Numbers 20 Study Notes

20:1 The first month, Abib (Nisan), in the spring of the fortieth year, brought the conclusion of the punishment of Israel in the wilderness. The chapter begins with the death of Miriam and concludes with Aaron’s death on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the exodus (33:38-39). This was the month of the deliverance from Egypt, in which the people should have been celebrating the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the promised land. Instead they found themselves back at Kadesh after forty years. Once more they grumbled about their water supply just as the first generation had done soon after they crossed the Red Sea (Ex 15:23-26; 17:1-7). On Kadesh and the Zin Wilderness, see note at Nm 13:26. Miriam’s death is recounted briefly. Its inclusion here provides a clue about the coming sin of Moses and Aaron.

20:2 The grumbling Israelites were now back where they had first received the scouts’ report assessing the promised land (13:25-26). Their ten-person majority report had produced a rebellious rejection of the land by the Israelites and the forty-year judgment in the wilderness. Miriam had just died, and Moses and Aaron were aging leaders suffering the loss of their beloved sister, who had rescued the infant Moses from death at the hands of the Egyptians.

20:3-5 The shortage of water led to an insurrection of the Israelites against their leaders. This event recalls the earlier event by the older generation in Ex 17:1-7. Once more the people claimed that it would have been better to die in Egypt than to suffer such hardship in that barren wilderness. They preferred bondage, oppression, and death in captivity over their miraculous deliverance, freedom, and provision from the Lord.

The wilderness around Kadesh was a difficult environment, but the people were responsible for their own predicament because they had refused to enter the land “flowing with milk and honey.”

20:6-8 The staff mentioned here was probably the staff of Aaron that had budded, blossomed, and produced almonds to confirm Aaron’s priestly authority (see note at 17:8-9). It was kept before the ark of the testimony as a warning to any future grumbling rebels (17:10). The water the Lord promised to Moses and Aaron would be more than enough for the people and their animals.

20:9-11 Moses fell into unfaithfulness by unleashing a verbal attack on the rebels and declaring that he and Aaron were about to bring forth water from a rock. Then he struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it. He presumed upon the presence of God to respond faithfully and graciously to his rebellious acts.

When Moses struck the rock, abundant water gushed out. Geographers and biblical interpreters have written for years of the aquifers beneath portions of the Sinai Peninsula. The several oases such as at Serabit al-Khadem, Ain Hawarah, Ain Khadra, and Ain el-Qudeirat (Kadesh-barnea) provide examples of such abundant water. Nevertheless, provision of water where none had been before was a miracle displaying the grace of God.

20:12-13 Moses’s actions were similar to those of an idolatrous pagan magician who claimed to have god-like powers. Holiness and purity, parallel themes of the book of Numbers, had been violated by Moses and Aaron. The cycles of rebellion now had reached from the general population to its most noble leaders. God punished Moses by declaring that he would not bring this assembly into the land.

20:14-17 Moses’s message to the king of Edom followed classical Hebrew epistolary form and customary protocol of the Bronze and Iron ages. The content had all the earmarks of ancient Near Eastern diplomatic correspondence between nobles delivered by royal messengers.

The mention of the point of origin for the letter at Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory, made the king of Edom aware of Israel’s immediate need for passage. If this Kadesh is taken to be Kadesh-barnea, and if it lay near the border of Edomite territory, this implies that some of the early tribal Edomites had settled or controlled some areas west of the Arabah. Others believe the phrase means that Israel under Moses was simply approaching the Edomite region. If Edom was transitioning from a seminomadic society to a sedentary culture, “outskirts of your border” would have been rather fluid. Like Israel, the Edomites did not become a formal state in the modern sense until the Iron II period (1000-550 BC).

Moses’s request included specifics about how the Israelites would respect Edomite domain if they would grant passage. The seasonal description indicates spring, when grain fields were at or near harvest time and vine dressing for the summer and fall crops had just begun. Thus, it was important to assure the Edomites that their crops would not be trampled or scavenged. Water rights also were of great concern, even as they are among the Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians today. The Israelites would presumably bring their own water supply from Kadesh during their brief passage of perhaps two days through the Edomite highlands.

The King’s Highway was a famous trade route connecting Damascus with Arabia, Sinai, and Egypt through the Transjordan tablelands (Golan, Bashan, Gilead, Ammon, Moab, and Edom) and the southern mountains, paralleling the Arabah on the eastern side. Caravans brought highly prized incense, spices, perfumes, precious jewels, and copper from the Sinai and Paran wilderness sources.

20:18-21 Moses’s attempt at diplomatic correspondence carried alternative stipulations, some of which are preserved in the text of v. 19. The suggestion of payment for safe passage was in keeping with ancient Near Eastern protocol, as tolls or tribute were often exacted from trade caravans. The harsh Edomite answer caused bitter feelings between Israel and Edom for centuries.

20:22 The location of Mount Hor depends on the route followed by the Israelites. As with Kadesh (v. 16), Mount Hor was on the border with Edom, according to 33:37. The Israelites skirted around the boundaries of the militant Edomites. Suggested mountains have included the traditional Islamic identity of Jebel Nebi Harun (“Mount of the Prophet Aaron”) near Petra; Jebel Medra about six miles northeast of Kadesh; ‘Imaret el-Khurisheh about eight miles north of Kadesh; or Jebel Madurah about 15 miles northeast of Kadesh-barnea.

20:23-29 Aaron’s death, like the death and burial of Abraham (Gn 25:8), Ishmael (Gn 25:17), Isaac (Gn 35:29), Jacob (Gn 49:29,33), and then later Moses (Nm 27:13; Dt 32:50), is described as being gathered to his people. The phrase conveys the idea of being reunited with one’s ancestral families in Sheol, the place of the dead. A person was not to be left unburied or “ungathered” since this was viewed as a disgraceful end of life.