ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Numbers 20

Num. 20:1–21:35 Marching from Kadesh to the Plains of Moab. After nearly 40 years of aimless wandering in the wilderness, Israel is ready to enter the Land of Promise. Most of the older generation have died out, and the younger ones are now taking over.

Num. 20:1 Kadesh was last mentioned in 13:26, when the spies returned. The wilderness of Zin, just north of Kadesh, was the area first investigated by the spies (13:21). in the first month. The year is not mentioned, but according to 33:38 Aaron died in the fortieth year after the exodus, and this would fit here. The death of Miriam is a important moment. She was the sister who saved Moses’ life (Ex. 2:4–8). She was a prophetess and an influential woman (Ex. 15:20–21).

Num. 20:2–13 Even though Moses’ error seems minor, v. 12 indicates that carelessness in responding to God’s command was the real issue: Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people. As the mediators of God’s laws to Israel, Moses and Aaron had to be exemplary in their obedience. Their failure to follow God’s instruction exactly kept them from entering Canaan. Meribah means “quarreling.”

Num. 20:14–21 your brother Israel. Esau (Edom) was the twin brother of Jacob (Israel); see Gen. 25:24–26. The Edomites were therefore the people with whom Israel had the closest connection. Yet there was always tension and hostility between these two nations.

Num. 20:16 Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. In the second millennium b.c., Edom’s main settlements were southeast of the Dead Sea. Kadesh-barnea (see note on 10:11–12:16) is a long way west of there, in northern Sinai. This suggests that either the Edomites were living west of the Dead Sea, or another Kadesh is meant instead of Kadesh-barnea.

Num. 20:17–21 The King’s Highway is the main trade route from Damascus to Arabia, passing through Edom in the high hills southeast of the Dead Sea. Israel wanted to travel north along this road. But the Edomites refused to let them pass through their territory, so Israel turned away. Apparently they headed south toward the Gulf of Aqaba (21:4) and then northward through the wilderness east of the King’s Highway (see Deut. 2:1–8).

Num. 20:22–29 Aaron’s death fulfills the judgment pronounced on him in v. 12.

Num. 20:22–23 The location of Mount Hor is uncertain. It is probably somewhere north of the Gulf of Aqaba, if that is where the border . . . of Edom ran. “The Mount of the Prophet Aaron” near Petra, Jordan, is the traditional location.

Num. 20:26 gathered to his people. After death, one is reunited with one’s deceased relatives, according to OT belief (see note on 2 Sam. 12:23; see also Gen. 25:8; Num. 20:24; Deut. 32:50).

Num. 20:28 stripped Aaron . . . and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron’s death meant his son must follow him as high priest, the supreme mediator between God and Israel.