Posted on 08/09/2019 8:34:17 AM PDT by Salvation
BM
Not near as bad as grousing about Moses.
It all makes sense in the end.
Really on the part of the speech issues. More like humility.
Yes, anger could had been the issue. The only person to be ever just in his anger, when He overturned the merchant tables is Jesus.
This story represents a archetype of Christ and His sacrifice. In the first situation, to obtain salvation (water), Moses was told to strike the rock (representing Christ’s suffering and death for our salvation). The second time, salvation had already been provided, so Moses only needed to ask for it (speak to the rock). Instead, he struck it again, thus changing the message God was trying to show His people through this archetype. Christ’s sacrifice only needed to happen once. After that, all those who “call upon the name of the Lord” will be saved.
The anger and speech explanations I gave are the traditional Jewish ones.
And also I view it,as a person with physical challenges,a reminder that those with challenges are also called to holiness.
Or: “Moses supposes his toeses are Roses,
But Moses supposes Erroneously,
Moses he knowses his toeses aren’t roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tciT9bmCMq8
This story from Exodus shows how God demands that His instructions be carried out EXACTLY without questioning and how severely Moses was punished for not carrying out God’s demand to the letter. Scary, huh?
Isaiah 42:8
He gives us the kingdom...He doesn’t say we can take credit for the Kingdom.
As always, God explained His symbolism:
"...they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4, and
"...whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14.
So:
Moses/Law
strikes/crucifies
Rock/Christ
once for salvation, then
speaks/prays
afterward for fellowship with the Spirit, as in John 7:37-39: "...Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive."
And yet for all our faults, by His Grace, although unworthy, we are forgiven.
As a youngster, I was taught that after Moses struck the rock the first time, water did not come forth, so he struck it a second time and water gushed forth. The two strikes were interpreted as a lack of faith on Moses part. So he was denied entry into the promised land.
Coming into adulthood I interpreted the scripture as also reflecting Moses doubt about what he had done as he absorbed the discontent and lack of gratitude on the part of the people he led.
Remember similarly how Moses was angered when he descended Mt. Sinai the first time with the tablets of God’s law and as he saw the people had constructed a golden calf for worship, Moses smashed the tablets on the ground and cursed the people before again ascending the mount.
Perhaps it could be said that Moses became remorseful and was sorry for following God’s instructions feeling the people were not worthy of God’s love. Yet God forgave the people, forgave Moses and exalted him.
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