Numbers 20:7–11

Also they lacked water. The journey was still prolonged. The resources were far from increasing; on the contrary, what there had been of joy and testimony was vanishing. They gather themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. God directs them to the provision He had made against murmurings. If we have just witnessed His holiness, we see now His resources and His blessing.

It is deeply touching to find Moses, again and again, on his face before God. It was a sweet relief to escape from a noisy crowd and turn to the only One whose resources were enough for such a moment... As far as we can tell, they made no reply to the people at all. "They went from the presence of the assembly" and cast themselves upon the living God. They could not possibly have done better.

God told Moses and Aaron to take "the rod." This was clearly Aaron's rod that had budded. Moses took it "from before the Lord," where Numbers 17 says it had been stored.

"Take the rod," says God — He knows of no other now — "and speak to the rock, and it shall give forth its water." There is nothing to do but show the sign of grace... and speak the word, and the people's needs are met at once. This was not exactly the grace that had followed the people from the Red Sea to Sinai. Nor was it authority punishing sin. It was grace taking priestly knowledge of sin and needs.

The first time the people needed water, the rock had to be struck (Exodus 17). That pictured the Lord's death on the cross. But blessing ever after would and does flow from His intercession as our High Priest on high. So in Numbers 20 Moses was to take Aaron's rod, and with it in his hand simply speak to the rock. The rod spoke to God of the future high priesthood of His Son. The whole scene pictured in advance the blessing of the Lord's active intercession for the people.

We have apostolic authority for believing that the rock is Christ. In Exodus, God directed that the rock be struck — struck by Moses' rod of judgment... In Numbers it is the opposite. God told Moses to take the rod, that is, Aaron's rod of priestly grace from before Jehovah. He and Aaron were to speak to the rock in front of the people, and it would give water.

But Moses takes the rod as God commanded, and the rebellion of the people has soured him. He thinks of his authority and their rebellion. He does not grasp the counsels of grace, and speaks rashly: "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?"... The rebellion of the people and the contempt of his authority have got a firmer hold on his mind than the understanding of the grace of God. He strikes the rock with his rod.

The rock was struck once; that never needs to happen again. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." No need for that to be repeated... Ever after, all that is needed is to "speak to the Rock." The ministry of the Word ministers Christ to us in the refreshing power of the Holy Spirit.

God told Moses to take the rod and gather the congregation together. Then he was to speak to the rock in front of them, and it would give water for the people and for the animals (v.8). Moses therefore took the rod from before the Lord (v.9). This was Aaron's rod that budded (ch.17:10), the rod of priesthood. No doubt Moses remembered that he had used a rod before to bring water from a rock (Ex. 17:5). But that was not Aaron's rod. It was the rod of Moses, the rod of authority and judgment, and God told him to strike the rock with it. In that case, the striking speaks of Christ being judged at Calvary for our sins.

There was, also, Aaron's rod that budded, the witness that God had really called him to the priesthood. It was a rod cut off, its life taken away. Then, in the presence of God, it budded and brought forth fruit. It is a beautiful picture of how Christ, cut off in death, brings forth much fruit in resurrection — and so is marked out as the true Priest.

There was no need for Christ to be struck twice. Once was enough, and rivers of life-giving water flowed to us. Moses stood for God with the rod of priestly grace in his hand. So, on God's behalf, he had only to speak, and the waters would be given again. When our "great high priest … passed through the heavens" (Heb. 4:14), He was, so to speak, laid up before the Lord. Then the word was spoken, and what abundant waters flowed from Him in the gift of the Spirit, as recorded in Acts 2.

God called Aaron's rod "the rod." The other was set aside. They were never under that rod again. It is Christ for us, or nothing. It is only a word now, and every blessing flows. To smite the rock again would be the same as saying, because we fail Christ must die again. It is denying grace to say that anything is needed now except intercession.

There was no misunderstanding. "Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock." From this point on, however, everything was wrong. Moses was provoked by the great ingratitude and revolt of the people, and he "spoke rashly with his lips." "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" Who asked this of him? Moses was overcome by evil instead of overcoming evil with good.

Neither of them had learned the meaning of "the" rod. In anger Moses took his own rod, but what right had he to be angry when God would show only mercy? Both he and Aaron must die in the wilderness. … God remembered mercy, Moses thought of their sin. God looked at the rod as a pledge of grace, Moses saw only the "token."

Moses did not count on God's grace, which was all that was needed. But does God stop His grace because of this? Does He stop the water flowing to quench their thirst? No, He does not. He comes in Himself when the one who should act fails. He will act according to the rod He appointed, if Moses does not.

