Moses Strikes the Rock – Numbers 20

This story has always puzzled me. What did Moses do wrong? The story sounds so simple and innocent. The people need water, so God tells Moses to take the staff and command the rock to yield water before their eyes. Moses and Aaron gather the people before the rock and say, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” (20:10). And, then Moses raises up the staff and strikes the rock with the staff twice. Water starts flowing abundantly, and the people are satisfied.  Doesn’t that sound simple and innocent? This is how God responds,

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” – Numbers 20:12

The Lord’s response must have been a devastating blow after years of leading the people towards Canaan. However, it does not seem to take Moses by surprise. Moses has been known to plea for mercy when the Lord meant to bring down His hand of destruction upon Israel, but he lift his voice at all in this situation. I believe that Moses’s silence on this matter confirms that Moses understood his sin and accepted the consequence.

What was this great sin that kept Moses from entering the Promised Land with his people? Scripture says that he did not believe in the Lord, to uphold Him as holy before the people. His sin was unbelief.  God told him to hold the staff in the air and command the rock to produce water. This follows the same pattern as the other miracles God performs through Moses, like the parting of the Red Sea or the plagues brought on Egypt. This pattern was ingrained in the minds and hearts of the people as a display of God’s provision and power for them. However, the water from the rock follows a slightly different pattern. Moses raises the staff up and strikes the rock with the staff two times. He did not follow the instruction of the Lord and the pattern of the other miracles. It is as if Moses produces the water by his own might!

Moses’s pride consumed him as he took the glory from the Lord and into his own hands.  His conviction that God would bring water from the rock as promised did not waver, but he strayed from God’s instruction as he desired to prove himself before the people. In that moment, his energy was more centered on elevating himself than it was on honoring the Lord. Pride consumed him, and God attributed it to him as unbelief. We’ve been taught that faith without works is dead, and Moses demonstrates that here. His actions do not honor God before the people, even though he surely had faith in God. As we couple strong faith with humble works, we shall find that God is honored as holy before the people. As soon as we seek credit for our works, our belief in God will grow weak and vulnerable.

This moment of rebellion after Moses spends years and years of condemning Israel for its own cycle of rebellion, shows us that even a man who spoke directly with God has corruption in his heart. We should take heed to this inherent warning that nearness to God and maturity in faith does not exempt a Christian from the temptation to take glory from God. We should also be moved by the notion that punishment was still required for Moses. He was not without sin, and he was still in need of a Savior. Only through Jesus Christ can we be fully justified and no longer condemned. Only through Jesus Christ can we enter the abundant life with our sins fully atoned for and righteousness cloaking our shoulders.