Jesus was water from the rock

JESUS WAS WATER FROM THE ROCK
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
NUM 20 9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s
presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and
Aaron gathered the assemblytogether in front of the
rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must
we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses
raisedhis arm and struck the rock twice with his staff.
Watergushed out, and the community and their
livestockdrank.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Moses At the Rock
British WeeklyPulpit
Numbers 20:2-13
And there was no water for the congregation:and they gatheredthemselves
togetheragainstMoses andagainstAaron.…

1. Did you ever hear people cry out, "I wish I were dead"? That is what the
Israelites said— "Would God we had died!" These wishes were hasty, and as
insincere as hasty. No doubt those people would flee from death with terror at
the first sign of his approach. It has been well said that "a discontentedheart
makes a recklesstongue."
2. Now we come to Moses'sin. He did not attend carefully to God's Word, nor
obey it, because he was angry. Notice his bitter words. Let us beware of the sin
of anger. Look at the fifth of Galatians, and it tells you that "wrath" is one of
the "lusts of the flesh." In Proverbs we are told that "he that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketha
city." Why is a person who conquers himself better than a greatgeneralwho
takes a city? There are three reasons.
(1) He is a greaterhero; he does a more difficult thing.
(2) Becauseit leaves a happier feeling behind.
(3) It pleases God, The more you conquer your sins, the more you will be
growing like Christ.Do you know heavenis full of conquerors? And
Revelation12:11 tells us how they conquered: "Theyovercame by the blood
of the Lamb."
(British WeeklyPulpit.)

Moses Striking the Rock
T. R. Stevenson.
Numbers 20:2-13
The Biblical writers are charmingly candid. Do they speak ofother men's
faults? They take care also to recordtheir own. Reputation is sacrificedon the
altar of truth; the unselfish lawgiver informs us of his owntransgressionand
its terrible penalty. What may we learn from his sin?
I. WE MUST NOT SEEK RIGHT ENDS BY WRONG MEANS. Here Moses
erred. How often has his sin been repeated!Look at Caiaphas. He says in
reference to the Saviour, "It is expedient that one man die, and not that the
whole nation should perish." The latter part of the sentence is admirable, the
former is atrocious .... Error should be opposed;we ought to stop its progress
as quickly as possible — but by persuasion, not persecution.
II. WE MUST BEWARE OF DOING MORE THAN GOD COMMANDS.
There are two opposite ways of sinning — by defect, and by excess.A child
who, in adding up a sum, makes it "come to too much," blunders as
completely as if he made it "come to too little." And such a form of wrong-
doing is possible spiritually. We as much violate our duty as "followers of
God," if we get aheadof our Guide, as though we laggedso far behind that we
could no longersee Him or tread in His steps. Are we not all, for instance,
harder in our judgments, more exacting, more stringent and rigorous in our
demands, than He is whom we profess to follow; and is not this to go before
God, and to go before Him not to prepare His way, but to scare men from His
presence?

III. PRECEDENTIS A PERILOUS GUIDE. Moses hadstruck the rock
before by God's command, and probably he argued that what was right then
could not be wrong now. But let us remember, that "circumstancesalter
cases."A thing which is wise for one time may be folly for another.
(T. R. Stevenson.)
The Smitten Rock
E. S. Atwood.
Numbers 20:2-13
I. THE SINFUL ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE. Theywere discontented,
enraged, and faithless. And so men grow discontented and cry out against
God, as if trouble were the only experience they knew anything about — the
most unhappy and morbid state of mind into which any Christian believer can
come. It is strange also how, when one thing goes wrong with us, everything
seems to be awry. The children of Israelwere thirsty, and therefore they
complained that the desert of Zin was not the gardenof the Lord, full of all
manner of fruits. Put a red lamp into a mass of shrubbery, and leafand
blossomare forthwith dyed an angry crimson. Thwart some cherished
purpose of a man, and immediately everything takes onthe colourof his
disappointment. Societyis disintegrating, the Church is going to destruction,
life is a vale of tears. Nothing but immovable faith in God can save us from
this wretchedpartialism.

II. THE MERCIFULATTITUDE OF GOD. What might He be expectedto
do under the circumstances? Whatwonder if He should say, "It is of no use to
be patient any longer. This people will not have Me for their Ruler. Let them
perish." But that is not God's way. He recognisesthe weaknessofmen, pities
their sufferings, relieves their wants, and so gives the people another chance to
understand Him. And how often that ancient wonder is wrought anew in
human experience!Some critical event occurs in our history, which for a time
at leastshatters our faith in the Divine goodness andjustice, well established
as that faith ought to be when we remember the generaltenor of our life, and
God, insteadof flaming out againstour inconstancy and leaving us to our own
devices, makes that very event the occasionof a new and gracious revelation
of His love. With time and pains we arrange some well-compactedplan, on
whose successit seems to us all our goodfortune depends, and it thrives for a
while; but suddenly all things are againstus, and our hopes are wrecked, and
we grow bitter and rebellious, and then God uses that very disasterto teachus
juster views of life and to create in us a nobler frame of mind, and develop a
broader manhood, and we have a nobler ambition and are better equipped
than ever before. And then from the barren rock of bereavement God brings
streams of refreshing. The remaining members of the household are more
closelyweldedtogether, a more tender sympathy with eachother springs up,
the unseenlife becomes a grander reality, and, as in the flush of the sunset
that follows the storm, we forgetthe fury of the blast in the glory of the
transfigured heavens, so men and women, in the chastenedspirit that results
from trials, and in the light of new and larger hopes which have been kindled,
bear glad testimony: "It is goodfor us that we have been afflicted."
III. THE UNWARRANTABLE ATTITUDE OF MOSES AND AARON. They
were angry with the people and called them hard names, addressing them as
"rebels." Theyspoke as if they were the chief agents of the miracle which God
wrought. "Hearnow, ye rebels," they said to the people, "must we fetch you
waterout of this rock?" So faras their words went, they were taking upon
themselves the glory which belongedto God alone. Then, too, they were not

satisfiedwith the Divine directions. For these assumptions Moses and Aaron
were rebuked on the spot, and a sentence of punishment pronounced upon
them. There is important practicalinstruction here for those who teach or
preach God's Word to sinful men. It is not to be done in a self-satisfiedway,
with the assumption of superior sanctity. Neither are we to take credit to
ourselves for goodresults which may follow our administration of Divine
truth. It is not our wisdom or eloquence, but the Word of God which is
"quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edgedsword." Humility and
self-distrust are eminently becoming in those who undertake to do God's work
of influencing men for good.
(E. S. Atwood.)
The Smitten Rock
E. S. Atwood.
Numbers 20:2-13
I. THE SINFUL ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE. Theywere discontented,
enraged, and faithless. And so men grow discontented and cry out against
God, as if trouble were the only experience they knew anything about — the
most unhappy and morbid state of mind into which any Christian believer can
come. It is strange also how, when one thing goes wrong with us, everything
seems to be awry. The children of Israelwere thirsty, and therefore they
complained that the desert of Zin was not the gardenof the Lord, full of all
manner of fruits. Put a red lamp into a mass of shrubbery, and leafand
blossomare forthwith dyed an angry crimson. Thwart some cherished

purpose of a man, and immediately everything takes onthe colourof his
disappointment. Societyis disintegrating, the Church is going to destruction,
life is a vale of tears. Nothing but immovable faith in God can save us from
this wretchedpartialism.
II. THE MERCIFULATTITUDE OF GOD. What might He be expectedto
do under the circumstances? Whatwonder if He should say, "It is of no use to
be patient any longer. This people will not have Me for their Ruler. Let them
perish." But that is not God's way. He recognisesthe weaknessofmen, pities
their sufferings, relieves their wants, and so gives the people another chance to
understand Him. And how often that ancient wonder is wrought anew in
human experience!Some critical event occurs in our history, which for a time
at leastshatters our faith in the Divine goodness andjustice, well established
as that faith ought to be when we remember the generaltenor of our life, and
God, insteadof flaming out againstour inconstancy and leaving us to our own
devices, makes that very event the occasionof a new and gracious revelation
of His love. With time and pains we arrange some well-compactedplan, on
whose successit seems to us all our goodfortune depends, and it thrives for a
while; but suddenly all things are againstus, and our hopes are wrecked, and
we grow bitter and rebellious, and then God uses that very disasterto teachus
juster views of life and to create in us a nobler frame of mind, and develop a
broader manhood, and we have a nobler ambition and are better equipped
than ever before. And then from the barren rock of bereavement God brings
streams of refreshing. The remaining members of the household are more
closelyweldedtogether, a more tender sympathy with eachother springs up,
the unseenlife becomes a grander reality, and, as in the flush of the sunset
that follows the storm, we forgetthe fury of the blast in the glory of the
transfigured heavens, so men and women, in the chastenedspirit that results
from trials, and in the light of new and larger hopes which have been kindled,
bear glad testimony: "It is goodfor us that we have been afflicted."

III. THE UNWARRANTABLE ATTITUDE OF MOSES AND AARON. They
were angry with the people and called them hard names, addressing them as
"rebels." Theyspoke as if they were the chief agents of the miracle which God
wrought. "Hearnow, ye rebels," they said to the people, "must we fetch you
waterout of this rock?" So faras their words went, they were taking upon
themselves the glory which belongedto God alone. Then, too, they were not
satisfiedwith the Divine directions. For these assumptions Moses and Aaron
were rebuked on the spot, and a sentence of punishment pronounced upon
them. There is important practicalinstruction here for those who teach or
preach God's Word to sinful men. It is not to be done in a self-satisfiedway,
with the assumption of superior sanctity. Neither are we to take credit to
ourselves for goodresults which may follow our administration of Divine
truth. It is not our wisdom or eloquence, but the Word of God which is
"quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edgedsword." Humility and
self-distrust are eminently becoming in those who undertake to do God's work
of influencing men for good.
(E. S. Atwood.)
No Water
Preacher's Analyst
Numbers 20:2-13
I. THE PLACE HERE SPOKEN OF. The wilderness. The people were led
thither —

1. Fordiscipline.
2. Forsolitude.
3. Forproving. How sadly they failed.
II. THE WANT. Water —
1. A necessityfor sustenance.
2. A necessityfor purity.
3. A want which they were unable to provide for themselves.
III. THE PEOPLE'S ACTION. "Theymurmured." An act natural to the
human heart; but very sinful and foolish —
1. Becauseit distrusted God.
2. Becauseit did no good.
3. Becauseit made themselves more wretchedand miserable still.

IV. THE PROVISION MADE.
1. Unexpected in its source.
2. Unexpected in the manner of its attainment.
3. Unexpected in quantity.
V. THE INSTRUCTION AFFORDED. Thatrock was a type of Christ. He
was appointed of God, strickenof man, means of salvationto those appointed
to die, &c.
(Preacher's Analyst.)
The Gift of WaterAt Meribah
D. Young
Numbers 20:2-13
I. THE COMPLAINT OF THE PEOPLE.

