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📚Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the desert of Zin in the first month. And the people stayed in Kadesh, and Miriam died there, and was buried there. Moses disobeys in anger and strikes the rock
2 📚And there was no water for the congregation; and they joined together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 📚And the people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “If only we had died when our brethren died in the LORD’s presence! 4 📚Why have you brought 📖 the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die here? 5 📚And why have you made us come out of Egypt, to bring us into this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink”.
6 📚And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they prostrated themselves; and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 📚“Take the rod, and gather the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes; and it will give its water; and you will bring water for them out of the rock. In this way you shall give the congregation and their animals water to drink”.
9 📚And Moses took the rod from the presence of the LORD, just as he commanded him. 10 📚And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, “Now listen, you rebels! Do we have to bring water for you out of this rock?”
20:10 Ps 106:33. Did Moses forget for the moment that he was a mere sinful man even as they were?⚜
11 📚And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and also their animals.
20:11 The rock had already been struck (Ex 17:6), and must not be struck again. The rock speaks of Christ (note at Ex 17:6). Christ was struck for sinners once and for all (Isa 53:4; Heb 10:10, 14; 1 Pet 3:18), never to be struck again. Here Moses in a moment of pride and anger disobeys God, and sins. Even the greatest leaders and saints have sin in them. It must be conquered and subdued or it can break out and cause great harm (Isa 64:6; Jer 17:9; Rom 7:18, 21; Jam 3:2; 1 John 1:8. See what Moses himself wrote in Ps 90:7-9).⚜
The penalty for Moses’ disobedience
12 📚And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me so as to show me as holy in the eyes of the children of Israel, you will not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them”.
20:12 In this case Moses did not believe God, did not treat God as holy, and rebelled against God’s instruction (v 24). So the one through whom the law was given stands condemned by the law he gave, and was not able to enter the promised land (compare Ps 143:2; Rom 3:20). Of course this does not mean that he could not enter heaven as a redeemed man.
The picture, the typology here is very fitting. Canaan signifies life in the heavenly places in Christ (note at Num 14:45. See also Eph 1:3; 2:6; 6:12). Moses signifies the law, and the law can never bring us into the blessings of Christ (Rom 3:19-20; 8:3; Gal 2:19; 3:13-14). It brings condemnation and a curse on us because we fail to keep it. It can lead people to the borders of Canaan but cannot take them in (Gal 3:24-25). After the death of Moses, Joshua led the people into Canaan. Joshua means “Jehovah is salvation”. The Greek form of the name is Jesus. It appears that the believer in Christ is in three places at once. Physically he is in the world (Egypt); spiritually he is in Canaan (heavenly places in Christ), experientially many times he is in the wilderness being tempted and tried and going as a pilgrim from the world to heaven. The author of these notes thinks the believer is in Romans chapters 7 and 8 at the same time. See notes at Num 14:45; Ex 15:27; Deut 1:19.⚜
13 📚This is the water of Meribah 📖, because the children of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and he showed himself holy among them.
Edom refuses passage to Israel
14 📚And from Kadesh Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: “Your brother 📖 Israel says this: You know all the hardship that has come to us.
20:14 It was time to start moving toward the eastern boundary of Canaan.⚜
15 📚Our fathers went down to Egypt, and we have lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. 16 📚And when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and has brought us out of Egypt. And, see, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 📚Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through the fields or through the vineyards, and we will not drink water from the wells. We will travel on the king’s highway, not turning to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory”.
18 And Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land. If you do I will come out against you with the sword”.
19 📚And the children of Israel said to him, “We will go on the highway, and if I and my cattle drink your water, then I will pay for it. I will simply go through on foot, nothing else”.
20 📚And he said, “You shall not pass through”. And Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.
21 📚So Edom refused to give Israel permission to travel through its territory. Therefore Israel turned away from him.
Death of Aaron
22 📚And the children of Israel, the whole congregation, set out from Kadesh, and came to mount Hor. 23 📚And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, saying, 24 📚“Aaron is to be gathered to his people; for he will not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
20:24 Verses 11,12.⚜
25 📚Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to mount Hor. 26 📚And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors and die there”.
27 And Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up on mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation. 28 📚And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 📚And when the whole congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they, the whole house of Israel, mourned for Aaron for thirty days.