In the Elders sight
The people of Israel were back to their old tricks. Complaining about not having anything to drink, blaming God and Moses for bringing them out into the desert to die. Even after they had experienced manna from heaven and the parting of the Red Sea they still didn't trust God.
But in this section I found it interesting that Moses did not go out ahead and provide for the people by himself. It says that the Lord told him "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel." The Lord told Moses excatly what to do and wanted the leaders to see it as well. They separated themselves from the group and went ahead as a leadership group.
" So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel" So before Moses provided for the others he performed the miracle in front of the leaders. God understood that Moses needed the support from his leaders and needed to flow from the top down. He needed his leaders on board to help direct the people. Who knows some of these guys may have been the biggest complainers from the lot!
So the Lord made a point of separating them from the rest of the group and showing them as a leadership group the miracle of water coming out of a rock by themselves. Sounds as if the leadership needed to be inspired and refreshed themselves to put their trust and hope back in God and then they would be prepared to support Moses and help lead others.
Created almost 3 years ago
