The Israelites have now come to the end of their wilderness wandering and when they stayed at Kadesh, Numbers 13:26 / Exodus 16:1, they gathered together to get to enter the Promised Land, Numbers 20:1 / Numbers 13:26 / Numbers 14:1.
We can only imagine what this new generation of Israelites coming together would have been like the excitement of seeing each other and getting acquainted with each other.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The year now spoken of was the last of their journeyings; for from the going out of the spies, Numbers 13:1-2, unto this time, was about thirty-eight years, Deuteronomy 1:22-23 / Deuteronomy 2:14.’
Some commentators suggest that they would have stayed together here for a few months to get themselves organised to enter the Promised Land. This would make sense, especially if we take into account the mourning of Miriam and communication with the Edomites.
Remember, God said that no one from this generation would enter the Promised Land. Miriam’s death shows us that God meant what He said, Numbers 20:1 / Numbers 14:29-34 / Exodus 2:1-8.
Notice there was no water for the community, Numbers 20:2. This could be because of a drought or simply because there wasn’t enough water in the place where they were to keep them sustained; they had used it all. When we think that there may well have been around three million people, we can understand why they would run out of water.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The whole guidance of Israel through the wilderness is constantly referred to God’s special and immediately superintending care, Deuteronomy 8:4 / Deuteronomy 29:5 / Nehemiah 9:21 / Isaiah 63:11-14 / Amos 2:10.’
We can only imagine what’s going through the minds of Aaron and Moses as the people once again begin to complain and quarrel against them, Numbers 20:1-2. They might have thought to themselves, these guys obviously don’t understand that they are actually quarrelling against God Himself.
They said to Moses, if only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Numbers 20:3. Why did you bring the LORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Numbers 20:4.
Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? Numbers 20:5. It has no grain or figs, grapevines, or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink! Numbers 20:5.
Remember, this younger generation wasn’t slaves in Egypt; they didn’t experience the hardship of slavery in Egypt. Although they were probably told about Egypt by their parents, their parents would have died in the wilderness. I guess this is why they complained about going somewhere they had never been before.
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them, Numbers 20:6. God tells Moses to take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together, Numbers 20:7-8.
This staff is the same one Moses used in Egypt, Exodus 7:8-13 / Exodus 7:19-21 / Exodus 8:5-6, and which had been used on a similar occasion at Rephidim, Exodus 17:5-7.
God tells Moses to speak to that rock before their eyes, and it will pour out its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink, Numbers 20:7-8.
Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as He commanded him to, and 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? Numbers 20:9-10.
Notice that Moses didn’t do exactly what God told him to do; instead of speaking to the rock, Numbers 20:8, he struck it twice in frustration, Numbers 20:11 / Psalm 106:32-33.
In the past, God told Moses to strike the rock in Meribah to get water for the grumbling Israelites, Exodus 17:1-7, but here he was simply to speak to the rock, Numbers 20:11. As a result of not doing exactly what God told him to do, his punishment would be he wouldn’t enter the Promised Land, Numbers 20:12.
Aaron would face the same punishment, Numbers 20:12 / James 3:1. The New Testament makes it clear this water-providing, life-giving rock was a picture of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 10:4. Jesus, being struck once, provided life for all who would drink of Him, John 7:37.
We must note that although the Israelites did get the water, it was only because of God’s power and grace to care for their needs that they received it, Leviticus 10:3 / Psalm 99:5 / Psalm 99:9. These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD and where he was proved holy among them, Numbers 20:13.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It appears from comparing Numbers 20:1 with Numbers 33:38, that the host must have remained in Kadesh some three or four months. No doubt time was required for reorganisation. In order to gain the banks of Jordan by the shortest route, they had to march nearly due east from Kadesh and pass through the heart of the Edomite mountains. These are lofty and precipitous, traversed by two or three narrow defiles. Hence, the necessity of the request in Numbers 20:17.’
Moses sends messengers to the king of Edom and notice the Israelites call the Edomites their brothers, Numbers 20:14 / Genesis 33:1-17. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, who was the father of the Israelites, Genesis 25:19-34.
Moses explains about all the hardships that have come on Israel and how their ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years, Numbers 20:14-15.
The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors, but when they cried out to the LORD, he heard their cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt, Numbers 20:15-16.
The angel in question is the angel of the Lord, Genesis 12:7 / Exodus 3:2. This is a Christophany, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Remember the word ‘angel’ in Hebrew is ‘malak’, and it simply means messenger. Christ is God, not an angel, which becomes clearer when we read Genesis 16:13.
Haynes Jr, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A study of these passages reveals that the Angel of the Lord appeared in human form, Genesis 18:2 / Genesis 22:1-18 / Hebrews 13:2, and performed normal human functions, Genesis 32:24 / Numbers 22:23 / Numbers 22:31, yet he was an awe-inspiring figure, Genesis 32:30 / Judges 6:22 / Judges 13:22, exhibiting divine attributes and prerogatives including predicting the future, Genesis 16:10-12, forgiving sin, Exodus 23:21, and receiving worship, Exodus 3:5 / Judges 13:9-20.’
