Psalm 106:32

Psalm 106:32

By the waters of Meribah

We saw, in Psalm 105, that there were two incidents when the Lord miraculously provided water from a rock.One of these took place shortly after the Israelites left Egypt, now 40 years later, they have arrived back at Kadesh Barnea and once again they are faced by the challenges of conquering the land. Once again, we find them moaning and groaning at their lot and, once again, the Lord provides water from a rock. 40 years earlier, as recorded in Exodus 17, Moses was ordered to strike the rock at Horeb. This time he is commanded by the Lord to speak to it, but instead, he strikes it. That was enough to prohibit Moses and Aaron from leading the people into the Promised Land! This second place of divine provision was called Meribah, the place of quarrelling.

The account in Numbers 20 tells us exactly how Moses and Aaron were feeling at this point in their long, tedious journey. The people had been moaning and complaining and comparing the rigors of the desert with the abundance of Egypt! When addressing the complainants Moses said, “Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then he struck the rock twice with his staff.  Numbers 20:10-11. You can tell he was not a happy man! That single moment of angry disobedience was sufficient to keep Moses and Aaron out of the Promised Land for they had not been told to strike the rock but to speak to it! The Lord said to them, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I gave them.” Numbers 20:12. The people had rebelled against the Spirit of God and Moses and Aaron were made the scapegoats! 

I am struggling here to make sense of this, for it is easy to feel sympathy with Aaron and Moses and to share in their sentiments. Those moaning Israelites must have driven them mad at times! However, if God tells us to take a certain course of action, we are duty bound to follow it, for when we take matters into our own hands, we diminish Him and His Word. The people were never meant to believe that the Lord God only provided for them out of a grumpy, reluctant heart. How careful we need to be when we act as His representatives.

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