Numbers
19:
·
The water of purification
·
Infection control regarding someone who has
died
Numbers
20:
·
Miriam dies
·
The waters of Meribah and the big time screw
up
·
Edom refuses passage
·
Aaron dies
So
much has already been written about the events at the waters of Meribah that I
wanted to take some time to think about what I’d write. There are two things I
have never heard or read.
First,
Aaron is punished along with Moses (I’ve only heard/read about Moses’
punishment). Second, I have never heard or read of anyone connecting Miriam’s
death with the events.
In
the first month (the month to celebrate Passover), the congregation comes to
the wilderness of Zin (= “flat”). They yashab
in Kadesh (= “holy”). Miriam dies (muwth)
there and is buried there.
In
the very next verse, (although we aren’t told how long this is, we can surmise
it only took as long as needed to deplete their stores of water), the
congregation gathers against Moses and Aaron.
2 And there was no water for the
congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against
Aaron. 3 And the people chode [byr riyb] with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died [ewg gava`] when our brethren died [ewg gava`] before the LORD! 4 And
why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that
we and our cattle should die [twm muwth] there? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of
Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates;
neither is there any water to drink.
Some
Americans use the acronym SSDD: Same Stuff, Different Day. Once again, the
congregation wishes they were dead, once again they accuse Moses and Aaron of
lying to them. Once again, they selectively remember.
Moses
and Aaron leave the paniym (remember
that word?) of the assembly [lhq qahal].
Qahal means congregation or
convocation or assembly (for war or invasion, or for religious purposes). They
fall on their faces before the LORD. The kabod
appears.
The
LORD speaks to Moses (while Aaron is there).
8 Take the rod, and gather thou the
assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock
before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring
forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and
their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he
commanded him.
Since
Moses took the rod from before the LORD, it must have been Aaron’s rod, the one
that budded, signifying Aaron's authority given him from the LORD. They gather the
crowd before the rock [elo cela`].
To
supply the crowd, it was probably a big rock. Cela` comes from an unused root “to be lofty.” It can also mean
crag, cliff or stronghold. Big rock.
This
is where their obedience stops.
[Now,
before you condemn Moses and Aaron, saying, “I would have obeyed God,”
I challenge you to remember verse 1. I know the pain of losing a sibling. I
know my frame of mind at the time. Grief can overwhelm someone into making
choices out of emotion, out of fear and anger and sadness. I barely made it
through that semester of school. I barely made it, period. I thank God for the people
that loved me through it.]
The
LORD instructed them to speak to the cela`.
Jumping forward, the psalmist Asaph tells more of this story, from God’s point
of view. (As an aside, Asaph’s psalms really touch my heart; he’s another
person I would like to meet in heaven!)
7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I
delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee
at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
–and–
16
He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out
of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
God’s
intent is to over-deliver. The people wanted water, but God had something
sweeter in mind. The LORD wanted to ebs saba` them (stuff them!) with sweetness. Heavenly “food coma.”
It
was an amazing miracle that water to feed the multitudes came out of the rock.
But had Moses and Aaron obeyed, who knows what amazing goodness might have
poured forth?
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