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Chapter 21—The Sin of Moses
This chapter is based on
Numbers 20
.
Again the congregation of Israel was brought into the wilderness,
to the very place where God proved them soon after leaving Egypt.
The Lord brought them water out of the rock, which had continued
to flow until just before they came again to the rock, when the Lord
caused that living stream to cease, to prove His people again, to see
if they would endure the trial of their faith or would again murmur
against Him.
When the Hebrews were thirsty and could find no water, they
became impatient and did not remember the power of God which
had, nearly forty years before, brought them water out of the rock.
Instead of trusting God, they complained of Moses and Aaron, and
said to them, “Would God that we had died when our brethren died
before the Lord!” That is, they wished that they had been of that
number who had been destroyed by the plague in the rebellion of
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
They angrily inquired, “Why have ye brought up the congrega-
tion of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should
die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt,
to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs,
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or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
“And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell
upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou
the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye
unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and
thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt
give the congregation and their beasts to drink. And Moses took the
rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him.
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