1. It was occasionedby a pressing and reasonable want. "There was no water
for the congregation." The people were often discontentedwithout cause, but
here was a realstrait. Experience shows that many so-callednecessities,
instead of being necessities, are eveninjurious. Life might be made more
simple and frugal with no loss, but rather increase, ofthe highest joys of life.
But if we are to live here at all there are some things necessary. The bread and
the watermust be sure.
2. There was no apparent supply for the want. We may presume that for the
most part Israelhad found water, even in the wilderness, without much
difficulty. Unobserved and unappreciated, God may have opened up many
fountains before the Israelites approached. Hence when they came to Kadesh
and found the rocks dry, they hastily judged there was no water. We are very
dependent on customary outward signs.
3. Pastexperience of similar circumstances should have led to calm faith and
expectation. God had made sweetforthem the bitter waters of Marah, and
directly after brought them to Elim with its ample supply (Exodus 15:23-27).
And when they came to Rephidim, and found no water, Moses by command of
God smote the rock in Horeb (Exodus 17). But then the rising generationhad
not been sufficiently instructed in these things, and impressed with the
goodness ofGod. How should unbelieving and forgetting fathers make
believing and mindful children? If we would only base our expectations on
what God has done in the past, we should look in vain for occasionoffear and
doubt. After Jesus had fed one multitude, the disciples had yet to ask with
respectto another, "Whence shouldwe have so much bread in the wilderness,
as to fill so greata multitude?" (Matthew 15:33). Consideralso Matthew 16:5-
10. We continually, and in the most perverse way, confine our views of what is
possible within the limitations of our own natural powers. To God the
wilderness is as the fruitful field, and the fruitful field as the wilderness. He
can make the earth whateverpleases him (Psalm 107:33-39).

4. The complainers of the people were not confined to the urgent need. They
do not approachMoses with a simple, humble plea for water. They had not
consideredwhy they had been brought to Kadesh, and that in the plans of
God they were bound to come againinto that district, whether waterwas
there or not. First of all they utter an impious, hasty wish, though if it had
been takenseriously they would have complained bitterly. Men are apt to say
they wish they were dead when really their circumstances are more endurable
than those of many who have learned, like the apostle, in whatsoeverstate
they are, therewith to be content. A discontentedheart makes a reckless
tongue. The expressionwas used thoughtlesslyenough, just as many take
God's name in vain, hardly conscious ofwhat they are saying. Next they
advance to an unjust reproach. Forty years of Divine chastisements, sharp
and severe, had taught them nothing. They could see nothing more than that
Moses andAaron were leading the people about at their own will. How easyit
is through our ignorance of the unseen God to attribute to the men whom we
do see a powerimmensely beyond their resources.The people came back to
Kadesh as they left it, blind, ungrateful, inconsiderate as ever. Moses and
Aaron, sorrowing for their dead sister, have once again to listen to accusations
which long ago had been answeredby God himself. The reproachis mingled
with vain regrets, still surviving all these years of chastisement. There could
not now be many survivors of the generationthat had come out of Egypt, yet,
doubtless, all the while Egypt had been so often mentioned as to have deeply
infected the minds of the younger generation. Garrulous old people, who
might so easilyhave inspired their children by telling them of God's dealings
with Pharaohin Egypt and at the Red Sea, and of all his goodness in the
wilderness, were rather poisoning and prejudicing their hearts with
recollections ofcarnalcomforts and delicacies whichseemedhopelesslylost.
Instead of pointing out that the wilderness with all its hardships was a place of
Divine manifestations, they could only see that it was no place of seeds, orfigs,
or vines, or pomegranates. The mention of water, coming in at the last, seems
almost an after-thought, as much as to say, "Evenif we had water, there
would none the less be ground for great complaints."
II. GOD'S ANSWER TO THE COMPLAINT.

1. The people speak againstMosesandAaron, who thereupon make their
usual resort to God. Beforetime when his glory appearedin response to their
appeal it was the herald of destruction (Numbers 14:10; Numbers 16:19, 42);
but now there is no threatening of destruction. Even in the midst of their
murmuring and ingratitude God recognizes theirreal need. Thus as we
considerthe work of God in Christ Jesus we find a similar recognition. Men
came to Jesus with all sorts of selfish complaints; but while they found in him
a pitying listener, there was no disposition to dealwith them according to
their complaints. Goddid not give to Israelat Kadesh, figs, vines, and
pomegranates, but he gave water speedily and abundantly. It is made a charge
againstthe Divine providence and government, and sometimes a ground for
denying the reality of such things, that men are so unequally supplied with
temporal possessions.But all this falls to the ground if only we notice how
prompt, how effectual, God is in meeting real necessities. It is he who is to
judge of these. There is no absolute necessityevenfor the bread that
perisheth, but there is need, whether here or elsewhere,to be free from sin, to
have that spiritual food, that bread and waterof eternal life, which Jesus
himself has spokenof so largelyand attractively in the Gospelof John. Thus
while the Jews wenton wickedlycomplaining againstChrist, showing more
and more their ignorance and selfishness, he, on the other hand, went on in
the midst of all, revealing, expounding, setting forth in the clearlight of his
matchless teaching the supreme want of men and his own adequate supply for
it. We must cease clamouring for the figs, vines, and pomegranates,and be
more athirst for that waterof which if one drink he shall never thirst again.
God will not supply everything we think to be wants. But let a man come to
himself and discernhis real needs, and God, like the father to the prodigal
son. will run to meet him with an ample supply.
2. God makes the supply from an unlikely source. Moses was to speak to the
rock before their eyes, the one nearestthem at the time. There was no
searching about among the hills if haply some natural reservoirmight be
found which a touch could open in all its fullness to the panting crowd. There

was waterin the rock before them, requiring nothing more than the word of
God through his servant Moses. We must considerwhat happened as if Moses
had completely carriedout his instructions. Thus in many things connected
with our salvationwe are directed to unlikely places and unlikely methods.
Who expects the King of the Jews to be born in Bethlehem? Why not in
Jerusalem? Canany goodthing come out of Nazareth? Shall one look for the
food of a multitude among five loaves and two small fishes? Shall one look for
an apostle of the Gentiles in Paul, the fierce and persecuting Jew? Godmakes
a messengeroutof the child Samuel, and a champion out of the stripling
David. God delights in finding everything he needs where we can find little or
nothing. We may be nearesthelp when to our natural judgment we may seem
farthest from it.
3. There is thus a warning againstall hasty judgments. We who are so utterly
weak, so constantlyin need of help, should be very slow to say, "Neitheris
there any waterto drink." Let us bear in mind how ignorant we are of the
Scriptures and the powerof God. God will not leave his own true children
unsupplied with any needful thing. He will choose the right time, and way,
and form. It is the besetting sin of far too many minds to form conclusions not
only when there is lack of sufficient information, but when there is no need of
present conclusionat all. "Waiton the Lord, be of goodcourage, andhe shall
strengthen thine heart." Do not say in haste and ignorance that there is no
strength to be gotanywhere. - Y.
The Scene At Meribah
R. D. B. Rawnsley, M. A.
Numbers 20:2-13

This is a memorable incident in the Jews'history, rich in warning to us at this
day. Moses had failed in his duty towards God in three particulars.
1. He had failed in strict obedience.
2. He had showntemper, used hard language.
3. He had takento himself the credit of supplying the Israelites with water.
I. THE DANGER OF DEPARTING, IN THE LEAST JOT OR TITTLE,
FROM ANY LAW OF GOD.
II. THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO TEMPERATE
SPEECH, the necessityof keeping a check on temper and not letting ourselves
be moved to hot and angry words.
III. This scene is further useful as CARRYING OUR THOUGHTS
UPWARDS to Him who is the source of all our hopes, the nourishment of our
soul, the very life of our religion, the Lord Jesus Christ.
(R. D. B. Rawnsley, M. A.)
COMMENTARIES

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
20:1-13 After thirty-eight years'tedious abode in the wilderness, the armies of
Israeladvanced towards Canaanagain. There was no waterfor the
congregation. We live in a wanting world, and wherever we are, must expect
to meet with something to put us out. It is a greatmercy to have plenty of
water, a mercy which, if we found the want of, we should more own the worth
of. Hereupon they murmured againstMoses andAaron. They spake the same
absurd and brutish language their fathers had done. It made their crime the
worse, that they had smarted so long for the discontentand distrusts of their
fathers, yet they venture in the same steps. Mosesmust again, in God's name,
command waterout of a rock for them; God is as able as ever to supply his
people with what is needful for them. But Mosesand Aaron acted wrong.
They took much of the glory of this work of wonder to themselves;Must we
fetch water? As if it were done by some poweror worthiness of their own.
They were to speak to the rock, but they smote it. Therefore it is chargedupon
them, that they did not sanctify God, that is, they did not give to him alone
that glory of this miracle which was due unto his name. And being provoked
by the people, Moses spakeunadvisedly with his lips. The same pride of man
would still usurp the office of the appointed Mediator;and become to
ourselves wisdom, righteousness,and sanctification, and redemption. Such a
state of sinful independence, such a rebellion of the soul againstits Saviour,
the voice of God condemns in every page of the gospel.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
The command Numbers 20:8 was "Speakye unto the rock." The actof
smiting, and especiallywith two strokes, indicates violent irritation on the
part of Moses;as does also his unseemly mode of addressing the people:
"Hearnow, ye rebels." The form too of the question, "must we, etc.," directs
the people not, as ought to have been the case, to God as their deliverer, but to
Moses andAaron personally. In fact the faithful servantof God, worn out by
the reiteratedperversities of the people, breaks down; and in the actual
discharge of his duty as God's representative before Israel, acts unworthily of

the greatfunction entrusted to him. Thus, Moses did not "sanctify God in the
eyes of the children of Israel." Aaron might have checkedthe intemperate
words and acts of Moses, anddid not. Hence, God punishes both by
withdrawing them from their work for Him, and handing over its
accomplishmentto another.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
11. the congregationdrank, and their beasts—Physicallythe waterafforded
the same kind of needful refreshment to both. But from a religious point of
view, this, which was only a common element to the cattle, was a sacramentto
the people (1Co 10:3, 4)—It possesseda relative sanctity imparted to it by its
divine origin and use.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
To the men it was a sacrament, 1 Corinthians 10:3,4, but to the beasts it was
no holy, but a common thing. So that the elements in the sacraments have no
inherent and inseparable holiness, but only a relative holiness with respectto
their use, out of which they are unholy and common.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice,....At
first it only brought out some drops, as Jarchiconjectures, and therefore
Moses smote again, whenit brought forth waterplentifully: the Targum of
Jonathansays,"atthe first time it dropped blood, at the secondtime came out
much water.''Couldthis be credited, it would make the agreementbetween
this rock and Christ appear very manifest, from whom, when his side was
pierced with a spear, there came out blood and water, John 19:34 for
justification and sanctification. In what respectthis rock was a type of Christ,
as the other at Horeb, and the smiting of it an emblem of Christ being smitten
with the rod of justice, according to the law of God, and of the abundance of
waterflowing from it, as typical of the abundance of grace, andthe blessings
of it, as coming through a smitten wounded Saviour; see Gill on Exodus 17:6,
where the same things are said of another rock as of this, and both types of
Christ:

