Read Numbers 20:1–13
Questions from the Scripture text: Who come where (Numbers 20:1)? How many of them? When? Where did they stay? Who died there? What did they do with her there? What problem did they have (Numbers 20:2)? What did the people do? What did they say (Numbers 20:3)? What accusations do they make (Numbers 20:4-5)? Where do Moses and Aaron go (Numbers 20:6)? What do they do? What appears to them? Who spoke to whom in Numbers 20:7? What does He tell him to do (Numbers 20:8)? With whom? To gather whom? What is he to do to the rock? What will the rock do? With what outcome? What did Moses do (Numbers 20:9)? According to what? The what did Moses and Aaron do (Numbers 20:10)? And what did Moses ask them? But what did Moses do then (Numbers 20:11)? How many times? With what result? Who speaks to whom in Numbers 20:12? What does He say to them? What was the water called (Numbers 20:13)? Why? What did YHWH do for Himself among them?
Why doesn’t Moses enter the promised land? Numbers 20:1–13 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s great grace is the only hope for sinful men.
Nearing the end. Israel are back on the border of the promised land (Numbers 20:1, cf. Numbers 13:21). Miriam’s death signals the change of a generation. When it tells us that it’s the first month, but not which year, it seems to imply that it is the fortieth year, the end of the wanderings.
Some things remain the same. The people have the same problem (Numbers 20:2) as all the way back in Exodus 17:1. That place had come to be called Massa and Meribah, as this one will also come to be called Meribah (Numbers 20:13). Now the new generation identifies themselves with their fathers (Numbers 20:3), and they commit the same sins (Numbers 20:4, cf. Exodus 17:3). And they complain against the same things that caused them to be imprisoned in the wilderness (Numbers 20:5, cf. Numbers 13:23).
A great display of grace. Moses and Aaron leave the people, and come to worship (Numbers 20:6). And YHWH’s response isn’t just to show them His glory, but to promise a provision of water for the people (Numbers 20:8).
Rebels like the rest of them. Moses was told to speak to the rock. But instead he speaks to the people. God was interacting with them with a view to Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:4), but Moses disregards this and addresses the people as rebels (Numbers 20:10). Ironically, now he is being a rebel. He is of the same character as the original generation, and he will meet the same fate (Numbers 20:12). Aaron must be complicit, because the Lord address them in the plural in verse 12. They will both die in the wilderness as a penalty.
Even greater display of grace. Even though the people are wicked and rebellious, and even though Moses rebels against God, the Lord still grants that enough water comes from the rock for the entire congregation and their animals (Numbers 20:11). For the sake of His Name, for the sake of Christ, God treats the people opposite of what they, and of what Moses and Aaron, deserve.
God hallows His own Name. The great part of Moses’s and Aaron’s sin was failing to hallow the Lord (Numbers 20:12). It was unbelief that the Lord’s display would be effective upon the people that led to Moses’s rashness of action and speech (cf. Psalm 106:32–33). But God hallowed His own Name (Numbers 20:13) both in showing great grace and in displaying equity in justice.
What bitterness against authority do you find in your own heart and on your own lips? Against what difficult circumstances are you tempted to grumble? What goodness from God are you in danger of neglecting? What instruction from the Lord are you tempted to disregard because you don’t think it will be effective enough? How is the Lord hallowed before you for His love? How is He hallowed before you for His justice?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for Your great grace to forgive us and treat us kindly for the sake of Christ and His righteousness. Grant that we would be content, thankful, humble, trusting, reverent, and obedient, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP51A “God, Be Merciful to Me” or TPH51C “God, Be Merciful to Me”
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