See note Num. 20:28^1a.

The trouble in vv. 2-13 was caused by the shortage of water, which typifies the Spirit of life (John 7:37-39; Rom. 8:2). In type, this shows that whenever God’s people are short of the Spirit of life, they will have problems (cf. note Exo. 16:2^1a). When God’s people have an abundance of the Spirit, their problems among themselves and with God are solved.

The rock in this chapter typifies the crucified and resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 10:4b), and the water that flowed from the rock typifies the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:4a) as the living water that flowed out of the crucified Christ (John 19:34 and note John 19:34^1b). In Exo. 17 Moses struck the rock with his rod, and water flowed out for the people to drink (see note Exo. 17:6² and note Exo. 17:6³). According to Paul’s word in 1 Cor. 10:4 (see note 1 Cor. 10:4²), this rock was a spiritual rock that followed God’s people in their journey through the wilderness. This signifies that Christ has been crucified to become a rock that follows His people. This following rock is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), who is always with the church to supply His believers with the water of life.

Since Christ has been crucified and the Spirit has been given, there is no need for Christ to be crucified again, i.e., no need to strike the rock again, that the living water may flow. In God’s economy Christ should be crucified only once (Heb. 7:27; 9:26-28a). To receive the living water from the crucified Christ, we need only to “take the rod” and “speak to the rock.” To take the rod is to identify with Christ in His death and apply the death of Christ to ourselves and our situation. To speak to the rock is to speak a direct word to Christ as the smitten rock, asking Him to give us the Spirit of life (cf. John 4:10) based on the fact that the Spirit has already been given. If we apply the death of Christ to ourselves and ask Christ in faith to give us the Spirit, we will receive the living Spirit as the bountiful supply of life (Phil. 1:19).

Here Moses condemned the people as rebels, but Moses was the one who rebelled against God’s word (v. 24; 27:14).

To sanctify God is to make Him holy, i.e., separate from all the false gods; to fail to sanctify God is to make Him common. In being angry with the people (v. 10) and in wrongly striking the rock twice (v. 11), Moses failed to sanctify God. In being angry when God was not angry, Moses did not represent God rightly in His holy nature, and in striking the rock twice, he did not keep God’s word in His economy (see note Num. 20:8^1b, par. 2). Thus, Moses offended both God’s holy nature and His divine economy. Because of this, even though he was intimate with God and may be considered a companion of God (Exo. 33:11), Moses lost the right to enter the good land.

In all that we say and do concerning God’s people, our attitude must be according to God’s holy nature, and our actions must be according to His divine economy. This is to sanctify Him. Otherwise, in our words and deeds we will rebel against Him and offend Him.

Meaning contention.

Edom consisted of the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Gen. 36:1). The children of Israel were descendants of Jacob. Thus, there was a close relationship between Israel and Edom. In typology Israel may signify our spirit, and Edom may signify our flesh. Israel’s attempt to get help from Edom (vv. 14-17, 19) signifies that we may sometimes try to help our spirit by depending on our flesh. Just as Edom refused to help Israel (vv. 18, 20-21), our flesh will never help our spirit (cf. Gal. 5:16-17). We should be those who are in the spirit and who do not try to get help from the flesh (Phil. 3:3).

Lit., me.

On their journey the children of Israel had a number of failures. The book of Numbers shows us that the result of those failures was death, not only of the common Israelites (Num. 11:1, 33-34; 14:36-37, 45; 16:32-33; 25:3-9) but also of Miriam (Num. 20:1), Aaron (Num. 20:23-29), and Moses (Num. 27:12-14). This should be a warning to us to be careful concerning failures because failures result in death, and some even in physical death (cf. Acts 5:1-11; 1 Cor. 11:27-30; 1 John 5:16).