Schoolmaster to Christ
NUMBERS CHAPTER 20

Scripture Reading: Numbers 20 (KJV)

"Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin, in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there" (v 1).

This chapter furnishes a remarkable record of wilderness life and experience. In it, we see Moses, the servant of God, passing through some of the most trying scenes of his eventful life. First of all, Miriam dies. The one, whose voice was heard amid the brilliant scenes of Exodus 15 chanting a hymn of victory, passes away and her ashes are deposited in the wilderness of Kadesh. The timbrel is laid aside. In the silence of death, the voice of song is hushed. She can no longer lead in the dance. In her day, she had sung sweetly; she had seized the keynote of that magnificent song of praise sung on the resurrection side of the Red Sea. Her charms embodied the great central truth of redemption. "Sing ye to the Lord. For he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." This was truly a lofty strain – a suited utterance for the joyous occasion.

But now the prophetess passes off the scene, and the voice of melody is exchanged for the voice of murmuring. Wilderness life is becoming irksome. The trials of the desert put human nature to the test, bringing out what is in the heart. Forty years of toil and travail make a great change in people. It is rare indeed to find a case in which the verdure and freshness of spiritual life are kept up, much less augmented, throughout all stages of Christian life and warfare. It should not be such a rarity; it should be the reverse, because it is in the actual details, the stern realities of our path through this world, that we prove what God is. From the trials of the way, He takes occasion to make Himself known in all the sweetness and tenderness of love that knows no change. His loving kindness and tender mercy never fail. Nothing can exhaust those springs that are in the living God. He will be what He is, in spite of all our naughtiness. God will be God, though man proves himself faithless and faulty.

This is our comfort, our joy, and the source of our strength. We have to do with the living God. What a reality – come what may He will prove Himself equal to every emergency, amply sufficient "for exigence of every hour." His patient grace bears with our manifold infirmities, failures, and shortcomings; and His strength is made perfect in our utter weakness. His faithfulness never fails. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. Friends fail or pass away. Links of fond friendship can be snapped in this cold, heartless world. Fellow-laborers part company. Miriams and Aarons die; but God remains. Here lies the deep secret of all true and solid blessedness. If we have the hand and heart of the living God with us, we need not fear. If we can say, "The Lord is my shepherd," we can assuredly add, "We shall not want."

Still there are the scenes of sorrow and trial in the desert; and we have to go through them. Thus it was with Israel in this chapter. They were called to meet the keen blasts of the wilderness, and they met them with accents of impatience and discontent.

"And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink" (vv. 2-5).

This was a deeply trying moment to the spirit of Moses. We can form no conception of what it must have been to encounter six hundred thousand murmurers – listening to their bitter invectives; being charged with the misfortunes their own unbelief had conjured up before them. All this was no ordinary trial of patience; and we need not marvel if that dear and honored servant found the occasion too much to handle. "And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them" (v 6).

It is deeply touching to find Moses again and again on his face before God. It was a sweet relief to make his escape from a tumultuous host, and take himself to the only One Whose resources were adequate to meet such an occasion. "They fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them." On this occasion, they do not appear to have attempted any reply to the people; "they went from the presence of the assembly" and cast themselves on the living God. They could not possibly have done better. Who but the God of all grace could meet the many necessities of wilderness life? Well had Moses said, at the very beginning, "If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence." Assuredly, he was right and wise in so expressing himself. The divine presence was the only answer to the demand of such a congregation. But that presence was an all-sufficient answer. God's treasury is absolutely inexhaustible. He can never fail a trusting heart. Let us always remember that God delights to be used. He never grows weary of ministering to the need of His people. If this were remembered and kept in the thoughts of our hearts, we would hear less of impatience and discontent, and more of the sweet language of thankfulness and praise. But, desert life tests every one. It proves what is in us; and it brings out what is in Him for us.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. and Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly; and the congregation drank, and their beasts also" (vv. 7-11).

