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Good morning my friends,
Several of you have asked if I would lead us, a little longer, in our Old Testament journey with Moses and the people, at least following them into the Promised Land. So we’ve adjusted our reading schedule to do that over the next 10 days or so. Thanks for asking!
After the Numbers 14 decision by the people, to reject Caleb & Joshua’s report, yesterday we reviewed God’s judgments on the people. Over the next 40 years the entire adult population of the 2 million runaway slaves, whom God had rescued out of Egypt, slowly died in their desert wanderings. I doubt any of us can imagine what those 4 decades of pointless wandering in the blazing sun of the Arabian desert, was like.
There is no detailed, chronological road map of their wanderings in the desert, only occasional memorable events recorded in the rest of the book of Numbers and some mentioned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Today may I invite us to focus on Numbers chapter 20, and one of the most significant of those events.
You’ll see Numbers 20 begins identifying that this event took place in the first month, but does not mention what year. We remember the first month had the Passover festival…but there is no mention of that here. In fact, we may assume these 40 years of wandering were a dismal period of time. Nothing to anticipate but more of the same old wandering, the same old manna each day, and burying those who died in the past few hours. While the cloud still guided the people and was present over the “Tent of Meeting”, these were joyless years.
We may presume Numbers 20 occurred many years into their 40 year sentence. Once again, they have arrived in this place called Kadesh. Miriam, Moses & Aaron’s sister, dies there, almost unmentioned…
Once again the people and their animals are thirsty and they see nothing but sand in all directions. Listen to the words and the tone of the people “…the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said ‘if only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place?” (20:2-5)
I wonder what you hear, my friends? Discouragement, anger, resentment, bitterness, hopelessness, despair? The reference of their brothers falling dead before God, is a reference to Numbers 16. There was a coup d’etat, a leadership rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and God responded, by opening up the earth and swallowing many offenders. There was also a plague in that chapter, and nearly 15,000 people died. But if you’ll take just one moment and look at the closing verses of Numbers 16 you’ll see something very powerful.
Even though the people were rejecting Moses & Aaron as their leaders, these two men did something remarkable. While Moses was on his face before God at the “Tent of Meeting” praying for the people, he sent Aaron out, with a censer of incense, to stand between the living and the dead, and pray that God would please stop the plague. It’s one of the most powerful examples I know, of a man of God interceding for rebellious, sinful people who are dying in their rebellion. It’s a call to you and me, my friends, to consider how we ‘stand in the gap’, between the spiritually living and dying, seeking to point them to Jesus, and beg God for His mercy on them.
In Numbers 20 we find Moses and Aaron once again going to the “Tent” to meet with God on behalf of desperately thirsty, angry people. God gives them some very specific instructions…“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. SPEAK to the rock before their eyes and it will pour out water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” (20:7,8)
Instructions were clear weren’t they? And Moses does as we expect… “So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as God commanded him.” We would expect nothing less, right?
But it goes on… “He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out and the community and their livestock drank.” (20:9-11)
Let’s put ourselves there… Moses and Aaron are fed up with the God given task of leading these ungrateful, despondent, argumentative, angry people. Their patience has run out. What do you see that Moses did? How was it different from what God told him to do?
Listen to verse 12… everything for Moses and Aaron changed, for the rest of their lives, with the words God spoke as the water gushed out of that rock…“But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will NOT bring this community into the land I give them...”
In our human concept of fairness and justice, this seems way over the top in terms of the punishment far exceeding the severity of the crime, do you agree?
Moses is likely over 100 years old by this time. He and God have had a remarkable relationship and walked a journey unlike any other person and God. The load of responsibility Moses has carried is unparalleled in human history… yet in this moment, Moses’ anger and pride overcame his better judgement, and he did not uphold God’s holiness in the moment of a miracle.
I notice no argument from Moses, no resentment toward God. He trusts God’s Sovereign, Holy, wisdom…
Evidently Moses walked away from that rock, determined to finish well, even though he’d lost the dream of his lifetime… to lead this people into the new land.
I see Moses exhibiting extra-ordinary, Godly leadership in the rest of Numbers 20. Two more major things happen here which call for Moses to lead with integrity in trying times. The king of Moab refuses to let Moses and the people pass by on the public King’s road, thus forcing them back out into the desert. I see no revenge, no scheming from Moses. He leads the people in following the cloud of God’s Presence, back into the blazing sun and sand.
And finally, the cloud leads them to Mount Hor and Moses is instructed by God, that the time has come for Aaron to pass his leadership mantle. Listen to Numbers 20:25 “…the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah. Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. Remove Aaron’s priestly garments and put them on Eleazar his son, for Aaron will die there…”
Let’s hike up the mountain along with them… What do you imagine the conversation to be? I hear Moses and Aaron recounting the first time God brought them together, after Moses met God at the burning bush on Sinai (Exodus 3). I hear them reminiscing about the plagues, the Red Sea, the water from the rock the first time at Rephidim, the building of the “Tent of Meeting”, and of course, the terrible experience at Kadesh Barnea, when 10 of 12 young leaders gave a fearful report about the Land God had promised, and they had explored,…and the terrible panic that ensued, and God’s judgment of 40 years wandering in the desert.
I envision Eleazar walking along with them and Aaron asking often… “My son Eleazar, do you remember that event? Do you remember what God taught us there?”
And then I see them arriving near the top of Mount Hor… looking out across the landscape and down at the tent city. I hear Aaron saying something like “I can only imagine… what that Promised Land will be like for these young people. Oh how I hope they have learned the important life lessons we’ve tried to teach them. Eleazar my son, I pass the mantle of the Priesthood to you. It is a high and holy calling to stand between God and the people. Remain humble my son, keep your eye on the cloud of God’s Presence, keep your heart pure before Him, spend time, lots of time, in the Holy Place with Him. There is no greater calling than being a servant of YHWH.
Moses my brother, I have failed you too often, but serving our God, alongside of you has been the privilege of my life. Keep listening to Him, hold fast to Him, for the LORD is your life, my brother!”
I envision them embracing one another, then Moses taking the Priestly garments from Aaron and placing them on Eleazar. I imagine both Moses and Aaron placing their hands on Eleazar and consecrating him to God’s service. Then after big bear hugs, I envision Aaron, hiking further on up the mountain… alone. Turning to wave, and then disappearing over the ridge as he climbs, never to be seen again.
And what would you have done my friends, if you had been privileged to be there, an eye witness to this?
Numbers 20:29 says “And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him 30 days.”
This closing thought for all of us… what if God told you when the time of your passing into eternity will be?
What if God enabled you to have around you whomever you desired, in that farewell moment? What would you say to them?
Have you considered writing it down or better yet, recording it, perhaps even a video recording, so your ‘passing of the mantle’ thoughts will be received by those who will cherish them?
What is the life legacy you and I will pass on to our children? What will they know of God… because of us?
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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