Introduction
Today’s topic is “Being Obedient” and as I look around our society in this COVID-19 time, I see a lot of people who are challenged with being obedient.
Many businesses have signs that say you have to wear a mask to enter, yet many don’t obey that sign.
We hear repeatedly that we should keep 6-feet away from others to contain this virus. Yet, many choose to gather in crowds and group activities, with or without masks.
We often know exactly what the rules are, COVID or otherwise, yet we want to do our own thing, do things in a way that pleases us, regardless of what any authority has to say about it.
I think it’s safe to say that many don’t like to obey directions that are given. Just watch how people drive in town and see how many obey road signs, traffic lights and other rules of the road.
Today, we’re going to look at Moses and the Israelites, and a story of disobedience.
For the past five weeks, we’ve been studying this fourth book in the Bible, and the continuing story of the journey to the Promised Land. We’ve looked at a census of Israel, God providing for Israel’s needs, and a number of problems that Israel struggled with.
The we also see a story of a people that were not content with where they were, and loved to complain along the way.
I’d like to invite you to open your Bibles with me as I read selected verses in Numbers chapter 20 where we read our text for today. Starting at the 2nd verse, it reads:
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that 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.”
10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “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.”
Background
We’re a little more than halfway through the book of Numbers and we’re right at the cusp of Israel entering into the Promised Land.
Over the course of the last forty years, God has continually provided for Israel’s success every step of the way. God brought the miracle of plagues that moved Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.
He saved Israel from the pursuing Egyptian army when He parted the waters of the Red Sea.
God’s blessed His people with manna from heaven during the day and quail at night.
Yet, each time the Israelites saw a significant problem, it wasn’t their memory of how well God took care of them, but the memory of how good it used to be. Over and over they cried out,
“It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:12, ESV)
When people grow accustomed to the gifts that they receive, they often want more. We pray loudly when we’re in need, but we’re less willing to shout prayers of thanksgiving. The Israelites forgot the miracles… overlooked the blessings, and allowed complaints to abound.
Even with all this grumbling, God was with His people, every step of the way.
A Familiar Place
To fully appreciate our text for today, I’d like to take a look at a bit of history that will help us understand more of what’s happening.
The people are camped out in the Wilderness of Zin at a place called Kadesh, which is not an unfamiliar place. Early in Genesis (14:7), Kadesh is mentioned as a holy place where people and kingdoms could discuss their grievances and find agreements.
Abraham lived there, part of the time, as he used this site in his travels between markets in what is Southern Israel and Eastern Egypt today. (Gen 20:1) It was a place that offered water for donkeys and food for livestock to graze.
Kadesh was an oasis, a place of comfort, and a place of peace.
Two weeks ago, we heard the story of Moses sending spies into Canaan to see what the Promised Land looked like. They started their journey in Kadesh (Numbers 13:26), and for 40 days they examined the land and its people.
They delivered wonderful news of a land filled with milk and honey, and brought back beautiful fruits of grapes,
pomegranates and figs (Num 13:23).
But the spies also brought reports of huge, strong men that protected the land. The report of powerful enemies ended up with Israel becoming fearful and distraught. They lost sight of God’s promises to them and the protection that God already showed them through the defeat of Egypt’s army.
God became angry with Israel because of their lack of faith, their lack of trust, and the grumbling against His blessings. So, God declared that anyone 20 years and older… in other words, those that were able to go to war… those men that lost faith, would die before entering the promised land. And that for the next 40 years, 1 year for every day the spies spent in Canaan, they would continue in the wilderness.
Kadesh was a place where the people lost faith and delayed their reward of a new home.
Then there’s the rebellion of Korah. Korah was a Levite that wasn’t happy with Moses’ leadership. He wasn’t happy with where Israel was and he and many others wanted to go back to Egypt where life was better. So Korah gathered 250 men who supported leaving this wilderness, under new leadership.
In response to challenging the authority that God vested in His chosen leader, and in the loss of faith in God’s continual promises, and the loss of trust in God’s direction… God caused,
“the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.” (Numbers 16:31-33, ESV)
Korah, his family and 250 men who stood by Korah, all perished in front of the people.
Israel had a lot of history that leads right into our text today. They had a history of complaining and a history of rebellion.
They were at a place that was well-known for peaceful discussions, sustainment of people and animals, and a loss of trust in God. They knew that in this place, water flowed. Yet today, they lack the very water that they need to survive.
The stage was set. The people were disappointed once again. And it’s this disappointment that starts the story in our text today.
Disappointment
Israel desired the milk and honey that the spies found so many years ago. That’s what they’re yearning for. But it’s not what they have today.
