ellauri164.html on line 628: Moses was in no mood to deal with this today. Why couldn’t these people let him mourn his sister in peace? Why had God brought them to a dry thirsty land with no water again? Why did these people always blame him? Why didn’t these people bring their problems to God in prayer instead of always complaining to him? Why were there always so many demands on him? Why was it always “Moses, Moses, Moses”?
ellauri164.html on line 925: Yet this is the same Moses who was allowed to come and speak to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was the same Moses who received the wonderful testimony that “Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant.” So, it is abundantly clear that God forgave him of this sin and still considered him to be among His greatest servants (Lk. 9:30-31; Heb. 3:5). This makes this event very important as it can bring hope and comfort to us when we have fallen short, and after repentance feel that we are no longer worthy and might still be cast away forever. This event reveals that this cannot happen as long as we repent and seek forgiveness in confession.
ellauri164.html on line 929: It appears that Moses was still in complete control of himself when he went to God for instructions. “Moses and Aaron went ... to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces.” “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,” “take the rod; ... gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” Clearly there was nothing difficult to understand and Moses wanted to be as faithful to this command as he had been to all the other commands God had given him.
ellauri164.html on line 931: Yet somehow this time something was different and Moses became very angry. Unfortunately for him, as is so often the case, “the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (Jas. 1:20). Moses went too far. “Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.”
ellauri164.html on line 935: When God said Moses “failed to sanctify me in the eyes of the people,” He did not specify exactly what this failure was. God had told Moses to “speak to the rock,” but the account stated that “Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice.” Clearly, in that act, Moses went beyond what God had commanded him to do. God had told Moses to take the staff, but not use it. He was directly commanded only to speak to the rock. He went beyond what was written when struck that rock. It was similar to Nadab and Abihu who offered “strange fire which He had not commanded them.” At that time Moses saw that such behavior did not “treat God as holy or glorify him among the people” (Lev. 10:1-3). Yet Moses, in anger, failed to hallow God when he struck that rock instead of speaking to it. He had failed to learn “not to go beyond what is written,” (1Cor. 4:6). He was told to speak to the rock (and he did not do that), but struck the rock (which he had no authority to do). God later charged Moses with this sin: “you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah” (Num 20:24; 27:13).
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