and the water came out abundantly, and the congregationdrank, and their
beasts also;there was enoughfor them and their cattle;for it came out in
greatquantities, in large streams, so that it ran down like a river, and which
gave them drink as out of the greatdepths, Psalm 78:15, where the Psalmist
makes mention of rocks in the plural number, for there were two that were
smitten in two different places, and at two different times; the one was at
Rephidim, the other, as here, in Kadesh; the one was in the first year of
Israel's coming out of Egypt, this in the fortieth year of it; that was struck but
once, this twice; of this secondstone no mention is made by any traveller but
one (a), who coming from Mount Sinai, says,"wepassedby a large rock on
our left hand, in which, as in the other rock which Moses struck with his rod,
appear, from the bottom to the top, openings where water hath gushedout.''
(a) See a Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai, 1722. p. 42, 43. Ed. 2.
Geneva Study Bible
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice:and
the watercame out abundantly, and the congregationdrank, and their beasts
also.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
Sin of Moses andAaron at the Water of Strife at Kadesh. - In the arid desert
the congregationwas in want of water, and the people quarrelled with Moses
in consequence. In connectionwith the first stayin Kadesh there is nothing
said about any deficiencyof water. But as the name Kadesh embraces a large
district of the desertof Zin, and is not confined to one particular spot, there
might easily be a want of water in this place or the other. In their faithless
discontent, the people wished that they had died when their brethren died
before Jehovah. The allusion is not to Korah's company, as Knobel supposes,
and the word ‫,עוּג‬ "to expire," would be altogetherinapplicable to their

destruction; but the reference is to those who had died one by one during the
thirty-seven years. "Why," they murmured once more againstMoses and
Aaron, "have ye brought the congregationofGod into this desert, to perish
there with their cattle? Why have ye brought it out of Egypt into this evil
land, where there is no seed, no fig-trees and pomegranates, no vines, and no
waterto drink?"
Numbers Chapter 20
Verses 20:1 – 22:1: These chapters recordthe beginning of the transition from
the old generation(representedby Miriam and Aaron), to the new generation
(representedby Eleazar). Geographically, Israelmoves from Kadesh (20:1), to
the plains of Moab (22:1), from where the conquestof the Land would be
launched (there is an interval of 37 years between19:22 and 20:1).
This passagedeals with the march from Kadesh to the plains of Moab. This is
the third and last travel narrative in Exodus through Numbers. The first was
from the RedSea to Sinai (Exodus 13-19);and the secondfrom Sinai to
Kadesh (Num. chapters 11 & 12).
Verses 1-13:Just as the children of Israelfailed to trust in the Lord (14:11),
and thus were not allowedto go into the Promised Land (14:30), Israel’s
leaders, Mosesand Aaron, would also not go into the Land because offailure
to trust in the Lord.

Numbers 20:1 "Then came the children of Israel, [even] the whole
congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in
Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there."
“Then”:It was now in the fortieth yearafter the Exodus. Aaron died in the
fortieth year according to (Numbers 33:38, and his death is recordedin this
chapter (verses 22-29). There is no mention of mourning following Miriam’s
death, in contrastto the death of Aaron (verse 29), or Moses (Deut. 34:8).
“In the first month”: The year is not stated. However, at the end of this
chapter, there is a report of the death of Aaron. According to (NHm. 33:38),
Aaron died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the
Exodus from Egypt. Thus, the first month here must be of the fortieth year.
Mostof the older generationhad died in the wilderness.
“Kadesh”:As the people had begun their wilderness wanderings at Kadesh
(13:26), so they ended them there. Kadesh was locatedon the northern
boundary of the wilderness of Paran (13:26), and on the southeastborder of
the wilderness ofZin.
“Miriam died”: Miriam, who led Israelin celebrating the victory over Egypt
at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20-21), also led the attack againstMosesrecorded
in (Num. 12:1-15). Her death served as a symbol that the old generationwould
not enter Canaan.
We have mentioned before, the similarity betweenthe march of the Israelites
across the wilderness to their PromisedLand, and the Christians journey
through life on their way to their promised land (Heaven). I have said many
times before; the most important thing is being able to enter into the Promised

Land. There are hardships along the way and death of friends and loved ones,
but we must stay steadfastin the faith. This seems to be an end of a very long
journey here. They are back at Zin. They had been here 38 years before, and
lacking in enough faith to go into the PromisedLand. The first month of their
year is Abib, or about the same as our April. The people have stopped at
Kadesh. Miriam, the sisterof Moses andAaron, died and was buried here.
They probably mourned her for a month as was the custom. It seems, they
stayed in this camp three or four months.
Verses 2-13:This incident resembles the first occasionwhenIsrael
complained about a total lack of water (Exodus 17:1-7). Both times the people
“chode with Moses” andasked, “Wherefore have ye made us to come up out
of Egypt?” Both times Mosesis told “take the rod”, the same rod with which
he had performed miracles (Exodus 7:20; 14:16), and use it to bring waterout
of the rock. And both places are called “Meribah”, meaning “To Strive”. The
verb in the command of (verse 8 is plural), indicating that Aaron was to be
involved. In Exodus, Moseswas commandedto strike the rock, whereas this
actionconstitutes the essenceofhis disobedience. Godtold them to “take the
rod … gather thou the assemblytogether” and “speak ye unto the rock”. But
instead Moses “took the rod … gatheredthe congregationtogether”, and
spoke to them in anger, calling them “rebels”, andthen “smote the rock
twice”. Moses’unbelief was evident by his disobedience in not carrying out
God’s instructions precisely. By not doing so he did not “sanctifyme” [that is,
setGod apart, elevate Him as sovereign], “in the eyes of the children of
Israel”, and forfeited his privilege to bring the people into the PromisedLand
(verse 12). Aaron was also included in the prohibition.
Numbers 20:2 "And there was no waterfor the congregation:and they
gatheredthemselves togetheragainstMoses andagainstAaron."

“No water”:During Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness, waterwas their
greatestphysicalneed. The Lord had provided it continually, beginning at
Horeb (Exodus 17:1-7). The present lack of waterstirred the people to
contend with Moses.
There was no waterfor the people to drink, and they immediately blame
Moses andAaron. There was no mention of a shortage of waterin this area,
when they were here before, so this is, probably, just a passing shortage of
water.
Numbers 20:3 "And the people chode with Moses,and spake, saying, Would
God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!"
“Would God that we had died when our brethren died”: The situation was so
desperate in the people’s mind that they wished they had been among those
who died in Korah’s rebellion (16:41-50).
The word "chode" means murmured. This is the same thing their fathers did
every time anything went wrong. On this point, they have not changed. This
wishing they had died earlierhas become a habit.
Numbers 20:4 "And why have ye brought up the congregationofthe LORD
into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?"
The wilderness of Zin. Whither by various marches and journeys, and
through different stations, they were at length come.

"Thatwe and our cattle should die there?" With thirst. They seemto
representit, as if this was the end, design, and intention of Moses and Aaron
in bringing them thither. Their language is much the same with their fathers
on a like occasion. Whichshows the bad influence of example, and how
careful parents should be of their words and actions. Thattheir posterity be
not harmed by them (see Exodus 17:3).
This is almost identical to the complaint their fathers had made. The few who
remained who had known Egypt, were the ones who started this. It seems one
complainer speaks foreveryone.
Numbers 20:5 "And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to
bring us in unto this evil place? it [is] no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or
of pomegranates;neither [is] there any water to drink."
They represent that affair in such a light, as if they were forcedout of Egypt
by Moses and Aaron againsttheir wills. Or at leastwere over persuaded by
them to do what they had no inclination, namely, to come out of Egypt.
Though they were in the utmost bondage and slavery. And their lives were
made bitter by it, and they cried by reasonof their oppression, and the
hardships they endured. But this was all forgot. Aben Ezra says, it is a strange
word which is here used, which shows the confusionthey were in.
"To bring us unto this evil place":Dry and barren, where there was neither
food nor drink, as follows.
"It is no place of seed":Or fit for sowing, as the Targum of Jonathan. Any
sort of seed, as wheat, barley, rye, rice, etc.

"Or of figs, or vines, or pomegranates":It is not a soil fit to plant such trees
in. Nor would they grow were they planted.
"Neitheris there any waterto drink": Forthem and their cattle, and
therefore must be a miserable place for so large a body of people to subsist in.
These ungrateful people had been miraculously fed for 40 years, and yet they
were not satisfied. Mosesdid not make them come out of Egypt. They have
forgottenthe hard bondage they were under, and that they cried out to Godto
deliver them. They want delicacies. Theyhave not done without water for 40
years, why would they have to do without now?
Numbers 20:6 "And Mosesand Aaron went from the presence ofthe
assemblyunto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell
upon their faces:and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them."
“Fellupon their faces”:As he had done in the past, Moses soughtthe Lord’s
counsel(see 14:5; 16:4).
Moses andAaron are humiliated and horrified at the ingratitude of the
people. They fall on their faces before God. The glory of the Lord has been
with them all this time in a smoke by day, and a fire by night. The presence of
the LORD appears to Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 20:7 "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,"

This messageis for Moses.
Out of what was the token of his glory, which perhaps was the cloud, with an
uncommon luster and brightness in it.
"Saying":As follows.
Numbers 20:8 "Take the rod, and gather thou the assemblytogether, thou,
and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes;and it
shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them waterout of the
rock:so thou shalt give the congregationand their beasts drink."
“Speak ye unto the rock”:Though God told Moses to take his rod with which
He had performed many wonders in the past (Exodus 4:1-5; 7:19-21;14:16;
17:5-6), he was only to speak to the rock for it to yield water.
There was a time earlier, when Moses had smote the rock, and the water
gushed forth. The Rock is symbolic of Jesus. He was crucified for us one time.
1 Corinthians 10:4 "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they
drank of that spiritual Rock that followedthem: and that Rock was Christ."
Exodus 17:6 "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;
and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the
people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel."

In this verse above, God told Moses to speak to the rock. He had already
smitten the Rock at Horeb.
Numbers 20:9 "And Mosestook the rod from before the LORD, as he
commanded him."
Which was laid up somewhere in the sanctuary, as well as the rod of Aaron
(Num. 17:7).
"As he commanded him": Being always faithful and obedient to him that
appointed him.
This rod was the miracle rod God had given him, to do signs and wonders
with.
Numbers 20:10 "And Moses andAaron gatheredthe congregationtogether
before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch
you waterout of this rock?"
“Ye rebels”:Instead of speaking to the rock, Mosesspoke to the people,
accusing them of being rebels againstGod. By his actions, Moses joinedthe
people in rebellion againstGod (see 27:14).
Moses was angrywith them. He gatheredthem to the Rock to see the water
come forth.

Psalms 106:32 "Theyangered[him] also at the waters ofstrife, so that it went
ill with Moses fortheir sakes:"
Numbers 20:11 "And Moses liftedup his hand, and with his rod he smote the
rock twice:and the watercame out abundantly, and the congregationdrank,
and their beasts [also]."
At first it only brought out some drops, as Jarchi conjectures. And therefore
Moses smote again, whenit brought forth waterplentifully. In one respectthis
rock was a type of Christ, as the other at Horeb, and the smiting of it an
emblem of Christ being smitten with the rod of justice, according to the law of
God. And of the abundance of water flowing from it. As typical of the
abundance of grace, and the blessings of it. As coming through a smitten
wounded Savior (see note on Exodus 17:6). Where the same things are said of
another rock as of this, and both were types of Christ.
"And the watercame out abundantly, and the congregationdrank, and their
beasts also. There was enoughfor them and their cattle. For it came out in
greatquantities, in large streams, so that it ran down like a river, and which
gave them drink as out of the greatdepths (Psalm78:15). Where the Psalmist
makes mention of rocks in the plural number. For there were two that were
smitten in two different places, and at two different times. The one was at
Rephidim, the other, as here, in Kadesh. The one was in the first year of
Israel's coming out of Egypt. This in the fortieth year of it.
Jesus is that Rock. To smite the Rock, aftersmiting it at Horeb, would be like
crucifying Jesus allover again.

