Numbers 20

IN THE FIRST month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. 2Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD? 4Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

6Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7The LORD said to Moses, 8“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

9So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10He 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?” 11Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

12But 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.”

13These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them.

14Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:

“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come upon us. 15Our forefathers went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, 16but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king’s highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

18But Edom answered:

“You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”

19The Israelites replied:

“We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”

20Again they answered:

“You may not pass through.”

Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

22The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24“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. 25Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. 26Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.”

27Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

Original Meaning

THIS IS A SAD CHAPTER. The deaths of Miriam at the beginning (20:1) and Aaron at the end (20:22–29) frame a dispute of the Israelites over water at Kadesh (20:2–13) and Edomite refusal to let the Israelites pass from Kadesh through their territory (20:14–21). The chapter is united by the location at Kadesh and the fact that Aaron dies at Mount Hor on the way around Edom for his failure with Moses regarding the water (20:24). The gloom of this chapter is only implicitly relieved by the fact that Israel and its high priestly office survive to trudge on toward better days.

Good-bye to Miriam. Miriam’s obituary is a simple one (20:1). The year is lacking, so we do not know how long she lives after recovering from scaly-skin disease (ch. 12). The previous date recorded by the book of Numbers is that of departure from Mount Sinai: “On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year” (10:11). So Israel’s arrival at the Desert of Zin in “the first month” (20:1) must have been in the third year or a later year. Verse 3 places the contention at Kadesh regarding water after the “brothers” of the Israelites “fell dead before the LORD”—that is, subsequent to Korah’s revolt and its aftermath (chs. 16–17).

The younger generation would have referred to people of Korah’s generation as “fathers” rather than “brothers” (cf. 27:3). So the fact that the Israelites speak of “brothers” identifies the speakers as members of the older generation, before they die in the desert.1 It is not until the Israelites cross the Zered Valley after their detour around Edom and shortly before they enter Canaan that the older generation finally becomes extinct (Deut. 2:14; cf. v. 8; Num. 21:4). So we cannot rule out the possibility that Miriam’s death and the trouble over water at Kadesh (Num. 20:1–5) occur late in the desert period.

The Israelites were already at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin/Paran when Moses sent the scouts (13:21, 26; Deut. 1:19), and they stayed there a long time (Deut. 1:46), through Korah’s revolt and its aftermath. So it looks as though the arrival at Kadesh in the first month (Num. 20:1) speaks of return to the same place or arrival at another place with the same name.2

Another mention of Kadesh in 20:14 appears to seamlessly connect the events concerning Edom and Aaron’s death, which occur near the end of the forty years in the desert (cf. 33:38–39), to Miriam’s death and the contention over water at the same location (20:1–13). This suggests that Miriam dies near the end of the desert sojourn.

Striking failure. At Kadesh the Israelites dispute (Qal of ryb) with Moses because there is no water (20:2–3). In Exodus 17:2 ryb refers to an earlier confrontation over water at Rephidim between the same two parties. This verb can denote verbal or physical contention/quarreling (e.g., Gen. 26:20; 31:36; Ex. 21:18), lodging a complaint (Judg. 21:22; Job 33:13), or pursuing a lawsuit (Prov. 25:8–9).

At Kadesh the grievance is grievous: “If only we had died [Qal of gwʿ ] when our brothers fell dead [Qal of gwʿ ] before the LORD!” (20:3). In other words, the Israelites regret that God did not slay them along with those who perished in the wake of Korah’s revolt (chs. 16–17). The Lord was provoked enough on that occasion, but he spared them on account of the intercession of Moses and Aaron (16:20–24, 44–50), whom the people now accuse of abusing their God-given (and therefore legal) responsibility to take care of his community (20:4–5). Notice that although the Israelites primarily dispute with Moses (20:3), they also oppose Aaron (20:2) and frame their demand in plural address: “Why did you [plural, i.e., Moses and Aaron] bring the LORD’s community into this desert . . . ?” (20:4).