So, the people talked, and they complained, and they gathered to commiserate as a group. They lack the really good food they desire. They can’t take care of their livestock, and there’s no water for them to drink. So, they confront Moses and Aaron and protest their living conditions.
Earlier in Israel’s wandering, similar events have happened. They’ve been out of water before, they’ve complained that they should’ve never left Egypt before, and they’ve assembled together heading towards a riot against Moses' leadership.
And here we are again, with another lack of water and another developing rebellion, with the people calling this place terrible.
Listing much of what the spies found almost 40 years ago, this crowd says,
“It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” (Numbers 20: 5, ESV)
In essence, the people are calling out to Moses and Aaron saying, “We need better arrangements!” "What are you going to do about it?”
Dispute
Today is starting to sound much like that rebellion of years ago. The people are getting agitated, and form a crowd. Verse 2 says,
“they assembled themselves together against Moses and Aaron” (Number 20:2, ESV)
History might be repeating itself as a revolt seems to be starting to form.
We don’t know what the crowd of people said to Moses and Aaron. But we do know that the people were gathering together, meaning that the crowd was getting bigger. As the people gathered, they argued with Moses and Aaron, blaming them for getting them to this terrible dessert place. They blamed them for the lack of good food, for lack of water and lack of means to take care of their animals.
When I think of a crowd forming against someone or something, I think of some of the riots and destruction of property that have happened on the news in the last few weeks. People who are out of control, angry, and just want to destroy something.
I don’t know if that’s exactly what Moses and Aaron faced. But the crowd that was against them couldn’t have been easy to deal with.
Despair
focusing on what they lack… they lost all semblance of hope.
In verse 3, the people show that they’re at the end of their rope and cry out in despair,
“Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!” (Numbers 20:3, ESV)
The people were referring to the rebellion led by Korah, where Korah and the 250 men who supported him, were swallowed up in the earth in an instant.
They all perished in front of Israel. So, when the people in our text today talked about the death of their brothers, they were basically saying this is too much for them to bear; they’d rather be struck down dead by God, than deal with this terrible, evil place.
That really does sound like hopelessness, doesn’t it?
Direction
Moses listens to the grumbling, the complaints, the pain, and the despair, and he and Aaron leave the people and approach the Tent of Meeting.
The Tent of Meeting is first mentioned in Exodus as a place of revelation where people met with God. As the tabernacle was created, along with the rituals of sacrifice, the festivals, and the priest class, they served as a system of intermediaries between the people and God.
Aaron, as the high priest, would normally be the ultimate middle-man for any concerns the people had, and the only person who would have been allowed to approach the holiest portion of the tabernacle that contained the Ark of the Covenant. But Moses was an exception. As God’s chosen leader, he talked to God without anyone in between.
Exodus 33:11 tells us that,
“The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:7-11, ESV)
So, Moses, the leader of Israel… and Aaron, the High Priest… approach the tabernacle, and humble themselves before God. They fell on their faces, and God appeared to them.
When Moses comes to God asking for relief, God gives clear direction to provide for His people once again. The instructions that God gives to Moses include three very specific orders to follow:
• Take your staff
• Assemble the people
• Tell THE rock to yield its water
God calls Moses to speak to The rock. It was more than just a boulder. The Hebrew word used is ??????? (cela/seh-lah) which can mean a stony surface, a crag, or a cliff. The article in Hebrew is very specific. God didn’t tell Moses to talk to any old rock, but to talk to a known rock formation.
Disobedience
Moses starts out strong and obeys the directions that God gave him. Moses and Aaron gather the people together around the very specific Rock formation. It’s likely that this place would allow for more people to hear the words, witness the miracle of flowing water, and help strengthen their faith that God is always going to provide for His people.
It’s been 40 years since Israel feared the enemies in Canaan, instead of trusting in God. And God declared that anyone 20 years and older at that time would not enter the promised land. Time has passed, and most if not all, of these rebels have died out.
Today, there’s a younger group of people in front of Moses who may have heard stories of the Exodus from their parents and others. But they didn’t experience those events firsthand. They didn’t witness the ten plagues that freed them from Egypt. They didn’t see the parting of the Red Sea, and they might not have attributed manna and quail to God, but to some natural phenomena instead.
For many, this might be the first time they see the miracles of God’s blessings as more than just a story. I imagine that nothing has happened yet to quell the grumbling, the complaints, and the despair of the people.
They’ve asked Moses for help, and from their perspective, they probably think that nothing has taken place, other than asking the people to gather around an old rock. Moses is trying to do what God has told him, but his patience is probably being tested too.
Moses takes his staff, he met that requirement, he assembled the people, 2 out of 3. But then the crowd gets him irritated and frustrated. I can just imagine that the crowd is complaining once again that Moses isn’t taking care of them and that this is all a waste of time. The people probably don’t trust that their problem will be solved, and they might not care to hear what Moses has to say.