Numbers 20:12 "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Becauseye
believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore
ye shall not bring this congregationinto the land which I have given them."
“Ye believed me not”: The Lord’s evaluation of Moses wasthat he failed to
take God at His word and thus to treat Him as holy to the people. Moses here
failed in the same way as Israel had at Kadesh38 years previously (14:11).
“Ye shall not bring this congregationinto the land”: God’s judgment upon
Moses forhis sin of striking the rock was that he would not take Israelinto
the land of Canaan. The inclusion of Aaron demonstrated his partnership
with Moses in the action againstthe Lord.
We see from the verse above and the following verses that Moses andAaron
did not go into the PromisedLand because theydid not obey God at the Rock.
Moses smote the Rock the secondtime, instead of speaking to It.
Deuteronomy 32:49-51 "Getthee up into this mountain Abarim, [unto] mount
Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, that [is] over againstJericho;and
behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israelfor a
possession:" "And die in the mount whither thou goestup, and be gathered
unto thy people;as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered
unto his people:" "Becauseye trespassedagainstme among the children of
Israelat the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye
sanctifiedme not in the midst of the children of Israel."
Numbers 20:13 "This [is] the waterof Meribah, because the children of Israel
strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them."

“Meribah”:The name “Meribah” is a play on words, meaning “contention”
or “striving” in Hebrew. This place name also appears in the earlierincident,
right after the Exodus, in which God brought waterfrom the rock for the
people (Exodus 17:7). That first locationwas calledMassah, whichmeans
“testing” (Psalm95:8).
The "waterof Meribah" is the waterof strife. Here, Moses disobeyedGod,
when he smote the Rock. Godsanctified Himself, when the waterflowed from
the Rock (symbolic of Jesus).
http://www.bible-
studys.org/Bible%20Books/Numbers/Numbers%20Chapter%2020.html
Moses Strikesthe Rock in Exodus and Numbers: One Story or Two?
In Numbers 20, when the Israelites are without water, God tells Moses to get
waterfrom a stone, which he does by striking it, and is punished. Yet in
Exodus, Mosesdoes the same thing and the story ends positively. What is the
relationship betweenthese two accounts? Remarkably, R. JosephBekhor
Shor says that they are two accounts ofthe same story.
Prof.JonathanJacobs
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Moses Strikesthe Rock in Exodus and Numbers: One Story or Two?
Miniature of Moses hitting the rock in the desert to bring forth water with
two Israelites behind his back.
Two ParallelStories
The wondrous extraction of waterfrom the rock is described in the Torah
twice:first soonafter the splitting of the Sea (Exod 17:1–7), and againat the
end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness (Num 20:1–13).[1]The
two accounts have a number of overlapping details which reflect their overall
similar plotlines. Moreover, some even include strong linguistic parallels
(bolded):
1. The Israelites arrive at an area without water
Exodus 17:1
ַ‫י‬ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬ ָּ‫ע‬‫ע‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫עס‬ ְַּ‫ע‬ ַ‫י‬ ֲ‫י‬ ַ‫ש‬ ‫ָר‬‫ּוֵא‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ן‬ ‫מּוי‬ ‫ס‬ ְִּ‫ע‬‫מ‬ ֲ‫ם‬ ‫ּו‬ ֲ‫י‬ ָּ‫ע‬ ַ‫ם‬ ‫י‬ ‫שּו‬ ְֲּ ַ ַ ‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫ש‬ ‫ם‬ ‫אְּּו‬‫מ‬ ‫די‬ ‫ּגר‬ ֲ‫ַם‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ‫ם‬ֹּ‫ת‬ ֲ
‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community continued by
stages as YHWH would command. They encamped at Rephidim, and there
was no waterfor the people to drink.
Numbers 20:1–2
ְּ‫בד‬ ֲ‫ש‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ְ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ָּ‫ל‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫י‬ ‫ִּד‬ ְְֵֹּּ ‫שּו‬ ָּ ַ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ‫שּו‬ ְֲּ ַ ִּ ‫ְּד‬‫מ‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫די‬ ‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ ‫ער‬ֹּ ‫ד‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬... ִּ ‫ְּד‬‫מ‬‫יד‬ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬ ִּ‫ד‬‫ע‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫ֹּע‬‫י‬ֲ‫ו‬
The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin in the first month,
and they people settled in Kadesh… and the community was without water,
2. The People Quarrel with Moses
Exodus 17:2

ִּ ְ ֹּ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ְ‫די‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ The people quarreled with Moses
Numbers 20:3
ִּ ְ ֹּ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ְ‫די‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ The people quarreled with Moses
This phrase is an exactlinguistic parallel.
3. They Complain about Leaving Egypt and Immanent Deathin the
Wilderness
Exodus 17:3
ֹּ ‫מּוי‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ְָּ‫די‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬ ‫וד‬ ‫שּו‬ ‫ּוע‬ָ ֲ‫ב‬ ַ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ּוע‬ָ ‫שד‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ם‬ֹּ‫ע‬ ‫עם‬ ַ ‫ִּד‬ ֲ‫י‬‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ ַ ַ ‫ָר‬ ‫ד‬‫עם‬ ַ‫בי‬‫מ‬ ְִּ ְְִּ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫יד‬‫י‬ ְ ‫ֹּע‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ִּ ְ and
the people grumbled againstMosesand said, “Why did you bring us up from
Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”
Numbers 20:4–5
ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ ַ ַ ‫ָר‬ֶ‫עם‬ ַ‫בי‬‫מ‬ ְִּ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫יד‬ֲ‫ו‬ .‫ָר‬‫עי‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ ‫ר‬ ‫ָר‬ ֲֵ‫ּו‬ָ‫עא‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ד‬ ‫רם‬ ‫יד‬ ְְִּ‫ִּּו‬ ‫י‬ ‫שד‬ ְֲּ ַ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫י‬ְ‫ע‬ ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫י‬‫ִּּו‬ ֲ‫ב‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫ס‬ ְ‫עם‬ ‫ִּא‬ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫יד‬ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ס‬
ְְִּ‫ִּּו‬ ‫ּג‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫בלס‬‫ד‬ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫י‬ְ‫ע‬ ‫ָר‬ ‫ד‬‫ם‬ֹּ‫ע‬ ‫עע‬ ַ ‫ִּד‬ ֲ‫י‬ Why have you brought YHWH's congregationinto
this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? Why did you bring us up
out of Egypt to bring us to this wretchedplace.
4. MosesTurns to God
Exodus 17:4
ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫י‬ְ‫ע‬ ִּ ְ ֹּ ‫מּוב‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ Moses criedout to YHWH
Numbers 20:6
‫י‬ְִֹּּ‫ע‬ ֵ ‫ּו‬‫ם‬ְ‫ן‬ ‫י‬ְ‫ע‬ ‫י‬‫ִּד‬‫ןד‬‫ִּּו‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫ן‬ ַ ָֹּּ‫י‬‫ִּא‬ ‫עּו‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ִּ ְ ֹּ ‫ֹּע‬ ‫ד‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬‫ס‬ ְִּ‫ע‬‫עאי‬ ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ְּ‫ל‬ ֲֵ‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ‫ס‬ ְִּ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫ן‬ ‫מּוי‬ ‫יר‬ ֲ‫ן‬ַ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ְּ‫למ‬
Moses andAaron came awayfrom the congregationto the entrance of the
Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces, andthe Glory of YHWH appeared to
them.
5. God Tells Mosesto Gather People (or Elders) and Take His Staff
Exodus 17:5

‫ד‬‫ת‬ ֲֵ‫יד‬‫ִּד‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫י‬ ְֲּ‫ד‬‫ע‬ ֲ‫ש‬ ֵ‫בּו‬ ‫י‬ֹּ‫ע‬ֲ‫ע‬ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫של‬ ‫ד‬‫עם‬ ַ ִַּ ‫י‬ ְ ‫עא‬ ‫י‬ ֲ‫ט‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫ר‬ ‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫ְַב‬ ַ ‫י‬ ֲ‫ת‬ ַ‫ע‬ ֵ‫בּו‬ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫י‬ ַ‫י‬‫י‬ֹּ ‫א‬‫מ‬ Pass
before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take along
the staffwith which you struck the Nile, and setout.
Numbers 20:8
‫עי‬ ֵַ ‫עד‬ ָֹּּ‫י‬‫ִּא‬ ‫עּו‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ִּ ‫ד‬‫ת‬ ‫עּו‬ ִּ ‫ְּד‬‫מ‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫י‬ִּ ֲ‫ב‬‫ִּּו‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ִּ ְ‫ט‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ֵ‫בּו‬ You and your brother Aaron take the
staff and assemble the community,
6. MosesIs to Bring WaterForth from a Stone, and He Does So
Exodus 17:6
‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫וַב‬ ‫ע‬ָ‫ע‬‫מ‬ ֲ‫י‬ ִּ ְ ֹּ ָּ ‫ב‬‫ּומּו‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ‫ס‬‫מד‬ ‫ִּד‬ ִּ ‫ד‬‫ם‬ ‫ד‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫שר‬ ְ ַ ‫ער‬ ֲ‫דב‬‫ע‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ורי‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫ד‬‫עם‬ ַ ִַּ ֲ‫.ו‬ Strike the stone
and waterwill issue from it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in
the sight of the elders of Israel.
Numbers 20:8, 11
‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ִּ ‫ְּד‬‫מ‬ ‫ִּד‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫עם‬ ַ‫ב‬ ֲ ִַּ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ּג‬‫יּו‬ְ ‫ִּּו‬ ָּ ַ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫ס‬ ְִּ‫יד‬ ‫ד‬‫עם‬‫ִּלב‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫עו‬ ‫ד‬ ‫ע‬ ָּ ‫ּו‬‫דם‬ָ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫ס‬ ְִּ‫ע‬ָ‫ע‬‫מ‬ ֲ‫י‬ ‫ּג‬‫יּו‬ְ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫י‬ְ‫ע‬ ‫ס‬ ְ‫ת‬ ֲ‫י‬ ‫שּו‬ ְַּ ֲ‫ו‬
ֲ‫ת‬ ֲ ‫ּות‬‫ו‬ ‫עס‬ ַ‫ש‬ ‫ּו‬‫י‬ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫ער‬ ֲ‫ב‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ‫ס‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ד‬ ‫א‬‫מ‬‫ןּו‬ ‫ִּר‬‫ט‬ ‫ּו‬ ֲ‫ש‬ ‫ּג‬‫יּו‬ְ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ַּ‫ּו‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ‫דְּל‬‫ע‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ִּ ְ ֹּ ‫ס‬ ְ‫די‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ...‫ס‬ ‫ד‬‫עי‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ש‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ד‬‫עי‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ ‫ר‬ ִּ ‫ְּד‬‫מ‬ ‫.ִּד‬
Before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall
produce waterfor them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation
and their beasts…. And Mosesraisedhis hand and struck the rock twice with
his staff. Out issuedcopious water, and the community and their beasts
drank.
7. The Place Is RenamedUsing the Word “Quarrel”
Exodus 17:7
ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬‫ִּא‬ ‫י‬ֹּ ‫ע‬‫י‬ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ד‬‫ם‬ֹּ ‫ּו‬ָ ‫מּוי‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ‫ש‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫י‬ ‫מּוי‬ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫י‬ ֲ ‫ר‬ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫ּו‬ ‫בלס‬‫ד‬ ‫ִּּו‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ַב‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬
ֲ‫י‬ ַ‫ב‬ ֲ‫עַָּש‬ ‫עד‬ ‫ס‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ָר‬‫.ש‬ The place was named Testing and Quarrel (Massahu-Meribah),
because the Israelites quarreled with, and because theytested, YHWH,
saying, "Is YHWH presentamong us or not?"
Numbers 20:13

