The scouts

Deuteronomy 1 ²⁰Then I [Moses] said to you, "You have now come to the mountain country of the Amorites, which YHWH our God is giving us. ²¹It is he who is giving you that land. Now then, go up and take possession of it, as YHWH, the God of your ancestors, has commanded you. Do not be afraid and do not be discouraged."

²² Then you all came to me and said, "We want to send men ahead to explore the land. Then they can report back to us and tell us which route to take and which cities we will pass through." ²³ I thought that was a good suggestion and chose twelve men, one from each tribe.

Numbers 13 ¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² "Send some men to explore Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Choose one man from each tribe, a family head."

Adapted from Numbers 13:1-14:39 and Deuteronomy 1:19-40

 They had crossed that vast, terrible desert. Finally, they arrived at Kadesh-Barnea on the edge of the desert, the Promised Land. After forty days, the scouts from Judah and Ephraim returned full of expectation, the others full of fear and with stomachaches.

"The mountain country is beautiful, planted with vines and olive trees, the plains are green and fertile, and the southern land is rich in date palms and pastures," Caleb and Joshua reported.

"Their soldiers are tall and their city walls are high," replied the ten, "the Amalekites in the south are dromedary riders and the Canaanites have horses and iron chariots."

Some of them even said that the land consumed its own inhabitants; according to an ancient reading, because they had entered a city where a deadly disease prevailed.

The people wailed and complained.

"Yahweh must hate us," they said, "why else would He bring us to this land? To be slain by the sword, and to have our wives and children taken captive?"

            "But YHWH will fight for us," Caleb countered.

Laughter and lamentation sounded simultaneously.

"Why did we send out scouts if you don't want to listen to them?" Moses asked.

"That was your idea," they replied, "your idea inspired by God."

And another shouted, "Let's choose a new leader and go back to Egypt."

Someone half-heartedly threw a stone at Moses. It didn't hit him, but it did frighten him.

            "How long will you reject YHWH?" he cried desperately.

For a moment, there was an ominous silence. Some stood with stones in their hands, waiting for the first blood to break the spell.

Then one of the scouts fell to the ground, moaning in pain. It was Ammiel, the son of Gemalli from the tribe of Dan. What was that? Other scouts also looked sweaty and heated. The people looked around in confusion.

Now Aaron took charge, "Set up a tent for the scouts at the gate of the tabernacle and burn their clothes outside the camp. Only the priests may touch them or come near their beds. Anyone who has touched them must purify themselves and keep away from others for seven days."

All night long, evil rumors circulated in the camp; fearful whispers floated between the tents.

Night of worry

Numbers 14 ³⁶ The men whom Moses had sent out to explore the land, who after their return had incited the people to complain by telling them all kinds of unfavorable things about that land, ³⁷ those men died near the sanctuary as a result of a plague, because they had spoken ill of the land.

³⁸ However, two of the scouts, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, remained alive.

That night, the scouts lay on beds at the entrance to the tabernacle. Elisheba, Aaron's wife, and Zipporah brought them water and soup. They changed their clothes and removed their vomit and excrement. Hur and Miriam took care of the boys.

            "How are they?" Moses asked.

            "Bad," said Zipporah, "two have already died. I fear that most of them will not live to see the light of day."

            "And Joshua?" Moses whispered as he took her hand.

            Her eyes softened. "Caleb and he haven't really gotten sick, I think. We're keeping them apart."

Moses held her hand for a moment. "Thank you for coming," he said.

Eleazar and Ithamar stoked the fire of YHWH high in the sanctuary. Aaron brought a large burnt offering of resin and herbs. Sizzling and smoking, the holiness of YHWH appeared there. Moses threw himself on the ground to pray for the sick and for the people.

And also for himself.

Adapted from Numbers 14:11-35

This is what Moses heard, lying on the ground: "How long will this people reject Me? How long will they refuse to trust Me, despite all the miracles I have performed?' Would God now strike the people with the plague and exterminate them? And again that voice, hissing from the fire: 'Come, Moses, let them go. From you I will bring forth a people greater and stronger than this.'

"Never!" cried Moses, "Suppose the Egyptians hear that! Suppose the people in this country find out? First they hear that YHWH dwells among this people, and then that You are slaughtering them? Will they not say that YHWH was unable to bring them into the land He promised them?"

And Moses prayed, "O Lord, please show this people how great your patience is with us."

And Moses remembered the words of Sinai: "JHWH is patient and faithful, forgiving guilt and crime, though He does not leave everything unpunished and calls the children to account for the sins of their parents, to the third and fourth generations."