Regardless of what’s said, Moses gets angry. In fact, he’s probably furious at the people. He lashes out and calls them rebels. This is probably an unruly crowd that isn’t complying with Moses’ authority. They’re likely demanding answers and are not willing to wait. So Moses calls out to the people,
“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10, ESV)
Listen to that again…. “shall WE bring water for you?”
Moses is angry and he’s letting his emotions get the best of him. But, he says something that’s out of place, “shall WE bring water for you.” Moses and Aaron are in front of the crowd, and God hasn’t been mentioned. It’s Moses claiming credit for the miracle that was about to happen. He’s telling the gathered congregation of Israel that HE, Moses, and his brother Aaron, have the power to fix their water problem.
By claiming that miracle, God was denied his glory; the glory that God earned, God deserved. Moses took credit. He put himself on a level playing field with God and claimed God’s power, God’s grace, God’s mercy, and that wasn’t his to give.
Now, let’s not make a mistake about this. God has worked through Moses in so many miraculous ways, He’s used Moses as an instrument of His will. Israel’s freedom from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, providing water at Horeb… each of these miracles was God working through Moses as he OBEYED what God told Him to do. But not today. Today, Moses didn’t give credit, that was owed to the creator.
Not only is Moses denying God credit for the miracle that’s about to take place, but Moses seems to be lashing out in anger, in front of a whole group of people, and he attacks the very thing that God intends to use to bless His people. Instead of speaking to the rock as God ordered Moses, HITS the rock that God ordained to serve Israel.
Moses lashed out against the rock, and in essence, he lashed out against God, in front of the whole gathering of people.
• Strike one Moses – You don’t get credit for this miracle; this isn’t your show but God’s
• Strike two Moses – God told you to speak to the rock, not hit it
• Strike three Moses – you don’t get to physically abuse the instrument of God’s will
Moses failed to obey. But he also failed to treat God as holy, as righteous, and as responsible for the water that was about to flow.
Moses forgot some of the most important lessons that God had taught him. God deserves our respect. We owe Him honor. And above all, God is to be upheld as holy in all situations. Moses disrespected God publicly, in front of representatives from every tribe of Israel.
Even with this blatant disobedience, God still blesses His people with the sustaining water that they need to survive. He still answers their prayers,
“and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.” (Numbers 20:11, ESV)
But, even with this blessing, disobedience earns punishment, and that downside can be severe. Moses was destined to pay a price for his disobedience. God told both Moses and Aaron,
“Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12, ESV)
In other words, you’ve been wandering in the wilderness for more than 40 years to reach your new home in the Promised Land, but you, will not be going there. His punishment was to never reach their new home.
Learning from disobedience?
Moses disobeyed, and paid a price. But, I think there’s a lot more to this story than an angry man who disrespected God.
For the next couple of minutes, I’d like to look at three ways that we can learn from Moses’ disobedience, and apply that to our walk with God.
(#1) First: Even the most faithful can experience failure.
Moses had a failure of obedience, but we have failures in many parts of our life. Failures to comply with rules, failures to stay away from sin, failures to treat God as holy.
In addition to Moses, there are all sorts of people in the Bible that experienced failures. One of the most notable is the prophet, Jonah.
Jonah was a man who was chosen by God to deliver God’s message to the people of Nineveh.
(God told Jonah) “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2, ESV)
Jonah wasn’t fond of this task. Nineveh was a powerful nation that threatened Israel. It was a ruthless nation that didn’t respect God. Jonah’s desire was to see the destruction of such a wicked city rather than see it saved.
So, instead of obeying God and traveling toward Nineveh to deliver God’s message of salvation, Jonah ran away. He went down to Joppa and found a ship heading towards Tarshish and paid for a trip going away from where he was supposed to be going.
While sailing, God sent a huge storm that threatened to break up the ship. The ship’s crew cast lots to show who was responsible for the evil that was upon the ship, and the lot fell on Jonah. After a bit of debate, they threw Jonah into the sea and God allowed the storm to cease.
While in the water, a great fish, or sometimes we call it a whale, swallowed Jonah, and for three days and three nights, Jonah prayed for rescue from the fish’s belly. God heard the prayers of Jonah, and the Lord directed the fish to spit out Jonah on dry land
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” (Jonah 3:1-2, ESV)
This time, Jonah listened and preached God’s message of repentance to Nineveh. The city listened and obeyed, and God saved the city from destruction.
“And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” (Jonah 3:5, ESV)
Moses was faithful, yet he failed. Jonah was faithful, and he failed too. If even the most God-fearing, faithful people in the Bible can have failures, we can expect to have a few too. When we fail, God’s grace will abound for us also. And, let’s be honest, we’re sinful people, and we’re going to fail once in a while.
