Numbers 20 - Introduction

Five events at the close of the forty years wanderings

Numbers 20:1a, arrival at the wilderness of Zin (P); Numbers 20:1 b, the death of Miriam (E); Numbers 20:2, the striking of the rock at Meribah (P); Numbers 20:14, permission to pass through Edom refused (J E); Numbers 20:22, the death of Aaron (P).

It is clear that the chapter deals with events at the closeof the wanderings and not earlier, for (1) Moses could not have asked permission to pass straight through Edom in order to enter Canaan until the period of wandering commanded by God was over; (2) Aaron's death at Mt Hor occurred, according to Numbers 33:38, in the 40th year after the Exodus, the wilderness of Zin being the previous stopping-place (Numbers 33:36). But this chapter is the sequel of ch. 14, the intervening chs. 15 19 being miscellaneous priestly material assigned to no definite time or place. In ch. 14 it is related that the people were condemned to wander 40 years, and failed in an immediate attempt to enter Canaan from the south. The history, therefore, from the beginning till near the end of the 40 years is a blank in the book of Numbers. It is not even clear in what locality these years were spent. When the spies were sent out (Numbers 13:26) the people were at Kadesh (J E) = Wilderness of Paran (P). In Numbers 14:25 (J E) they were commanded to go -into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea." Whether they went for a long or a short time is not stated. In Numbers 20:1 we read that they -came into the wilderness of Zin" (P), and -the people abode in Kadesh" (J E). The 40 years were thus spent eitherin a short stay in the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, followed by a long stay at Kadesh, ora long stay in the former followed by a short stay in the latter. But the traditions as to the wanderings were indefinite; and a widely different account is found in Dt., where it is stated that after the defeat at Hormah Israel stayed at Kadesh -many days" (Deuteronomy 1:46), then they turned back -into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea," and -compassed Mt Seir [Edom] many days" (Deuteronomy 2:1). It is not clear from these passages what length of time the -many days" at Kadesh represents. But Deuteronomy 2:14 states explicitly that 38 years had been spent in journeying from Kadesh to the borders of Moab, nothing being said of any return to Kadesh during that time.

Thus, to sum up, in Num. the 40 years either precede or correspond to the stay at Kadesh mentioned in Numbers 20:1, while in Dt. they were spent, after the departure from Kadesh, in moving round the south and east of Edom to Moab. The punishment of the 40 years wandering is referred to in Acts 7:36; Acts 13:18, and the death of the people in the wilderness in 1 Corinthians 10:5; Judges 5.