Moses did take the rod from before the LORD, as He commanded him. But when he and Aaron gathered the people, he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels!" Instead of speaking to the rock he speaks to them. He was not told to do so.

He was so jealous for his authority that for the moment he forgot his own place as a servant. "Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" Where was the honour due to God in that word "WE"? No one was as meek as Moses. But here he failed, and he did not honour God as holy in the eyes of the people. His own place and authority filled his mind: there was no room at that moment for the thought of grace.

He acted in defence of the holiness of God when he broke the tablets in pieces at the foot of the mountain. His anger burned hot, yet his behaviour fitted the command, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger." But when Moses raised his rod to strike the rock and said, "You rebels," his anger had sunk far lower. He was no longer defending the character of God, as he had done before. He now laid himself open to God's righteous anger, because he acted in direct opposition to His word and will.

The rebellion of the people and the contempt of his authority have got a firmer hold on his mind than the intelligence of the grace of God.

His sin was simply this: he gave a false picture of God to Israel. He misrepresented God to a rebellious people... God was acting towards Israel in the boundless grace of His own heart. It was grace, and priestly grace too, because only priestly grace can bring a complaining people through the wilderness. But Moses, instead of taking the rod, takes his own rod, the rod of judgment and government... he stood before the people the very contrast to that character in which God was dealing with them.

He did not serve in God's way. So his service was not acceptable. It displeased the Lord so much that he was not allowed to go into the land because of it... The failure was very great. He did not obey the Lord's plain command, and he also spoiled the picture. That picture was surely meant to teach us that the rock, once struck, need never be struck again. It would give out refreshing streams at the cry of faith, as we now know Christ.

We see, then, how angry God is with those who interfere with His ways in grace and dare to try to block its flow, whether towards saints or sinners. So God let Moses strike the rock, but He did not let that sin stop the tide of His grace. That grace rose higher than the sins of His people — including the sin of His servant Moses.

Oh, learn, I beg you, to choke your anger. Weep over your folly and sin in the presence of God. Be firm in your efforts to control the workings of your passions within. Firmly refuse to open your lips to say your words while they are red hot. Let them cool, or else like Moses you will speak rashly with your lips.

God told Moses to take the rod laid up before the Lord, which was Aaron's rod that had budded, and with it to speak to the rock, and the water would gush out. He struck the rock in disobedience. The water came out in grace, but he suffered for his act. What Moses no doubt did not understand then is plain to us now. Blessing flows to us only on the ground of the Lord's death. But He died only once. So on the first occasion when water was needed the rock was to be struck, a picture of the Lord's death on the cross. But blessing ever after would and does flow from His intercession as our High Priest on high.

There can be no repetition of the death of Christ; and so Moses was wrong to strike the rock twice with his rod — wrong to strike it at all. He was commanded to take "the rod," Aaron's rod, the priestly rod, and speak to the rock. The atoning work is done. Now our great High Priest has passed into the heavens, to appear in the presence of God for us. The streams of spiritual refreshment flow to us on the ground of accomplished redemption.

Moses has forgotten the rod. What is Moses? Nothing; he has no power to fetch water from the rock, and he has forgotten the present power of God, the only thing that could enable him to do it. He has forgotten God; he is thinking about himself. Here we see again the sin of our hearts, using the very grace God has given us for the purpose of self-exaltation, to say "we."

He who had so long lived as the meekest of men failed in this very respect at last. God was magnifying His mercy and calling attention plainly to the truth that nothing but priestly grace could bring an erring people through. At that moment Moses gave way to natural resentment and asserted his own authority. He had sunk to their level, instead of hiding himself, as faith would have done, behind the grace of God.

He had been told to speak to the rock; but he strikes it twice, as though divine power needed to be backed up by human energy. Yet still "the water came out." God's faithfulness is not touched by the failure of His servant... God may be using someone's ministry for the blessing of others at the very moment when He is about to discipline that same person.

At the water of Meribah Moses and Aaron sinned seriously. They committed a very high offence in striking the rock and challenging the congregation. But the water came out, and it came at once and abundantly, as though all were right. The whole congregation drank of it, and to all present appearances the Lord had no dispute with anyone. But afterwards the Lord let them know that their offence had not been overlooked. Because of it they would fall short of the land of Canaan and die on the wilderness side of the Jordan.

Moses spoiled the picture. The rock had been struck once. Christ has been struck once... What we need is not a fresh giving of the Spirit. We don't have to have Christ go and die again in order to give us the Spirit again. No! Speak to the Rock. Christ is the Rock. Speak to Him, so that the fullness of the Spirit may flow out more and be seen in His saints.