Twice
water comes from a rock. Twice a rod was involved. The areas are both called
“Meribah,” but they are in two different geographic locations.
The
first event is in Exodus 17.
Ex 17:1 And all the congregation of
the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their
journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim:
and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people
did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said
unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? 3 And
the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and
said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses
cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost
ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of
Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and
go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and
thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the
people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he
called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the
children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD
among us, or not?
The second event is in Numbers
20.
7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
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.
10 And Moses
and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto
them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the
water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
12 And the
LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in
the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this
congregation into the land which I have given them.
13 This is the
water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he
was sanctified in them.
In Exodus 17, the first rod is
the rod used in the miracles of the Israelites’ exodus. In Numbers 20, the
second rod is Aaron’s rod that budded.
To review the account of Aaron’s
rod in Numbers 17, you can go to:
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Exodus
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Numbers
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Who goes to the rock?
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·
Moses and the elders of Israel
·
the LORD
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Moses and Aaron
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What do they bring?
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Moses’ rod
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Aaron’s rod
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What does the LORD do?
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·
Stand on the rock
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Stand before them
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By inference, He sends His authority (Aaron’s
rod)
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Instruction
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Smite the rock
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Speak to the rock
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What did they do?
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Moses struck the rock in the sight of the elders
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·
Moses addressed the people as rebels
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Moses struck the rock twice
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Result
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It doesn’t actually say so, but by inference,
water came
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Water came out abundantly
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The people drank
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The beasts drank
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What happens next?
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Amalek fights with Israel
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Aaron and Moses may not enter the promised
land
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Edom won’t let Israel through
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Contrasting
the two Meribahs helps illustrate the principle of biblical authority. In the
first Meribah, the LORD stands on the rock before Moses and the elders. Moses
brings the rod that represents the miracles. In the second Meribah, Moses and
Aaron gather all the people before the rock. Moses brings Aaron’s rod, which
represents Aaron’s authority as a priest of the LORD.
One
can get entangled in why the LORD goes with Moses in the first case. Was His
presence required to make the miracle happen? Looking at 17:4, when Moses cries
out to the LORD, he appears to fear for his life. I propose the LORD stands
there to support Moses and to protect him. Even the instruction to strike the rock
may have helped Moses illustrate to the leaders that Moses was no wuss.
But
in the second Meribah, Moses and Aaron were to gather the congregation, bring
Aaron’s rod and speak to the rock.
In
Numbers 20, Moses has just lost his sister and the congregation is at it again:
full of complaints and in no condition to hear the voice of reason. To top it
off, what does the LORD say? His instruction is for Aaron and Moses to take the
rod, gather the people and speak to the rock. Speak?
Unfortunately,
Moses and Aaron didn’t believe the LORD. In 20:20 hindsight, and with the help
of other scripture, we are given what Moses should have already known.
Moses
knew worldly authority: he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.
Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
He
knew God’s ways.
Ps 103:7 He made known [edy yada`] his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of
Israel.
In
the New Testament, there is one person who understands authority, true
authority, so much so that he actually astounded Jesus. His story is in Matthew
8 and Luke 7.
Matthew 8: 5 And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And
saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus
saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The
centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9
For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this
man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant,
Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus
heard it, he marvelled [yaumazw thaumazo], and said to them that
followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith [pistiv pistis], no, not in Israel.
Luke
7: 2 And a certain centurion’s
servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when
he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that
he would come and heal his servant.
4 And when
they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for
whom he should do this: 5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us
a synagogue.
6 Then Jesus
went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy
that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be
healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me
soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he
cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
9 When Jesus
heard these things, he marvelled [yaumazw thaumazo] at him, and turned him about,
and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so
great faith [pistiv pistis], no, not in Israel.
I
used to be a Doctor Who fan. I really
don’t recommend it because of the creepiness, violence and the agenda it was
pushing. (I found I slept much better once I stopped watching it and got those
images out of my head, too!) But there is one episode that stayed with me for a
very long time. In “The Forest of the Dead,” the shadow monsters are about to
destroy everything. They challenge the Doctor. He says, “I’m the doctor, and
you’re in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.”
The
shadow monsters shrivel away.
One
of those writers really yada’-ed the
concept of authority. The Doctor didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. He knew who
he was and the shadow monsters knew who he was. On a word, the shadow monsters
themselves retreated in fear.
In
Star Trek: the Next Generation,
Jean-Luc Picard simply would say, “Make it so.”
Are
you getting this? Obviously these examples are extrabiblical, but are you
getting this? One more: here is a clip of Yul Brynner as Pharaoh. He is
accustomed to such authority: “So let it be written, so let it be done.”
The
centurion said, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and
I say to this man, Go and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to
my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”
Numbers
20:12 links authority with faith, as do Matthew 8 and Luke 7. I am not saying
to go around ordering demons (Acts 19 clearly warns us about that). I am saying
that when you yada’ God’s ways and 'aman that God is directing you, you have
the Creator of the universe, the King of all kings behind you. That’s authority.
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