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Scripture Reading: Num. 20:2-13, 24; 27:12-14; 1 Cor. 10:4, 6
In chapters twenty and twenty-one of Numbers, the children of Israel had further failures. In this message we will consider the failure recorded in chapter twenty, a chapter which conveys some marvelous points of the divine revelation.
In 20:2-13 we see that the people were contending for water. While the children of Israel were journeying in the wilderness, the shortage of water was a great problem. The people numbered more than two million, and they had a great many cattle. Finding water for all these people and their cattle was a serious problem. Because there was no water for the assembly, the people "gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron" (v. 2).
In their contending for water (20:2-13), the people contended against Moses with evil words. "The people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before Jehovah! And why have you brought the congregation of Jehovah 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 seed, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink" (vv. 3-5). These contending ones wished they had died under God's judgment in chapter sixteen rather than live in the wilderness without water. Their speaking here was eloquent. I wonder why they were eloquent in speaking but not in praying. Instead of contending with Moses, they should have prayed.
"Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the congregation to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces" (v. 6a). Having no way to deal with the situation, Moses and Aaron went to God. They did not utter anything but simply fell on their faces, and "the glory of Jehovah appeared to them" (v. 6b).
"Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield its water; and you shall bring water out of the rock for them; so you shall give the assembly and their cattle water to drink" (vv. 7-8). The rock typifies Christ (1 Cor. 10:4b), and the water typifies the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:4a).
Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, and he and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock (Num. 20:9-10a). Then Moses said to the people, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" (v. 10b). Having said this, "Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the assembly drank, and their cattle" (v. 11). Moses was wrong both in word and in deed. No doubt, he was angry with the children of Israel, and he even might have lost his temper. Whenever we are angry and do not control ourselves, it is easy for us to make mistakes. At such times we, like Moses, may speak wrongly or act wrongly.
The Bible tells us that Moses was "very meek, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (12:3). A real man of God, Moses fell on his face before God, not saying anything. He had truly learned of God. Nevertheless, such a meek person became angry at the children of Israel. God had told him to take the rod and speak to the rock that it may yield its water. Moses could have gathered the congregation together before the rock and said, "Praise the Lord! He is good and He is gracious. He surely takes care of us. You need water, and He will supply water. We only need to speak to the rock, and the water will flow forth." How wonderful it would have been if Moses had spoken in this way! However, in his anger Moses said to the people, "You rebels." Moses did not dare to say anything to God, but when he came from the presence of God to the people, he spoke angrily to them. Then he struck the rock twice with his rod. It was not necessary for him to strike the rock once, much less twice. The rock had already been struck in Exodus 17, and God did not tell Moses to strike it again. Rather, God told Moses simply to speak to the rock. Although Moses was a faithful servant of God, in Numbers 20 he made a mistake which caused him to lose his right to enter into the promised good land.
In Exodus 16:14-18 and 17:5-6, God supplied the Israelites with manna and water to meet their proper need, without any punishment. But in Numbers 11 He supplied them with quails to satisfy their lusting after the flesh, as a punishment (vv. 4, 18-20, 31-34). In Exodus 16 and 17 God was not angry with the people. When they needed food, He sent manna, for food is a necessity. Likewise, when they needed water, another necessity, He gladly supplied them with living water from the smitten rock. However, in Numbers 11 the people were lusting after the flesh. Because this was not a matter of necessity, He was angry with them and, in His anger and as a judgment, He supplied them with quails. Can you differentiate these two kinds of situations? When the children of Israel caused God trouble concerning necessities, He was not offended, but when they lusted, He was offended. In Numbers 20 the people contended because they did not have water. Because water was a necessity, God was not angry with them. Actually, it was His responsibility to supply them with water.
Moses failed to sanctify God in being angry with the people of Israel and in wrongly striking the rock twice. In being angry, he did not represent God rightly in His holy nature toward His people. In striking the rock twice, he represented God wrongly in God's action. Hence, he and his brother were punished by God by not being allowed to enter into the good land (20:12-13, 24; 27:12-14).
In Numbers 20 God was not angry with the people, but Moses was angry with them. He went to God and appealed to Him, but he did not dare to say anything. In this matter Moses was right, for we should not pray when we are angry. Concerning this, we need to remember how Elijah prayed in 1 Kings 19:14. In his prayer Elijah said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." Referring to this prayer, Paul said that Elijah was pleading with God against Israel (Rom. 11:2). Elijah's pleading was actually his accusing the people. From the case of Moses in Numbers 20 and the case of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, we learn that we should be careful whenever we pray to God concerning His people.
"Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (20:12). God blamed Moses and Aaron for not believing in Him and for not sanctifying Him before the people. Because he was angry when God was not angry, Moses did not rightly represent God. In his anger, Moses might have thought that the time had come for God to consume the people. God, however, realized that the problem in Numbers 20 was caused by the people's thirst. Just as a mother is not angry with a child who cries because of thirst but instead cherishes the child, so God was not angry with His thirsty people but rather assumed the responsibility of supplying them with water.
According to God's view of His people in Numbers 20, there was nothing wrong with them. The situation was similar to that in chapters twenty-three and twenty-four. Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, but instead of cursing there was blessing. Unable to curse him whom God has not cursed (23:8), Balaam said, "He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob;/Nor has He seen trouble in Israel" (v. 21). In 24:5 Balaam went on to say, "How fair are your tents, O Jacob, /Your dwelling places, O Israel!" According to Moses' view in chapter twenty, there was much trouble and iniquity among God's people, but in God's view there was neither trouble nor iniquity. This means that although Moses was usually one with God, in this instance there was a great discrepancy between him and God.
In his dealing with the matter of water, Moses was wrong. He was God's representative and had the position to represent God, but here he represented God to the people in a wrong way. At this juncture, God was not angry. This is indicated by the fact that He told Moses to speak to the rock that water might flow out of it. But Moses was offended and could not tolerate the situation. Having gathered the congregation and being angry with the people, he said, "Hear now, you rebels." By speaking to the people in this way, Moses wrongly represented God. His mistaken speaking made God common; that is, it did not sanctify God, did not make Him separate from all other gods. Therefore, in His word to Moses in verse 12, God seemed to be saying, "Moses, you did not rightly represent Me. You gave the people a wrong impression concerning Me. In your anger you gave them the impression that I was angry with them when I was not angry. You did not sanctify Me. You did not express Me as the One who is particular and separate from all other gods. You did not present Me to the people as a God who is full of mercy and grace." The God whom Moses represented was not angry; therefore, Moses, His representative, should not have been angry either.
In verse 10 Moses called the people rebels. In verse 24 God said to Moses and Aaron, "You rebelled against My word at the waters of Meribah." Here God seemed to be saying, "You did not obey Me. Instead of doing what I told you to do, you did something else. The people were not reviling Me. There was nothing wrong with them. They simply needed water, and only I can provide water for them. The people were not at fault for being thirsty, and they were not rebelling against Me. You condemned them as rebels, but you are the ones who rebelled against My word."
In Exodus 32 Moses represented God rightly. The people's worshipping the golden calf offended God to the uttermost, and He said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation" (vv. 9-10). When Moses heard this, he prayed to God, saying, "Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people" (vv. 11-12). Seemingly Moses was rebelling against God's word; actually his prayer was pleasing to God's heart. Here he rightly represented God, but in Numbers 20 he forgot about sanctifying God and wrongly represented Him.
The experience of Moses in Numbers 20 is an important lesson for us in the church life today. We need to learn that, especially when we have been offended by the saints in the church, we should not go to God for the purpose of accusing His people. If in our prayers we accuse God's people, we will offend Him. As a mother is offended when her child is accused and criticized, so God is offended when we accuse and criticize His people. Be careful when you go to the Lord concerning His people. You may think that the saints are not very good and accuse them before God. This will surely offend Him.
A crucial matter revealed in Numbers 20 is that God's nature is holy. To be holy is to be different, to be separate. As the holy One, God is different from all the false gods. The false gods are easily angry with people, but not the true God. God does not have that kind of nature. In His nature He is full of mercy, grace, love, and sympathy. He is not offended with His people when the lack of water causes them to contend. Even if He must punish His people, He punishes them sparingly. For example, Korah was devoured, swallowed up, by the earth, but a descendant of Korah became a holy man and a psalmist. This indicates that God is sparing in His judgment.
We must not give people the wrong impression concerning the God whom we serve. In order to avoid giving such a wrong impression, we should be careful whenever we are offended by some of the saints in our locality. We should not be angry with them or go to God to plead against them. If we plead against the saints, God may feel that we are accusing them and that we are not sanctifying Him. We should not be hasty in speaking about those who offend us. Rather, in representing God, we need to learn always to regard His holy nature. This is to sanctify Him. All that we say and do concerning God's people must be absolutely according to His holy nature. Otherwise, in our words and deeds we will rebel against Him and offend Him.
Inwardly God has His nature, and outwardly He has His administration, His economy, His way of action. God's word to Moses about speaking to the rock that it may flow out water was a word according to God's administration and for His economy. Thus, when Moses, in anger, acted wrongly, he broke the principles of God's economy. This should be a warning to us not to hold on to our anger but to practice Paul's word in Ephesians 4:26: "Do not let the sun go down on your indignation."
Moses offended both God's holy nature and divine economy. He represented God wrongly, and he broke the principles of God's economy. Because of this, even though he was intimate with God and may be considered a friend of God, he lost the right to enter into the good land.
