The Waters Of Meribah

Numbers 20:7-8, "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."

God is so loving and merciful. Even though he had already had to allow an entire generation to die because of unbelief before he could fulfill his covenant; and even though this new generation wasn’t any better, God still heard the prayer of Moses and Aaron and stayed the hand of judgment. Instead God chose to perform another miracle of deliverance on their behalf. What a might, loving and merciful God we serve!

God told Moses to take his rod, that same rod that had been instrumental in crossing the Red Sea and had been used in miracles all along Israel’s journey; that rod that was a symbol of God’s anointing and power, and speak to the rock and then the rock would give forth its water.

Now we see a whole new test arising. Not only was Israel being tested in its faith in God, but now Moses and Aaron were being tested as well. They were accustomed to using the rod of Moses but it had always been used to strike something, not just to show as a symbol of God’s anointing.

At Rephidim God had told Moses to smite the rock and when Moses hit the rock with his rod, water came out. I suspect that Moses and Aaron expected God to move the same way and they just went about business as usual, forgetting what God had said.

This time they were not to hit the rock, they were to speak to it instead. This was to show that it was not the rod, and not the words they spoke, but that it was the miracle power of God in the rock that brought forth the water of life. They were to speak to a rock, just a plain rock that lay in the wilderness, as though that rock had intelligence and had power to answer their prayer.

Numbers 20:9-10, "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?"

Can you imagine that scene as Moses and Aaron stood before this angry mob who was already on the verge of stoning them, and saying to them, “stand here and let us show you how we can get all the water you want. This is a special rock and in it is all the water you need.” How many of us would have thought that old Moses had finally gone off the deep end?

Moses was angry at Israel for its lack of faith and for its rejection of both he and Aaron! All right you scoundrels, you wanted water; you doubted God; you accused me of murder; I prayed for you but you didn’t care; I’m really upset with you and now you want us to give you water from a rock. You don’t really deserve this miracle but I’m going to it anyway. Get ready here it comes.”

Numbers 20:11, "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."