 |  |
Numb. 20: - 25:
A | 20: 1. Miriam dies.
B | 20: 2 - 21: 3. |
a | NO WATER.
b | "Would God we have died with our brethren."
The Rock and the water.
Moses forfeits entry into land.
c | Water of Meribah.
Water refused by Edom twice.
Aaron forfeits entry into land.
d | Arad the Canaanite--Open fighting.
B | 21: 4 - 25: 13. |
a | NO BREAD.
b | "Wherefore have ye brought us to die in the wilderness."
The Serpent and life.
Israel set forward.
c | Brooks of Arnon.
Way refused twice by Sihon and Og,
Israel set forward.
d | Balak and Balaam--Betrayal.
A | 25: 14-18. Midianitish woman slain.
Here is the old trouble, viz., no water and no bread. While both Moses and Aaron
forfeit entry into the land, the structure balances this with the two passages which say
(even after failure in one instance) that "the children of Israel set forward" (See 20: 12,
13, 24 for Moses and Aaron; and 21: 10 & 22: 1 for Israel). Earlier we see how the
Lord defended the high honour of Moses against the murmurs of Aaron and Miriam, and
how he defended Aaron against the gainsaying of Korah. Nevertheless high honour
brings high responsibility. To him that has had much given, of him will more be
required. The five talent man must produce five more talents to be level with the two
talent man who produced two. We are therefore still in an atmosphere of service, contest,
endurance, pressing on, reward or loss.
Wasted years.
Chapter 20: opens with the words: "Then came the children of Israel, even the whole
congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month", and unless we are already
prepared, we should naturally assume this to be within a brief interval of the last recorded
movement. As a matter of fact an interval of some 37½ years must be recognized as
intervening between Numb. 14: and Numb. 20::--
"Your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years . . . . . and ye shall know My
breach of promise" (Numb. 14: 33, 34).
This should warn us to be prepared to find the interval, but the definite date of Aaron's
death leaves no doubt. Chapter 33: enumerates the itinerary of Israel from the time
they went forth out of Egypt until they pitched by Jordan in the plains of Moab, and it is
there we read:--