Some tough lessons here. The past caught up with Moses when he struck the rock, instead of speaking to it. But Israel also paid a heavy price for another round of rebellion over food. Wonderful pictures of Jesus are weaved into the narrative.
The red heifer, in
chapter 19, alludes to a special sacrifice that has a planned reprisal in end
times. There is also a discussion about defilement through touching the dead.
By implication, Jesus
the ultimate sacrifice defiled all who handled His body after death. The only
way to change that was for Jesus to no longer be dead.
That is because death
is the ultimate corruption of humanity. By rising, Jesus removed all defilement
for those who handled His body and for all who believe in Him.
Thus Paul cried, “Oh
death where is your sting, Oh grave, where is your victory?”
More water problems (chapter 20)
Israel were on the
move again. They entered the Wilderness of Sin (meaning 'thorny'), in the upper Sinai
region. There Miriam died and was buried.
Once again they
complained of their diet. 40 Years of manna and quails must have exhausted
their creativity. How many ways do you cook that?
So God again intervened.
The thing about growing up, is to get beyond demand-feeding to a place of
autonomy. Babies cry and mothers feed, but it is not the way with adults. They
get hungry and feed themselves. God wanted the Jews to get there.
Well Moses was then
told to go up to “the rock” and speak to it. The rock at Horeb was at Rephidim,
meaning rest. He was later told to speak to “the rock”, in the first , sacred
month of Passover, at Kadesh, which meant holiness.
The language is
enigmatic. God refers to “the rock”, not to some other rock with similar hidden
water reserves. In 1 Cor 10:4, Paul spoke of “the rock that followed them,
which was Christ”, meaning it symbolically foreshadowed Him.
Is it possible that they took the rock of Horeb
with them?
Perhaps a better explanation
is that the spring of Rephidim was so abundant that it created a much longer
water course, which they followed on their continuing journeys. I have seen
footage of upstream storms triggering similar desert rivers.
Even so, the original
capstone may well have gone with them. Was it kept as a keepsake or a charm with
presumed mystical properties? No one really knows.
We do, however, know
from 2 Kings 18:4, that Hezekiah destroyed a bronze serpent that some had come
to worship, so don’t underestimate the potential for people to attach
superstitious value to a past event. Religion has always done that.
Moses struck the rock and was excluded
Sadly Moses struck the
rock again, twice, which so offended God that He swore that Moses would never
enter Canaan. He might not have anyway, as by the time they got there Moses was
of advanced age and a change of leadership was overdue.
However, the reason
lies in the symbolism of a holy season and a place called holiness. It suggests
that God had done to the rock what He once did to an Acacia box. By association,
the rock had become a holy thing: as integral to their survival as the
Tabernacle.
By striking it, Moses “the
man”, the same “man” who once took the law into His hands, violated the holiness
of God. It confirms that God also saw the rock as a symbol of Christ,
clarifying Paul’s Rabbinical exegesis of “the rock”.
So not only its
practical association made it holy. It also alluded to His son.
The resulting
exclusion related to his leadership tussles, as confirmed in Ex 20:10, where he
berated them as rebels and asked, “shall we bring water from the rock?”
He had once again
taken the law into his own hands and become Moses “the man”, not the shepherd
of Israel. His past had caught up with him. I sense it will dog us all.
Going on (Chapter 20-21)
Moses then tried to
lead the Jews across the desert by a relatively shortened route, through Edom.
He may well have started to give up. Worn-out by years of complaining and the
exacting demands of God, he may well have wanted to get it all over with.
Edom declined to let
them pass. They had to go around, south, along the northern coast of the Red
Sea at Eilat and then back up along the Jordan valley into Moab and Ammon.
That brought them to
Mount Hor, where Moses took Aaron up to the summit, stripped him of his cloak
of office and transferred his authority to Eleazar. They had a new Kohen. Aaron
did not return, but died in the hills.
It was the end of an era. The flawed "parents" that had guided them thus far were bowing out as first Miriam then Aaron, and finally Moses exited the stage. That also confirmed their coming of age.
More complaining and a fiery retribution
(Chapter 21)
The people complained
again, against everything. The going was
rough. They were disheartened after having been turned away from Edom, a
hoped-for shortcut, and after the resistance of Arad.
They had traipsed long
enough.
When a child is ready
to be born, it signals the mother’s body to start contractions. When my
firstborn was ready to be accepted into manhood, he pushed me to honor him in
that.
God also sensed the deepening
voice of Israel and saw that they had reached full height. It was time to end
their cycle of learnings and lead them into their promises.
Sadly, they still
griped. As they entered a new, rockier desert, near to where they had earlier
camped, the serpents that had multiplied during their stay, struck at them.
It was likely to be
the reddish Palestinian Saw-Scaled Viper, which rasps before striking and then
strikes so fast it leaves the ground, to deliver a fiery venom.
Many died until Moses
raised a bronze serpent on a staff. As they looked at the serpent, the dying
stopped. It’s a mystery why, but the same symbol is used in modern medicine.
The people repented
and then went into a series of conquests that confirmed their readiness for the
land of inheritance. The most notable triumph was prophesied way back in Genesis 15:16, which spoke of the sin of the Amorites not yet being fulfilled.
An obscure verse, it shows that God will allow a thing to come to a head before cutting it off cleanly, which Israel did as part of their ascendancy to spiritual maturity.
An obscure verse, it shows that God will allow a thing to come to a head before cutting it off cleanly, which Israel did as part of their ascendancy to spiritual maturity.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
