Are we ‘CAREFULLY’ LISTENING to God’s WORD?
February
15 Bible Reading: Numbers Chapters 19-21
Are we ‘CAREFULLY’ LISTENING to God’s WORD?
And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly
together before the rock; and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! Must
we bring water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted his hand and
struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the
congregation and their animals drank. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron,
"Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children
of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I
have given them." (Numbers 20:10-12)
After
wandering around in the wilderness for over 37 years, the Israelites had now
returned to Kadesh from where they had launched their disastrous spy mission
earlier. Nearly all the people from the previous generation that had left Egypt
had died in the wilderness due to their unbelief. Only a few older folks
remained in the leadership level including Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua and
Caleb. However, tragedy soon struck and Miriam died in Kadesh (v. 2b).
In Kadesh
there was a fountain, En-Mishpat (Gen 14:7), which had provided water in plenty
to the Israelites during their initial stay there. Now, this fountain had now either
partially dried up by the heat of the season, or had been exhausted by the
demands of the vast multitude of Israelites. Instead of making aware of their
need for water to Moses, the Israelites argued with Moses and started
complaining about their situation. They blamed Moses for bringing them to that ‘evil place’ in order to ‘kill them’ (Num 20:2-5). Moses and
Aaron took this matter before God and fell on their faces at the door of the
tabernacle of meeting.
It was then
that the glory of God appeared and God told Moses to take the rod but speak to the
rock before the entire congregation of Israel. Moses should have carefully listened to what God had instructed him! We
can recall that many years ago, Moses had brought out water from that rock for
the previous generation when they had complained (Exodus 17:6). At that time,
God had told Moses to strike the rock and water had gushed out in plenty for
the people to drink. Now, Moses was seething with anger at the ungrateful
Israelites who blamed him for everything that went wrong in their lives. Out of
his anger and without thinking through, Moses did the greatest mistake in his life – instead of speaking to the rock, he
used the ‘tried-and-tested’ method that had worked for him previously, and
stuck the rod twice (Num 20:11).
God honored
the action of Moses by bringing the water from the rock for all the Israelites
and their animals to drink. However, due to disbelieving
in God’s word; for failing to honor
and glorify God (v. 12); due to disobedience
and for rebelling against God’s Word
(v. 24) Moses lost his greatest opportunity to lead the Israelites into the
Promised Land. Aaron the High Priest, died shortly after this incident having
being denied the chance to enter Canaan as well.
This incident teaches us that we
should carefully listen to God’s word and obey His commandment as He directs
our lives every day.
Unlike Moses, we should not be hasty
and passionate (Psalms 106:33). It is
only later that we learn that "they
drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was
Christ." (1 Cor 10:4) Bible scholars interpret this incident in these
terms: “The rock smitten in Exodus 17 was
a type of Christ, stricken at Calvary. But Christ was only to be struck once. After
His death, the Holy Spirit would be given, of which the water in verse 11 is a
type.” Water for drinking is a picture of the Holy Spirit (see John
7:37–39).
