memories of the desert (2nd Part)
You did not trust me
1 The whole congregation of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there.
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered together against Moses and Aaron.
3 They disputed with Moses saying, “Would that we had perished with our kinsmen in the presence of Yah weh!
4 Why have you led Yahweh’s community to this desert to die here with our cattle?
5 And why did you bring us out of Egypt to this wretched place? It’s no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates and there’s not even water for drinking.”
6 Moses and Aaron fled from the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. Then the Glory of Yahweh appeared
7 and Yahweh spoke to Moses,
8 “Take your rod and assemble the com mu nity, you and Aaron, your bro ther. In their presence command the rock to give forth water and you will make water gush from the rock for the com mu nity and their livestock to drink.”
9 So Moses took the rod from be fore Yahweh as he had been ordered.
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock and said to them, “Listen, you rebels. Shall we bring water for you from this rock?”
11 Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. And then water in abundance gushed out for the community and their livestock to drink.
12 But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “You did not trust me nor treat me as the Holy One in the sight of the Israelites; because of that you shall not lead this community into the land that I am giving you.”
13 It was at the waters of Meribah that the sons of Israel quarreled with Yahweh and where he showed his holiness to them.
Edom refuses right of way
14 Moses sent messengers from Ka desh to the king of Edom, and they said to him, “This is the petition of your brother Israel: you know the trials we had to suffer.
15 Our fathers went down to Egypt and we lived there for a long time. But the Egyptians treated us badly as they did our fathers.
16 Then we cried to Yahweh and he listened to us. He sent an angel to bring us out of Egypt and now we are in Kadesh, the town which is on the borders of your territory.
17 We want you to let us pass through your land. We will not cross any fields or vineyards, or drink any water from the wells, but we will keep to the king’s road without turning to right or left until we are out of your land.”
18 Edom answered, “You shall not pass through my land. If you do, I will come out to attack you.”
19 The Israelites then said, “We will keep to the road and we will even pay for the water we and our cattle drink. We ask only for your permission to pass through with our sheep.”
20 Edom answered, “You shall not pass through.” And the Edomites marched out to meet Israel with many armed men and a strong army.
21 Thus, Edom refused to let Israel pass through his land, and Israel had to turn away.
Death of Aaron
22 The Israelites set out from Kadesh and the whole community came to Mount Hor.
23 There, on the border of the land of Edom, Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,
24 “Aaron must now be gathered to his people. You shall not enter the land that I am giving to Israel since you re belled against me at the waters of Meri bah.
25 Take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, and bring them up Mount Hor.
26 There, strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, before Aaron is gathered to his people. For he is to die there.”
27 Moses did as Yahweh ordered. In the sight of the whole community they went up Mount Hor.
28 There Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron died there on top of the mountain.
29 When the Israelites saw that Aaron had died, the whole community wept for him for thirty days.
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Comments Numbers, Chapter 20
• 20.1 This account is part of texts drawn up by the priests after their return from captivity. It takes up the episode related in Ex 17:1-7 but with the addition of a “sin of Moses!” Why? Rereading the history of their forebears these priests faced a question: how was it possible that Moses, this prophet with whom “God spoke face to face” (Ex 33:11), had been excluded from the Promised Land? Moses had mysteriously died on Mt. Nebo. A certitude, however, remained: God is just! If Moses had not entered the Promised Land, it was because he had sinned. They then rewrote the account but charging Moses with sin: he had doubted God!
We have a similar case in comparing the two accounts of the death of Josiah, the just king (2 K 22:2 and 23:29 compared with 2 Chr 35:19-25).
Only the fulfillment of Scripture in Jesus could fully enlighten us on the mission of Moses. His mission was to guide the people of God to the entrance of the Promised Land. Once there, he could step aside and say with John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament: “He must increase, I must decrease.” Joshua’s ministry was now beginning: to open the gates of the Promised Land to the people of God and let them take possession of it. The double vocation of Moses and Joshua prefigures and throws light on the mission of the Old Testament and that of Jesus (in Hebrew, the names Joshua and Jesus are the same).