Numbers 20:12-21 Bible Teaching

We left off with Moses striking the rock instead of speaking to it.
Verse 12:

Numbers 20:12
And YAHAVAH spake unto Moses and Aaron, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

There may have been more to why Moses was excluded from entering the promised land than just the smiting of the Rock.

First, YAHAVAH had commanded him (Numbers 20:8) to take the rod in his hand and go and SPEAK TO THE ROCK, and it should give forth water. It seems Moses did not think speaking would be sufficient, or he was fed up and angry, or, like Danny mentioned last week, he resorted to the traditional way of getting water from the rock instead of moving on beyond such.

Whatever it was, he did not do what he was told to do.

Second, he followed his flesh instead of trusting in the words of God. This is for sure, and perhaps this was no different than Adam and Eve eating from the tree.

Third, he acted, it seems, upon the Nation’s repeated disobedience instead of by the will of the Lord, and he even said before striking the rock, “Hear now, ye rebels.” This appears to be a person-to-person engagement, meaning that Moses was personally bothered, as he also said, speaking of himself and Aaron:

“Must WE fetch you water out of this rock?”

When it was God who was doing all the work.

Finally, it appears that Aaron was complicit in this attitude, and he too will be excluded from entering the Promised Land.

Numbers 20:13
This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with YAHAVAH, and he was sanctified in them.

Meaning, by still providing them water, irrespective of Moses’ personal failures, YAHAVAH was justified in their eyes.

The Nation’s Journey Through Other Kingdoms

At this point, we begin to engage with the Nation in their travels as they pass through the lands of other kingdoms and people.

Numbers 20:14-15
And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:

We remember that the Edomites were the descendants of Esau, who was also called Edom, and who was the brother of Jacob renamed Israel, and from whom the Israelites were descended. And the messengers continued with their speech, saying,

Numbers 20:16-17
And when we cried unto YAHAVAH, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s highway, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.

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.

Numbers 20:18
And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

Now, obviously, Edom was not going to go out against them, so this was a conversation between the representative parties, as we will discover in the next verses.

Numbers 20:19-21
And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet.
And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

Bottom line, this was a mean and cruel act by the Edomites (and here is the key) who lived in Kadesh because we will read in Deuteronomy 2 about a tribe of Edomites in the area of Mount Seir who were hospitable to their Israelite brothers and sisters.

This act of inhospitality will be rebuked by the relatively obscure (at least to me) prophet named Obadiah later on.

The Death of Aaron

Verses 22-26 move us forward to a painful story regarding Aaron.

Numbers 20:22-26
And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor.
And YAHAVAH spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,
Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.
Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor:
And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.

To strip someone of their vestments was, in effect, to strip them of their authority in office.

To put the vestments on another, in this case, Eleazar, Aaron’s son, was to transfer that authority to him.

They are acts known generally as divesting and investing.

When a person has made an egregious error in some militaries and in the Catholic and Church of England, this method has been practiced.

Numbers 20:27-28
And Moses did as YAHAVAH commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.

So now Aaron, along with his sister, Miriam, are dead. In all this, there are some really serious principles that we can all take to heart.

First, our service to God, no matter what it is, nor how hard it was, is service to Him and does not bring about all we might expect.

It’s a sobering reality and one all people of faith must come to terms with as we discover in the lives of most biblical characters devoted to God, the end does not always reflect the service.

Aaron has made some errors, but he has been devout in many ways in his long service to God – his end was not so rewarding, was it?

Same with Moses. Same with many Old Testament faithful, and of course, it was standard fare for John the Baptist, most of the apostles, and for Christ Himself – the ultimate example of this.

Why would this be? Wouldn’t more people want to serve God if He was rewarding them, their lives, their efforts, with great material blessings here and now as well as in the hereafter?

This is just not the model we are given.
The model is, as we well know, follow Him, serve Him, devote yourself to Him, and you will more likely than not lose reputation, lose your place in this world, and even, at least in the past, lose your very life.

I’ve told this story before as it has been passed around for years in evangelicalism, so I cannot claim it’s true, but I do believe the principle made is dead on.

Apparently, there was a couple returning to the United States New York Harbor who had spent decades of their lives serving God in Africa.

They had no money, no retirement, no pension, and their health was shot.

On the same ship was President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his hunting expeditions in Africa, and when they pulled into the dock, he was met by banners, cheers, and hundreds of souls celebrating him and his return.

And there was nobody on the dock waiting for the missionary couple.

As the story goes, the man was embittered and expressed his hurt and anger to his wife, saying,

“We have given everything to serve God for all these years and have nothing to show for it – not even a single soul who is here to greet us. But Teddy Roosevelt comes home from a hunting trip and is met with celebration.”

