Numbers 20:8-18

8 ¹"Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ²you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle."

9 And Moses took the staff ³from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ⁴"Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?"

11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ⁵and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because ⁶you did not believe in me, ⁷to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them."

13 ⁸These are the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

14 ⁹Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to ¹⁰the king of Edom: "Thus says ¹¹your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met:

15 ¹²how our fathers went down to Egypt, ¹³and we lived in Egypt a long time. ¹⁴And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers.

16 And ¹⁵when we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice and ¹⁶sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.

17 ¹⁷Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ¹⁸or drink water from a well. We will go along the King's Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory."

18 But Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you."

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Numbers 20:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 20

In this chapter is an account of the children of Israel coming to the wilderness of Zin, where Miriam died, and where wanting water they murmured, Nu 20:1-5, upon which Moses and Aaron applied to the Lord, who ordered Moses to speak to a rock, which should give forth water, and which being smitten by him, accordingly did, Nu 20:6-11, but Moses and Aaron, in their conduct of this affair, displeased the Lord, Nu 20:12,13, after this, Moses sent to the king of Edom to desire a passage through his country, which request was refused, Nu 20:14-21, upon Israel's coming to Mount Hor, Aaron, by order, went up to the mount, and, when stripped of his clothes, which were put on his son Eleazar, he died, lamented by all the people, Nu 20:22-29.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 18

1. [Exodus 17:5]
2. See Exodus 17:6
3. Numbers 17:10
4. Psalms 106:32, 33
5. [See ver. 8 above]
6. Numbers 27:14; Deuteronomy 1:37; Deuteronomy 3:26; Deuteronomy 32:51
7. Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 36:23; Ezekiel 38:16
8. Numbers 27:14; Exodus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:51; Deuteronomy 33:8; Psalms 81:7; Psalms 95:8; Psalms 106:32
9. Judges 11:16, 17
10. See Genesis 36:31-39
11. Deuteronomy 2:4, 8; Deuteronomy 23:7; Obad. 10, 12
12. Genesis 46:6; Acts 7:15
13. See Exodus 12:40
14. Exodus 1:11; Deuteronomy 26:6
15. Exodus 2:23; Exodus 3:7
16. Exodus 3:2; Exodus 14:19; Exodus 23:20; Exodus 33:2
17. [Numbers 21:22; Deuteronomy 2:27]
18. [ver. 19]

Footnotes 1

[a]. Meribah means quarreling

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.