‫ס‬ ‫שד‬ ְּ‫ַןד‬ ‫ּו‬‫ו‬ ִּ‫ד‬‫ו‬ֲִַּּ‫ע‬ ‫ם‬ ְ‫ע‬ ‫י‬‫ע‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ֲ‫ב‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ע‬ָ ֲ ‫ר‬ ‫ד‬‫י‬ ‫י‬ ְ ‫עא‬ ִּ ‫ד‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫י‬ ֲ ‫ע‬ ִּ ‫ד‬ ִּ. Those are the Waters of
Quarrel (Mei Meribah), meaning that the Israelites quarreledwith YHWH,
through which He affirmed His sanctity.
While the stories are similar in many respects, they diverge in a number of
respects. The mostsubstantial differences are that in Numbers, God
commands Moses andAaron to speak to the rock and Mosesinsteadhits the
rock with his staff (as he did in Exodus) and the two are punished. This begs
the question: What is the relationship betweenthese two stories?
Two Waterfrom the Rock Stories?
Although modern source critical scholars suggestthat the two stories are two
alternative traditions, or variations on the same story in different sources,[2]
traditional commentators readthe Torah as one text from one Source, and
thus assume that these are two similar stories that take place at different times
in the wilderness.
For example, noting that the story begins with the death of Miriam in v. 1,
Rashi(R. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040–1105)adduces the rabbinic midrash about
Miriam’s well and writes (Num 20:2):
"‫עיו‬ ִּ‫ִּע‬ ‫סע‬ ‫—"ְִּּּגי‬ elpoepehT“ .‫יעס‬ ‫וֵום‬ ‫עי‬ ִּ ‫יִּס‬ ִּ‫ִּע‬ ִָּ‫ש‬ ‫ּגעס‬ ‫עי‬ ‫שֵי‬ ָּ‫ֵע‬
had no water”—fromhere we learn that they had waterall forty years due to
the merit of Miriam.
Putting aside the midrashic reference to the well, Rashi’s basic suggestionthat
these are two separate stories that take place forty years apart is the simple
implication of the text as we have it. And yet, one traditional commentator
takes a very different approach.
A Double Narrative: BekhorShor

Rabbi Josephof Orleans (ca. 1130–1200),who went by the name Joseph
BekhorShor was a member of the northern Frenchschoolof peshat. As I
discussedin, “The Double Quail Narratives and BekhorShor's Innovative
Reading,” (TheTorah.com, 2019), one ofhis unique contributions to this field
was the conceptof double narratives, i.e., reading two stories with similar
content as actually referring to a single event. This is how he reads the
accounts ofthe Moses getting waterfrom a rock in Exodus and Numbers.
His jumping off point is Numbers 20:8, where God tells Mosesto take his
staff:
"‫ֵב‬ ‫םע‬ ִּ ‫”—"ִּט‬ffats ehtekaT“ .‫םיּג‬ ‫—יִֵּום‬to strike the rock.
BekhorShor notes that if God tells Mosesto bring along the staff, it is because
he is to use it. If in both stories, Mosesis to hit the rock, this brings the two
accounts evencloser:
‫ָו‬ ]‫ועבעו‬ ‫בוי‬ ‫"וִֵּעם‬ ִּ‫ע‬ ‫ְֵּםע‬ ֵ‫שי‬ ‫ועִּע‬ ‫ש‬ ִּ‫ּגש‬ ‫וִּו‬ ‫יע‬ִּ‫ִָּיע‬ ‫ייע‬,‫עו‬ ‫ום‬ ‫)ש‬ "[‫עס‬
‫.)ו‬ As it appears to me, this is the episode found in ParashatBeshallach, where
it is written: “Strike the rock and [water] will issue [from it]” (Exod 17:6). ‫עיע‬
ֵ‫ועֵי‬ ,‫י‬ ְּ ‫עס‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ושיעו‬ ָּ ‫עשיעי‬ ‫עם‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ‫יוש‬ ‫ִּבְּוש‬ ‫יעיָם‬ ‫עעש‬ ‫י‬‫ן‬ ‫םּו‬ ‫ס‬ ‫ד‬‫שיש‬ ‫ֵי‬ ‫ֵם‬ ‫ש‬
deniatsus ,eH sidesselb,enO yloh eht woh sllet ti,revewoh,erehT .‫ו‬ ‫בו‬ ְֵּ‫ע‬
Israelwith manna, quail, and water in the wilderness, and afterward it
recordedeachin its place.
According to this, the stories in Exodus, such as the accountof the quail and
the waterbrought forth from a rock, did not happen immediately after Israel
left Egypt, as their placement would imply. Instead, eachof these things
happened at different points in the wilderness travelling, but the Torah
wanted to give the readers a generalpicture of God’s bounty early on in the
wilderness account, and thus included accounts of eachat that point, but
returned to tell the story in more detail at the proper narrative time as well.

Prooffrom Moses’Blessing in Deuteronomy
Realizing that this is a very novel suggestion, BekhorShorargues that the fact
that both places have essentiallythe same name (Meribah) is a strong proof
that the two accounts are about the same episode. Thatsaid, as the names are
somewhatdifferent—“Waters ofQuarrel” in Numbers vs. “Testing and
Quarrel” in Exodus—he points to the reference to the story in Moses’blessing
of Levi in Deuteronomy 33:8 as a third source that links the two names,[3]
showing that they refer to the same place:
‫ו‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ְֵּ‫שע‬ ‫וםְּּג‬ ‫ום‬ ‫)ש‬"ִּ ‫יע‬ ‫ו‬ ִּ‫ם‬ ‫ִִּּוע‬ ‫בוס‬ ִּ ‫שס‬ ‫"ועביע‬ ‫ֵםע‬‫ְִּּםס‬ ,‫ועוםו‬ ִּ‫ּגש‬ ִּ ִּ
:ָּ‫ועִּי‬ ִּ‫ש‬ ‫ּגי‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ‫יוש‬ ‫ִּבְּוש‬ ְּ‫שִּביע‬ ִּ‫ּגש‬ ִּ ִּ‫ו‬ ‫ּגי‬ ‫י‬ ‫עו‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ִֵּ‫י‬ ִּ ‫ועם‬ ‫ו‬ ,(‫ו‬ ,‫עו‬
"‫ישע‬ ָ‫וםעם‬ ‫ִּם‬ ‫עים‬ ִּ‫ו‬ ‫יּג‬ ‫ע‬ ‫עי‬ ִּ" (ְּ ‫סעי‬ ‫,גי‬ ֵ). ‫יע‬ ‫ע‬ ְּ ‫ִּשּג‬ ‫ְֵּע‬ ִּ‫.עו‬ Know
that this is one and the same episode, for there it is written: “The place was
named Massahand Meribah” (Exod. 17:7), and in Vezot Haberacha it says
regarding this very episode that the Holy One, blessedis He, took issue with
Moses andAaron: “whom You testedat Massah, challengedat the waters of
Meribah” (Deut 33:8). Hence it is a single episode.
Sin and Zin
BehorShor further argues that even the generalvicinity of the two places—
Wilderness of Sin/Wilderness of Zin—makes it clearthat the same events are
being narrated:
" ‫ֵםע‬ ָּ‫ֵע‬ ‫ועף‬ [...]‫"ועםּגו‬ ‫ֵםע‬ ‫ע‬ ָ ‫וִּםס‬ ,(ְּ‫ע‬ ,‫ֵו‬‫י‬ ְּ ) "ָּ‫בע‬ ‫י‬ ְּ [...] ‫ם‬ ‫יע‬ ‫ע‬ ִּ ִּ
fo sretaW ehtera esohT“ :nettirw si ti ereh ,rehtruF .(‫ע‬ ,‫עו‬ ‫ום‬ ‫)ש‬ "ָּ‫םע‬ ‫י‬ ְּ
Meribath […] in the wilderness of Zin” (Num 27:14), and there too it is
written: “[…] they setout from the wilderness of Sin” (Exod 17:1).
BekhorShor does not explain why the spelling is different in Exodus and
Numbers, but assumes that they are just variants, referring to the same place.

Filling in Gaps
Having establishedthat the two stories are one, BekhorShor continues by
explaining why the Torah tells the same story differently in two places:
‫יישעום‬ ‫ְּיש‬ ֵָּ‫ו‬ .‫בוי‬ ‫יִֵּום‬‫ִּוע‬ ‫יוש‬ ‫ִּבְּוש‬ ‫יו‬ ‫י‬ ‫שע‬ ,‫שס‬ ‫יעיש‬ ָּ‫ֵע‬ ‫יעיש‬ ‫שיע‬ ִּ ‫ו‬
ereh yficeps ton did ti tahw dnA .‫עֵי‬ ‫בוס‬ ‫ייש‬ ‫ו‬ ְֵּ‫ע‬ ‫בוס‬ ‫יעו‬ ְּ ‫שםוםס‬ ,ִּ ‫ִּי‬
(Numbers), it specifiedthere (Exodus)—that the Holy One, blessedis He,
commanded him to strike the rock. This is the style of many passages:it leaves
its remarks opaque in one place and specifies in another.[4]
Rethinking Moses’Sin
BekhorShor’s reading creates a serious problem: How can Mosesbe
punished for hitting the rock if God actually commanded Moses to do so?
BekhorShor tackles this problem in his gloss on Deuteronomy32:51, in which
God reminds Moses ofthe sin he committed in this story and his consequent
punishment:
"‫יּג‬ ‫ישע‬ ‫סםיּג‬ ‫"ע‬ – (ָּ ִּ)" ‫יםס‬ ‫ע‬ ‫עיע‬ ‫עס‬ ִּ ‫יִּס‬ ָּ‫ָום‬ ‫עָע‬ ‫ֵע‬ ‫עשיעי‬ ‫ָע‬ ‫י‬‫יעישםס‬ ‫שיע‬
‫יו‬ ‫ם‬ ‫עס‬ ִּ ‫עו‬ ‫וֵש‬ .‫יִּעום‬ ‫עֵוי‬ ‫עעָו‬ ִּ‫ו‬ ‫י‬ ְְּּ ‫ּג‬ ‫ש‬ ,(‫ע‬ ,ֵ‫י‬ ְּ )"‫עס‬ ‫יֵס‬ ‫ָובעע‬ ִּ‫ִּו‬ ‫ִּםיּג‬
‫ם‬ ‫ִּעו‬ ‫עס‬ ִּ ‫ֵע‬,‫עס‬ ‫יּג‬ ‫שָע‬ ‫יִֵּום‬‫ִּוביֵםס‬ ‫ויֵש‬ .‫עוםע‬ ‫ִּבְּשםס‬ ‫ויע‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ִּ‫בי‬ ‫ּגי‬ ‫ום‬ ֵ‫ּג‬
(15:23 tueD)”eM htiw htiafekorb uoyroF“ .ָּ‫ִֵּוג‬‫יםס‬ ְּ ‫יע‬ ‫—עשי‬foryou did
not explain to the Israelites that I was giving them the water, but insteadyou
said “shallwe getwaterfor you (out of) this rock?” (Num 20:10), seeming to
indicate that this was impossible, and when watercame, they believed that it
was a coincidence and you did not affirm My sanctity, and therefore you
needed to strike twice, since the waterwas delayed because youhad not
spokenproperly.
According to this, Moses speaking as if he himself did not believe that water
could be brought forth from a rock was the sin. By putting doubt into the
Israelites’minds about whether this really was a miracle at all, Moses and

