How often have you wanted God to speak directly to you and tell you His will? Most Christians have likely wished this at certain times. Would it not be great, we think, if God would just send us an e-mail, call us, or simply respond out loud to us as we pray?

What if He did? What if God spoke to us and told us what to do? And what if, after telling us what to do, we failed to do it? This very thing happened to Moses. The story is recorded in Numbers 20, which we will consider to extract a few lessons from it.

Angry Israelites 2.0

At this point, the children of Israel had been wandering for almost forty years, and the original generation of slaves who left Egypt had mostly died off. The people that remain, the second generation, anticipate entering the Promised Land very soon. In Numbers 20:1, the Israelites, “the whole congregation,” came into the Wilderness of Zin where there was no water, “so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron” (verse 2), and “the people contended with Moses” (verse 3).

The crowd they faced was an angry one. Moses and Aaron are old men, 120 and 123, respectively, facing a vast multitude of irate youth, relatively speaking. Remember that, other than Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb and their families, no one is over sixty years of age. Thus, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people, none over sixty, are whipped into a frenzy against two very elderly gentlemen! The Hebrew word under “contended,” yā’rěb, comes from a root meaning “to toss or grapple,” as in wrestling, and it means “to strive, quarrel, attack, complain, and contend.”

A contentious crowd faced God’s servants and decried Moses’ poor leadership, as they saw it. So, Moses and Aaron “went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them” (verse 6).

Their immediate reaction, when faced with this angry mob, was to appeal to God. This near-riot likely scared them, and they sought sanctuary in the Tabernacle. So, in verse 7, “the LORD spoke to Moses.” This phrase returns us to the opening question: What if you appealed to God for direction, and He answered you, telling you in a straightforward way what to do? Is that not what we often hope for: clear, unambiguous direction?

That is exactly what happened to Moses. God tells Moses in verse 8:

Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.

He gives Moses and Aaron specific orders, starting with taking the rod, the same rod or staff that Moses had in his hand when he met God at the Burning Bush almost forty years earlier. It was the very staff he used to do signs and wonders before the Egyptians. He had held that rod over the Red Sea when it parted. God instructs Moses to take this quite famous rod and “speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water.” These instructions are very plain.

Angry Israelites 1.0

Interestingly, this rock is not called by name in verse 8. The reason is because it was a familiar landmark to the Israelites. Almost forty years earlier, Moses and Aaron had been in this same spot, at this same rock, facing another enraged and thirsty crowd. Same place, same problem, same leaders, even the same rock. The only difference was that they faced a different generation.

It will help to review the earlier episode in Exodus 17. We find them camped at Rephidim in the Wilderness of Sin, where there is no water (verse 1), and “the people contended with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water, that we may drink’” (verse 2). In the next verse, the text informs us that “the people murmured against Moses.” “So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!’” (verse 4). It is interesting how little the Israelites changed: One generation is as faithless as the next.

God then tells Moses in verses 5-6:

Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.

Close to forty years pass, during which millions of Israelites wander over vast areas of wilderness, miracles happen daily, and several hundred funerals occur daily as the original generation dies off. After all this roving, they find themselves coming full circle. Moses and Aaron are right back in the same quandary.

Permission Denied

Returning to the later story in Numbers 20:10-13:

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 the 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 congregation into the land which I have given them.”’

Several details here are immediately noticeable. First, Moses calls the congregation “rebels” and says to them, “Must we bring water for you out of the rock?” Then, instead of speaking to the rock, as instructed, he struck it with the rod—twice. Aaron appears to have agreed with these actions and words, as he did nothing to check them. Perhaps Aaron spoke the words, and Moses struck the rock.

For his whole life, Moses has been preparing for this upcoming moment, leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land. He spent forty years in Egypt learning to be a leader, forty years herding sheep, learning humility, and then forty years dealing with millions of thankless, faithless Israelites. And then God denies him entry into the Promised Land.

Does the sentence God handed down seem a bit harsh? Was not Moses provoked, justifying his losing his temper? Moses seems to have thought so. Whereas Aaron appears to take his punishment without comment, Moses does not.

Before Numbers 20 is finished, Aaron has climbed to the top of Mount Hor, endowed his priestly garments upon his son, Eleazar, and died. The Bible is silent about him saying anything about his punishment. Despite being only Moses’ accomplice in failing to follow God’s directions, Aaron received the same sentence. He appears to have accepted it without public complaint.

