Pope Benedict - Waters of Meribah

This commentary by the Pope is not directly about Moses or the Waters of Meribah, rather the Pope is awarding some prizes in theology, the science of faith, and asks whether or not this is a contradiction.  He speaks of the "double use of reason"

a use that is irreconcilable with the nature of faith and of a use that instead belongs precisely to the nature of faith. There exists, he says, the violentia rationis, the despotism of reason, which makes itself the supreme and ultimate judge of everything. This kind of use of reason is certainly impossible in the ambit of faith. What does Bonaventure mean by this? An expression of Psalm 95:9 can show us. Here God says to his people: "In the wilderness ... your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work." Here there is reference to a double encounter with God: they "saw." This, however, was not enough for them. They put God "to the proof." They want to subject him to experiment. He is, as it were, subjected to a questioning and must submit Himself to a procedure of experimental testing. 
  The particular verses go

Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.  (Psalms 95, 8-9)

The Pope says, "God is not an object of human experimentation."  Understanding this helps to understand God's anger at the Israelites as well as, maybe, his impatience with Moses when Moses strikes the rock rather than just commands the rock to yield water (Numbers 20).

Numbers

Book Written:  over a period of a thousand years (?); edited in time of Ezra, 5th centuryB.C.

Time Period/Setting:  Numbers is a record of the 40 years of wanderings (1290 B.C. to 1250 B.C.) of the Israelites as they head toward the Promised Land.  I followed their whereabouts with interest on the map; Kadesh-barnea  and the Wilderness of Zin seem to be where most of the action takes place.  There's a record of their journey in Chapter 33.

Title:   From the Greek Arithmoi and refers to census that occurs in first chapter;  the Hebrew name is Bemidbar meaning 'in the wilderness.'

Nazirites.  The Nazirites are introduced to us in Ch. 6.  I had heard of this group with some suggestion that Jesus might have been a Nazirite.  That's probably not the case, but I picked it up somewhere along the way.  Samson, however, was a Nazirite, and the notes in my study Bible about Samson set me up pretty well for his story coming up in Judges. Can't wait.  I've always been fuzzy about Samson and Delilah.

Aaronic Blessing. The beautiful Aaronic blessing is also found in Ch. 6.24-26.  I heard this first and most often in the Presbyterian church;  Catholics seem to refer to it less often.

Moses. Far and away the best part of Numbers, though, is the recurring puling and complaining of the people to Moses. Who doesn't recognize in their voices the voice of a two-year old who stamps his foot and says 'no' or the teen-ager who keeps complaining about how boring his life is or our own voices when we moan and groan about whatever it is that is annoying us at the moment.   "If we only had some meat!"  (i.e. If only we had more  money/time/fill-in-the-blank ..)  "We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing."  (i.e.  I told you we shouldn't have done this.)  "There's nothing at all but this manna to look at."  (i.e.  I clean and cook and shop all day and have nothing to show for it.)    ". . .now our strength is dried up" (i.e. It's not my fault.)   "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!"  (i.e. You're mean.  I wish I was dead!) 

Moses picks up the mood as well and goes directly to the Lord with some irony and humor, "Did I conceive all this people?  Did I give birth to them . .. "(11.12-15)   He gets very upfront and personal, much as before when the Lord first calls him.  In so many words, Moses faults God for abandoning him with this miserable lot of whining good-for-nothings, that if this is the kind of friend God is going to be Moses, thanks, but no thanks, he'd sooner die.   Moses is kind of nervy, a real noodge.  My study Bible refers to him as "indignant" in this exchange with the Lord.

Chapter 20 concerns the waters of Meribah.  Here is where Moses disobeys orders, a lack of faith really, and strikes the rock instead of just commanding the rock (the importance of "the word?") resulting in his being unable to enter the Promised Land.   My study Bible says that "no satisfying explanation has ever been given for the punishment of Moses and Aaron. .. . "  Ever?  As I commented earlier, the punishment seems harsh to me, but maybe the problem here is that Moses doesn't just show a lack of faith, he disregards a direct order from the Lord.  However, lapses of faith and disregarding God's orders  would seem to boil down to the same thing.  They are very human flaws.   Thoughts?

                         
Balaam.  I wish that I might have summoned up more interest in this story, but just didn't.