ETB Numbers 20:2-13

Session 5: Lack of Trust p.46

Our book text starts with:

People generally fall into two categories—those who read and follow the instructions and those who think they can figure it out as they go along. [Lifeway Adults (2025). (p. Page 46). Explore the Bible: Adult Personal Study Guide - CSB - Fall 2025. Lifeway Press. Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Which one of these do you fall into?

Has this tendency caused you any problems?

There is another category of people. At my office I am the one who writes the instructions and procedures. In Scripture, that position is always held by God. He may use people to communicate them, but He is always the author of all of His eternal Word. Because the Holy Spirit indwells and enlightens His believers, we have the option to always get clarity on any of His instructions that are difficult. The Israelites, and the people at my office, seem to revert back to that second group of people when things start going wrong instead of going back to the instructions or its Author.

Most Christians would say they trust God for salvation, while admitting that it’s harder to trust Him in other situations. They find it more comfortable to follow their own wisdom than to seek His guidance. Yet, God calls His people to trust Him in every situation. We will be with Him in eternity, but He also desires us to trust Him here on earth. [LifeWay Adults (2025). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide, Fall 2025]

Understand the Context

The Lord gave Moses instructions about various offerings (15:1-31). God’s people were to prepare the offerings as He commanded and worship Him as He prescribed. God provided certain kinds of offerings for those who sinned unintentionally, but He warned them about the consequences of defiant sin (15:30-31). He also instructed the people to wear tassels on the corners of their garments as a reminder of His commands (15: 37-41).

In Numbers 16, a Levite named Korah stirred up a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Again, God was ready to destroy the nation, but Moses interceded on behalf of the people. Hearing Moses’s pleas, God opened the earth, and it swallowed Korah and his family. The Lord also rained fire from heaven, killing 250 others. When Israel complained about God’s judgment, He sent a plague that killed more than 14,000 Israelites. Again, Moses went to God for the people, and He ended the plague. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

The priesthood through Aaron and his sons, the Levites, their provision from the other tribes, their inheritance not of land but of God, and the rituals they were to perform on behalf of the people are noted in Chapters 17-19.

The first verse of chapter 20 finds the people back at the same camp that we studied a couple of weeks ago before sending the spies into Canaan. It ends with the death of Miriam, the first of the three in that family to die in the wilderness.

Explore the Text

Numbers 20:2–5 ESV

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.”

They assembled themselves together

Scripture uses this phrasing at least 4 other times in Numbers and Exodus. It is different than the times the people grumbled. These are “gatherings” in which the people come as a mob at a set time to have a “talk with” the two brothers. I think I would have gotten as close to the tabernacle as I could have if I saw such a large angry mob coming.

the people quarreled with Moses

They did not come together to talk nicely or encourage, but to argue and quarrel.

In this verse it denotes a contentious dispute, as the people verbally assaulted Moses and Aaron. In reality, they were quarreling with God![ETB:ALG Fall '25]

The leader’s guide had an interesting note about the phrase “assembly of the Lord.”

The specific expression assembly of the Lord stresses the people’s relationship with God. Perhaps the complainers intended to convince Moses that he needed to treat God’s people better.  In the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament that dates to about 250 BC, the word ekklesia often translates the Hebrew word qahal. Ekklesiais also rendered “church” in the New Testament.  [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

Having that word the same in the Old and New Testament binds the two groups of people together.

Do you think the “church” still acts like this when a leader proposes something “outside of the normal?”

How do can we help our leaders when such contentions arise?

our brothers perished before the Lord

It is difficult to tell from the text exactly who the 2nd generation leaders are speaking of here. Many point to the incident with Korah in chapter 16 which was one of the more recent events but there were other times when whole families, not just the men, were consumed by the Lord. Because they did not mention “back in Egypt” we know that they are at least referring to those who have died during the Exodus. Also, because the word “brother” is not specific to a single father and could be any “blood-relative” it is most likely a general statement in reference to all the 2nd generation kinsmen who have died along the way.

Who do you consider your “brother?”

I have both paternal brothers and spiritual brothers. I see my spiritual family much more often than my physical one, but I will help either type whenever the need arises.

this evil place

What made this an “evil place?”

Our passage study text ends with the phrase the Lord “showed Himself holy” in this place. What does that tell us about the people’s perceptions?

Having our desires or wants unmet does not make a location morally destitute. It was Adam’s sin that caused the earth to be tainted with sin, and we still continue to defile it with our corruptible practices. If God created this place, led them to it, and is present with them in it, is it possible for the place to be “unholy?”

The people’s perspective had been skewed by their unmet desires.

no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates

This list of foods is different from the first set we studied earlier in the book just before the manna was started. Most of those foods were vegetables, roots, or stalky greens. This list is much sweeter tasting. The first list would sustain but would not be very palatable. This list would taste better but could not sustain. The people complaining this time also are different. This group was all under 20 years old when they left Egypt, some may even have been toddlers. Their sweet tooths remember the treats but not the potatoes and leeks. The list is different, the individuals are different, but the people have the same complaint. This manna that we have been eating for 40 years is not enough - even though it really was all the needed.

Do we still fall into this trap of looking at what we don’t have instead of all that we do?

What can we do to prevent ourselves from falling into this trap so often?

Hebrews 13:5 “5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

Numbers 20:6–8 ESV

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.”

the glory of the Lord appeared

In general, the tabernacle was viewed as God’s dwelling place among His people. His appearance here also indicated that He was about to act. Glory relates to the concept of weightiness or heaviness. People today often speak of an important matter as being “weighty,” and the Hebrew word has the same range of meaning. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

Although the Lord had been leading them, somehow this “appearance” is different and more “weighty.” Whenever God acts, it is not a matter to be taken lightly. When God moves in an unbeliever’s heart toward salvation or the Spirit convicts a believer of their sin, these are glorious acts of God that need to be celebrated and not trivialized.