Time passes, and the Israelites prepare to enter Canaan. In Numbers 21, they defeat the Canaanites in battle. Chapters 22-24 tell the story of Balaam, and chapter 25 recounts Israel’s Balaam-inspired harlotry with Moab, because of which 24,000 Israelites died. Numbers 26 contains a census. These are serious events for the Israelites, requiring steady leadership, and through it all, Moses runs the show, apparently quite competently. Surely, God has not forgotten Moses’ punishment, has He?

The Verdict Stands

He brings it up in Numbers 27:12-14:

Now the LORD said to Moses: “Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes.”

The Good News Translation (GNT), as well as several other translations, reads, “. . . because both of you rebelled [or, disobeyed].” No, God had not forgotten the penalty. He was quite serious about it and followed through.

Joshua is installed as Moses’ successor, but Moses still desperately wants to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. But, he writes in Deuteronomy 1:37-38: “The LORD was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there.’”

In Deuteronomy 3:23-26, Moses writes:

Then I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying; “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.”

This sounds like a bit of flattery, attempting to change God’s mind, but to no avail.

But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the LORD said to me: “Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.”

The Contemporary English Version (CEV) reads, “’That’s enough!’ he said. ‘I don’t want to hear any more.’” God was firm, even heated, at this point. He was not going to change His mind.

What is impressive is that Moses himself penned these words, telling the story without sugarcoating his carnal, human emotions. He blames the people, and certainly, they incited him to sin, but God held him accountable. It could be that Moses was the accomplice, the bystander, as his spokesman, Aaron, lost his temper with the people. It does not matter. God held Moses accountable. In any case, it appears that Moses thought the punishment was too harsh, and God told him essentially, “Shut up and take your lumps.”

Some Lessons

What can we take from this account? Here are a few possible lessons:

1. We must control our anger lest it cause us to sin. Psalm 106:33 (CEV) reads, “Moses got into trouble for speaking in anger.” If anyone ever had cause to be angry with others, it was Moses and Aaron with the Israelites. Yet, despite a lifetime of patience and service to these people, God’s chosen leaders let their emotions cause them to sin.

2. We must not think too highly of ourselves. God does not like pride at all. Moses shouted, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock?” But Moses had nothing to do with this miracle other than as God’s conduit. His anger and frustration caused an eruption of pride.

3. We must not fail to hallow, sanctify, or show God as holy. Moses and Aaron failed to honor God, to set Him apart as the Holy One of Israel. In today’s parlance, they “disrespected” Him by failing to act as instructed and by Moses striking the rock! Scripture shows that Christ is the Rock (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15; Psalm 18:2, 31; 42:9; 144:1; Isaiah 30:20; Habakkuk 1:12; I Corinthians 10:4; etc.). In Moses’ anger, frustration, and human pride, he struck God, as it were! Twice! These acts should make it abundantly clear why God’s punishment was so severe.

4. We must not show a lack of faith, even if it is just momentary unbelief. After all He had done, these men were unsure if God could pull the miracle off. “All I have to do is speak to the rock, and water will come out? Last time, I had to strike the rock.” Did Moses and Aaron discuss this as they left the Tabernacle? “Maybe God forgot to tell us about using the rod. Talking to a rock doesn’t seem to be enough. Plus, I feel like knocking some heads with this stick. We’d better help God out here.” In Numbers 20:12, quoted earlier, The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition reads, “Because you did not believe in (rely on, cling to) me to sanctify Me . . ..” The GNT reads, “Because you did not have enough faith to acknowledge my holy power before the people of Israel . . ..”

5. We must remember that God is not a respecter of persons. If we break a law, we pay a penalty. Sin has consequences!

If the man Moses, the meekest of men (Numbers 12:3), army general, leader of a nation, and confidant of God, can be punished for sin, even sin that could be rationalized as justifiable, where does that put us?

God may not speak to us directly, as He did with Moses, but we still know right from wrong. Granted, we do not always have a clear idea of which way to proceed when trials strike, but we are very much aware of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the fruit of the Spirit, the Sabbath and holy days, prayer, Bible study, and so on. In other words, God has spoken to us, and He is speaking to us. We have access to His answers.

We should never allow complacency to get a grip on our lives. Satan sets many traps for us, hoping to lure us into sin, so we must be constantly vigilant to avoid falling prey to any of his tricks. What happened to Moses and Aaron should capture our attention and give us pause, lest we find ourselves on our own Mount Abarim, looking over the Jordan into the Promised Land, unable to enter.