"Show your faithfulness," he pleaded, "and forgive this people their guilt, as You have always forgiven them, from Egypt until now."

And then he heard: "I will grant forgiveness, as you ask. But the scouts who rejected Me will not be healed. The children who were to be taken captive will enter the land, but they themselves will die in this desert. Only Caleb and Joshua will see it."

The invasion fails

Numbers 14 ³⁹When Moses conveyed the words of YHWH to the Israelites, the people were deeply saddened. ⁴⁰Early the next morning, they wanted to go into the mountains.

"We are still willing to go up to the place of which the LORD has spoken," they said, "we have sinned."

⁴¹But Moses said, "Why are you going against the command of the LORD? Such an undertaking is doomed to failure. ⁴²Do not go to war, for the LORD is not among you. (...)"

⁴⁴ Nevertheless, they were so presumptuous as to go up into the mountains, even though the ark of the covenant with YHWH remained with Moses in the camp. ⁴⁵ The Amalekites and Canaanites who lived there in the mountainous region came out against them, defeated them, and drove them back to Hormah. 

Deuteronomy 1 ⁴⁴ The Amorites who live there came down on you and pursued you like a swarm of bees. They defeated you in the mountains of Seir and pursued you as far as Horma. ⁴⁵ After your return, you complained to the Lord, but He would not listen to you and turned a deaf ear. ⁴⁶ So you remained in Kadesh for a long time.

The Israelites thought that God had spoken. Joshua and Caleb had survived, but the other scouts had died. Only their children would inherit the Promised Land.

            "But we are still unclean for seven days," said Moses, "we and the ark of the LORD cannot go with you. Neither can Caleb and Joshua show you the way yet. Wait until the LORD can go before you."

But the warriors of Israel could not wait. The young men of twenty and thirty years of age were already ready with their weapons girded. Off to the city of Arad, they thought.

They never got there. Before they entered the mountains, they were already being bombarded with bows and slingshots from the dromedaries and chariots of the Amalekites and Canaanites. In a forced march, they fled to the mountains of Seir, but at the city of Sefat, the king of Arad was waiting for them with his troops. They suffered a crushing defeat. They called it "the destruction," and that became their name for Sefat: "the chorma."

The survivors turned southeast, where their pursuers gave up. At Mount Hor, they descended to the plain and crossed the blood-hot Araba. Only after two weeks did the exhausted remnants of the army return to camp at Kadesh.

The ten scouts who had died had also been proven right.

Israel was in mourning. A new generation of warriors had to grow up and be trained before they could enter the land. Moses was defeated. It felt as if YHWH no longer spoke to him.

Ein Mispat

Numbers 15 ³² While the Israelites were in the desert, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. ³³ Those who found him brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. ³⁴ He was put in custody, because it had not yet been decided what should be done to him. ³⁵ The Lord said to Moses, "That man must be put to death. The whole community must stone him outside the camp." ³⁶ So they all took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁷ The LORD said to Moses: ³⁸ "Tell the Israelites to make tassels on the corners of their garments and put a blue cord on each tassel. ³⁹ When you see these tassels, you will remember all the commandments of the LORD, so that you may obey them and not be unfaithful to Me by following the desires of your heart and your eyes.

⁴⁰ They will help you to remember all my commands and to keep them, and to remain devoted to your God. ⁴¹ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God."

I Chronicles 9 (...) the son of Korah, was charged with guarding the entrance to the tent, together with his relatives from the family of Korah, just as their ancestors had guarded the entrance to the camp of YHWH in former times. ²⁰ Pinechas, the son of Eleazar, had been put in charge of them...

Years had passed in Kadesh Barnea, the "holy" Barnea. The oasis was formerly called En Mispat: the source of justice. Moses' father-in-law Jethro may have come there for years to judge between the families of the Midianites. Now Moses further shaped the laws and institutions of Israel there. And sometimes it took him a while to know what judgment to render.

There was plenty of water, but not enough for all the people and their animals throughout the year. The tribes roamed like nomads along the pastures and resting places in the steppe. They only gathered in Kadesh for the festivals. Perhaps the Levites remained around the tabernacle in Kadesh Barnea.

Miriam, Aaron, and Moses reached their sixties, although they sometimes felt as if they were over a hundred years old. Zipporah reached forty; Gershom and Eliezer reached their twenties. Pinechas, Aaron's eldest grandson, had also grown into a muscular young man. He, the destined high priest of Israel, was particularly skilled in fighting with sword and spear.

