ellauri164.html on line 562: When the Hebrews were thirsty and could find no water, they became impatient and did not remember the power of God which had, nearly forty years before, brought them water out of the rock. Instead of trusting God, they complained of Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!" That is, they wished that they had been of that number who had been destroyed by the plague in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
ellauri164.html on line 696: Taberah Twelve SpiesKorah’s RebellionRock at Meribah
ellauri164.html on line 869: First, it is important to note that a pattern is established in the story of Israel and Moses. This pattern can be seen at Mt. Sinai when Aaron and Israel create the golden calf idol (Exodus 32). Israel sins, and in response to that the Lord tells Moses to step aside so that He may destroy Israel in His wrath (Exodus 32:9-10). When this occurs, Moses intercedes for Israel and pleads for God to turn away His fierce anger for His own sake (Exodus 32:11-14). This intercession works, and Israel is spared utter destruction. This pattern of sin, wrath, intercession, and relenting occurs twice more in the Book of Numbers: once in Number 14 when Israel rebels and refuses to go into the Promised Land, and again in Numbers 16 when Korah leads his rebellion against Moses and Aaron (the major difference in Numbers 16 being that Aaron is the one to intervene by offering incense for atonement to the Lord).
ellauri164.html on line 871: This pattern shows itself again in the beginning of Numbers 20 after the death of Miriam. Once more Israel rebels against Moses and Aaron, this time over a lack of water in the desert of Zin. They claim that it would have been better to have died with Korah’s rebellion rather than wander without food and water, and they express regret over leaving Egypt, a land of “grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates.” This might seem a bold claim, since in our reading Korah has just died a few chapters earlier. Careful reading, however, indicates that there’s actually been a quiet time skip; Numbers 33:38 indicates that Aaron died in “the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month.” Given that Aaron’s death is recorded in Chapter 20, just a few verses after the episode at Meribah, this would indicate that the episode at Meribah occurred in year 38 of the 40 year wandering in the wilderness (remember that Israel had spent more than a year at Sinai in addition to travel time from Egypt to Sinai and from Sinai to the Promised Land before the wandering). This means that this rebellious generation of Israelites aren’t referencing a recent event, but instead wishing they had died nearly forty years earlier with Korah! Moses and Aaron have been dealing with this wicked and hard group of people for a very long time, and they are now claiming it would have been better to have died with Korah: a fate they were only spared because of Moses and Aaron’s own intercession!
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