Numbers 20 explained: Water, Grief and a Closed Road

Miriam dies (v. 1)

The people are camped at Kadesh, an oasis in the southern desert, and most readers place this near the end of their forty years of wandering. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron and a leader in her own right, dies and is buried there.

No water, angry crowd (vv. 2-5)

The water runs out, and the people turn on Moses and Aaron, wishing they had died with those struck down in earlier rebellions. Their list of missing grain, figs, vines and pomegranates contrasts this dry place with the rich land they had been promised.

Told to speak to the rock (vv. 6-9)

Moses and Aaron go to the tent of meeting, the sacred tent where God met with them, and fall face down. Instead of punishing the people, the LORD tells Moses to take the staff and speak to a rock in front of everyone so it will give water.

Moses strikes the rock (vv. 10-13)

Moses calls the people rebels and strikes the rock twice instead of speaking to it, yet the water still pours out. God says he and Aaron failed to trust and honor him and so will not lead Israel into the land, though the text never spells out the exact fault: the striking, the anger, or words that made it sound as if they themselves were bringing out the water.

Edom blocks the road (vv. 14-21)

The Edomites descended from Esau, brother of Israel's ancestor Jacob, so Moses appeals to them as family, promising to stay on the King's Highway, a major trade road, and to pay for any water. Edom refuses twice and comes out with an army, so Israel turns away to take a longer route.

Aaron dies on Mount Hor (vv. 22-29)

On the mountain Moses takes off Aaron's high priest clothing and puts it on his son Eleazar, publicly handing the priesthood to the next generation before Aaron dies. The whole people mourn him for thirty days, the customary time of mourning for a great leader.

Key verse: Numbers 20:12

Where Christians differ

Christians genuinely differ over what Moses' failure at the rock actually was, whether striking instead of speaking, his angry words, or seeming to claim the miracle as his own, and so over why the punishment was so severe.

Something to think about

When someone who has carried a heavy load for years makes one costly mistake under pressure, how do you weigh that moment against everything else they did?