One author noted that God did not address the people’s need until someone came before Him in a humble attitude. That is a good reminder for us when we want to bring our “concerns” to the Lord, the heart must be correctly aligned with God’s first.

Not only did God appear at the tent, but He also spoke to Moses. It is reasonable to believe that everyone who was present heard the voice along with Moses. This would have further affirmed Moses as God’s prophet and His chosen leader for Israel. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

I am not sure if the people heard the commands to Moses and Aaron or not, but if they did it would have added to the seriousness of their disobedience to what was commanded.

tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water

A few months from this time, Joshua will be facing a different rock barrier this one made by man around the city of Jericho. Not just Joshua, but all the people will be told there to “shout” at the walls and not to strike them and they will yield before them. Joshua’s and the people’s obedience then will result in a great victory.

you shall bring water out of the rock

When we first read this, it sounds like God is giving Moses the power to split the rock and bring out the water. However, once you finish reading the passage, you will realize that this is not a command but a prophetic statement. God is declaring the result of Moses’ actions to come in the near future, but the man still has a choice on whether these thing come about God’s way or a sinful way.

Numbers 20:9–13 ESV

9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 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, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Moses took the staff

God knew that Moses would misuse that staff before He commanded him to take it with him.

There was no power in the staff, and it had no control over Moses, but for the prophet it was a tool that he could use for God’s glory or for sin. All the other times he wielded it honored God, but this time the Adamic heart took over.

Hear now, you rebels

To whom or what did God tell Moses & Arron to speak to after they had assembled the people?

This was their first mistake and direct disobedience to God’s command for them. Look how verse 9 ended. We do not see that declaration obedience again in the passage.

What they said may have been an issue as well. God was providing water. This was a valid need that the people and livestock had, and God was making it available. God did not voice any rebuke about the request. Moses and Aaron, however, did. They judged the people’s pleas as sin when God did not seem to. They usurped His place as Judge.

While they were pointing fingers at the people for being rebellious, they were doing so themselves. What is the old saying? When we point one finger at others there are four pointing back at us?

shall we bring water for you out of this rock

There is the second mistake.

Who was going to bring the water out the rock?

Now they have spoken words that God did not tell them and claimed to be providers instead of God.

water came out abundantly

I think it was our book that made mention of the fact that God did not withhold the provision of water from the people because of Moses’ and Aaron’s sin. God’s prophesy had come true, but not in the best way.

This also validates the people need that was voiced, maybe not the way it was said but the truth of their need was real and God did not let the people go without regardless of the actions of the leaders.

God is a perfect and loving provider. If we are willing to trust Him, even in spite of the fact that He has placed in authority over us and the access to those provisions, He will meet our every need.

in the eyes of the people

What were the people supposed to see?

Moses obeying God’s command and God opening the rock through Moses’ and Aaron’s obedience.

According to God’s commentary, what did the people see?

Moses and Aaron willfully disobeying God, and maybe even in anger.

NIV Bible Speaks Today: Notes Chapter 20

A visible display of his astonishing mercy was spoilt by the angry rebuke of a self-willed speaker.

I do not remember a lot of the Canterbury Tales from High School, but one line from the merchant’s story stuck with me. When talking about the way the priests acted poorly and not very piously, he asked, “If gold rusts, what will iron do?” Meaning if the religious leaders cannot follow canon, how far away will the common people miss the mark? God reproves and banishes Moses and Aaron for the same reason. As “The Leaders” of the people they were to have a higher regard for God, and He holds them to a greater responsibility. Even though they may have still been in mourning over Miriam and the people were irritating, they still - and we must - keep God holy and lifted up.

Ephesians 4:26 “26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,”

As New Testament believers we can only read about these events in Scripture, but Paul writing to the Corinthians reminds us why these stories are important for us to read, review, and think about often.

1 Corinthians 10:1–6 “1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

We may not - no, we will not always agree with those in authority over us, but especially in the church body we must always keep Christ as the one to whom our allegiance is most. Maintaining His witness and glory should override everything else.

1 Peter 3:15 “15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey Week 40 / Weekend: Learning to Trust (Psalm 62:8)

But just as God’s will is to take precedence over our will (“Yet not as I will, but as you will”—

Ask: What do we communicate to God when we follow His instructions? What do we communicate to Him when we don’t follow His instructions?

you shall not bring this assembly into the land

God did not say he would not "see" it. Did not say he would not go there. Did Moses die before entering, yes. But who was with Jesus in Matthew 17 on the top of the mountain? God only took away the joy of finishing this task with the people, but He did not deny him the Joy of the inheritance.

the land that I have given them

The two brothers and leaders may not get to go into the land, but God give them an assurance that the rest of the tribes will be. The land was already theirs in the heart and view of God. It was an already but not yet situation for them. They had already been guaranteed ownership, but they had yet to take possession. God tell the two men now, sets the stage for the last few chapters and into the book of Joshua as now God begins shifting the final parts authority and leadership responsibilities from those who did not believe and trust Him to a new generation who has for 40 years had to rely on Him. Not without complaints or mishaps, but they did it and soon would be overpowering enemies on a miraculous scale.

Apply the Text

Pray: Lord grant us wisdom and strength to follow Your instructions obediently each day, be they in Your Word or prompted in our hearts. Holy Spirit help us to trust You even when circumstances appear bleak or not what we would choose. Teach us to consistently turn to You with our needs and concerns. Create within us the habit of following Your instructions more closely so that we can avoid the consequences of distrust and rebellion.