Moses Strikes the Rock

Torah Portion - Chukat

This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded- Nu 19:2.

This portion contains statutes about death and purification.

With the Red heifer, we see a purification “with a concoction of water that contains all the ingredients of a sin offering”

There’s a whole hour we could do on the Red Heifer, one of the very very few things which make unclean things clean, or the paradox of it making the one who does the ritual unclean. There is a connection there to Yeshua becoming a curse on the cross.

But I want to focus today on the Death of Miriam. Somewhere between Chapters 14 and 20, there is a passage of 38 years. I think, thematically, the discussion in 19 about the Purification Waters of the Red Heifer flows naturally into the third water crisis that Moses faces in chapter 20.

Its significant because from the 2nd water crisis, the one at Meribah, also known as Kadesh or Kadesh-Barnea, since then the Israelites have had a constant source of water.

The Sages suggest that the Rock that was struck at the 2nd Water crisis became known as Miriam’s Well, and that well or rock followed the children of Israel for 40 years. Shabbat, Ch 2:7, I.16 A.

Let’s go back and survey a bit about Miriam.

First sighting of Miriam - Moses in the box on the Nile river.

4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Ex 2:4.

There’s a bit of connection here to Moses at the sea:

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. Ex 14:13.

Then, following the passage through the sea, we have the second mention of Miriam

20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. Exodus 15:20

Immediately following this song, the children of Israel have their first water crisis. Three days into the desert they had no food or water and Adonai had Moses throw a log into bitter waters so the children of Israel could drink. Exodus 15:22–25

Then, two chapters later, the children of Israel, again, complain for water. This is the 2nd Water Crisis, the creation of Miriam’s Well, and the precursor to the third Water Crisis. Here, Moses is commanded to strike the Rock at Horeb.

Ex 17:6. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.”

So, when we come to Miriam’s death, this is the first time in almost 40 years the children of Israel have gone without water.

Chapter 20 - Death of Miriam

20 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there.

Moses is mourning. The people are quarreling with him. Meribah means “quarrels-ville.” They fall back into the habits of their parents. By the beginning of this chapter, the first generation has passed away, with a few exceptions, because of their unfaithfulness - they would not go into Canaan when Adonai was giving it to them.

And here is Moses, who has just lost his sister, on whose behalf, apparently, they have had fresh water for 40 years. The water has stopped and this new generation is JUST LIKE THEIR PARENTS. Remember, it was here, in this place, that the spies had returned and shown their lack of trust in Adonai.

Nu 13:26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

So we should have all of this in the forefront of our mind when we read this next paragraph.

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.” Nu 20:2–5.

The list of things they don’t have is the list from the spies in Chapter 13.

23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.

So, then Moses and Aaron seek Adonai and he tells them:

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. Nu 20:8–9.

Keep in mind the 2nd Water crisis, Moses was instructed to strike the rock on which the Lord would stand.

HiNeyNee OMaidth L-PhahNehKa Sham Al-HaTsur

Behold I will stand before you there on the Rock.

Here, he is told to speak to the Rock.

waDibarTem El Ha-SelAh

We are all familiar with this next part of the story.

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:

Side Note- in this statement by Moses, keeping in mind that he has just lost Miriam, he calls the children of Israel ha-MoRiM - Mem, Resh, Yod, Mem, same as in Miriam (rebels) -

הַמֹּרִים def.art.-Qal act.ptc. m.p. (מָרָה 598) you rebels V 1,p

shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”

Has Moses become so frustrated with the people that he ascribes to himself and Aaron the power of Adonai?

11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice,

I wonder - Did Moses strike twice because the water didn’t come out the first time.

and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

Here, even though Moses was disobedient and would be punished, Adonai had compassion on His people by giving them water.

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.”

In Ps 106:32–33, the psalmist attributes Moses’ punishment to his words.

32  They angered him at the waters of Meribah,

and it went ill with Moses on their account,

33  for they made his spirit bitter,

and he spoke rashly with his lips.

Later in Numbers, Adonai states that Moses’ rebellion was in failing to uphold Him as holy.

Nu 27:13–14. 13 When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 because you rebelled against my word (there’s that word “MoRim” again, although here it is “M-Ree-tthem”) you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

Hananel and Ramban point to Moses and Aaron having put themselves forth as God.

God blamed Moses because inwardly—“you did not trust me”—and outwardly—you did not “demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel”

And since this is most likely the same rock, the well which became known as Miriam’s well, which at her death ran dry, the children of Israel would know from their youth that when Moses struck the Rock, Adonai was standing there. Its reasonable that He is there again, that He is using this Rock as a representation of Himself.

Paul told the Corinthians that Christ was the Rock from which they drank.

For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 1 Co 10:4.

And so, in a way, the water from the rock becomes a foreshadowing of the Messiah. He will have to be struck and from Him will come living waters, - the Holy Spirit. But one need only call upon the Name of the Lord to have that water, once the Rock had been struck, once He had been nailed to a stake. - Think Romans 10:9. Or John 4:10.

Jesus answered her,, in John 4:10, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

“whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jn 4:14.

So, to recap, Moses strikes the Messiah, the Rock, and brings forth water from Miriam’s well for about 40 years. Miriam dies, the well dries up, and in his anger, Moses lashes out at both the people and Adonai, failing both to trust in Adonai and to lift Him up as Holy. Years of obedience do not outweigh - or cover - sin.

Eze 18:26–29. When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

Thus we could end on a dour note. If not for the bronze serpent. Sin - Nachash, the serpent - crouches at the door in all of our lives. But everyone who looks at the bronze serpent, which was set on a pole and lifted up, if they look upon the bronze serpent, look upon Yeshua, and trust in Him, they will live.