Daily Devotional Monday 31st August 2020
by William Moody
Numbers 20:1
The Death of Miriam
20:1 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there.
(ESV)
Numbers 20:22–29
The Death of Aaron
22 And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
(ESV)
Moses’ sister Miriam dies at the beginning of this chapter (v1) and then his brother Aaron dies at the end of the chapter (v28). In Aaron’s death we see the judgment of God and the consequences of sin (v23-24). It was because of the events at Meribah when the water came from the rock and God was not honoured by Moses and Aaron as He should have, Aaron is not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Sin is never trivial and there is no such thing as a wee sin. We must constantly flee from all sin to Christ.
Aaron and his son Eleazar go up Mount Hor with Moses and here the garments of the High Priest are passed on to Aaron’s son. As we think of the failure and death of this High priest, we are gloriously reminded of the great High priest Jesus who is perfect in all His ways and who will never need to be replaced. He is able to save to the uttermost all who trust in Him.
The people mourned Aaron for thirty days before moving on (v29). Bereavement is painful, recovery takes a long time and we must continue to remember those who mourn the loss of loved ones.
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