Posted on 08/09/2019 8:34:17 AM PDT by Salvation
At Thursday’s daily Mass (Thursday of the 18th week of the year) we read of the sin that excluded Moses from leading the people to the Promised Land. While there are some mysterious elements to it, one thing seems clear: the grumbling of the people got on Moses’ nerves. Indeed, grumbling often affects more than just the one doing the complaining. Through it, infectious negativity can be set loose. Even if only a small number are grousing, it can still incite discontent, anger, and/or fear in others. Yes, the people nearly wore him out. At a particularly low moment, when the people were complaining about the food, Moses lamented to God,
Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,” to the land that you swore to give their fathers? … I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness (Numbers 11:11-12, 14-15).
Moses was so dispirited that he preferred to die rather than continue on in this way. In his weariness, he spoke rashly, and God excluded him from leading the people into the Promised Land:
Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates? Here there is not even water to drink!” But Moses and Aaron went way from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate.
Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (Numbers 20:2-12).
Many have pondered the precise nature of Moses’ sin and why the punishment for it was so severe. A few different explanations have been posited:
This third explanation leads us back to the heart of our meditation: grumbling causes harm to the ones who grumble and to others who hear it. Moses was worn out by their complaining; as Psalm 106 says, his spirit grew bitter. He spoke rashly and reviled the people; in a flash of anger, he may also have yielded to sinful pride.
Why God punished him so severely is somewhat mysterious. St. Basil the Great used it as an object lesson to us all: “If the just man is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” (Preface on the Judgment of God).
Whatever the reason for the drastic punishment, behold what grumbling does. It fuels discontent and bitterness. Be careful, fellow Christians; we can all succumb to the temptation to draw others into our anger, doubts, dissatisfaction, and fears. After all, misery loves company. Sharing concerns with friends is good and necessary, but this must be tempered by the knowledge that too much can harm them and us. A steady diet of grumbling is not good for anyone.
Grumbling, grousing, and complaining seem to be all around us. In our relative affluence, we often expect or even demand comfort. We are very particular about the way we want things to be, and often expect that it be made so without much if any effort on our part.
Moses was worn down by the constant grumbling of the people. Be cognizant of the toll that such behavior takes on others. Practice gratitude, an important antidote to the poison spread by grumbling.
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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