Aaron’s lack of faith ruins the sanctificationof God that was to come from the
miracle.
BekhorShor then returns to his main point:
,‫עו‬ ‫ום‬ ‫)ש‬"‫בוי‬ ‫"וִֵּעם‬ ‫ְֵּםע‬ ,‫יִֵּום‬ ‫יו‬ ִּ‫בו‬ ‫ִּוע‬ ‫יוש‬ ‫שִּבְּוש‬ ,‫ָּגָש‬ ‫יע‬ ִִֵּּ‫ש‬ ִּ ‫י‬ ‫ע‬
gnivah rof,revewoH.‫שיעישםע‬ ‫ו‬ ֵ ,‫ביעע‬ ‫וֵֵע‬ ְֵּ‫ִּוע‬ ְֵּ‫ע‬ ִּ‫ּגש‬ ‫ֵע‬ ‫י‬ ‫עו‬ ‫עָע‬ ‫ֵע‬ .(‫ו‬
struck he was not punished, for the Holy One, blessedis He, commanded him
to strike, as it is written: “Strike the rock” (Exod 17:6), for I say that it was a
single episode, as the verses prove, as I have explained.
Going on the offensive, BekhorShor notes that this interpretation solves an
otherwise thorny problem that traditional readings have not successfully
explained:
‫ִֵּע‬ ‫שָע‬ ‫עע‬ ‫ו‬ ‫יִֵּום‬ ‫שיע‬ ִּ‫שבעו‬ ‫ִֵּע‬ ‫שָע‬ ‫עע‬ ,ִּ‫ִֵּע‬ ‫יע‬ ‫בוס‬ ִּ ְּ‫ו‬ ֵ ‫ְּעע‬ ,‫יע‬ ‫םם‬ ‫וִֵּע‬
rpinmO eht fo ronoh eht stifeb tifiesuaceb,elbisnes si sihT !?‫יִֵּום‬ִּ‫שבו‬esent
that there be no striking, what difference is there betweenthis instance, where
He commanded not to strike, and that instance, where He commanded to
strike?!
BekhorShor is polemicizing here againstRashi, who offers the standard
interpretation of the sin and God’s rebuke:
"‫יּג‬ ‫ישע‬ ‫עי‬ ‫—"סםשְּב‬ ‫י‬ ְּ ) ‫ִּםיּג‬ ‫עי‬ ‫יםס‬ ְּ‫ו‬ :‫יֵס‬‫יםע‬ ‫שע‬ ,‫עםבְּש‬ ‫שיע‬ ‫יע‬‫םס‬ ‫גי‬
‫םבְּש‬ ִּ‫ִּע‬ ,ִּ‫ִֵּע‬ ‫יע‬ ‫עו‬ ‫ע‬ ָּ‫וָם‬ ,‫ו‬ ‫ּג‬ ‫יו‬ ְּ ‫ועעיו‬ .‫עס‬ ‫יּג‬ ‫יִֵּוםו‬‫וִּוביֵו‬ ,‫ִֵּוִּו‬ ‫וִּס‬ ,(ֵ:ֵ
”em yfitcnas ton did uoytahT“ ...‫עס‬ ‫ש‬ ‫—שס‬you did not cause me to be
sanctified, for I saidto you “speak to the stone” (Num 20:8) but they struck it,
and were forcedto strike it twice. But if they had spokenwith it, it would have
given forth its waters without being struck, and the name of Heaven would
have been sanctified…

According to Rashi, Moses (andAaron) disobeyed God’s command, but in
BekhorShor’s reading, they did not. Moses followedGod’s command by
striking the rock, but in speaking with the Israelites and saying “shall we get
waterfor you (out of) this rock?” (Num. 20:10), he undid the powerof the
miracle, and it was for that that he and Aaron were punished.
Literary Sensitivity
BekhorShor notes only some of the similarities betweenthe stories (the
similar toponyms and staff reference), but these are just two of many other
substantial thematic and linguistic similarities betweenthe stories whichmay
have influenced his thinking here. Moreover, as discussedin my quail essay,
this is not the only time BekhorShor argues that two similar narratives in two
different places refer to the same event.
Nevertheless,this is a more extreme case than his claim about the quail story.
There he arguedonly for the editorial insertion of severalverse segments
about quail into a story about manna. Since the manna story is told at the
appropriate chronological time, right when they entered the wilderness, one
could see the addition of a brief reference to quail as just a small tweak, with
the main story being told in its proper place in Numbers 11.
Here, however, the Massahand Meribah story in Exodus is an insertion of an
entire passage outof chronologicalorder. According to this, after the Bitter
Waters episode (Exod 15:, the Israelites did not lack waterat all until their
fortieth year in the wilderness.
The reasonfor the strange decisionto tell the story in Exodus is only to give
the readera generalanticipatory description of how God saw to the basic
nutritional needs of the Israelites (bread, meat, and water)before they setout
into the wilderness. Scripture subsequently went back and described two of
these events, the quail and the water, in their proper chronologicalorder.[5]

Conflicting Perspectivesin Exodus and Numbers
This interpretation unravels one further knot: The Exodus stories all have
happy endings while the Numbers stories end with punishments. In the quail
story, God becomes furious with the Israelites and strikes them down. In the
waterstory, Moses andAaron botch the miracle and although Israelgets their
water, Moses andAaron pay with their lives for it, losing the privilege to
accompanyIsraelinto the PromisedLand. According to BekhorShor, the
ideal picture in Exodus is tempered by the harsh reality of Numbers. Both tell
the same story but from different points of view.
View Footnotes
Prof. JonathanJacobs is a Professorin Bar Ilan University’s Bible
Department. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from this same department, and
rabbinic ordination from Israel’s chief rabbinate.
Waterfrom the Rock
Robert Royal
MONDAY, DECEMBER21, 2015
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Sometime around, oh, 3300 years ago, Mosesleanedout from Mt. Nebo in
Jordan – as I just did a few days ago – and lookedover into the Promised
Land. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and BenedictXVI made a point of going there
as well. Becausefrom that commanding height, the panorama of subsequent
religious history, a history we still remember as no other, is spreadout: from
the DeadSea in the South to the Sea of Galilee in the North, with Jericho in
the center(a city in Moses’day already8000 years old), and just beyond,
Jerusalem.
PoorMoses. He faceddown Pharaoh, kept the stiff-neckedIsraelites together
(more or less)for forty years in the desert, and even came down from Mt.
Sinai with the TenCommandments. But was forbidden to go any farther. He
died and was buried, somewhere unknown, on Mt. Nebo.
Royal_Picture_steleAllbecauseofsome slight lack of faith – learned rebbes
disagree exactlywhat – in how he followedGod’s instructions to draw water
from a rock. (Numbers 20:18-20)A cautionary tale for all of us of weak faith.
Only in the desertdoes it really become clearhow essentialwateris to life.
And to fundamental things you don’t see when you believe wateris merely
something that comes out of a tap.
We’re partly clay (earth + water) – and partly a spirit breathed into clay by
the Spirit. But even before it comes to that, without water, earth is sterile,
hard stone or shifting sand. That earth can be beautiful, very beautiful indeed,
like the rank upon rank of stark mountains and valleys north of Mt. Nebo.
But it’s an inhuman, lunar landscape that drives people to look elsewhere for
something we sense within ourselves, something more like us.

Below Mt. Nebo, on a still fertile plain where various crops grow, much as
they must have in Biblical times, lies Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, the place
where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. (Jn. 1:28) We will commemorate the
birth of Jesus in a few days, but we know very little about his life after that
(the notable exception:his disputes with the doctors in the Temple) until he
comes to be baptized by John in the Jordan. All four Gospels agree:it was
after that initiation through waterand the Spirit, that Our Lord beganthe
mere three years of his “public life,” three years that it would be an
understatement to say altered human history.
All (exceptJohn) also sayhe went into the desertfor forty days –
recapitulating the journey of the ChosenPeople – and was tempted there by
the Devil with the usual things: what I would callmere physical satisfactions,
spiritual presumption (tempting God), political power. Something akin to our
current materialisms, “spirituality,” and salvationvia politics. Jesus didn’t
fall for any of them. He overcame them, without, as we know only too well
from the world around us, taking them entirely away.
And all this was near JabelMar Elias (“two arrow shots awayfrom the river”
according to an early pilgrim), the hill where Elijah, after himself dividing the
waters of the Jordan, like Moses during the Exodus, was takenup into heaven
by a fiery chariot.
All things flow, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it. Even the course of
the Jordanhas changed, as meandering rivers will do, over the millennia. The
river now is maybe ten meters wide, when it once was severaltimes that width
according to the archeologists.
Mount_Nebo_plain

But some things – the far more important things – do not pass away. In fact,
they introduce something new, over and above even geologicalprocesses.The
greatcivilizations of the EasternMediterraneanemergedclose to rivers:
Mesopotamia (literally the land betweenthe two great rivers, the Tigris and
the Euphrates), and the green ribbons along the Jordan and the Nile. It’s from
these fragile strips of life that some of the most momentous currents of human
history have flowed, and continue.
Multiculturalism pretends all “cultures” are equal, in theory; in practice, it is
not so. Nothing like the three greatreligions of the Middle East – Judaism,
Christianity, Islam – emergedfrom Africa or the Americas or even Europe.
Hinduism and its offshootBuddhism have had a deep hold over the large
population of the Indian subcontinent, and a few other places. Beautifully, as
Zen, in Japan. Little elsewhere. Confucianismand Taoismhave had a long, if
uneven, run in China.
But the greatspiritual outflow, the one where various currents met and
mingled in the plains beyond the Jordan, is like nothing else.
It’s still a highly contestedregionas well, of course, todaymore so than at any
time in the recentpast. Until a truce in the 1990sbetweenIsraeland Jordan,
the area around the site of Jesus’baptism was literally a minefield. Baptisms
are now being performed there again, but the Jordanianvisiting area is
carefully marked – the restis still a controlled military zone. On the Israeli
side, just yards away, there were Ethiopian Orthodox baptisms going on
yesterday– presided over by heavily armed Israeli forces and three flags:the
state of Israel, the IsraeliArmy, and the border patrols.
bethanypool

