A Striking Example
Posted: February 20th, 2010, 2:48 am
A HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #135b, Re-Written 20FEB10
Water From The Rock—Part Two: A Striking Example
by rev. dave c
Part One of this series discussed an incident that occurred following their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt and toward the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Nu 20:1-12). The people had risen up against Moses and Aaron due to lack of water, and God had told Moses to speak to a rock so that water would flow from it. In prideful arrogance, Moses upbraided the people and struck the rock...twice. Although God honored the need for water, to Moses He said, "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" (Nu 20:12; NIV). God provided water to His people, but the consequences of the leader’s disobedience resulted in Moses and Aaron being allowed to only view the Promised Land of Canaan. Both men died prior to being allowed in enter in.
In a very real sense, Moses had fallen victim to homemade religion. Some 40 years before the occasion of Moses striking the rock twice he had faced an almost identical situation that is described in Exodus, Chapter 17, 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (NIV).
See what happened? The first time that the people grumbled, God told Moses to strike the rock, but four decades later he was told to speak to it. In the midst of his prideful anger toward the people ("Listen, you rebels, must we [?!] bring you water out of this rock?") Moses ignored the Lord’s specific instructions. He had struck the rock before, so obviously he should strike the rock again—in fact twice, both as an emphatic expression of his frustration, and because it was the second incident involving water from a rock. This makes perfect sense. If you are a human being and not God. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Pr 14:12&16: 25; NIV). Striking the rock twice seemed right to Moses, but in the end it lead to death…both for him, and for his brother.
As in all Scriptural descriptions of people, places, and actions, when God provides water from a rock to His people in the midst of desert wanderings, it is an event pregnant with portentous meaning. Listen to what Paul has to say in First Corinthians 10:1-4, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (NIV). That rock was Christ. [As an aside, I grow weary with Biblical commentators who chastise those who find Godly metaphor within Scriptural texts where traditional teaching does not. As led by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul apparently suffered from no such limitations. A passage’s literal meaning does not restrict God’s ability to use it for a particular cognitive/spiritual meaning for a particular person at a particular time—as long as it does not contradict, supercede, or exceed Biblical tenants in toto.]
The Son of God was struck 2,000 years ago so that we might have the living water of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus tells us in John 4:14, whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (NIV). Since that time, we need only speak to our Rock to drink from this spring. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (Jn 14:14; NIV). I pray that as we wander through this wilderness of time and space that lies between our exodus out of the Egypt that is this world—and our entrance into the Promised Land of New Jerusalem—that we listen carefully to the directions of Our Father as He speaks to us through His written and His living Word. “God, please open our eyes and ears in loving relationship with You, and protect us from following habits of religion. Lord, save us from striking the Rock because we follow a way that seems right...but in the end it leads to death. Help us to be a people who seek Your voice and Your face so that we might avoid the judgment that Paul describes as he continues, ...They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (NIV). Thank You, Jesus, Amen.”
Water From The Rock—Part Two: A Striking Example
by rev. dave c
Part One of this series discussed an incident that occurred following their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt and toward the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Nu 20:1-12). The people had risen up against Moses and Aaron due to lack of water, and God had told Moses to speak to a rock so that water would flow from it. In prideful arrogance, Moses upbraided the people and struck the rock...twice. Although God honored the need for water, to Moses He said, "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" (Nu 20:12; NIV). God provided water to His people, but the consequences of the leader’s disobedience resulted in Moses and Aaron being allowed to only view the Promised Land of Canaan. Both men died prior to being allowed in enter in.
In a very real sense, Moses had fallen victim to homemade religion. Some 40 years before the occasion of Moses striking the rock twice he had faced an almost identical situation that is described in Exodus, Chapter 17, 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (NIV).
See what happened? The first time that the people grumbled, God told Moses to strike the rock, but four decades later he was told to speak to it. In the midst of his prideful anger toward the people ("Listen, you rebels, must we [?!] bring you water out of this rock?") Moses ignored the Lord’s specific instructions. He had struck the rock before, so obviously he should strike the rock again—in fact twice, both as an emphatic expression of his frustration, and because it was the second incident involving water from a rock. This makes perfect sense. If you are a human being and not God. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Pr 14:12&16: 25; NIV). Striking the rock twice seemed right to Moses, but in the end it lead to death…both for him, and for his brother.
As in all Scriptural descriptions of people, places, and actions, when God provides water from a rock to His people in the midst of desert wanderings, it is an event pregnant with portentous meaning. Listen to what Paul has to say in First Corinthians 10:1-4, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ (NIV). That rock was Christ. [As an aside, I grow weary with Biblical commentators who chastise those who find Godly metaphor within Scriptural texts where traditional teaching does not. As led by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul apparently suffered from no such limitations. A passage’s literal meaning does not restrict God’s ability to use it for a particular cognitive/spiritual meaning for a particular person at a particular time—as long as it does not contradict, supercede, or exceed Biblical tenants in toto.]
The Son of God was struck 2,000 years ago so that we might have the living water of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus tells us in John 4:14, whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (NIV). Since that time, we need only speak to our Rock to drink from this spring. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (Jn 14:14; NIV). I pray that as we wander through this wilderness of time and space that lies between our exodus out of the Egypt that is this world—and our entrance into the Promised Land of New Jerusalem—that we listen carefully to the directions of Our Father as He speaks to us through His written and His living Word. “God, please open our eyes and ears in loving relationship with You, and protect us from following habits of religion. Lord, save us from striking the Rock because we follow a way that seems right...but in the end it leads to death. Help us to be a people who seek Your voice and Your face so that we might avoid the judgment that Paul describes as he continues, ...They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (NIV). Thank You, Jesus, Amen.”