WATER FROM THE ROCKMOSES AND AARON STRIKE THE ROCK TO OBTAIN WATER (Num. 20:8-11)
Have you ever wondered about why Yah was so upset with Moses in regards to the striking the rock in the desert incident? Hopefully the following nugget will help you understand a little bit more about it. Let's have a look at some gold hidden in a book of Numbers parashah (Chukat..Hukkat).
Num. 20:8-12 (see also Rev. 22:1-3)“Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” So Moses took the rod from before Adonai, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
In order to understand this nugget we must be familiar with a trick that only experienced shepherds used to obtain water from rocks in the desert. There are some rocks in the desert that absorb water and this water remains inside for long periods of time. Experienced shepherds knew which type of rock contained water, and by tapping (striking) the rock with their staff they could tell by the sound if the rock contained water. In some cases this practice was a matter of life and death for the shepherds and their flocks. It was known to the people as one of the shepherds tricks of survival. Because Yah knew this was common knowledge among the people Moses and Aaron were told specifically to “speak” to the rock, in order to not be seen as shepherds depending on their own ability to find water for the people. Even if they could use this shepherds trick, it would of course never provide enough water for the millions of people present. The fact that Moses and Aaron appeared to use this trick is the real reason Yah was upset with them. Other thoughts in regard to this episode are as follows:
1) If you read closely you will see that Moses said “shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?. Most people miss this point. Moses and Aaron (in agreement) were making it sound like THEY, “we”, were about to do a miracle. He did not give the glory to Yah. Pure and simple. Moses positioned himself temporarily, (as far as we can tell), as the Almighty. Yah didn’t let him get away with this, a lesson well learned. Yah is the ROCK. His Torah is the WORD that sprang forth as a river at Mt. Sinai. The Torah is the origin of the pure clean water, the Word. In Rev. 22:1-2 we see Yah’s word come forth as the river of life from the throne. This river feeds the trees of life from which symbolically all healing will come to the Nations.
2) Moses was told to speak to the rock, not hit it. It represented the slavery of the Jews in Egypt when they were struck and made to do things rather than asked. He was to speak, representing the new freedom the Jews had. Yahveh is the rock of living water. (2Sam. 22:1-3, Ps. 118:22, Isa. 28:16, 12:3, 44:3, 1Pet. 2:4-6, John 4:13-14, 7:37-39) Although this life giving drink is freely available, it is by asking that we receive it, not by demanding (striking--being forced) it.
3) Who is the rock (cornerstone) from which all who come to will never thirst again (Ps. 78:35). Yeshua is that well of water from which we receive life (1Pet. 2:6-8). Moses striking the rock was symbolic of Yeshua providing us with all our nourishment, especially the water of life. He is life. He is the Torah from which life flows. He quenches the thirst of all those who come to Him.
I always find it amazing just how many gold nuggets there are in our Living Word.