The Prince of Peacecame into the world and began his saving actionin this
land. But we have his word: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace
to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Mt. 10:34)We
shouldn’t be surprised that our divisions last until He comes again.
We use many images to suggestthe multiple dimension of that saving action:
the Rock – the unchanging Way, the Truth, and the Life – from whose side
flowed the saving blood and water.
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About the Author
LatestArticles
Robert Royal
Robert Royal
Dr. Robert Royalis editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, president of the
Faith & ReasonInstitute in Washington, D.C., and currently serves as the St.
John Henry NewmanVisiting Chair in Catholic Studies at Thomas More
College. His most recent books are Columbus and the Crisis of the Westand
A DeeperVision: The Catholic IntellectualTradition in the Twentieth

Moses Strikesthe Rock:The Full Story
By Shlomo Chaim Kesselman
The “Waters ofStrife” (Mei Meribah) is among the most famous and
enigmatic stories in the Torah. It goes like this: There is a watercrisis, and
G‑ d’s commands to Mosesto draw water from the rock. Moses fails to
sanctify G‑ d’s name and strikes the rock instead. G‑ d punishes him by not
allowing him to enter the Land of Israel.1
The exactchain of events, what Moses'wrongdoing was, and a host of other
details are unclear, and the story of Moses hitting the rock has baffled many a
student for thousands of years. Let us recount the story, analyze the
explanations of the classic commentators,and interpret the story with a
chassidic spin. First, let's get some context.
Background
In the year 2488 from creation, the 40th year of the Jews’sojournin the
desert, Miriam, prophetess and sisterof Moses, passedaway. With her
passing, the rock that supplied the Jews with waterdried up. The Jews had
this miraculous wellin Miriam’s merit, so when she passedon, the well ran
dry, and the Jews were leftin the desert without water.2
This was not the first time the Jews had no water. It is actually the third time
the Torahrecords such a story.This was not the first time the Jews had no
water. It is actually the third time the Torah records such a story.
The first time was when the Jews were freshout of Egypt. They arrived in a
place called Marah, where all the waterwas bitter. G‑ d told Moses to throw

a bitter tree branch into the water, and it miraculously sweetenedthe water
and made it drinkable.3
The secondtime4 was shortly after the first, when the Jews were in Refidim
and also ran out of water. Moses calledonG‑ d for help, and G‑ d
commanded him to strike a particular rock with his staff. The rock split open
and watergushed forth. This rock came to be known as “Miriam’s Well,” for,
as mentioned, the miracle was done in her merit. For40 years, this rock
traveled with the people and servedthem faithfully, providing waterfor them
and their animals, its tributaries serving as borders betweenthe tribes when
they camped.5
The Story
Our story begins close to 40 years later, on the eve of the Jews’entry to the
PromisedLand. The Torah records that the Jews campedin Kadesh and that
Miriam died:6
The congregationhad no water; so they assembledagainstMosesand Aaron.
The people quarreled with Moses,and they said, "If only we had died with the
death of our brothers before the L‑ rd. Why have you brought the
congregationof the L‑ rd to this desert so that we and our livestock should die
there? Why have you taken us out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place;it is
not a place for seeds, orfor fig trees, grapevines, or pomegranate trees, and
there is no waterto drink.”
Moses andAaron moved awayfrom the assemblyto the entrance of the Tent
of Meeting, and they fell on their faces. [Then]the glory of the L‑ rd appeared
to them. The L‑ rd spoke to Moses, saying:"Takethe staff and assemble the
congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their

presence so that it will give forth its water. You shall bring forth waterfor
them from the rock and give the congregationand their livestock to drink."
Moses took the staff from before the L‑ rd as He had commanded him. Moses
and Aaron assembledthe congregationin front of the rock, and he said to
them, "Now listen, you rebels, canwe draw waterfor you from this rock?"
Moses raisedhis hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, when an
abundance of watergushed forth, and the congregationandtheir livestock
drank.
The Story Behind the Story
This passagerequires a lot of explanation. G‑ d told Moses to speak to the
rock, so why did He also tell him to take the staff? Also, what did Moses mean
when he said, “Canwe draw waterfor you from this rock"? The Jews had
watchedhim bring waterfrom a rock for 40 years, and G‑ d had just
commanded him to do preciselythat. Why the hesitation? Additionally, why
did Mosescallthe Jews “rebels,”and why did he hit the rock twice?
The classic commentatorRashifills in some important background
information: G‑ d told Moses to speak to the rock, but the rock had rolled
awayand restedamong other rocks. Mosesdidn’t know to which rock he
should speak, andthe one he addressedwas the wrong one. Nothing
happened, and the Jewishpeople beganto mock Moses, demanding that he
draw waterfrom any rock. Moses grew angryand calledthem rebels for
insinuating that he had the power to perform a miracle where G‑ d had not
willed it (i.e., with a rock other than the one G‑ d had specified).
When speaking did not produce results, Moses rememberedthat 40 years
previously G‑ d had commanded him to hit the rock to draw water. And this
time, G‑ d had also instructed him to take the staff with him. He therefore

reasonedthat he should strike the rock. Meanwhile, the wrong stone rolled
away, and the correctone rolled into place. Thus when Moses’staffcame
down, it was on the right rock. The first time he struck it only droplets
appeared, so Moses struck it again, and then watergushed forth.7
The Sin
At this stage in the story, all seems pretty standard. No water, people
complain, Moses prays, G‑ d performs a miracle. Seems like a regularday for
the Jews in the desert. The next verse is where the story takes a turn:8
The L‑ rd said to Moses andAaron, "Since you did not have faith in Me to
sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring
this assemblyto the Land which I have given them. These are the waters of
dispute [Mei Meribah] where the children of Israel contendedwith the L‑ rd,
and He was sanctifiedthrough them.
In an instant, Moses andAaron’s dreams were crushed. Their life’s goal, to
bring the Jews to the PromisedLand, dissolvedto dust. Why? Of what sin
were they guilty? And why such a harsh punishment?
In the thousands of years that the Torah has been studied, tens, if not
hundreds, of interpretations have been offered on this story. We will focus on
sevenmajor interpretations, one less literal analysis, and one chassidic
explanation.
Rashi: Hitting Instead of Speaking
As mentioned above, Rashi’s commonly acceptedexplanationis that Moses hit
the rock when G‑ d instructed him to speak to it. G‑ d specificallywanted

him to speak to the rock so the Jewishpeople would realize that if even an
inanimate rock listens to the word of G‑ d, how much more so should they.
They would have been so inspired, they would never have sinned again. Moses
disobeyed G‑ d and hit the rock, and an opportunity to glorify G‑ d was
missed. Therefore he and Aaron were punished.
The Rebbe expands on this explanation, that their sin was due to the public
nature of their infraction, saying that the reasonthe sin was treatedso
severelywas because it happened publicly. Although they committed a minor
infraction, Moses andAaron were punished severelybecause they desecrated
G‑ d’s name before the eyes of all. This teaches us how seriouslywe should
take the desecrationof G‑ d’s name in public.9
Nachmanides:Ascribing Powers to Themselves
Unlike Rashi, Nachmanides (Ramban) understands that since G‑ d told
Moses to take the stick, there was no problem with him hitting the rock. The
miracle was to be accomplishedthrough either medium. Rather, Moses and
Aaron's sin was that they said, “Can we draw water for you from this rock?"
implying that they had the power to perform the miracle, and not that their
powercame from G‑ d.10
Nachmanides supports his explanation with G‑ d’s opening words to Moses,
“Because youdid not believe in Me,” implying that this was a failure of faith
rather than a lapse of obedience or a surrender to anger.
Maimonides:Moses’Anger
Maimonides has an altogetherdifferent take on the story. His explanation is
that Moses’sinwas his anger. The Jews were distressedoverthe lack of

water, a justifiable concern. Mosesangerand his branding them “rebels” was
wrong. He was therefore punished.11
Ibn Ezra: The Double Striking
Ibn Ezra explains that Moseswas supposedto hit the rock only once, and the
waterwould have flowed. The problem was that Mosesgotangry so he did not
hit the rock in the manner he was supposedto. In order for the waterto
actually issue forth, he was forcedto hit it a secondtime, this time correctly.
The necessityto hit it twice was a desecrationof G‑ d’s name, so he was
punished.12
Midrash: Four Sins
Basing it on the four expressions ofG‑ d’s rebuke, the Midrash Yalkut
Shimoni learns that Moses was culpable for four sins: a) He hit the rock when
he should have spokento it. b) He should have brought waterfrom all the
other rocks as well. c) He said, “Can we draw water for you from this rock?"
d) G‑ d wanted him to say words of Torah over the rock and he did not.13
SeferHa’ikrim: Lack of Initiative
Rabbi JosephAlbo, in his SeferHa’ikrim (Book of Principles) writes that a
tzaddik, a righteous person, has the ability to affectthe elements and
manipulate the forces ofnature according to his will. Therefore, when the
Jews came to Moses demanding water, Moses shouldnot have prayed to G‑ d.
He should have struck the rock of his own volition. Because he did not, he
causedpeople to lessentheir opinion of tzaddikim, which in turn made them
lessentheir opinion of G‑ d, so he was punished.14
Abarbanel: CoverUp for Other Sins

The fifteenth century commentatorIsaac Abarbanel takes issue with all these
explanations, pointing out the flaws in eachone. One of his primary concerns
is that whichever wayone learns the story, Moses andAaron’s sin was not
enough to warrant them being barred entry into the Land. He therefore takes
a unique approach, saying that Moses andAaron’s sin was not particularly
terrible; they merely made a mistake. However, G‑ ddid not want them
entering the Land for other reasons.Moses, becausehe sent the spies, and
Aaron because ofhis involvement, albeit unwilling, with the sin of the Golden
Calf. G‑ d wantedto protectMoses and Aarons’ honour, so He pretended
that the rock was the reasonfor their punishment, to coverup the true reason.
The RogatchoverGaon:Impure Mikvehs
Rabbi JosephRosen, the RogatchoverGaon(Genius) provides a fascinating
alternative explanation, which requires the following preface.
In addition to drinking, the Jews neededthe water of the well to serve as a
mikveh, a ritual immersion pool. The laws of niddah, ritual purity, dictate
that, once a month, a womanmust separate from her husband for a period of
time. Afterwards, she immerses in a mikveh, and only then is the couple
permitted to be together.
One of the many laws of mikveh states that when drawing water from a
stream or well to a mikveh, any tool that is susceptible to becoming impure
may not be used. Only vessels thatcould never become impure (e.g. stone)
may be used in directing the water flow. Otherwise the mikveh is invalid.
The RogatchoverGaonexplains that Moses’sinwas that he took the wrong
stick. G‑ d wanted him to hit the rock with his own stick, but in his humility,
Moses thoughtG‑ d meant Aaron’s stick. Whereas Moses stick wasmade of
precious stone,15 Aaron's was wood. Woodis susceptible to becoming impure,

and so when Moses hit the rock with Aaron’s stick, the waterthat flowed from
the rock was not kosherfor a mikveh.
Until a few months later when the Jews found a different watersource that
was kosherfor mikveh, Jewishcouples were not intimate with eachother.
This breakdownin the family unit was Moses’fault, and therefore he was
punished.16
The Motive
Notwithstanding all the above-mentioned explanations, one thing remains
unclear. Why did Moses, the greatestprophet and tzaddik, disobey G‑ d?
Obviously, such a man would not sin out of spite or rebellion.
In a chassidic discourse, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Dovber
of Lubavitch, answers this question. Revolutionizing the entire story by
casting it in the light of Chassidut, he explains Moses’intention:
Tikunei Zohar states, “The rock represents Torah. Had Moses (spokenand)
not hit the rock, the Jews wouldnot have to toil in the study of Torah.17
Moses’hitting the rock causedthe Torahto descendfrom its place of purity
and exaltedness, anddescendinto the falsehoodof this world.” Striking the
rock causedthe Torah’s light to become concealed, making it difficult to
connectwith G‑ d. Had Mosesspokento the rock, as he was commanded, the
waters of Torahwould come out freely and flowing. One would not need to
toil and struggle to understand the Torah, for its light would shine openly and
simply. Had Moses spokento the rock, the Jews would see G‑ dliness openly,
and connectwith G‑ d easily.