Being careful about the way we speak concerning God's people when we are offended will help us remain in the kingdom of God. Regarding this, I recommend that you consider Matthew 18:1-35, where we see that the best way to be kept in God's kingdom is to forgive others. We should not offend other saints or stumble them. Whenever we are offended or stumbled, we should be forgiving. If we know only to condemn others and have no intention of forgiving them, we will have trouble. In the church life there is the need of forgiveness.
To forgive is to forget. Suppose a particular married couple does not have the practice of forgiving and forgetting offenses. Instead of forgiving there is condemning, and instead of forgetting there is remembering. It is not likely that such a marriage will last. Even if the marriage does last, it will lack joy and happiness. If you want to have a joyful married life, you need to forgive the offenses caused by your spouse and forget them.
The church life should be a forgiving life. Concerning the Bible we should have a good memory, but concerning others' wrongdoings we should have a poor memory. This will keep us in the church life. Otherwise, we will have many negative things to say about the saints, and eventually we will forsake the church life. For the church life and in the church life, we need a forgiving spirit. Then instead of condemning the saints, we will forget their mistakes and offenses.
The blunder committed by Moses in Numbers 20 consisted in not having a positive and pleasant feeling regarding God's people. This caused him to make a serious mistake in representing God. He did not sanctify the holy God in His nature, and he did not keep God's word in His economy. My burden in this message is simply to point out the important lesson we need to learn from Moses' failure concerning the people's contending for water.
We all need to realize that the church life is very tender and touchy and that every brother and sister in the church is likewise very tender and touchy. Sometimes we offend others because we do not remember that the church life and the saints are tender and touchy. We may think that a certain brother is very good and that he could not possibly be offended by anyone. Such a brother may be good for many years, but suddenly, because he is tender and touchy, he may get offended by someone and no longer have a positive feeling about the church life. Cases like this remind us that we need to learn always to be conscious of the tenderness and touchiness of all the saints in the church life.
In chapter twenty of Numbers, God did not come in to vindicate Moses; rather, He came in to vindicate His people. This might have been a great surprise to Moses, who probably never expected God to vindicate those whom he considered rebellious. But this is exactly what God did. In this chapter He seemed to be saying, "Moses, you have rebelled against My word. My people are not wrong — you are wrong."
Through our study of chapter twenty of Numbers, we may learn how to behave when others contend with us in the church life. The people were saying to Moses, "Where can we find water? Why did you bring us out of Egypt and lead us to a place like this? This is not a place for seed, figs, vines, and pomegranates." After the people had contended with Moses in this way, he should have gone to the Lord and said, "Lord, what should I do concerning the need of Your beloved people?" In this chapter it seems that God said to Moses, "There is no need for you to do anything. Take your rod, go to the rock, and tell the rock to flow forth water so that My people and their cattle may drink." Uttering praises to the Lord, Moses then should have simply spoken to the rock, telling it to flow forth with water. If we deal with the contending of God's people in this way today, the church life will be glorious.
There is a definite connection between Numbers and 1 Corinthians. When Paul was writing the Epistle of 1 Corinthians, it is likely that he realized that the history of Israel is a type of the church life. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 he refers to the Passover, saying, "Our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed." Then, speaking of the things that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness, he says in 10:6, "These things occurred as types of us." In verse 11 he goes on to say, "These things happened to them as types, and were written for our admonition." This clearly indicates that there are lessons for us to learn from the journeying of the children of Israel. What happened to them may also happen to us.
The lesson we need to learn from Moses' failure in Numbers 20 is that we should be very careful when we speak about God's people. We may think that we are right and that others are wrong. However, God may come in not to vindicate us but to vindicate the ones we condemn.
In 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 we see Paul's attitude regarding judging and being judged. "To me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by man's day; nor do I even examine myself...He who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who shall both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each one from God." "Man's day" in verse 3 is the present age in which man judges, in contrast to the Lord's day (1 Cor. 3:13), which will be the coming age, the kingdom age, in which the Lord will judge. Now, in the day of man, man exercises judgment, but in the day of the Lord, the Lord will exercise judgment. In the church life today, we should not condemn others but forgive them and forget their offenses. Do not keep a record in your memory of others' offenses. Remembering offenses is risky, for it may cause you to lose your birthright, to lose your right to the enjoyment of Christ as the good land.
My aim in this Life-study of Numbers is not to teach the Bible merely in a doctrinal way. I hope that from this word on Numbers 20 we all will receive some light and revelation which will help us in our present, practical Christian life and church life. From the type in this chapter, we may learn to have regard for God's nature and for His administration among His people. If we learn this lesson, we will be careful about speaking in a negative way concerning God's people.
