Dear Judah and my future grandchildren,
I want to look at a passage that may seem strange at first, Number 20:10-13
The Waters of Meribah
2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
Moses Strikes the Rock
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah,[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.
It seems as if God is getting upset over something minor and severely over-reacts by banning Moses and Aaron from entering the promised land. It only seems this way until you begin to think through the passage and realize what God was doing.
For the umpteenth time the Israelites are complaining about their situation. Why? Because their lives were hard and they feared that God would not take care of them. It is interesting to note that they say, “Would that we have perished when our brothers perished before the Lord. Why have YOU brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness”. So they have a sense of God. They have a sense that they are God’s people. Yet, they don’t really believe God is leading them. They put all the blame on Moses for bringing them “into this wilderness”. In actuality, Moses was just following God’s command. What they don’t realize is that grumbling against Moses here is just grumbling against God. Note that this is after they have personally witnessed the 10 plagues in Egypt that got them out of slavery with a lot of plunder. They witnessed the splitting of the Red Sea, crossing over it, and the collapse of the water to kill Egypt’s army. They were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They were being fed daily by manna, something never before seen. They witnessed Kora’s rebellion and supernatural punishment. They had seen many, many proofs that God was real and that He was protecting and providing for them. Their hearts were fickle and unable to trust God.
So with that in mind realize that yet again they are grumbling because there is no water present. Do they have reason to doubt that God will provide? Only if they don’t remember what God has done in the past. Yet they don’t ask Moses to intercede to God for them. They simply wish they had died.
God is gracious and wants to build their faith. So yet again he puts them in a situation where what they see will be something that doesn’t happen naturally. They will see water come from a rock when Moses speaks to it. This will help confirm two things in their mind. First, that God can and will provide for them in any situation. Second, that God is really leading through Moses.
In this area of the world it is not uncommon for springs to come out of the ground. Oftentimes the high mineral content of the water will cause the spring to get clogged with a lime deposit, a rock. A person only has to know what those lime deposits look like to find water. He then can knock the rock off the wall and out will come water. Moses probably knew this, maybe even the Israelites knew this. So it’s possible that Moses saw such a deposit and knew that if he hit it water would come out.
Going up to that rock he hit it because he knew that would bring out the water. He wasn’t sure if God would bring water out of the rock, if he only talked to it. So really Moses didn’t believe that God would do what He said He would do. Hopefully you start to see why God got so mad here.
You see God brought the Israelites to the point of having no water so that He could miraculously provide water for them. More than anything God wants us to trust Him because He is the source of life for all humanity. If we don’t trust God we are on the slow path to death. God knew the weak faith of the Israelites and He wanted to build it. Yet Moses robbed God of that opportunity by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. The Israelites would have been much more impressed by the power of God if water had come just by speaking to the rock.
God will often lead us into difficult situations for the purpose of showing us He can and will provide a way out. He wants us to be able to trust Him in any situation. However, He knows our faith is weak. He brings us into situations to strengthen our faith. The stronger our faith the more we can trust Him in every situation. The more we trust Him the more we experience His joy and peace in any circumstance.
Never forget that,
Grandpa.
A Grandpa's Musings 
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