SUMMARY
The people complain for lack of water, which God provides, though the event results in MosesProphet who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land and received the law at Sinai More and AaronMoses' brother and spokesman, and Israel's first high priest. More being excluded from the promised land.
ANALYSIS
This story continues the series of complaint or murmuring stories that began immediately after the crossing of the sea in Exodus 15. Of particular interest here is the obvious similarity between this story and its counterpart in Exodus 17:1-7. The repetition provides insight into how the ancient Israelites told and retold their ancestral stories at different times and for different purposes. In Exodus 17, the story occurs even before the arrival at Sinai, showing the early development of Israel’s rebellion and Moses’ frustration. In Exodus, however, the issue is quickly resolved; water is provided, proving God’s presence with them (which the people had doubted), and the place is named Meribah (Hebrew “quarrel”) to commemorate the event. (Actually, in Exodus the place is given two names, Massah [“test”] and Meribah, which some commentators have seen as an indication of different sources or traditions behind the story there. Other early stories are also told, in part at least, to explain place names along the journey–for example, Marah [“bitter”] in Exodus 15:23.) As a story that continues this wilderness theme of rebellion, testing, and graceGrace is the unmerited gift of God's love and acceptance. In Martin Luther's favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More, the Exodus story has been seen as belonging to the early traditions of Israel’s history writing (sometimes called the JE source). Numbers, however, uses the story for a different purpose. Here, the priestly writers have included Aaron as a leading character alongside Moses and use the story to indicate God’s disfavor with Moses and Aaron that will prevent them from entering the land. As this doublet shows, biblical writers will use the same story as the basis for different “sermons” in different generations.
PaulA Christian missionary who once persecuted the church More refers to this water from the rock as the “spiritual drink” provided to Israel in the wilderness. Since the rock provided life and proved the presence of God, Paul calls the rock “Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).
