John Calvin Commentary Numbers 20

Then came the children of Israel. In the twenty-third chapter of this book, many intermediate stations are mentioned which are not referred to here: perhaps because, from the time God compelled them to draw back, they had made no advance for thirty whole years but had wandered about by circuitous paths.

Therefore, in connecting the history here, he relates that they passed from the desert of Paran to the desert of Sin; because they then began to direct their journey straight toward the land of Canaan and to advance more closely to it, so as finally to conclude their wanderings.

When he tells us that Miriam died here, we may infer from this that her life was greatly prolonged. It is probable that she was a girl of ten or twelve years of age when Moses was born, since she was able to provide skillfully for his safety (Exodus 2:4); for although her name is not actually given, it may reasonably be supposed that she was the person who fetched her mother to nurse the child that had been exposed.

She reached the age, then, of about 130 years,¹⁰⁷ an unusual length of life, and especially for a woman.

And there was no water for the congregation. We have already seen a similar, though not identical, history. For when the people had scarcely come out of Egypt, they began to rebel in Rephidim because of the scarcity of water. Now, after thirty-eight years or approximately that time, a new rebellion arose in Kadesh, because there, too, they lacked water.

Their first murmuring indeed sufficiently showed how great was their depravity and stubborn rebellion. For when God gave them their food from heaven every day, why did they not plead with Him for water, so that their sustenance might be complete? Yet, with no less despicable ingratitude than godless stubbornness, they attack God with accusations and complain that they are deceived and betrayed.

But this second rebellion is far worse. For when they had experienced that it was in God’s power to extract plenty of water from the barren rock, why do they not now implore His aid? Why does not that miraculous intervention on their behalf come to their minds?

Yet in their madness, they cry out that they have been treated more cruelly than if they had been swallowed up by the earth or consumed by fire from heaven, as if there was no solution for their thirst. Surely this was incredible stupidity, intentionally, so to speak, to shut the gate of God’s grace and to cast themselves into despair.

It is true that they rebel against Moses and Aaron, but they direct their complaints like darts against God Himself. They consider it a very great injustice that they had been brought into the desert, as if they had not, in their own godless obstinacy, themselves preferred the desert to the land of Canaan. They were therefore deserving to waste away, lacking everything, even to death itself.

Then, perversely, they cast the blame, which belongs to themselves alone, upon the servants of their salvation. Indeed, they truthfully call the place evil and barren; but God would not have wished to keep them imprisoned there, unless they had voluntarily refused the land flowing with milk and honey, after it had been set before their eyes and an easy entrance to it had been granted to them under the guidance and authority of God.

Thus the Prophet, in Psalm 105, in recounting the history of their redemption, before he addresses the punishments inflicted upon their sins, relates that they were brought forth by God with joy and with gladness.¹⁰⁸

Furthermore, prompted by the inconvenience they experienced from thirst, they maliciously pile up other complaints. There was no shortage of food to satisfy their hunger, food that was pleasant to the taste; yet they complain exactly as if hunger oppressed them as well as thirst. God daily rained for them food from heaven, which it was very easy for them to gather; but the basis of their murmuring is that they did not have to tire themselves with ploughing and sowing.

See to what senselessness people are driven by unreasonable desires and by contempt for God’s present blessings! The height of their madness, however, is that they mourn their fate that they were not swallowed up with Korah and his companions, or consumed by fire from heaven.

They had been overwhelmed with great fear at that grim spectacle, and rightly so, for God had shown a wonder, fearsome throughout all ages. Now they argue with Him because His lightning did not strike them also.

Nor do they only mourn that they were not destroyed by that particular kind of death, but they deliberately provoke God’s vengeance upon themselves, which should have terrified them more than a hundred deaths. For it is forcefully added that those with whom they desired to be associated had died before the Lord.

Therefore, they acknowledge that the destruction they call down upon themselves had happened not by chance but by the clear judgment of God, as if they were angry with God for having spared them. They most truly call them their brethren, to whom they were all too similar; yet it is with brutal arrogance that they desire to be considered God’s Church, for while they openly connect themselves with the opposing faction, they falsely claim this title for themselves.

And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together. There is no doubt that Moses was perplexed between hope and doubt, so that, although he entrusted the event to God, he was still to some extent oppressed with anxiety. For he would never have been so ready and prompt in obeying, especially in such an unusually arduous matter, if he had been without faith. He and Aaron had recently hidden themselves in alarm; it was, therefore, a task of no small difficulty immediately to call the people, from whom they had fled, and voluntarily to face their madness.

Thus far, then, we see nothing but a readiness to obey, combined with magnanimity, which deserves no common praise. But since the unbelief of Moses is condemned by the heavenly Judge, in whose hands is the sovereign power, and at whose word we all stand or fall, we must acquiesce in His sentence. We hardly perceive anything reprehensible in this matter, yet, since God declares that the fall of Moses displeased Him, we must abide by His decision rather than our own. And from this, too, let us learn that our works, on the surface of which nothing but virtue is apparent, are often full of secret defects, which escape the eyes of men, but are manifest to God alone.

If it is asked in what respect Moses transgressed, the origin of his transgression was unbelief. For it is not permissible, when this type of sin is expressly referred to in God's answer, to imagine that it was anything else. But it is doubtful at what point he was unbelieving; unless it is that, in asking whether he could bring water out of the rock, he seems to reject as impossible and absurd what God had promised to do.

And, in fact, he was so entirely preoccupied with considerations of their rebelliousness that he did not acknowledge the grace of God. He inquires whether he shall bring water out of the rock, whereas he ought to have remembered that this had already been permitted to him by God. It was fitting for him, then, confidently to assert that God had again promised the same thing, rather than to speak with hesitation.

Others think that he sinned because he was not content with a single blow, but struck the rock twice. And this perhaps arose from distrust. But the origin of the fault was that he did not simply embrace God’s promise and strenuously carry out the duty assigned to him as an evidence of his faith. Although, therefore, his striking the rock twice might have been a sign of his lack of confidence, it was still only an aggravation of the evil, and not its origin or cause.

Thus, then, we must always return to this: that Moses did not give God the glory, because he considered what the people had deserved rather than estimating the power of God according to His word. And this, too, his previous reprimand denotes, when, in accusing the Israelites of rebellion, he shows, indeed, that he was inflamed with holy zeal; yet, at the same time, he does not rouse himself with suitable confidence for their conviction. Indeed, in a way, he confesses that the power of God fails beneath their wickedness. Thus it is said in Psalm 106:32-33,

“That it went in with Moses for their sakes, because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke with his mouth:”¹⁰⁹

For the Prophet does not excuse Moses there; but shows that as a consequence of the people's wickedness, he was carried away by reckless fervor, so as to deny that what God had promised would take place. From this let us learn that, when we are angered by the sins of others, we should beware lest a temptation of an opposite kind should take possession of our minds.