The man’s wife told him to go back to their cabin and talk with the Lord about his resentment, which he did, and when he came out, he was a new man.

She asked, “What happened?” And her husband said that amidst his angry complaints, the Lord whispered, “But you’re not home yet.”

This life, for believers, if lived as He calls, I mean when you are truly dedicated to His will and ways, will not often produce much in terms of physical rewards.

We will struggle with money and finances, with health, ostracization, and being misunderstood. Truly, our home, our kingdom is not of this world.

And while I would never live any other way because of the incomparable direct relationship I have with our Maker, the very Creator of Heaven and earth, personally and unconditionally, I trust that our selfless efforts will someday be known and seen in ways we cannot comprehend.

This is a central principle to walking by faith. Quite frankly, when it is truly from the heart and out of gratitude, we aren’t really even concerned about afterlife rewards, but more so just with being in His presence and service forevermore – that is really the expectation in my estimation.

The Symbolism of Moses, Miriam, and Aaron

But there is another principle here that we are seeing in Aaron, Miriam, and Moses not entering into the Promised Land – even after all their years of dedicated service.

Moses represents the Law, as John 1:17 states:

John 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Yeshua the Messiah.

Exodus 15:20 states:

Exodus 15:20
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

And Exodus 28:1 has YAHAVAH say to Moses:

Exodus 28:1
And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

What does this mean? I suggest it means that neither the Law, the Prophets, nor any Priesthood will bring us into the Promised Land or in an ongoing relationship with the Living God.

What or who will?

For the Nation of Israel, it will be a man named Joshua. For the rest of the world, it will be through another man of the same name, Yeshua the Messiah.

This is the picture and leads us into a possibility of why neither Miriam, Aaron, nor Moses were allowed in.

So symbolic. So important to the reality of all we see in Christ.

Last week we did a program on HOTM Full Circle, and I was tasked with trying to show what makes Mormonism so very troubling to the Biblical text but so difficult to grasp when we consider the material presentations it gives to the world.

Unaware of this simple illustration in Numbers, the founding prophet, borrowing and synthesizing information from the scripture and other places, created a system so contrary to what we see in this simple historical fact and promotes and appeals to:

• Law,
• Prophets,
• and Priesthoods

As the model to get people into their fictional promised land. I am so grateful for the scripture for these principles that help us navigate such things rightly instead of by or through our own wisdom and reason.

No, only Yeshua can lead us in, guide us, and protect us.

Numbers 20:29
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

Chapter 21: New Kings and New Battles

Chapter 21 brings us into all sorts of new kings, from new lands and new warfare – even though the Nation has not yet entered into Canaan. But in the midst of all these new characters, we read about another huge principle on trusting God, looking to Him alone, and idolatry.

First, we encounter a battle. Verse 1:

Numbers 21:1
And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.

In the next verse, the speaker gets a little weird as Israel speaks as if it was singular, but it best seems to reflect the words of a spokesperson.

Numbers 21:2-3
And Israel vowed a vow unto YAHAVAH, and said, “If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
And YAHAVAH hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and (here we go again) the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

More faithlessness, more complaining, and yet another lesson, really a meaningful one, as we read at verses 6 through 9 the following:

Numbers 21:6-9
And YAHAVAH sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Okay, I read a pretty comprehensive study of the serpents and snakes that would have been in this area. There are at least half a dozen descriptions of what they could have possibly been.

I always imagined that these serpents the Nation faces here in Numbers were flying, but I discovered that is from compounding the term fiery serpent with Isaiah’s description of a type flying in his day.

Some suggest that these were a type of snake that did not fly but that swung down from trees and bit people along the way.

When everything is said and done, it is believed that these serpents were a specific species of cobra, that they were bronze or copper in color, that they were known synonymously as being flaming or fiery, and that this was because their bite brought on extreme burning pain.

Everything taken into account, I would suggest that this was, in fact, a cobra species, copper in color, that the term flying Isaiah used in his writing speaks to their striking at people through the air, and perhaps, this was the type of Cobra that sat on the head of the Egyptian Pharaoh, called a Uraeus, which they referred to as a flaming serpent because of its color and poison.

It seems that God, in the face of their complaining, gave them a poetic reminder of the Egyptian bondage which they were formerly under, and the death-bites caused the people to say in verse 7:

Numbers 21:7
“We have sinned, for we have spoken against YAHAVAH, and against thee; pray unto YAHAVAH, that he take away the serpents from us.”

Numbers 21:8
And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

It seems like God had Moses make a brass serpent to look just like the serpents biting the people, and the reason I tie this specific serpent to Egypt is because they worshipped a winged fiery serpent called Wadjet, which is what the modern-day caduceus on display outside medical buildings resembles.

