Nu 20: Meribah part 1

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?