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Exodus 17; Numbers 20 – Meribah: Lessons Learned From Israel
The first Meribah – Israel has just left Egypt, 430 years of slavery, seen ten plagues demonstrating the power of God and their own place within God’s heart, witnessed a pillar of fire, the dividing of the Red Sea, the destruction of an entire army, bitter water miraculously turned sweet, manna from heaven, more quail meat than they could eat, and yet they still did not trust God enough to give them water in their time of need. Not only did they not trust God, Moses even feared for his life that they might riot and stone him.
The second Meribah – Israel has just spent 40 years in the wilderness, the wicked generation that listened to the fearful spies has died the wilderness, 40 years of manna, clothes never wearing out, and apparently ample water – “…from the time when Moses had struck the rock of Rephidim, in the book of Exodus, to this moment at Kadesh, in the book of Numbers, there had not been a word about the Israelites lacking water (emp. Kugel). At the same time, Scripture did not report on their reaching any new oasis of digging any new wells.” (James L. Kugel,)
The first incident occurred within the first year of the Exodus, but the last event happened in the last year (so most scholars say). And yet, separated by 40 years we see the same ungrateful, disbelieving attitude – “Like Father, Like Son.” As Friedrich Hegel said, “The one thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
What words would you use to describe these people? Rebels (Numbers 20:10); Testers (Deuteronomy 6:16); Provokers (Deuteronomy 9:22); Doubters (Psalm 78:19); Hardened Hearts (Psalm 95:8); Rebellious (Psalm 106: 33). It would be easy to add to this list; all we would need to do is to go to the dictionary and look up words that begin with “un-“ (there are 3876) – unashamed; unbalanced; unbearable; unbecoming; unbeholden; unbelievable; uncommitted; unconscionable; uncooperative; uncorrectable; undependable; unappreciative; undevout; unfaithful; unfair; unfathomable; unfocused; ungodly; ungracious; ungrateful; unhappy; unheeding; unholy; uninformed; unjustifiable; unkind; unlawful; unlikeable; unobservant; unpleasant; unprincipled; unreasonable; unregenerate; unrealistic; unruly; unstable; untrustworthy; ununderstandable.
I did not include “unlovable” because even after all that, God did still love Israel, for God is love.
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