In chapters twenty and twenty-one of Numbers, the children of Israel had further failures. In this message we will consider the failure recorded in chapter twenty, a chapter which conveys some marvelous points of the divine revelation.
In 20:2-13 we see that the people were contending for water. While the children of Israel were journeying in the wilderness, the shortage of water was a great problem. The people numbered more than two million, and they had a great many cattle. Finding water for all these people and their cattle was a serious problem. Because there was no water for the assembly, the people "gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron" (v. 2).
In their contending for water (20:2-13), the people contended against Moses with evil words. "The people contended with Moses, and spoke, saying, If only we had perished when our brothers perished before Jehovah! And why have you brought the congregation of Jehovah 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 evil place? It is no place for seed, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink" (vv. 3-5). These contending ones wished they had died under God's judgment in chapter sixteen rather than live in the wilderness without water. Their speaking here was eloquent. I wonder why they were eloquent in speaking but not in praying. Instead of contending with Moses, they should have prayed.
"Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the congregation to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces" (v. 6a). Having no way to deal with the situation, Moses and Aaron went to God. They did not utter anything but simply fell on their faces, and "the glory of Jehovah appeared to them" (v. 6b).