As at Rephidim (Ex. 17:5–6), the Lord instructs Moses to take the staff (i.e., his, not Aaron’s, staff)3 to a rock so that water will come out of it (Num. 20:7–8). At Rephidim Moses struck the rock (Ex. 17:6), but this time, even though he will have his staff in hand as a reminder of the earlier miracle, he and Aaron are to merely speak (plural) to the rock (Num. 20:8). This will be an even greater miracle, as there is no possibility that a physical blow will simply dislodge the natural plug to an aquifer.4

Moses follows the divine directions up to a point (20:9–10a). However, apparently the sight of all those recalcitrant people gathered in front of the rock is too much for Moses. Uncharacteristically “losing it,” he angrily lashes out verbally and then physically, whacking the rock with his staff—not just once, but twice (20:10b–11a).

While a lot of water gushes out for the people and their livestock, it is not the miracle God intended. Aaron did not participate in the miracle and thereby affirm his coleadership, and Moses spoke to the people instead of the rock, which he struck. The Hebrew text implicitly emphasizes the gravity of his disobedience: To strike the rock, Moses lifted (Hiphil of rwm) his hand (yad), which held his staff (20:11a). This is the language of sinning with a “high/lifted hand” (yad ramah = Qal of rwm), that is, defiantly (see 15:30).

Although Moses has sinned in the heat of the moment, apparently without premeditation, it is a grave offense committed in full view of the community to which he is supposed to be an example. For this failure, God denies Moses and Aaron the privilege of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land (20:12; cf. 27:12–14).5

No way! Back at Kadesh to have another shot at entering the Promised Land, this time from the east, the Israelites need to pass through Edom, which lies directly in their path. Although Moses diplomatically appeals to the sympathies of the Edomites as relatives of the Israelites descended from Isaac through Esau (cf. Gen. 25, 36) and pledges to respect their resources, their king resoundingly refuses to grant them right of way (Num. 20:14–21). This forces the Israelites to take a long detour around Edom (21:4) before they move into the territories of kings Sihon and Og (21:21–35) and then cross the Jordan River into Canaan (Josh. 3–4). Moses’ message to Edom in Numbers 20:14–17 comes at the beginning of a continuous stream of events leading to the Israelite conquest.

Deuteronomy puts the encounter with Edom in relative chronological perspective. Following their defeat by the southern inhabitants of Canaan (Deut. 1:44–45; cf. Num. 14:45) and having spent a long time at Kadesh (Deut. 1:46), the Israelites “turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea” (2:1a). After they killed a lot of time wandering around the hill country of Seir, the Lord commanded them to turn north (2:1b–3). However, he ordered them not to provoke the descendants of Esau (i.e., the Edomites) as they passed through their territory (2:1b–6). Deuteronomy obliquely refers to the detour, without mentioning the king’s refusal (2:8). Shortly thereafter, the Israelites crossed the Zered Valley (2:13). Verse 14 summarizes: “Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.”

Numbers 20 skips almost everything that happens during the thirty-eight years as unworthy of mention. These are just dull decades of death in the desert.

Aaron too. Aaron dies at Mount Hor according to divine plan (20:22–29), almost “with his boots on.” Aaron’s son Eleazar accompanies Aaron and Moses up the mountain so that Moses can transfer Aaron’s high priestly garments to Eleazar after the people see Aaron for the last time, but before he actually breathes his last (20:27–28). Presumably this procedure avoids corpse contamination of the sacred vestments, and Moses, not the new high priest, buries his brother. This transfer of garments is all it takes to invest Eleazar with his status (cf. Lev. 8).

When only Moses and Eleazar descend the mountain from their grim errand, the Israelites know that Aaron has expired (Qal of gwʿ; cf. 20:3),6 and they mourn him for thirty days (20:29). Numbers 33:38–39 provides additional chronological information: Aaron dies at the age of 123 “on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.” So this is at the end of the desert wandering period.

Bridging Contexts

THE SIN AND PUNISHMENT of Moses and Aaron. Rather than the “Waters Of Wonder” (WOW!), the liquid bounty at Kadesh is negatively dubbed “the waters of Meribah”7 because there the Israelites contended (Qal of ryb) with the Lord (20:13) when they contended with Moses (cf. 20:3). There Moses and Aaron failed to demonstrate enough trust (Hiphil of ʾmn) in the Lord to treat him as holy (Hiphil of qdš) before the Israelites (20:12) by speaking to the rock rather than striking it. They likely believed in their hearts that the Lord could make water flow if they verbally addressed it, but because they did not follow through on such trust, it was functionally useless. Nevertheless, God reasserted his own holiness among the people (Niphal of qdš; 20:13; cf. Lev. 10:3). Kadesh is a place of holiness, as its name indicates.