Korah, Moses' cousin, was responsible for the gatekeepers of the camp and the tabernacle. Later, Phinehas would be given that task, because Moses needed a temple guard whom he could trust even more than Korah.

The rebellion

Numbers 16 ^1-2 The Levite Korach, son of Yishar, son of Kehat, and the Reubenites Datan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Pelet, rebelled against Moses. They were supported by two hundred and fifty leaders of the Israelites, men of renown, the most prominent of the community.

Psalm 29 ³ The God of majesty causes the thunder to roll (...)

⁷ The voice of the LORD blazes in fiery flames,

⁸ the voice of YHWH shakes the wilderness,

YHWH makes the steppe of Kadesh tremble.

Adapted from Numbers 16:3-15 and Psalm 29.

 "All members of the community are holy," said Korah, "and YHWH is in our midst. Why then do you feel yourselves to be above us? Why should only Aaron and his sons be priests before God?"

Then Moses threw himself to the ground. With the dust still in his beard, he knelt down.

"You don't know what you're asking," he said to his nephew, "it's not about Aaron but about YHWH. But purify yourself and come back tomorrow with a fire pan and incense, and YHWH will decide who can stay in his sanctuary."

"We will not come," cried the leaders of the tribe of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. "Do you think you can fool men like us? Isn't it enough that you have taken us away from the delightful Egypt, overflowing with milk and date syrup? Must you also set yourself up as lord and master over us? We will not come."

This made Moses furious. "Do not accept their offering tomorrow, Lord," he prayed, growling, "I have not taken even a donkey from any of them."

The next day, clouds gathered menacingly above the camp. Korah and the other Levites who also wanted to become priests had come to the entrance of the tabernacle with their bronze fire pans.

"Go, take the fire from the altar and bring the incense offering into the sanctuary," Moses shouted.

The fire of YHWH roared with heat. The wind began to blow.

"Are you sure?" Aaron asked his brother. "Don't forget what happened to Nadab and Abihu, what happened in Tabera."

Korah climbed the altar, determined to show his dignity. He stood there, towering above the others with his fire pan, a dark figure against a threatening sky. Suddenly, there was a crackling thunder that shook the earth. And a flame shot out from God's sanctuary toward the altar, lighting up the bronze firepan. The voice of YHWH made the steppe of Kadesh tremble.

Korah fell dead at the altar. Fire splashed up. With the strong north wind at their backs, sparks rained down on the camp. The tents of the Levites on the south side of the tabernacle, including Korah's, went up in smoke and fire. They set fire to the tents of the tribe of Reuben, which were even further south. Moses and Aaron heard the wailing of women and children with horror. They threw themselves to the ground.

"God, You who give the breath of life to all living things, when one man sins, do You bring Your wrath upon the whole people?"

Moses instructed the priest Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to gather the bronze fire pans of the dead men from the ashes. Bezalel, the grandson of Miriam and the builder of the tabernacle, had to make plates for the altar out of them—as a warning that only priests were allowed to climb the altar.

The plague of YHWH

Numbers 17 ⁶ The next day, however, all the Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron.

"You have killed the people of YHWH," they said.

⁷ When they gathered around Moses and Aaron and looked toward the tent of meeting, they saw it covered by the cloud and the glory of the Lord appearing.

⁸ After Moses and Aaron had gone into the tent of meeting, ⁹ the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ "Get away from these people, so that I may destroy them in an instant."

 Then they fell on their faces, ¹¹ and Moses said to Aaron, "Take a censer, put burning coals from the altar in it, put incense on it, and go quickly to the people. Make atonement for them, for the wrath of YHWH has been kindled, and the plague has already begun."

¹²Aaron did as Moses said and hurried to the people. The plague had already broken out among them. He put incense on the burning coals and made atonement for the people. ¹³He stood between the dead and those who were still alive, and the plague stopped. ¹⁴ The plague had claimed the lives of fourteen thousand seven hundred people, not counting those who had died in the incident with Korah. ¹⁵ After the plague had run its course, Aaron returned to Moses, who was standing at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

(…) ²⁷ The Israelites said to Moses, "We are doomed, we are finished, we are all finished. ²⁸ Everyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD dies. Must we all perish?"

18 ¹ YHWH said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your whole family will be held responsible for transgressions committed in the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone will be held responsible for transgressions committed in the exercise of the priesthood.

