(Shirley made some excellent comments on the first section of my paper on anger. I have rewritten portions of it, and submit it to you now.)
The mob had grown quiet. All that could be heard was the desert wind. The blowing sand burned in their eyes, but they could see the anger in his face. His hands were still shaking and his heart pounding as he walked away from the rock. The water rushing from the rock flowed like the contempt he felt toward his own people that day. They were back at the spot where it all began. At this place nearly forty years before, God had told Israel to go in and take the Promised Land (Num 14). Out of fear and lack of faith they had refused. That rebellious generation had been cursed to live out their days in the desert. Their descendants were no different from their parents. They had learned nothing in those miserable years.
He had barely buried his sister when they came at him grumbling about his leadership and demanding water. They would not even give him time to grieve. This same litany of demands and complains he had heard forty years ago. Once more he humbled himself before God asking what he should do. His answer was simple and lacking drama. “Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water” was all he said. For Moses their whining and self-pity was more than he could stand. All the accumulated anger, exasperation, and frustration of those years boiled to the surface as he stood before those rebels and twice struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to the rock as he was commanded (Num 20:1-11).
God was so disappointed in Moses. First, he failed to honor God before Israel with his words. He spoke harshly, “Listen you
rebels must we bring you water out of this rock (emphasis added)?” points to Moses’ judgment on these people instead of “Speak to that rock”, which would point to the grace and love of God. In so doing he communicated the opposite of what God wanted to say at that moment. He failed to show proper deference to the presence of God among his people.
Second, he allowed his anger to take charge of his actions by striking the rock instead of speaking to it. By his disobedience, he demonstrated a lack of trust in God and his word. In his anger he did not believe that speaking was enough. As a result his leadership of Israel would end at the edge of the Promised Land (Num 20:12). Such is the power of the sin of anger.
It had to have been a bitter pill for Moses to swallow. For forty years he had led the children of Israel in the desert to get them into the Promised Land. Now that they were finally ready to enter this good land, he would not be able to go with them. How could this be? How could this man who was “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num 12:3) and to whom God had spoken “face to face” (Num 12:8) not be permitted into the Promised Land?
The mob had grown quiet. All that could be heard was the desert wind. The blowing sand burned in their eyes, but they could see the anger in his face. His hands were still shaking and his heart pounding as he walked away from the rock. The water rushing from the rock flowed like the contempt he felt toward his own people that day. They were back at the spot where it all began. At this place nearly forty years before, God had told Israel to go in and take the Promised Land (Num 14). Out of fear and lack of faith they had refused. That rebellious generation had been cursed to live out their days in the desert. Their descendants were no different from their parents. They had learned nothing in those miserable years.
He had barely buried his sister when they came at him grumbling about his leadership and demanding water. They would not even give him time to grieve. This same litany of demands and complains he had heard forty years ago. Once more he humbled himself before God asking what he should do. His answer was simple and lacking drama. “Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water” was all he said. For Moses their whining and self-pity was more than he could stand. All the accumulated anger, exasperation, and frustration of those years boiled to the surface as he stood before those rebels and twice struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to the rock as he was commanded (Num 20:1-11).
God was so disappointed in Moses. First, he failed to honor God before Israel with his words. He spoke harshly, “Listen you
rebels must we bring you water out of this rock (emphasis added)?” points to Moses’ judgment on these people instead of “Speak to that rock”, which would point to the grace and love of God. In so doing he communicated the opposite of what God wanted to say at that moment. He failed to show proper deference to the presence of God among his people.Second, he allowed his anger to take charge of his actions by striking the rock instead of speaking to it. By his disobedience, he demonstrated a lack of trust in God and his word. In his anger he did not believe that speaking was enough. As a result his leadership of Israel would end at the edge of the Promised Land (Num 20:12). Such is the power of the sin of anger.
It had to have been a bitter pill for Moses to swallow. For forty years he had led the children of Israel in the desert to get them into the Promised Land. Now that they were finally ready to enter this good land, he would not be able to go with them. How could this be? How could this man who was “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num 12:3) and to whom God had spoken “face to face” (Num 12:8) not be permitted into the Promised Land?
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