Read Numbers 20:14–21:3
Questions from the Scripture text: Who sent whom to whom (Numbers 20:14)? How does he identify Israel? What does he bring to Edom’s attention? What does he recount in Numbers 20:15? What does he say Israel did (Numbers 20:16)? What does he say YHWH did? Whom does he say YHWH sent? Where does he say they are? What does he ask in Numbers 20:17? What does he promise Israel will not do? How does Edom reply—what does he say not to do (Numbers 20:18)? What does he threaten if they do? What do the children of Israel say that they will do (Numbers 20:19)? What do they promise to repay? How does Edom reply again in Numbers 20:20? What response do they add to this reply? How does Numbers 20:21 summarize Edom’s response? What does Israel do? What does all of Israel then do (Numbers 20:22)? Who speaks to whom in Numbers 20:23? Where? What is about to happen there (Numbers 20:24)? Why? Whom must Moses bring up the mountain (Numbers 20:25)? What is he to do there (Numbers 20:26)? Then what will happen to Aaron there? How does Moses act (Numbers 20:27)? Who sees it? What does Moses do to Aaron (Numbers 20:28)? To Eleazar? What happens to Aaron there? Who come down the mountain? What does the congregation see from this (Numbers 20:29)? How many of them? What do they all do? For how long? Who dwelt where (Numbers 21:1)? What did he hear? What did he do? To Whom does Israel go with this problem (Numbers 21:2)? What do they ask YHWH to do? What do they promise Him that they will do? To what does YHWH listen (Numbers 21:3)? What does He do with the Canaanites? What does Israel do to them? To what does this “utter destruction” give its name?
If God has already determined what will happen, what should we do? Numbers 20:14–21:3 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these nineteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we must trust God to do His own almighty work, while sustaining us by His grace in the duties that He has assigned to us.
It is foolish to try to circumvent God’s providence. No one can overrule what He has ordained. It’s not our job to make events happen, but to love the Lord, walk with Him, and obey Him. The results are in His hands—the safest and best place they could possibly be. Duty is ours; events belong to God.
It is even more foolish, when the Lord has told you what will happen. Moses and Aaron have just been told that they cannot enter the land (Numbers 20:12), but they now proceed just as the people had done in Numbers 14:39–45. They immediately try to enter the land. It’s no wonder, attempting to overrule their punishment, that they do not seek the Lord for help with Edom. They don’t ask the Lord for help either at the outset, or after Edom’s first refusal (Numbers 20:18). Instead, they try to reason with Edom (Numbers 20:19), to which the response is a threatening show of force (Numbers 20:20-21).
So, Israel has to go around Edom, and as they do, they arrive at mount Hor (Numbers 20:22). There, the Lord tells them that it’s time for Aaron’s death, because of the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:24). Note that though Aaron is being chastened, he is not being punished. YHWH calls this a “gathering to his people” both in verse 24 and Numbers 20:26. This is not a burial site of the family of Levi; the language reminds us that the departure of the souls of believers is a separation from those left behind in this world, but a much greater reunion with those believers who have gone on to the next. In the wake of Christ’s ascension, it is a glorious reunion not just with the souls of the just made perfect, but with the Lord Jesus Himself (cf. Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8).
Still, the grief for those left behind can be profound, and all Israel mourn Israel for thirty days at the site of just the two men returning from where the three had gone up. It is not a denial of the goodness to which dying believers go to grieve for them, and grief over death is still appropriate for Christians. Though the Lord conquered it into a servant to finish our sanctification and transport us to be with Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:55), death is still an enemy, to whose defeat we look forward (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:26).
YHWH’s mercy here extends beyond the redemptive way in which He speaks of Aaron’s death. The location and the formalities are not a depriving them of their high priest but providing them a new one. Neither Aaron, nor Eleazar, are the ultimate provision but the priesthood itself. Christ Himself is the ultimate provision!
With the lesson of Aaron’s death learned, the encounter with Arad in Numbers 21:1–3 goes differently. Not on Arad’s part; they are hostile and attack (Numbers 21:1). But Israel immediately turn to the Lord this time (Numbers 21:2a). And they do so, following His revealed agenda for the Canaanites (verse 2b, cf. Leviticus 18:24, Leviticus 20:23). “utterly destroy” in Numbers 21:2 and Numbers 21:3 is translating a word for devoting things unto God (in this case, for destruction). The word for this has the same root as the name which they call the place (“Hormah”).
Christians who have been told that all sinfulness must be expunged for us to enter glory (cf. Hebrews 12:14; 1 John 3:2–3) must not attempt to hold onto it. It is devoted to destruction. And, when the Lord has told us about the godliness that must be worked into us to enter glory, we must pursue His agenda for our lives (cf. Philippians 2:12–13). But we must remember that we are not merely to pursue God’s agenda for us, but to do so in dependence upon God’s power and interaction with Him in that dependence. Churches and individuals alike must seek for Him to act almightily in our behalf, while we respond by doing our part as His grace sustains us in doing so.
If you’re a Christian, what are God’s ultimate plans for your life? What do you need Him to do for you? What has He commanded you to do? How can you even be able to do it?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for telling us Your plans to sanctify and glorify us in Christ. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us from them. Lead us not into temptation, but give us everything that we need, deliver us from evil, and bring us all the way home, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”
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