Waters of Meribah

Today's Old Testament reading has always troubled me. Numbers 20:1-13 is the story of Moses and Aaron and the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah. The story, in a nutshell, goes like this: The people of Israel are tired, thirsty, and complaining as usual. God has pity on them and so he commands Moses to speak to a rock and water will come out of it for the people. Instead Moses strikes the rock with his staff in anger ("you rebels") and the water gushes forth. At this God says to Moses, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (v. 12). True to his word, Moses never gets to enter the promised land. Moses is allowed to climb a mountain and look over into the land, but even there God reminds him of his failure: "I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it" (Ex. 34:4)

For goodness sakes! Moses has done everything God has asked of him; reluctantly sometimes, I'll admit. Just look at his track record: Time and time again he interceded for the Israelites. He never gave up faith in God even when their backs were to the Red Sea. He suffered tremendously for his faith in God. And yet, in one brief moment of anger, Moses disobeys just a little, and zap, he's out.

This strikes me as totally unfair, especially in comparison with other biblical heroes. Noah was a drunkard, Abraham tried to pass his wife off as his sister to save his neck, Jonah ran from God's will, David committed adultery and arranged for a murder. Solomon directly disobeyed God on several occasions (multiple foreign wives, thousands of forbidden horses and chariots). Peter denied Christ three times and Paul persecuted Christians. And yet, here's poor Moses, and he gets the boot for something as minor (relatively speaking) as performing a miracle the wrong way. What's more, God already knew Moses had an anger problem and had already murdered someone before he selected him to lead the people of Israel to freedom. And yet, Moses didn't follow the command to the letter and so, he's out. Where's the mercy? Where's the grace in that? Is God really that performance based? Isn't it about who we are versus what we do anyway? And what about forgiveness?

Yes, I know, I've read numerous commentaries on this passage. I understand Moses' failure to follow God's instructions explicitly was disobedience. I understand how important it is to do exactly what God commands and to do it God's way. And yes, I remember Jesus saying anyone who fails to keep even the tiniest minutiae of the law might as well break the entire law. Yes, I get it that no one is too important to God's work to avoid God's discipline. I guess I'm just feeling for the man. 

Why? I don't know, perhaps I recognize enough of my own behavior in Moses (anger, sinful independence, pride, and stubbornness) that the story is doubly convicting for me on a personal level.

The good news is Moses eventually does make it to the promised land; the real Promised Land. We know that from the account of the Transfiguration given in all three synoptic gospels where Jesus is joined by Moses on the mountain. The fact that Moses was there is an obvious sign that he made it to heaven - the real promised land.

I guess the takeaway from this is that sometimes even when God seems most unfair, he's more fair than we can ever imagine. I suppose another takeaway is that even though it appears all is lost - as was the case when Moses wistfully looked over into the land that would become Israel, it really isn't lost. If nothing else, the way this story sticks in my craw brings to mind something a professor of mine once said. He said it's the stories in the Bible we like the least are those which probably have the most to teach us. Amen to that.