Numbers 20
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
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.
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 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.”
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, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
“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.”
And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 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?”
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.
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.”
These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.
Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers.
And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.
Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.”
And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”
But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.
And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom,
“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.
Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.”
Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
Death
Death
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The Cost of Unbelief
The most pointed and devastating… death.
Not going into the Promised Land is a cost,
but the life of the one who didn’t believe,
is the ultimate penalty for the sin of unbelief.
It also keeps in view that it is the main result of rebellion against God.
For the wages of sin is death...
Bookends:
(v. 1) Miriam Died
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.
(v. 28) Aaron died
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
Israel wept for 30 days
The grief as a result of the cost of unbelief.
Spiritual Amnesia
Spiritual Amnesia
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(v. 2-9) set up a very familiar exchange between the people and Moses
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle?
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.”
Before we go any further into the passage...
It’s this section that answers the question:
“Why did he pick this passage for Mother’s Day?”
First, most often we simply continue in the series that we are in.
Wherever that lands us.
Secondly, this part definitely goes along with Motherhood.
“You do everything for your kids...
and they still grumble and complain.”
Notice the timing for this exchange.
(It can easily get lost in the narrative as the chapters go on)
Timing since they came out of Egypt (Exodus):
From Red Sea to Sinai
This is actually of the second year.
“On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
At Mount Sinai… instructions on the Tabernacle
The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
Take a census. 2nd year, 2nd month, day 1.
In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony,
Leaving Mount Sinai
Toward the Promised Land.
From Sinai to Kadesh (just south of Promised Land)
Spies go into the land.
At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh.
About 15-16 months after leaving Egypt.
From Numbers 14....
And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’
To Numbers 20.1
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.
(v. 13) “waters of Meribah” (quarreling)
b/c the people quarreled with the Lord.
this is the conclusion of the 40 years of wandering.
They were in Kadesh in Numbers 13-14...
They’re AGAIN in Kadesh in Numbers 20.
But 38 years later.
And they are grumbling about the same stuff that their parents grumbled about.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin… but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Both of these were in the first year of leaving Egypt.
But our passage is 38 years later.
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 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.”
What?
Think of all of things they forget in order to make this complaint.
The Red Sea parting
The destruction of the Egyptian army
Fire and thunder on Mount Sinai
Their parents dis obedience and rebellion...
the judgment of God on their parents (death in the wilderness)
Manna and quail (every day)
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.
The people are still interpreting hardship as abandonment,
rather than invitation to trust.
That is the human heart, isn’t it?
God provides bountifully...
over and over...
Yet, we seem to find things to complain about.
Once something doesn’t go according to our plan,
we forget God’s goodness and grumble.
App. Spiritual Amnesia
We forget.
We panic in the present because we forget God’s past faithfulness
We complain more when we remember less
We return to old sins when we forget God’s deliverance
We settle for survival instead of trust
When we lose sight of what God has already done,
today’s problems feel bigger than they are.
Application: Rehearse God’s past mercies —
write them down, tell them to someone, remember them as a family,
thank God for them in prayer.
Forfeited Blessings
Forfeited Blessings
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Moses and Aaron go from the people to the entrance of the tent of meeting.
They go before the presence of the Lord.
“fell on their faces”
What follow is the emotional center of the chapter.
And the Lord said to Moses...
“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.”
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?”
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.
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.”
What was wrong with that?
(v. 8) “tell the rock to yield its water”
(v. 11) “Moses struck the rock with his staff twice”
He didn’t do what God told him to do.
In Exodus 17, he was told to strike the rock.
Here in Numbers 20, speak to the rock.
But God’s comment seems to go beyond disobedience.
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.”
He called the people “rebels” in v. 10.
But refers to his sin as rebellious.
because 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.)
“failing to uphold me as holy”
Some have surmised that Moses was taking credit for providing the water.
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?”
If Moses is thinking he provides the water...
that would match that he “rebelled”
(v. 12) “you did not believe in me...”
Same phrase as the people with the spies...
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
“not uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people”
Not treated as sacred...
before the people.
(v. 12) “therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them”
Disobedience
Rebellion against God
Not treating God as he deserves
Forfeited Blessings
Unfailing Grace
Unfailing Grace
After the turn away from passing through Edom (b/c the king wouldn’t allow them)...
this is the surprising part of this passage.
They came to Mount Hor.
“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor.
This seems like judgment,
but it is grace.
And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.”
Aaron is going to die.
He is the priest for the people.
He represents the people before God
He intercedes for them
He makes sacrifices for them.
Israel is going to lose their priest… their mediator between them and God.
But God says...
“put his garments on Eleazar.”
They will still have a priest.
They will still have a mediator.
Even with the death of Aaron,
God continues to show them his grace.
The Rock...
Speaking of those who were in the wilderness.
… all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
The Rock is pointing to far more than mere water.
This means that the OT people of God were sustained and nourished by Jesus.
Jesus is active in the Old Testament and the salvation of his people.
We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
How is this for us?
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
This tie to Jesus...
helps us to understand the reality of his grace.
Even though death is the ultimate result of unbelief,
God’s grace is greater.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And as Aaron dies,
it demands that we look at the priesthood of JEsus.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
What “Unfailing Grace”!!!
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
“Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me”
my hope is only Jesus
I know I am forgiven
The future sure, the price it has been paid
Benediction:
Benediction:
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