Which brings me to my second point: (#2) When our faith fails, God is still faithful.
When Moses and Aaron approached God about the lack of water, He gave them directions of what to do. But He also ended the conversation with a promise,
(God said) “you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” (Numbers 20:8, ESV)
Moses had a failure of faith, yet God held true to the promise that He made. So, even when Moses and Aaron disobeyed God’s commands, God still honored His assurance of blessings and brought forth the water that He promised Israel.
God has always honored His promises. Way back in Genesis, Adam and Eve had their own failure of faith. Eve listened to the serpent and disobeyed the command that God gave them to eat of anything, except for a specific tree. Eve ate the forbidden fruit and disobeyed God’s command and then Adam followed suit.
The disobedience tainted mankind and all of creation by introducing sin into a very good, perfect, and flawless world. Even though the first two humans showed themselves as unfaithful, God made them a promise that a savior would come into the world to conquer Satan.
And that promise was fulfilled in the sending of His own Son, Jesus, the Christ, into the world to die for the sins of man, and to defeat even death itself.
God fulfilled that promise of a savior even with all of our flaws, all of our mistakes, and all of our failures of faith. The Apostle Paul said it this way,
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, ESV)
God’s love for us doesn’t rely on how good we are to Him, or how well we take care of each other. If it did, we’d be in pretty sad shape. God loves us because of who HE is. He loves us so much that he put a plan into motion that washed away our sins and guaranteed a path to a heavenly reward for us. He sent his own Son to come into this world to die on our behalf.
That’s how grace works. God blesses us because of who He is, not because we’ve obeyed Him so well.
God holds true to His promises, even if we don’t.
And finally, my third point is: (#3) When we fail, God never abandons us.
There are all sorts of stories of people in the Bible that lost sight of how God wanted them to act. They lost faith for a time and struggled with life. Yet, they recovered, because God remained right by their side, even with their flaws, even with their imperfections, and even with their sin.
King David is one example of someone who failed, yet God remained with him. One of the more well-known stories in the Bible is the story of David and Bathsheba.
It was the Spring when many armies go off to war and David, instead of being with his troops, stayed home in Jerusalem while Israel fought. While walking on his palace, he spied a beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop, and David asked about the woman. ( 2 Samuel 11)
David was told that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. The king was already married, yet,
“David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.” (2 Samuel 11:4, ESV)
and she became pregnant.
Finding out about this, David tried to hide the crime of adultery by recalling her husband back from the battlefield, hoping that Uriah would sleep with Bathsheba and cover up the crime by assuming the baby was his.
But when Uriah came back to Jerusalem, he would not go down to his house, because the other soldiers were still staying in the field.
So David wrote a note, and gave it to Uriah to bring back to his commanding officer and the note said for the commander to place Uriah on the front lines, and when the battle began to wage, to pull the troops back, except for Uriah, so that he would be killed in battle. And the commander followed David’s orders, and Uriah was killed.
Adultery and murder are two significant failures for anyone, let alone a public figure like David. Even with such heinous crimes, God was displeased. But He didn’t abandon David, and He didn’t abandon Israel.
David is one of the most important figures in the Bible. Not because of his sin, but because of His Son. Several generations later, Jesus, one of the lineages of David, would be born. God didn’t abandon David. He blessed him with a name that will last forever.
The very first verse of the New Testament describes itself as,
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1, ESV)
Even with such terrible sins under his belt, David was given the honor of being one of the ancestors of Jesus Himself.
God knows that we’re sinful people. He knows that our sinful nature will drive us to be selfish and self-centered. Yet, he continues to offer grace to the very people who can’t seem to keep their act together.
Moses didn’t follow God’s directions, yet God blessed the people. David fell away from God’s commands, yet his kingdom remained strong.
Much like parents who catch their kids with their hands in the cookie jar, God sees our mistakes when we’re doing things we shouldn’t be doing. He may be disappointed, but God continues to watch His children, to sustain His children, and to love His children.
God doesn’t give up on us, even when we’re getting it wrong.
Conclusion
There’s a lot we can learn in the story of Moses at Kadesh. It’s a story of the struggle of faith and the promises of God.
Moses was given a task to do, but he disobeyed and dishonored God. We might have times when we too have failures of faith. Even the most faithful follower stumbles from time to time.
When our faith fails, God is still going to hold true to every promise He’s ever given us, and that includes the promise that He will always be with us, that He will always love us, that our sins are washed away because of His Son Jesus, and that a new home in heaven is waiting for us someday.
When we have our struggles with our faith, God is still going to be there for us. Even when we disobey what God told us to do.
Anen,