Moses struck the rock because he recognizedthat only if Jews toiled would
their connectionto G‑ d and his Torah be real.Nevertheless,Mosesstruck the
rock because he recognizedthat only if Jews toiledwould their connectionto
G‑ d and his Torah be real. If everything were to come easy, there there
would never be a genuine connection;the Jews wouldnever break out of their
comfort zones to connectwith G‑ d, and they would never become truly one.
G‑ d, the Jews’loving father, wanted Moses to speak to the rock, wanted
Torahand G‑ d to be easilyaccessible. Nevertheless, Moses, whoseentire
existence was aboutconnecting Jews with G‑ d, knew that we must toil to
connect, and thus he struck the rock.
Basedon this explanation, perhaps we canunderstand why Moses and Aaron
had to die before they could enter the Land of Israel. This was not as a
punishment, heavenforbid, but rather the first step in the fulfillment of
Moses’goal. MosesandAaron representedpure G‑ dly revelation;their very
existence revealedG‑ dliness and inspired people to serve Him. Living in their
presence made it easyto connectwith G‑ d. Therefore, Mosesand Aaron
could not enter the Land, so that their own plan to create a strong bond
betweenG‑ d and the Jewishpeople could come to fruition.
The GoodSin
Bearing this in mind, it is understood that Moses’sinwas not as a rebellion
againstG‑ d; it wasn't even a mistake. Moses’sinagainstG‑ d was for G‑ d’s
sake.
Moses did not listen to G‑ d because he knew that were he to disobey Him, in
the long run the unity betweenJews and G‑ d would be more real. Ultimately,
G‑ d would be glorified and servedin an infinitely greatermanner. In striking

the rock, Mosesmade a conscious decisionthat, for the sake ofgenuine
connection, he must disobey G‑ d.
Waterfrom a Rock:"Christ, the Rock ofour Salvation"
Mt. Sinai (Lawz) and Kadesh (Petra)
Click to View
Mt. Sinai and Kadesh Barnea
"Waters ofMassah/Meribah"
"The rock was Christ." (1 Cor10:4)
Introduction:
The imagery of God being "the Rock of our salvation" is an anti-type found
throughout the Bible and had its origin with the Exodus when Godbrought
waterout of the rock through Moses.
Twice during the exodus (Sinai and Kadesh), Israelcomplained to God and
twice Moses brought waterout of rock miraculously with his staff.

There are two different places in the Bible called "waters ofMeribah"; Sinai
and Kadesh: "He named the place [at Sinai] Massah[test]and Meribah
[quarrel] because ofthe quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because theytested
the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" Exodus 17:7: "Those were
the waters ofMeribah [at Kadesh], because the sons of Israel contendedwith
the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them." Numbers 20:13
We have always wonderedwhy Israeldid not have the faith to just ask God
for water. After all, they just saw the 10 plaques, the parting the RedSea and
have been getting Manna every morning by miracle. But their faithlessness
was unable to connectthe dots and realize that if God gave them miraculous
food, perhaps he could do the same with water. What is worse is that after the
complained the first time at Rephidim and watercame out of the rock at the
foot of Sinai, they were confronted with a need for waterabout a year and a
half later and complained a secondtime. Finally after spending 38 years at
Kadesh, they learned to rely on God for water. Now, when they are thirsty,
they sing a song to God instead of complaining. What a joy that must have
been to the heavenly father. Baby grew up! "From there they continued to
Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, "Assemble the people,
that I may give them water." ThenIsraelsang this song:"Spring up, O well!
Sing to it! "The well, which the leaders sank, Which the nobles of the people
dug, With the scepterand with their staffs." And from the wilderness they
continued to Mattanah," Numbers 21:16-18
When Moses struck the rock at Kadesh with his staff, God chargedhim for
"breaking faith" and forbade Moses to enter the promised land. (Numbers
20:8-13)It may have been because he struck the rock twice insteadof
"speaking"to the rock or it might be because he made it appear that Moses,
not God was the one bringing forth the water, "Shall WE bring forth water?
Perhaps a combination of both.
At Petra the wadi that flows through the Siq is called, "the wadi of Moses."
This is an ancient tradition. There are at least7 springs at Petra, but they
could not support any sizable population. But to rejectPetra for Ein el-
Qudeirat on the basis that Qudeirat had a large natural watersupply and
Kadesh none, is as ridiculous as it is faithless. The waterat Ein el-Qudeirat is

estimatedto support a few thousand people at the most. This is short sighted,
since it could not support 2.5 million Israelites in the wilderness. And ignoring
that the water supply was miraculous, is faithless.
There were 2.5 million Hebrews at Kadesh. If eachneeded 40 litres per day
for basic survival, that means that the river of Moses wouldneed to supply
100 million litres of waterevery day. That is equal to 100,000cubic meters of
waterever day. Niagara falls, with a flow rate of 5,830m3/sec, couldsupply
the daily needs of 2.5 million Israelites atKadesh every 17 seconds. The Upper
Grand river in Ontario Canada, in the winter when flows are very slow, flows
at 6 m3.s which amounts to 500,000cubic meters per day. That means that a
river 1/5 the size of the Upper Grand River would supply all the Hebrews
needs every day.
The Muslims believe Kadeshwas at Petra and there are two texts in the
Qur'an that tell the story. These texts are worthless, since Muhammad merely
copied from knownChristian and Jewishsources. The Koran has a well
establishedpattern of copying Bible stories, but changing them to give them a
Meccantwist. The Koran also contains knownmyths, that are presentedas
true stories. "And remember Moses prayedfor waterfor his people; We said:
"Strike the rock with thy staff." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs.
Eachgroup knew its own place for water. So eat and drink of the sustenance
provided by God, and do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth. And
remember ye said: "O Moses!we cannotendure one kind of food (always);so
beseechthy Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth groweth, - its pot-
herbs, and cucumbers, Its garlic, lentils, and onions." He said: "Will ye
exchange the better for the worse? Go ye down to any town, and ye shall find
what ye want!" They were coveredwith humiliation and misery; they drew on
themselves the wrath of God. This because they went on rejecting the Signs of
God and slaying His Apostles without just cause. This because they rebelled
and went on transgressing. ... Thenceforthwere your hearts hardened: They
became like a rock and even worse in hardness. For among rocks there are
some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder
send forth water; and others which sink for fearof God. And God is not
unmindful of what ye do." (Qur'an 2:60-61,74)

The true locationof Kadesh Barnea may in factbe a place with no waterat all
today. It could be anywhere on the Transjordan Arabah. Howeverit is clearly
either at Petra or just north of Petra.
A. The Waters of Meribah at Sinai:
Since there was a large miraculous flow of water at Mt. Sinai that kept Israel
alive for overa year, efforts have been made to identify this watersource at
the various candidate locations. (Mt. Musa in the Sinai Peninsula and Mt
Lawz in north Saudi Arabia)
There is no known place at Mt. Musa in the Sinai Peninsula that would be the
place the rock split and the watercame out. But since it was a miracle, it may
have started and then stopped after Israel moved on. Earthquakes and sand
storms and normal erosionwould easily hide the rock.
At Jebel Al-Lawz, some have suggestedthat a slit-rock feature on the western
slopes, is the place where Moses made the waterflow when he struck it with
his staff. Below is one example, there are others that have been suggested. The
problem is that with the large number of split rocks coupledwith the large
number of earthquakes overthe last 3400 years, we canalmostbe certainthat
if this is what the rock lookedlike at the time of Moses,it would have
dramatically changes overtime. To make matters worse, the rocks they
propose are on the wrong side of Lawz, namely westof the summit. But Israel
never set footon that side of Lawz. They approachedMt. Sinai from the south
westand camped due eastof the Summit. Rephidim is also locatedon the east
side of the summit of Lawz.
Click to View
If we were going to look for the split rock, it would start by identifying either
springs on the easternslopes ofLawz or ancientwadi's that have dried up.
These wadis, would have been dormant for 3400 years so they are likely very
hard to find, being buried or filled in sand.

Unfortunately the opportunity to do archeologicalresearchatMt. Al-Lawz is
non-existent, since the Muslims of Saudi Arabia have a vestedinterest in not
verifying the Jewishexodus from Egypt into the promised land.
B. The Waters of Meribah at Kadesh:
We know from Genesis 14:7 that Kadeshis called"En-mishpat". The Hebrew
for "En-mishpat" means "spring of judgement". This spring was known to
Abraham. But in Moses'time, Kadesh is described as a "wretched, waterless
place" that had no figs or grain in the area. There may have been a small
spring and a few dozen fig trees, but this is far too little to support Israelin
the wilderness. It was going to take a miracle.
The fact that there is an ancient spring from 2000 BC does not prove that the
spring was still flowing at the time of the exodus in 1446 BC. In fact, there is
no evidence at the time of the exodus that there was any spring at all.
The narrative doesn't say, "the people complained they were dying of thirst
because the spring was too small". It says the people described Kadesh as a
wretched, waterless place withno grain or figs to eat. Now if there was a small
spring but it was unable to support 2.5 million Hebrews, I would find it quite
natural that they would still callit a waterless place. In other words, the tiny
amount of waterwill result in their death from thirst. If Israelwas at Ein el
Qudeirat (which can supply water for about 1000 people)they would have
complained it was a waterlessplace just the same. It takes a lot of water to
support 2.5 million people in the desert.
Although Kadesh Barnea had a spring at the time of Abraham (2000 BC)Gen
14:6-7, it was either dried up or far too small to support the population of the
exodus which numbered 2.5 million. That takes a large amount of water,
much more than any of the springs we see today.
Something else the narrative does not say is, "an Moses struck the rock and
the flow of waterfrom the spring that was then turned into a river." Instead it
says Kadesh was a waterlessplace and Moses struck the rock in a place no
waterwas coming out of and it beganto gush out like a river. There is no

Jesus was water from the rock

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