By not following directions, Moses acted as though the miracle was his own doing, in accordance with his words, “can/shall/should we bring you water out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10; emphasis supplied).8 The Lord did indeed supply water for the benefit of the people, but by punishing Moses and Aaron, he corrected the dangerous misidentification regarding who was in charge. In this way he answered the same question by which the Israelites tested him at Rephidim: “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Ex. 17:7).

All of the personal hardships, risks, stresses, toil, and disappointments that Moses and Aaron have endured are eclipsed by the impact of their failure at the “waters of Meribah,” which painfully prevents them from fulfilling their lifelong dream of entering the Promised Land (cf. Deut. 3:23–26). Why does the penalty also fall on Aaron? God commissioned them as a team for the job of speaking to the rock (Num. 20:8), in accordance with their mission of prophetic leadership. Moses commits the greater sin of commission, but Aaron, too, fails to speak to the rock. M. Margaliot points out that their punishment fits the crime: Having “repudiated their mission, they have forfeited their right to continue in it and were therefore not allowed to bring it to its successful conclusion.”9

Unlike Miriam, Aaron does not simply die. The Lord specifies in advance when and where he will “be gathered to his people,” and also why: because he and Moses have rebelled against God’s command with regard to the waters of Meribah (20:24–26). Here the verb for “rebelled” is mrh, which Moses earlier used to call the people “rebels” (20:10). Moses’ assessment of the people on that occasion was undoubtedly accurate, but by reacting the way they did, Moses and Aaron tragically became like them. Related to this idea is an implicit connection established by repetition of the Qal of gwʿ, which refers to the death/expiration of rebels by divine agency in 20:3 (cf. 17:12–13) and again of Aaron’s death in 20:29.

The Israelites cast contempt on God’s holiness, but only Moses and Aaron suffered the penalty. This may seem unfair, but as the ones closest to the Lord, they bore the highest responsibility to preserve his reputation. When they failed in that, the culpability fell on them rather than the other Israelites (cf. Num. 18:1). They lived and died to serve their people.

From another angle, the premature deaths of Moses and Aaron drive home the sharp arrow of divine grace: The fact that they are justly penalized for their sin, which appears slight compared to the faithlessness of the others, highlights God’s amazing mercy toward the rest of his people, which provides them with opportunity and responsibility to obey in the future.

Moses and Aaron die before entering the Promised Land to show their people how to live and enter it. The Lord does not strike down these weary warriors as he did so many thousands of others. Rather, he calls them up mountains to receive them to himself. Even in their humiliation, he honors them.

Contemporary Significance

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD OF SERVANTHOOD. God’s punishment of Moses and Aaron, who were unusually close to him, emphasizes that there is no excuse for transgressing the boundaries of divine principles and guidance. Smashing the tablets of the Decalogue at Sinai because the people had broken them by worshiping a golden calf (Ex. 32:19) was righteous indignation, but disobeying God’s explicit instructions at Kadesh (Num. 20:7–11) was not righteous. Even when we are confronted with people who fully and unequivocally deserve hell and everything that goes with it, we have no right to personally dish out to them even a fraction of what they deserve without God’s authorization. He has said: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (Deut. 32:35; quoted in Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30).

As God’s servants, our job is to do what he says and let God be God. This is easier said than done. It can be excruciating to exercise such restraint. But we have a towering example in Christ. As the song goes, “He could have called ten thousand angels. . . .” Nevertheless, “when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). The decision to do simply nothing under these conditions must have been Christ’s greatest test of will.

By punishing Moses and Aaron, the Lord shows that no amount of human merit amassed through past obedience can atone for even one sin. Jesus said to his disciples, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10). To be responsible for living and responding to God at a high level as an example to other people is simply one of the duties and occupational hazards of being his servant.