The Book of Numbers

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Again there was no water, and again the people "chode with Moses," longing they had died and blaming him for bringing them to "this evil place." Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, and the glory of the LORD appeared. God gave clear instructions: "take the rod... and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water." But Moses, worn down and provoked, gathered the people and cried, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Then "with his rod he smote the rock twice." Water came out abundantly, and the people drank, God's mercy overflowing even Moses' failure. But God's word to Moses and Aaron was grave: "because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land." Moses had been told to speak; he struck. He had been told to honor God; in anger he took the glory to himself, "must we fetch you water?" For this, the great leader would not enter the land.

Gospel Focus

To understand why this failure was so serious, we must see what the rock meant. Paul tells us plainly: "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). At the first rock, years before, God had said to strike it (Exodus 17), and it was struck, a picture of Christ smitten once for our salvation, from whom the living water flows. But this time God said to speak to the rock, not strike it, because Christ, once smitten, is not to be smitten again; He was "once offered to bear the sins of many," and now we need only speak, only ask, to receive the living water of the Spirit. By striking the rock a second time, and twice, Moses marred that gospel picture, misrepresenting the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. This is why God said he "believed me not, to sanctify me." Even the meekest man failed here, provoked in his spirit "so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips" (Psalm 106:33). It is a sober warning: leaders are held to high account, and one moment of anger and self-glory, after decades of faithfulness, kept Moses from the land. Yet the living water still flows: to the thirsty Jesus cries, "if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). We come to the Rock once smitten and, by simply asking, drink of the Spirit.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Moses sent a courteous message to the king of Edom, the descendants of Esau and thus Israel's kinsmen: "Thus saith thy brother Israel." He asked only for peaceful passage along "the king's high way," promising, "we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells," and even offering to pay for any water they used. But Edom answered harshly, "Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword," and came out "with much people, and with a strong hand." Rather than fight their brother nation, "Israel turned away from him" and took the long road around. God had told Israel not to war against Edom, for they were kin, so Israel bore the refusal and the detour without retaliation. The path to the promise was made longer by the hardness of others, but Israel kept the peace God required.

Gospel Focus

Israel's response to Edom is a quiet lesson in restraint. They had the strength to force the way, and the offense was real, yet they "turned away" rather than fight a brother, because God had forbidden it. Not every insult is to be answered, and not every closed door is to be broken down. Sometimes the godly path is the longer one, taken in peace rather than in conflict. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18). Israel could not control Edom's hardness, but they could control their own response, and they chose the detour over the sword. There is wisdom here for the pilgrim: the way to the inheritance is often made harder by the hostility of others, and we cannot change every heart set against us. But we can refuse to repay evil with evil, keep the peace God requires, and trust Him to bring us home by the longer road if need be. The refusal of others need not derail our journey; it may only lengthen it, while God still leads us on.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

At Mount Hor, God told Moses that Aaron would die and not enter the land, "because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah." In a solemn scene, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar went up the mountain, and "Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son." The high-priestly robes passed from father to son, and "Aaron died there in the top of the mount." The first high priest of Israel, brother of Moses, was gone. The whole nation "mourned for Aaron thirty days." The priesthood did not die with him; it continued in Eleazar, because that was the only way an office held by mortal men could continue, by passing to another when the priest died. Aaron's robes on Eleazar's shoulders were both a comfort and a reminder: the ministry goes on, but the ministers pass away.

Gospel Focus

Aaron's death, and the passing of his garments to his son, highlights by contrast the glory of Christ's priesthood. The Levitical priests came and went; each one died, and the robes had to be handed to another. Hebrews draws the lesson: "they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood" (Hebrews 7:23-24). Aaron had to be stripped of his garments and die on the mountain; Jesus, our High Priest, never dies again, never hands His office to a successor, but "ever liveth to make intercession." Where Aaron's ministry was interrupted by the grave, Christ's is eternal and unbroken. And there is a further note: even Aaron, the anointed high priest, was barred from the land for the sin at Meribah, showing that the Levitical priesthood could not itself bring the people into their rest. Only Joshua, whose name is the Hebrew form of Jesus, would lead them in. The law and its priests cannot bring us home; the true Joshua, our unchangeable High Priest, does. Aaron's grave on the mountain points us to the Priest who has no grave, who lives for ever.