What was it about the tabernacle, the sanctuary of YHWH, that caused people in its vicinity to die so often? Were they so much more sinful than others? Was the sanctuary on a hill and did it attract lightning? Was it God Himself who went around as a consuming fire? Or was the fire stoked too often and too high in the tabernacle, even when the wind was unfavorable?

Was it the voice of God that Moses heard verbatim, or the roar of the flames? Was it thunder from heaven or cries from the camp? Had the fire from the day before flared up again? The plague was short but severe, even if the numbers are exaggerated. Moses sent Aaron to the scene of the disaster while he himself remained at the meeting tent. Was Moses supposed to pray for the people there or to temper the fire?

And Aaron? Did he stand in the firebreak between the tents, between the dead and the living? Did he have to ward off the fire or appease an enraged God? Hoping and praying that the fire would not spread? Or did he inspire the people to beat out the sparks and widen the firebreak?

In any case, the tabernacle, which was intended to allow the holy YHWH to travel with the people, was now itself contaminated with death.

The blood-red heifer

Numbers 19 ¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² "This is a law that the Lord has established: Tell the Israelites to bring you a cow, a red heifer without any blemish, which has never been yoked. ³ Give it to Eleazar the priest. It must be taken outside the camp and slaughtered there in his presence.

⁴ The priest Eleazar shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. ⁵ The cow must be burned before his eyes: the skin, the flesh, the blood, and the contents of the intestines. ⁶The priest shall take cedar wood, marjoram, and scarlet, and throw them into the fire in which the cow is burned.

 ⁷ Then he must wash his clothes and his body with water. After that, he may reenter the camp, but he remains unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burned the cow must also wash his clothes and his body with water. He too remains unclean until evening.

 ⁹ A clean person must gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a clean place outside the camp. The ashes must be kept there, because they will be used to prepare cleansing water that will cleanse the Israelites of their sins. ¹⁰ The man who gathered the ashes of the cow must wash his clothes. He remains unclean until evening.

¹¹ Anyone who touches a human corpse is unclean for seven days.

(…) ¹⁹ The clean person must sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. After he has cleansed the unclean person on the seventh day, the latter must wash his clothes and his body with water. In the evening, he will be clean again. ²⁰ But anyone who is unclean and does not allow himself to be cleansed must be expelled from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of YHWH. Because he has not allowed himself to be sprinkled with cleansing water, he remains unclean.

It was a disaster.

            The death of Korah had defiled the altar of the holy tabernacle, the tabernacle in which God would be present among his people. A cleansing sacrifice was needed, the likes of which had never been seen before. Cleansing water was needed to cleanse the Holy of Holies. A cow was needed, so perfect and special that there was only one such cow to be found in the camp.

Aaron could not perform the ritual, because the high priest himself still needed to be cleansed of the death with which he had been defiled.

Eleazar had to do it. On the third and seventh days, he had to sprinkle his father with cleansing water.

The death of Miriam

Numbers 20 ¹ In the first month, the Israelites, the whole people, came to the wilderness of Sin, and they stayed in Kadesh for a long time. Miriam died there and was buried there.

Exodus 12 ¹ YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, while they were still in Egypt: ² "From now on, this month shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel: 'On the tenth day of this month, each family must choose a lamb or a goat, one for each family. ⁴ Families that are too small to eat a whole animal should share one with their nearest neighbors, taking into account the number of people and what each needs (...).

⁸ Roast the meat and eat it that same night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ The animal must not be eaten half-cooked or boiled, but only roasted, and in its entirety: with head, legs, and entrails. ¹⁰ Make sure that nothing is left over the next morning. If anything does remain, you must burn it. (...)

¹⁷ This rule shall remain in force forever. Generation after generation, you shall celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on that day I led you out of Egypt in groups. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month, you shall eat unleavened bread. (...)

²⁶ And when your children ask, "What does this custom mean?" ²⁷ answer, "We offer a Passover sacrifice to the Lord because He passed over the houses of the Israelites when He punished the Egyptians; He spared us."

Leviticus 21 ¹⁰ The priest who is the head of his relatives, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who was appointed to wear the holy garments, shall not let his hair hang loose or tear his clothes. ¹¹He shall never come near a dead body, even for his father or mother he shall not defile himself. ¹²He shall not leave the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God, for he is consecrated with the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD.

On the tenth day, they brought the lamb to the tent of Hur and Miriam. Miriam was already unable to get out of bed, but she still enjoyed the young life before her eyes. All the people had gathered in Kadesh Barnea and the whole family around her bed. Only Aaron had remained in the tabernacle; if she were to die that night, the uncleanness of death would prevent him from performing his duties as high priest.

