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How God Looks at Sin, October 12
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring
this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Numbers 20:12
.
Some would regard ... [Moses’] sin as one that should be lightly passed over;
but God sees not as man sees. When within sight of the hills of Canaan, the
Israelites murmured because the stream that had flowed wherever they encamped
ceased. The cries of the people were directed against Moses and Aaron, whom
they accused of bringing them into the wilderness to perish. The leaders went to
the door of the tabernacle and fell on their faces. Again “the glory of the Lord
appeared,” and Moses was directed, “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” (
Numbers 20:8
).
The two brothers went on before the multitude, Moses with the rod of God in
his hand. They were now aged men. Long had they borne with the rebellion and
obstinacy of Israel; but now, at last, even the patience of Moses gave way. “Hear
now, ye rebels,” he cried; “must
we
fetch you water out of this rock?” (
Verse 10
).
And instead of speaking to the rock, as God had commanded him, he smote it
twice with the rod.
The water gushed forth in abundance to satisfy the host. But a great wrong had
been done. Moses had spoken from irritated feeling.... “Shall
we
bring water?” he
questioned, as if the Lord would not do what He promised. “Ye believed me not,”
the Lord declared to the two brothers, “to sanctify me in the eyes of the children
of Israel” (
Verse 12
).
More than this, Moses and Aaron had assumed power that belongs only to
God. The necessity for divine interposition made the occasion one of great
solemnity, and the leaders of Israel should have improved it to impress the people
with reverence for God and to strengthen their faith in His power and goodness.
When they angrily cried, “Must
we
fetch you water out of this rock?” they put
themselves in God’s place, as if the power lay in themselves. By these words they
greatly dishonored Christ, their invisible Leader. God, not man, should have been
glorified. The Lord reproved these leaders, and declared that they should not enter
the Promised Land. Before the Hebrew host He demonstrated that the sin of the
leader was greater than the sin of those who were led.—
Manuscript 169, October
12, 1903
, “Words of Warning Against Present Dangers.”
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