Num 20:2-5 | KingComments | STEP | The people are rebelling again. Instead of feeling the loss of Miriam and being extra grateful for the leaders they still have, they turn against Moses and Aaron. The reason is the lack of water. The lack of water is a test by which God wants to test them. He wants to see if they have understood anything about having a high priest. In the previous chapters He has shown His appreciation of it. Now He wants to see their appreciation of it. A people – or a person – who feels short, lacks gratitude and becomes unreasonable. The people wish again that they would have died, just like their brothers. They pretend that they died a natural death. They forget that their brothers were killed by the judgment on their sins. By their wrong view of what happened, they forget to be thankful that they themselves have been spared. It is a people who live by the here and now and not by the promises of God. Their mind is expressed in the “why” questions by which they reveal their lack of trust in God ( ). They lack water, but not only that, they are also starting to complain about the lack of more food. Here and now a lot lacks. That is why they no longer want to continue to live. Their greatest shortcoming is faith in what God has promised them. This people, who are now almost made up of people younger than twenty at the beginning of the journey or born in the wilderness, is no better than those who died in the wilderness. As so often, history repeats itself because the essence of man does not change. The “why” questions are not answered because they stem from unbelief and rebellion. Moses and Aaron do not respond to the complaints of the people, but go to the only right place, to the dwelling place of the LORD. There they throw themselves down again, and there the glory of the LORD appears to them.

‏ Numbers 20:2-5

New Rebellion of the People

The people are rebelling again. Instead of feeling the loss of Miriam and being extra grateful for the leaders they still have, they turn against Moses and Aaron. The reason is the lack of water. The lack of water is a test by which God wants to test them. He wants to see if they have understood anything about having a high priest. In the previous chapters He has shown His appreciation of it. Now He wants to see their appreciation of it.

A people – or a person – who feels short, lacks gratitude and becomes unreasonable. The people wish again that they would have died, just like their brothers. They pretend that they died a natural death. They forget that their brothers were killed by the judgment on their sins. By their wrong view of what happened, they forget to be thankful that they themselves have been spared.

It is a people who live by the here and now and not by the promises of God. Their mind is expressed in the “why” questions by which they reveal their lack of trust in God (Num 20:4-5). They lack water, but not only that, they are also starting to complain about the lack of more food. Here and now a lot lacks. That is why they no longer want to continue to live. Their greatest shortcoming is faith in what God has promised them.

This people, who are now almost made up of people younger than twenty at the beginning of the journey or born in the wilderness, is no better than those who died in the wilderness. As so often, history repeats itself because the essence of man does not change.

The “why” questions are not answered because they stem from unbelief and rebellion. Moses and Aaron do not respond to the complaints of the people, but go to the only right place, to the dwelling place of the LORD. There they throw themselves down again, and there the glory of the LORD appears to them.