The real crux of this week’s lesson is that fact that God is trying to change a culture. Let's start by looking at things from different perspectives.

Readers from all walks of life have found the punishment for the sin of Moses and Aaron to be an enduring and puzzling passage (Numbers 20:12; ESV hereafter). While striking the rock twice was obviously a transgression (20:8) of the command to speak to it, what sense are we to make of Moses and Aaron’s demise? What follows goes against the grain of common interpretations readers use to understand Numbers. I will give two examples.