A Bible poll (Number 20)

[Little_Nemo]

@StGermain

I’d say Moses and Aaron were taking credit for the water coming for the rock.

@Reloy3

Thats the interpretation I grew up with - Moses didn’t give credit for the miracle to God.

@antonio107

I haven’t read the OT since I was a kid, but reading the passage you quoted, it sounds like Moses just made the water come out, but without crediting God for doing it.

But I’m imagining Aaron saying, “Okay, Moses screwed up with the water. But why are you mad at me?”

[kanicbird]

My take on it is God understands Moses’ frustration in guiding these ‘stiff necked*’ people. As God was frustrated in trying to guide these children Moses was equally frustrated. So God fully understood the reason why the rock was struck and is OK with it.

There was no punishment given, but a reprieve. Moses would no longer have to take all of them in because that was never his job, Moses needed to realize this and have God do it (though another). We see this in other areas where Moses took on too much and finally got others to help out (as in deciding the disputed between Israelites). Moses needed to be able to let go of the responsibility and I believe that striking of the rock was the symbolic gesture of ‘I have had enough’, which is what the Lord was trying to teach Moses.

Thanks to the NT we know what happened to Moses after his death. Moses was transfigured and entered into the promised land where he does get to see the Israelite children there.

• Biblical term for Israelites

[AncientHumanoid]

@StGermain

I’d say Moses and Aaron were taking credit for the water coming for the rock.

StG

That’s my take, as well. Instead of telling the camp that God gave them water, Moses and Aaron took credit, putting themselves over God.

YMMV, IANAHebrew

[antonio107]

@Little_Nemo

But I’m imagining Aaron saying, “Okay, Moses screwed up with the water. But why are you mad at me?”

“What’s a matter, Aaron? Cat got your tongue?”

God told Moses, but apparently Aaron saw him, too. I often wonder how these verbs translate from ancient (Hebrew? Aramaic?) into English. It seems to me they were working in tandem here.

[Weedy]

@hogarth

For some reason, I always thought that Moses’s error was that he hit the rock twice when once would have sufficed. I.e, that trying it twice showed a lack of faith.

Thats exactly what I was taught in Catholic school. Reading the passage now, Im not sure that interpretation is well supported by the text.

I also remember something about taking credit. Moses hitting the rock twice shows he thought his actions had something to do with the water coming out.

Hitting the rock twice was definitely the bad thing he did, as I was taught it.

[Yllaria]

What Moses didn’t know was that Jehovah had disguised himself as the rock.

[emeraldia]

@Little_Nemo

In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.

First, they returned to their tents in order to pray (honor God). They did not do it in the sight of the Israelites.

Then, again in the sight of the Israelites, instead of “speaking to the rock” (praying (i.e. honoring God)), Moses hit the rock twice with his staff.

It’s both. Both of them were opportunities to honor God in the sight of the Israelites, but they did not do so.

[BigT]

I chose both, but I 'm not sure I should have. The sins were the disobedience of hitting the rock instead of speaking to it, and the pride of claiming the power of God as their own. They should have given glory to God for his miracle, which could be thought of as defending God, though perhaps not in the way you meant.

I don’t think God punished them at all for, say, not chastising the Israelites, as I see no indication He told them to do so, and don’t see any laws that would require it.