And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
There was no water for the congregation. There was at Kadesh a fountain, En-mishpat (Genesis 14:7), and at the first encampment of the Israelites there was no want of water. It was now, however, either partially dried up by the heat of the season, or had been exhausted by the demands of so vast a multitude.
Verse 4,5. Why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness? What wilderness? Numbers 20:1 informs us that it was the desert of Zin х midbar (H4057) Tsin (H6790)] - different from the wilderness of Sin. Midbar denotes an extensive open tract, with or without pasture, the country of nomads; and there were many isolated spots of verdure and fertility in the desert region which was the scene of Israel's protracted wandering. But that portion which is called "The wilderness of Zin" is always described as "great and terrible" (see the notes at Deuteronomy 8:15; Deuteronomy 8:19; Deuteronomy 32:10).
Verse 6. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly. Here is a fresh ebullition of the untamed and discontented spirit of the people, who threw the blame entirely on Moses for bringing them into that sterile and arid region: whence it may be inferred that the cloudy pillar had been withdrawn in just displeasure; otherwise Moses might have pointed to it as the divine conductor into that desert. The leaders fled to the precincts of the sanctuary, both as an asylum from the increasing fury of the highly excited rabble and as their usual refuge in seasons of perplexity and danger, to implore the direction and aid of God.
Verse 8. Take the rod - which had been deposited in the tabernacle (Numbers 17:10); the wonder-working rod by which so many miracles had been performed, sometimes called "the rod of God" (Exodus 4:20), sometimes Moses' (Numbers 20:11) or Aaron s rod (Exodus 7:12).
And speak ye unto the rock before their eyes - manifestly a particular rock; in all probability the rock on which the cloud had recently rested.
Verse 10. Moses ... said ... Hear now, ye rebels. The conduct of the great leader on this occasion was hasty and passionate (Psalms 106:33). He had been directed to speak to the rock; but he smote it twice in his impetuosity, thus endangering the blossoms of the rod; and instead of speaking to the rock, he spoke to the people in a fury.
Moreover, his speech conveyed the impression that it was by some power or virtue inherent in him or in the rod that the miracle was performed. Stanley gives a different view of the words of Moses, as implying a doubt or distrust. "Must we," he renders, 'can we fetch water out of this cliff?' ('Lectures on the Jewish Church,' p. 183.)
Both unbecoming impatience and unbelief were displayed by Moses on this occasion. There was an ebullition of impatience. The death of his sister, the contemporaneous want of water in the camp, and the general outbreak against him during this season, had so greatly discomposed his mind that his habitual equanimity forsook him, and he spoke under the influence of unaccustomed excitement. But besides this, there was a strong feeling of incredulity whether, though he was ordered to take the rod, the divine goodness would now graciously favour the people as formerly. Hence, some writers consider that his hasty smiting of the rock twice was an act of distrust-that such a rebellious rabble would be relieved by a miracle; and that as the water did not gush out immediately, his distrust rose into unbelief, a confirmed persuasion that they would get none. Lightfoot ('Chr. Temp.') thinks that as God had miraculously supplied the people with water on their entrance into the wilderness, Moses supposed that the second miraculous supply would be followed by a similarly protracted period of wandering; and that his sin consisted in his discrediting God's promise to lead the people into Canaan.
Verse 11. The congregation drank, and their beasts. Physically the water afforded the same kind of needful refreshment to both. But in a religious point of view this, which was only a common element to the cattle, was a sacrament to the people (1 Corinthians 10:3-4.).-it possessed a relative sanctity, imparted to it by its divine origin and use.
Verse 12. Because ye believed me not ... The act of Moses in smiting twice betrayed a doubt, not of the power, but of the will of God to gratify such a rebellious people; and his exclamation seems to have emanated from a spirit of incredulity akin to Sarai's (Genesis 18:13). These circumstances indicate the influence of unbelief; and there might have been others unrecorded which led to so severe a chastisement as exclusion from the promised land. Considering their public character and position as rulers and teachers of the people, the sentence denounced against Moses and Aaron for their disobedient conduct on this occasion was not disproportionate to their offence: They were guilty of great presumption in acting on their own account, or in endeavouring to inspire a superstitious reverence for themselves and their rod of office; and hence, they were doomed not to cross the Jordan or to enter the land of promise.
Verse 13. This is the water of Meribah. The word Kadesh is added to it to distinguish it from another Meribah (Exodus 17:7).