Ancient sources report that she died on the tenth day. She would no longer be able to celebrate the liberation from Egypt. Perhaps she could still say something before she died: words of comfort for Uri, her son; good advice for Bezalel, her grandson, who had since become a father himself; encouragement for Gershom and Eliezer, who had so often found a home with her. She thanked Zipporah for her deep friendship and the help she had given her. And perhaps she asked her to keep an eye on Hur, who was now considered elderly.

Her eyes sought Elisheba: "Tell Aaron that I understand, dear sister-in-law."

When she felt herself growing weaker, she called Moses to her. 

"My dear little brother," she must have said, "once I had to let you go in that little box in the water, and now you have to let me go."

Moses wept. He could say nothing but gently stroked her cheek.

"The boys have become men, Moses, and the girls young mothers. Let their children grow up in the land of promise."

Then she asked for Chur.

End of an era

Numbers 20 ² When there was no more water, the people gathered against Moses and Aaron.

³They blamed Moses. "If only we had died when some of our people died because of the Lord's punishment," they said. ⁴"Why did you bring the Lord's people into this desert? To make us and our livestock die here?" ⁵ Why did you bring us out of Egypt and bring us to this horrible place? There is no corn here, no fig trees, no vines, and no pomegranate trees. And there is no drinking water either."

⁶Moses and Aaron withdrew from the community and went to the entrance of the tent of meeting. There they fell on their faces. Then the majesty of the LORD appeared.

⁷ YHWH said to Moses: ⁸ "Take the staff and gather the Israelites together with your brother Aaron. In their presence, you shall command the rock there to give water. You shall bring water out of the rock for them, and give drink to the people and their livestock."

⁹Moses took the staff from the sanctuary, as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁰He and Aaron gathered everyone at the rock.

"Listen, rebellious people," Moses said, "shall we bring water out of this rock for you?"

¹¹ He raised his hand, struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out, so that everyone had enough to drink, and the livestock too.  

¹² The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me and did not show reverence for my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this people into the land I am giving them."

¹³ This was the water of Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled with the LORD there, and he showed them his holiness.

Moses had proclaimed a period of mourning for the entire people. After Passover, their tents remained around the newly dug grave for another thirty days. In addition to the period of mourning, this gave time for consultation with the tribal elders. Plans had to be made to enter the Promised Land without the alliance of the Canaanites, Amalekites, and Amorites being able to stop them.

            But the people were numerous again, and the water in Kadesh Barnea was not enough for so many people and so much livestock. After two months, it was gone, and the people were thirsty. The tribes wanted to split up again and move away to water sources elsewhere. People became angry with Moses and Aaron.

Moses was happy when a new water source could be opened in the rock face.

            "Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" he cried.

In the past, he would have pointed to the hand of YHWH, so that the people would learn to trust in God and not in human leaders. In the past, Aaron would have pointed this out to him. In the past, Miriam would have come back to it. It was time for new leaders, Moses knew. The past was over.

*      *      *

Suggestions for reading groups

• Check in with the group and with yourself, seek stillness/humility.
• First share the story. After his marital crisis, Moses now faces his greatest challenge as leader of the people. Tensions are running high and some of the criticism of Moses sounds very plausible. But the result is that the Promised Land disappears from view for years. Moses is required to make a huge change: he himself will not bring the people into the Promised Land, but must train others to do so. That does not happen automatically. What did you read?
• Encourage, comfort, inspire. Have you experienced conflict in organizations or communities? Have you ever had to make a drastic change and learn new things? What hindered you or what helped you in that process?

Reflecting on Numbers 13-20¹³  and Leviticus 23-27, a leadership crisis 

Between the stories of conflict in Numbers, certain laws are also elaborated. Leviticus deals with the religious holidays and vows of the people. It is remarkable that the Sabbath and Jubilee years show how relative and temporary possessions are in the eyes of the Torah.

• Encourage, comfort, exhort. It is precisely the holidays that should ensure connection within society and the willingness to work together and to care about the common good. How is that in your community? And does the existence or absence of that community also influence your view of possessions? Are your possessions yours, society's, or God's, and what are the consequences?
• Leave room for silence and contemplation. Perhaps you will "see" or "hear" something from "God." Like Moses and Zipporah, do you dare to enter into conversation with that voice? What answer wells up within you? How do you test that answer?