In the foregoing quotation, two objects demand our attention: "The Rock," and "The Rod." They both present Christ to the soul, but in two distinct aspects. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, we read, "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." This is plain and positive, leaving no room whatsoever for exercise of the imagination. "That Rock was Christ" – Christ smitten for us.

Then, regarding "the rod," we must remember that it was not the rod of Moses – the rod of authority, the rod of power. This would not suit the occasion before us. It had done its work. It had smitten the rock once, and that was enough. This we learn from Exodus 17 where we read, "The Lord said onto Moses, go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river [see Ex. 7:20], take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel" (emphasis added).

Here we have a type of Christ smitten for us by the hand of God in judgment. Note the expression, "Thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river." Why the river? Why should this particular stroke of the rod be referred to? Exodus 7:20 furnishes the reply. "And be [Moses] lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood" (emphasis added). It was the rod that turned the water into blood that was to smite "that Rock which was Christ" in order that streams of life and refreshment might flow for us.

This smiting could only take place once – never to be repeated. "Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God" (Rom. 6:9, 10). "But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself . . . so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many'' (Heb. 9:26, 27). "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18).

There can be no repetition of the death of Christ; and hence Moses was wrong in smiting the rock twice with his rod – wrong in smiting it at all. He was commanded to take "the rod," Aaron's rod, the priestly rod, and speak to the rock. The atoning work is done, and now our great High Priest has passed into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for us. The streams of spiritual refreshment flow to us on the ground of accomplished redemption and in connection with Christ's priestly ministry, of which Aaron's budding rod is the exquisite figure.

Therefore, it was a grave mistake for Moses to smite the rock a second time – a mistake to use his rod in the matter at all. To smite with Aaron's rod would, as we can easily understand, have spoiled its lovely blossom. A word would have sufficed in connection with the rod of priesthood – the rod of grace. Moses failed to see this. He failed to glorify God. He spoke unadvisedly with his lips; and as a consequence he was prohibited from going over Jordan. His rod could not take the people over – for what could mere authority do with a murmuring host – and he was not allowed to go over himself because he failed to sanctify Jehovah in the eyes of the congregation.

But Jehovah took care of His own glory. He sanctified Himself before the people; and, notwithstanding their rebellious murmurings plus Moses' sad mistake and failure, the congregation of the Lord received a gushing stream from the smitten rock.

This was not all. Not only did grace triumphed in furnishing Israel's murmuring hosts with drink; but even in reference to Moses himself it shines out most brilliantly, as we see in Deuteronomy 34. It was grace that brought Moses to the top of Pisgah from where he could see the land of Canaan. It was grace that led Jehovah to provide a grave for His servant. It was better to see the land of Canaan in company with God, than to enter it in company with Israel. And yet we must not forget that Moses was prevented entering the land because of unadvised speaking. In government, God kept Moses out of Canaan. In grace, God brought Moses up to Pisgah. In the history of Moses, these two facts forcibly illustrate the distinction between grace and government – a subject of the deepest interest, and of great practical value. Grace pardons and blesses; but government takes its course. Let us always remember: "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." This principle runs through all the ways of God in government, and nothing is more solemn; nevertheless "grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." All praise to Him Who is both the fountain and channel of this grace.

From verses 14-20 of this chapter, we have the correspondence between Moses and the king of Edom. It is instructive and interesting to notice the style of each, and to compare it with the history given in Genesis 32 and 33. Esau had a serious grudge against Jacob; and, even through the direct interposition of God prevented him from touching a hair of his brother's head, still, on the other hand, Israel must not meddle with Esau's possessions. Jacob had supplanted Esau; and Israel must not molest Edom.

"Command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore. Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth, because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink" (Deut. 2:4-6).

Thus, we see that the same God Who would not allow Esau to touch Jacob in Genesis 33, will now not allow Israel to touch Edom in Numbers 20.

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