservation
- Voice vs Stick/Rod
- Leviticus teaches Israelites how to be priests
- Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests
Why doesn't Moses get to go to the Promised Land?
Numbers 20: 1-14 (NET)
20 [a] Then the entire community of Israel[b] entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month,[c] and the people stayed in Kadesh.[d] Miriam died and was buried there.[e]
2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people contended[f] with Moses, saying,[g] “If only[h] we had died when our brothers died before the Lord! 4 Why[i] have you brought up the Lord’s community into this wilderness? So that[j] we and our cattle should die here? 5 Why[k] have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring[l] us to this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”
Moses Responds
6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 8 “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak[m] to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth[n] its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels,[o] must we bring[p] water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.
The Lord’s Judgment
12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough[q] to show me as holy[r] before[s] the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.”[t]
13 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the Lord, and his holiness was maintained[u] among them.Ideas
- He hit the rock the twice
- God told him to speak to the rock but he hit it instead
- Moses (and Aaron?) took credit for the water from the rock
Moses' Story
- Exodus 1-2a: Moses in Egypt with Pharaoh (living under the Stick)
- Exodus 2b-3: Moses shaped as a shepherd in the desert - learning how to lead with another kind of stick
- Exodus 4-14: Plagues (Battle of the Sticks)
- Exodus 15-18: Lessons on leadership
- Numbers 10-12: Complaints and rebellion
- Numbers 13-14: Spies, report, and rebellion
- Numbers 15-18: More complaints and rebellion
Numbers 20 and Midrash
Midrash teaches that Miriam was responsible for bringing water to the people in the desert. Back in Exodus 17, elders took the water from the rock the first time and put it on a cart and when people wanted water Miriam would speak to the rock and it would give water. It's interesting that right after Miriam dies in 20:1 is when people start complaining about water.
1 Corinthians 10: 1-4
For I do not want you to be unaware,[a] brothers and sisters,[b] that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized[c] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Miriam died and was buried but the people don't seem to mourn her loss, they just start complaining about water.
Location in Numbers 20:1 is "Kadesh", but the end in verse 13 is "Meribah".
The people didn't quarrel with the Lord until verse 13... they quarreled with Moses. So the author is tying Numbers 20 with Exodus 17.
Exodus 17:5-7
The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people;[q] take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing[r] before you there on[s] the rock in Horeb, and you will strike[t] the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”[u] And Moses did so in plain view[v] of the elders of Israel.
7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord,[w] saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”Marty repeated this 3 times.... what did I miss?
Marty argues that when Moses "strikes" the rock twice, is that he actually killed 2 people. Numbers says Moses and Aaron "gathered the community together in front of the rock" which is where God was in Exodus 17... but in Exodus 17 God tells Moses to strike him (God) and he will give water, but in Numbers 20 it's the people who are in that position if the stories are laid on top of each other. So Moses might have killed two people, which then totally makes God's judgement of him makes sense.
Moses led with Pharaoh's stick, not with God's voice.
Moses did not "show God as holy", Moses did not demonstrate God's holiness, and because he didn't then God chooses Joshua.
Next story in the narrative is the talking donkey - makes sense to juxtapose a donkey talking with its voice with Moses not leading with his voice.