Numbers 20:12

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10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^a“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”

11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^aand water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^ayou did not believe Me, to ^bhallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

13 ^aThis was the water of¹ Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

14 ^aNow Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^bEdom. ^c“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us,

15 ^ahow our fathers went down to Egypt, ^band we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^cand the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

16 ^aWhen we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^bsent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border.

17 Please ^alet us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; 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 Then ^aEdom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

19 So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^athen I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

20 Then he said, ^a“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand.

21 Thus Edom ^arefused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^bturned away from him.

Death of Aaron

22 Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^aKadesh ^band came to Mount Hor.

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying:

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Numbers 20:12

Because ye believed me not - What was the offense for which Moses was excluded from the promised land? It appears to have consisted in some or all of the following particulars:

1.God had commanded him (Numbers 20:8) to take the rod in his hand, and go and Speak To The Rock, and it should give forth water. It seems Moses did not think speaking would be sufficient, therefore he smote the rock without any command so to do.

2.He did this twice, which certainly in this case indicated a great perturbation of spirit, and want of attention to the presence of God.

3.He permitted his spirit to be carried away by a sense of the people' s disobedience, and thus, being provoked, he was led to speak unadvisedly with his lips: Hear now, ye Rebels, Numbers 20:10.

4.He did not acknowledge God in the miracle which was about to be wrought, but took the honor to himself and Aaron: "Must We fetch you water out of this rock?"

Thus it plainly appears that they did not properly believe in God, and did not honor him in the sight of the people; for in their presence they seem to express a doubt whether the thing could be possibly done. As Aaron appears to have been consenting in the above particulars, therefore he is also excluded from the promised land.

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing Numbers 20:12:**

Numbers 27:14
Deuteronomy 1:37
Deuteronomy 32:51
Psalms 106:33

<< Numbers 20:11

Numbers 20:13 >>

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