And the Wadjet often is displayed with wings. So, verse 9:

Numbers 21:9
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

The rock only needed to be spoken to provide, and the healing powers of the serpent were efficacious by merely looking to it – just speaking, just looking.

No striking. And nothing more than having the faith to simply look.

Notice too that it was God who sent the serpents (as an act to bring them back to humility before Him), but it was also God who provided the mercy to heal them.

In the healing, and the extension of His mercy, the Nation HAD TO LOOK. This was on them. He did not force them. He let those who would not, apparently, die, but He provided the means to be healed and saved from the poisonous bite.

Of course, it goes without saying really that this story pictures the lifting up of Christ on the cross.

When Yeshua was speaking with Nicodemus in John 3, He says to Him:

John 3:14-15
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Believe on Him. Not offer sacrifices, not works-righteousness, not anything other than to believe on Him.

This is the same story for the Nation – Moses made the brass serpent, lifted it up, and told them:

“Just look on it, and you will live.”

This is the exact same thing as Yeshua saying that when He would be lifted up, all who simply believed and looked on Him would not perish but have life eternal.

The Brass Serpent and the Law

Like the imagery of Moses, Miriam, and Aaron not entering into the Promised Land, the Nation only entered by Yeshua – not Law, not Prophets, not Priesthood – just Yeshua. So it is with our entering into anything and everything God extends to all people today – whether it be “into healing,” into salvation, into a relationship with Him, into His rest, or into the Kingdom above, all of it happens only by and through simply believing in Him.

The super interesting thing is God Himself tells Moses to make an image of the Serpent, where in Exodus 20:4 God said:

Exodus 20:4
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

All we can say is context and purpose explain what appears to be a disparity or contradiction, and that it is truly difficult to box God in – as we have and will continue to see.

But the primary lesson here in the tale of the Brass Serpent proves why God decreed what He decreed when He told the Nation not to make any graven images of any kind in Exodus.

Hezekiah and the Brass Serpent

Jump out to 2 Kings 18, which occurs around 700 years later from when this Brazen serpent was made to save those bitten.

Here we see what the nation, and what most people do with things and objects, dates and days, and icons that specifically have a purpose.

Here we read about a man named Hezekiah, who would begin to reign in the stead of his father Ahaz, who was the king of Judah.

Hezekiah’s name means, “whom YAHAVAH has strengthened,” and the name is fitting because this dude was a straight-up iconoclast for Him – which means, he was a fearless image breaker.

He reigned twenty-nine years (from B.C. 726-697) and set himself out to abolish idolatry from his kingdom.

This is where Moses’ brass serpent came into play.

So let’s read from chapter 18 of 2 Kings:

2 Kings 18:1-4
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
And he did that which was right in the sight of YAHAVAH, according to all that David his father did.
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (which means, just a thing of brass)

And we read:

2 Kings 18:5
He trusted in YAHAVAH God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

And here we run face to face with the ways of human beings in the material world, which we have discussed over and over again here at HQ –

Humans love idols, intermediaries, and material things that we can taste, touch, and see, which we first use to represent and remind us about things, and then often we begin to worship.

I love the fact that Hezekiah showed zero allegiance or sentimentality toward the brass serpent – none – and smashed it into pieces while describing its value.

Iconoclasm, which means image breaker, has existed in different times and flavors over the world, and I must admit, I am an iconoclast in terms of religious traditions held up and worshipped in the place of spiritual truth.

It is one reason I try and break the traditional man-made icon called the Trinity as worshipping God in spirit and truth delineates the need for such contrivances.

The Principle

Allow NOTHING to act or operate or serve as God or as a recipient of your worship and adoration than Him and Him alone.

Numbers 21: The Nation’s Continued Travels and Battles

From this point back to Numbers 21, we read about several other engagements with other people groups as the Nation travels. Verses 10-12 describe them pitching in Oboth before Moab, then pitching again in Zared.

Numbers 21:13
Speaks of them pitching between the border of Moab and the Amorites.

Numbers 21:16
Describes how they all started drinking because it says they then “went to Beer,” which is noted to be the place where YAHAVAH said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” And where Israel sings a song with lyrics included:

Numbers 21:17-18
Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.
The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.

Verses 19-20 describe more travels. At verse 21 we read another request to travel through the land of another king named Sihon, but again, they are refused even though their messengers say:

Numbers 21:22
Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s highway, until we be past thy borders.

The response?

Numbers 21:23-24
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.

And a proverb said among the people is recorded in verses 27-30.

Numbers 21:31-32
Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there.

Numbers 21:33-35
And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.
And YAHAVAH said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

Bottom line – the Nation, led by YAHAVAH, was now conquering foes and their kingdoms in His power and might.

We will proceed to chapter 22 next week, God willing.