The People Complain Because They Have Been Dragged Away From the Pleasures of Egypt and Moses and Aaron intercede before Yahweh (Numbers 20:4-6).
“ And why have you (ye) brought the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts?”
Why, the only result of their still being alive was that they had now been brought to this wilderness to die along with all their herds and flocks. All was despair. Note their accusation. They claimed to be ‘the assembly of Yahweh'. And yet they had no trust in Yahweh to provide. They were simply using the idea in order to put Moses and Aaron in the wrong. They were trying to force home on Moses and Aaron the greatness of their failure. How could they bring ‘the assembly of Yahweh' to such a pass. Did Moses and Aaron not realise that they were to be seen as completely to blame for their predicament and for letting down Yahweh's holy people? It was they who had brought the assembly of Yahweh into the wilderness to die, when they could have been worshipping Yahweh in Egypt. They were responsible before Yahweh.
Such was their hypocrisy. Yet it was not only an accusation against Moses, it was an unspoken, backhanded accusation against Yahweh Himself. Moses had told them that they were His people, that they were ‘the assembly of Yahweh', but now even He had brought them to die miserably here in the wilderness.
But they should have recognised that if they were the ‘assembly of Yahweh' their disappointment would only be for a moment. If they would but look to Him in confident trust they would be doubly blessed, first by the joy of trusting in the darkness, and then by the equal joy of receiving blessing and experiencing God's power when the water came.
“ And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, nor is there any water to drink.”
Instead they were angry at the thought that they had been so well off in Egypt, and yet Moses had dragged them away from it! There they had had seed, and figs, and vines, and pomegranates, and above all plenty of water. To listen to them you would have thought that life in Egypt had been a bed of roses. But their main point was that Moses had promised a land of ‘milk and honey', of seed, and figs, and vines and pomegranates, and that this evil place in which they found themselves was the very opposite. At least in Egypt they had had something. This was a place of total dearth and barrenness. And even Miriam was dead so that the song had gone from their hearts.
And it should be noted that this was the new generation in which Moses had pinned such hopes, and for whom God had such great plans. But they had had thirty eight years in the wilderness and hope had grown dim. They were beginning to despair of any prospects for the future. Hope deferred was making the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12).
‘And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them.'
The reaction of Moses and Aaron was to leave the assembly and approach the door of the Tent of meeting. That is always a good move to make in a crisis. And there they fell on their faces, ‘and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them'. He had not deserted them. He was still the same as ever. He does not change. It is we who change.
There comes a time in most of our lives when we have to face the dearth in the wilderness. It is then that the test of our faith comes. Will we grumble and look back and wish we had never been converted? Or will we approach the door of the Tent of meeting that we might see the glory of God? For if we do this latter we can be sure that soon we will again begin to see His wondrous working on our behalf.