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 937: There was a second sin that was also committed in that same event. It was not revealed until The Psalmist described it: “it went ill with Moses” because “he spoke rashly with his lips” (Psa 106:33). When we look at what Moses said, we can see exactly how rash he was! “Hear now, ye rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?” This was a serious lapse in judgment. Moses was not going to bring water out of that rock. So, there was a big problem with that “we.” Hence, first by striking the rock, and second by using a pronoun that elevated them, Moses “believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel.”
ellauri164.html on line 975: The Israelites had a history of trusting in God because of what they saw. The most famous example, which we repeat in the daily morning service, quotes their experience after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds: “Israel saw the wondrous power which God had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared God; they had faith in God and in God’s servant, Moses” (Exod. 14:31). They have needed this public, indisputable evidence of their eyes ever since. God knows that what they see is what is most important. And what he wants them to see is Moses speaking—not striking the rock, as he was commanded to do on the former occasion.
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