Articles
Treated As Holy II
As with so many significant leaders in the bible, Moses is an excellent example to all believers of what God expects of His people, except for one significant failure. With David, we often think of his failure with Uriah and his wife. With Jacob we remember the deception he perpetrated against Isaac his father. With Moses, the failure that we know to be significant happened concerning bringing water from a rock.
It is not easy to correlate all the events in which Israel was provided water, even from rocks (Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:2-13), thus, it almost seemed that this water-giving rock followed them (I Corinthians 10:4). However, it is on the second of two recorded occasions that Moses failed in a spectacular manner.
The circumstances that led up to Moses’ failure were not foreign to the man of God, as the people were quarreling with him for what seems like the millionth time about something they didn’t have, but thought they should. Once again, the people are doubting God’s power and Moses’ ability to care for them as they had been promised. Once again, Moses and Aaron are forced to prostrate themselves before God so that they might silence the mewling throngs of thirsty Israelites. (Numbers 20:2-7)
God’s answer to Moses and Aaron was very similar to what He had instructed previously (many years ago, by a plain understanding of the chronology) with one significant difference. Before, God had instructed Moses to strike the rock (Exodus 17:6), but this time, God told Moses to speak to the rock (Numbers 20:8) to obtain water for the people. However, in Moses’ speech to the people, as well as his actions, we can understand the nature of his failure.
“Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. (Numbers 20:10-11) Aside from Moses’ obvious frustration with the people, two things are evident. The first is that Moses did not carry out God’s command as instructed. The second is that Moses failed to give God the credit for the miracle. Whether by “we” Moses means himself and Aaron, or himself and God, he is wrong. God’s assessment of the error is plain. “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12) Whether in action or by word, Moses forgot his place before a holy and awesome God by putting himself on par with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. A grave mistake indeed.
After this, there were times in which Moses spoke about the issue as if it was the fault of the people that he was being punished by God. (Deuteronomy 1:37; 3:23-27; 4:21-22) There may be some truth to that, but it is not a complete picture. Every time God addressed it, He used almost the same words, “you did not treat Me as holy.” (Numbers 27:12-14; Deuteronomy 32:48-52)
We are often called to do God’s work in the presence of many people who do not respect or value God’s word. We are, in many ways, God representatives to the world. Let us always remember to treat God as holy.
