Transcendence 3

Five: Water From the Rock

The Lord gave all the responsibilities of the sanctuary and the priesthood to Aaron and his ancestral tribe. He hand selected specific Levites to be dedicated to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. Aaron and his sons were the only ones who were to serve as priests. The honor was to be considered a gift, and anyone else who came near the sanctuary was to be put to death.

The Lord gave to Aaron and his family a portion of the offerings given by all the Israelites. This included portions of the finest olive oils, finest new wine and grain, and a portion of the first fruits of their harvest. The Lord told Aaron he would not receive an inheritance of land when they reached the promised land, for God himself was their share. (The physical survival of the priest and his family depended on how faithful the other Israelites were at giving since they relied on those offerings as their food. Also they  would not receive a portion of the promised land like all the other tribes of Israel. This may have seemed like a disadvantage, but they enjoyed other special privileges and were not required to work the fields. Their duties were to take care of all the offerings, and anything related to the sanctuary. They received a portion of the tithes given by others as their inheritance in return for the work they did while serving in the Tent of Meeting. From their portion of tithes they were still required to give the best and holiest portion to the Lord as their personal offering. )

One of the processes the Israelites used as cleansing for purification from sin was to burn a red heifer without blemish. The entire process was specific down to the parts to be burned and it was to be done in front of a priest. The ashes were placed in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. Those who touched the ashes had to wash his clothes, and he was to be considered unclean until evening. Similarly if anyone touched a dead body, a grave, or a human bone was unclean for seven days. He was made to purify himself on the third and seventh days. If anyone died inside his tent, then whoever entered the tent was considered unclean for seven days. Anything left open, without a sealed lid, was also considered unclean. The unclean person was to put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over himself. Then take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and over all the people - this should happen on the third and seventh days. This is how they were purified.

The Israelites moved to the Desert of Zin and stayed at Kadesh. It was there that Aaron's sister Miriam died and was buried. It was also there that the people ran out of water. It was terrifying to be without water in  the desert, other than faith the people had no way of knowing if they would have water again. They couldn't see where it would come from, and without it their animals would die, and they would die. So very quickly they became very scared and began to grumble and complain saying, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring us into the desert, that we and our livestock should die here? There are no figs, no grapevines or pomegranates! More than that there is no water to drink!" (God could provide - in an instant. His power to make them more than comfortable was within His control, however God wanted them to understand faith, and have the ability to turn to Him and faithfully believe He would provide!  But their grumbling and complaining ensued with no faith in site. This is what hurt God, and brought Him to anger.)

Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. He told Moses, "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron should gather the assembly together. Speak to the 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." (A miracle - in an instant - God's power to provide! He would show them - yet again - how good He is!)

Moses did as God said. He gathered the people together in Merribah and said, "Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" He raised his staff and struck the rock twice. Water gushed out and the community and livestock drank. (Moses was angry with the people, and was sort of prideful when he struck the rock.  It was as if he provided the water and the miracle himself, giving no honor to God but rather complaining that he must do everything! God noticed and was not happy!) God became very angry that Moses and Aaron did not honor Him when the rock spilled out water. He said to them, "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!"  (When Moses struck the rock it appeared he was claiming that the water came out of the rock because of his own doing rather than from God. There may have been other reasons for God's anger as well, but we do know that God said Moses had broken his faith, and because of that he would not see the promised land. Moses - a great man, sore and weary, had been loyal and courageous many times but his failure here proves to be so important to God that his right to see the promised land was taken away- something he and Aaron had been working toward for many years! As surely as God's word was spoken they both knew they would die in the desert.)

(Life Question: How strong is your faith? Do you know you serve a mighty and powerful God? Do you find yourself trying to understand the how rather than just have faith that He can and will? Many times we can't see how so we don't believe - but what God can do is beyond human understanding! Pray for more faith to not try to understand the how but to simply believe He Can!!! )