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Numbers 21:10-20 – Water in the Wilderness

The Israelites have now gone around the land of Edom (which they are not to invade, nor disturb, Deut. 2:4-5), and have come to the border of Moab. The enemies of God’s people may slow their passage, but cannot prevent their entrance into the promised rest. Care is taken to let us know that the Israelites in their march observe the orders which God gives them to use no hostility against the Moabites (Deut. 2:9), because they are the descendants of Lot; therefore they pitch on the other side of Arnon.

Their water seems to have run out, yet we do not find that they murmur, and therefore God, in compassion to them, brings them to a well of water, to encourage them to wait on Him in humble silence and expectation and to believe that He will graciously notice their needs. Before they even pray, God grants, and anticipates them with the blessings of His goodness. They receive it with joy and thankfulness, which makes the mercy doubly sweet to them. Then they sing this song, to the glory of God and the encouragement of one another. As the bronze serpent is a figure of Christ, who is lifted up for our cure, so is this well a figure of the Holy Spirit, who is poured forth for our comfort, and from whom flow to us rivers of living waters. Does this well spring up in our souls? Whereas before the remembrance of the miracle is perpetuated in the names given to the places, which signify the people’s strife and murmuring, now it is perpetuated in a song of praise, which preserves on record the manner in which it is done. The princes, probably by direction of Moses, make holes in the soft and sandy ground, and God causes the water miraculously to spring up. God promises to give them water, but they must open the ground to receive it. We need to use the means God gives us, but still the power is of God.

Question

  1. Why do they not attack the Moabites?
  2. How does God provide them with water?

Prayer Points

  1. Give thanks that God cares for all our needs.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.