My 12 yr old son has this question as well.
OK. This is for both of you, then. I’m guessing though, that it’s going to be more beneficial to you, given that your life experience is more deep than his.
God was a huge control freak.
So, here’s the thing: the Bible demonstrates for us the ways in which
we, the people of God, have changed – not that God himself has changed!
In the earlier parts of the Bible, peoples’ understanding of God was less mature. In a way, it’s like talking to a child. Later, the people of God begin to mature in their relationship with Him, but they go through the same stages as do as people: it’s almost like they’re “teens” in their relationship with Him, with the same sort of lack-of-control and petulance and inability to see the big picture. Do children often misunderstand what their parents are doing? Do they often characterize ‘discipline’ as ‘unreasonable use of power’? Do children create narratives which seem reasonable to them, but which looks to adults like something
completely different than the situation at hand? I would argue that this is what we’ve got going on here.
You dare question God once and you go to hell like in the rebellion of Korah.
Actually, the context of the story of Korah was a priestly rebellion against Moses (and, by extension, against God). Some scholars suggest that the ‘tent’ that is referenced in the story is a rival sanctuary, which would mean that they were offering their own sacrilegious sacrifices, in defiance to the Covenant to which they had given assent.
So, it’s not “they questioned God” – it’s that, in keeping with the narrative of the wandering in the desert, the people of God were having a really hard time of it, and not learning the lesson that straying from God leads to death (physical or otherwise)! And, these aren’t every-day garden-variety folks-on-the-street – these are the priests of God who are doing this!
God seems to be trigger happy with his punishments like when Moses did one bad thing and then Moses can’t go to the promised land.
Let’s look at the context. There are
two instances in which the people cry out for water, and Moses acts on their behalf. In the first one, God says “strike the rock, Moses”, and he does, and water flows. In the first episode, the people were questioning whether God was truly among them.
In the second episode, the people are complaining against
Moses. So, God steps up to Moses’ defense. He tells Moses to
speak to the rock, and get the water to flow. In other words, God wants the people to see that He Himself stands with Moses, and that He is the source of Moses’ authority.
But… what does Moses do? He strikes the rock! In other words, in front of the people, he makes it look like
he’s in charge, not God. The people rose up against him, and Moses decided that he would use God’s power as if it were his own!
That’s what his sin is!
And, of course, we would say that those who should know better are held to a higher standard, right? That’s why the punishment fits the offense.
