Once before, we read about water being brought out of the rock. That was soon after the exodus from Egypt, near Rephidim, before Mount Horeb. There was no water to drink, and Moses, at command of the Lord, struck the rock, and water gushed out. Now, nearly forty years later, at Kadesh, not far from the land of Edom, the people murmured again for water. This time the Lord did not tell Moses to strike the rock, but to speak to it. But Moses did not obey the Lord, but spoke angrily to the children of Israel, and said, "Hear, ye rebels, must we bring you forth water out of the rock?" just as if he and Aaron had the power to do this; and then he smote the rock twice.

He committed several sins. He was angry; he ascribed power to bring the water out of the rock to his brother and himself; and he disobeyed the Lord by striking the rock instead of speaking to it. We learned that the rock means the Word of the Lord, and that truths come out of His Word, as the waters did out of the rock. After the many years’ wandering in the wilderness, which represents our life in the world when we fight against our hardheartedness, our hearts ought to be soft and humble before the Lord, and when we feel the lack of truths, we must pray humbly to the Lord for them. This is what is meant by speaking to the rock. But to smite it, contrary to the Lord's command, is stubbornly to demand truth of the Lord. For this disobedience and sin, Moses and Aaron were punished by not being permitted to enter the land of Canaan. So if we sin up to the end of our life in the natural world, we cannot enter heaven.

We read of Aaron's punishment at the close of the chapter. They went to the top of Mount Horeb, and there he was stripped of his priestly garments, and his son Eleazar was invested with them, and then Aaron died. The robes were the badge and sign of the priestly office; when they were taken from him and put upon Eleazar, this represented that he was no longer high priest, but that the priesthood was transferred to Eleazar.

Of Moses’ death before the Israelites entered Canaan, we read in the last chapter of Deuteronomy.

From Kadesh also a request was sent to the king of Edom to allow the children of Israel to pass through the land. And Edom would not.

You will remember that Edom was another name for Esau, just as Israel was another name for Jacob, Esau's twin brother. The Israelites and Edomites were therefore related, for both were descended from Abraham and Isaac. And you will also remember that of the twins, Edom was the older and therefore represented good, and Jacob was the younger and therefore represented truth.

But goodness may be turned into evil. And the Edomites, being opposed to the people whom the Lord was leading to Canaan, represented evil.

What kind of evil? What is the greatest good? The good that comes from loving the Lord. And the greatest evil which is opposed to that good is the evil that comes from loving ourselves. This love of self, wishing everything for ourselves, wishing to have our own way in everything, wishing to gratify our own pleasures at the expense of others, at the expense of duty and love - that is what is represented by the king of Edom when he refused to let the children of Israel pass through his land. And by that act he represented that the love of self does not wish to take in any truth which the Church believes. For the children of Israel, as the descendants of Israel the brother of Edom, represented truths - that is to say truths such as the angels have, and such as the Church possesses, "truths of faith."

Have you ever noticed that when you were in an ugly state of mind, when you did not like to obey your parents, that then you did not care to read the Word, or to learn anything about the heavenly teachings that the Lord has given us? But when you are in a different state of heart, when you are behaving yourself, then you also enjoy reading the Word, and learning the truths of the Church. The desire to be disobedient, and to have your own way, is like the king of Edom who would not let the children pass through his land, even though they did not even drink a drop of water in his country.

to next Lesson