Life in the wilderness is hard. God is uncompromising, the people are weak. This is not a picnic. I realise now I’d had a romantic idea about the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness. I didn’t think it was that bad, really. Actually, it must have been terrible.
Levite responsibilities
Numbers 18:25-32
Red heifer ordinance: instructions about dead
Numbers 19:1-22
Death of Miriam
Numbers 20:1
Water from Meribah
Numbers 20:2-13
Birth of Moses’ grandchildren
1 Chronicles 23:16-17
Permission to pass through Edom denied
Numbers 20:14-21
To Mount Hor
Numbers 20:22, 33:37
Death of Aaron
Numbers 20:23-28, 33:38-39, Deuteronomy 10:6-7
Mourning for Aaron
Numbers 20:29
Victory at Hormah
Numbers 33:40, 21:1-3
This is more of the same, in many ways. More instructions for the Levites, more wanderings, more complaining against Moses. But there is a sense of hopelessness in today’s readings. There is the reiterated warning that Moses and Aaron will not enter the Promised Land. There is the death of both Aaron and Miriam. There is the unkindness of the king of Edom, not allowing the people to pass through his land. The mood is bleak. There seems to be no end to this desert, and the hope of the Promised Land is receding.
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