Moses explains that they are now here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory and asks them if they can pass through their land without going into any field or vineyard, and they won’t drink any water from their wells, Numbers 20:16-17. He tells them they will travel along the King’s Highway, Numbers 20:17.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning the King’s Highway, Numbers 20:17.
‘This is the first time this phrase occurs; it appears to have been a public road made by the king’s authority at the expense of the state.’
Moses is trying to reassure the king of Edom that the Israelites wouldn’t plunder Edom on their journey through the land. They would travel on the normal trade route that all travellers took as they passed through Edom.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Forty years prior to the date in these passages, the government of Edom was still in the hands of various ‘dukes’, Exodus 15, and the mention of the King of Edom here shows that there had been some changes during the previous generation. The same thing had already occurred also in Moab, Judges 11:17.’
Despite these reassurances from Moses, the king of Edom refused them entry, and threatened them with an army who will attack them, Numbers 20:18. The Israelites replied and said, they will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot, nothing else, Numbers 20:19.
Again, they said, you may not pass through and gathered together his army to block Israel’s passage through the land, Numbers 20:20. Moses decides that Israel shouldn’t go into battle against Edom, their brothers, and so he turned his army away from Edom, Numbers 20:21 / Deuteronomy 23:7.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It appears, however, that it was only the Edomites of Kadesh that were thus unfriendly and cruel; for from Deuteronomy 2:29, we learn that the Edomites who dwelt in Mount Seir treated them in a hospitable manner. This cruelty in the Edomites of Kadesh is strongly reprehended and threatened by the Prophet Obadiah, Obadiah 1:10.’
Sadly, this decision the king made would eventually, in later years, end in judgment against the Edomites. God would judge them and remove them from the earth because of this one decision in refusing to allow Israel to pass through their land, Jeremiah 49:7-16 / Obadiah 1:21. Note that Numbers 20:21 tells us that Israel went around Edom, but Deuteronomy 2:4 says they passed through it. Is this a contradiction?
Defending Inerrancy says the following.
‘God would not allow Israel to do battle with the Edomites because He had given the land of Edom to Esau as an everlasting possession. Numbers 20:21 states that ‘Israel turned away from him.’ However, when Moses reviews these events in Deuteronomy 2:4, he states that the Lord said, ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau.’ Likewise, Deuteronomy 2:8 says Israel, ‘passed beyond our brethren the descendants of Esau.’ Did they pass through Edom, or did they go around it?
In one sense, it can be said that Israel passed through Edom when they entered it in order to make the request to continue their journey along the King’s highway that ran through their land. However, the text never actually says that they did or that they would pass through the land. Actually, the same Hebrew word ‘abar’ is used in each case. It can be used to mean pass through or pass by. The historical record clearly describes their journey as passing along the eastern border of Edom, Deuteronomy 2:8. God had warned Israel that as they would pass along the eastern border, they should not provoke the Edomites to war, Deuteronomy 2:5.’
The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor, and it was here, near the border of Edom, that God told Moses and Aaron that Aaron would be gathered to his people.
He will not enter the land He is going to give the Israelites, because both of them rebelled against His command at the waters of Meribah, Numbers 20:22-24 / Numbers 20:12.
God ask Moses to get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor, Numbers 20:25. When they arrive, Moses is to remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there, Numbers 20:26.
Moses did as God commanded him to do, and so Moses and Aaron went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community, and then Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, and Aaron died there on top of the mountain, Numbers 20:27-28.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The priestly garments, wherewith Moses had invested Aaron, Leviticus 8:7-9, were put upon Eleazar by way of solemn transference of Aaron’s office to him, 1 Kings 19:19.’
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning the death place of Aaron.
‘The difficulty cited by many is that Deuteronomy 10:6 states that Aaron died in Moserah. The only difficulty here is that nobody knows where either Hor or Moserah was located, so the natural conclusion is that both sites are only different designations of one place. Another possibility is that the children of Israel took the body of Aaron with them from Hor, if the places are different, and reburied it at Moserah, in which case, the verse in Deuteronomy 10:6 would apply only to the second burial of Aaron and not to his death. A slight emendation of the text would allow such a translation.’
Notice that when Aaron died, there was no fancy funeral ceremony; it was private and on a mountain, away from the rest of the Israelites, Numbers 20:28. When Moses and Eleazar came down from Mount Hor, the people saw that the spiritual leadership of Israel now rested on Eleazar, Numbers 20:29 / Leviticus 8:7-9.
When they learned that Aaron had died, they mourned his death for thirty days, Numbers 20:29, which was customary. Moses and Aaron weren’t allowed to enter Canaan because of their rebellion at the waters of Meribah.
Moses was around one hundred and twenty years old at this time, Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old when he died, Numbers 33:38-39, and their leadership of Israel was now coming to an end. Aaron, who was older than Moses, was to die first.