What was Moses' sin?

[credno]

I have read the bible passage below many times and can not figure out what Moses and Aaron did wrong. It sounds like they did exactly what God asked of them, then he turned around and punished them for it. That is probably not the case, so what am I missing??

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink.” So Moses took the staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered. He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the community and their livestock to drink. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites contended against the LORD, and where he revealed his sanctity among them. (Numbers 20:6-13)

Chris

 

[carol_marie]

I think his sin was that he was taking credit for the water, rather than giving the glory to God.

 

[Brendan]

He struck the rock TWICE, not once, as God commanded (the Hebrew is in the singlular)

It showed a lack of Faith in God. The water did not gush out immediately after the first strike, so he struck again.

 

[gez722]

I have read the bible passage below many times and can not figure out what Moses and Aaron did wrong. It sounds like they did exactly what God asked of them, then he turned around and punished them for it. That is probably not the case, so what am I missing??

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink.” So Moses took the staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered. He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the community and their livestock to drink. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites contended against the LORD, and where he revealed his sanctity among them. (Numbers 20:6-13)

Chris

The Lord told Moses to order the rock to yield it’s waters, but Moses instead chose to strike the rock. He didn’t trust the Lord and wanted to handle the situation in his own way.

God Bless,
Gary

 

[kell0618]

It is the same sin we are all guilty of over and over again. He did not fully trust in the Divine Providence of God and took matters into his own hands.

Don’t worry, Moses makes good later on in Exodus when he displays a new and stronger faith in the Lord and has the strength to carry out His commands against those who created the false idol in the golden calf.

 

[mirandajb]

I have read the bible passage below many times and can not figure out what Moses and Aaron did wrong. It sounds like they did exactly what God asked of them, then he turned around and punished them for it. That is probably not the case, so what am I missing??

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them, and the LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink.” So Moses took the staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered. He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the community and their livestock to drink. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites contended against the LORD, and where he revealed his sanctity among them. (Numbers 20:6-13)

Chris

Firstly, Moses struck the rock twice, when he should have done it once. Secondly, he became an ‘I’ specialist - are we to bring … Thirdly, and most importantly, Moses represents the Law and throughout the Bible we see that the Law will not get you to Heaven aka Promised Land (Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God). You need a Joshua (Yeshua i.e Jesus ) to take you into the promised land. You really enter by grace not by the works of your hand. God was making a point that no matter how hard one tries - man cannot keep His Law.

 

[Todd_Easton]

I have read the bible passage below many times and can not figure out what Moses and Aaron did wrong. It sounds like they did exactly what God asked of them, then he turned around and punished them for it. That is probably not the case, so what am I missing??

Regarding Aaron, I think, he was punished for making the golden calf idol. (Exodus 32)

 

[LilyM]

Moses wasn’t meant to strike the rock at all, let alone twice, rather simply to order it to give out water.

I guess by Moses not physically touching the rock it would have been

a) more clearly God’s doing rather than Moses’ own and

b) a more impressive miracle, more clearly of supernatural origin rather than perhaps a natural phenomenon.

That perhaps would have strengthened the peoples’ faith in God more and that they would have resisted the worship of other gods.

 

[Nita]

God Himself gives the reason for the punishment in Nu 20:12 “Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the people of Israel…”

We may not understand just what was all involved and why it was so serious, but Moses obviously did and knew he was guilty, for he never protests that he is innocent. (Altho he did at some point try to get God to change His mind about the punishment. Deut 3:23-27)

Nita

 

[Nita]

Here’s another Scripture passage about the incident that is interesting.

Psalm 106:32-33 They angered Him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account; for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke words that were rash.

That Moses’ offense was due in part to his words ties in with what mirandajb pointed out:

Secondly, he became an ‘I’ specialist - are we to bring…

Nita

 

[Zooey]

The Lord told Moses to order the rock to yield it’s waters, but Moses instead chose to strike the rock. He didn’t trust the Lord and wanted to handle the situation in his own way.

God Bless,
Gary

Moses wasn’t meant to strike the rock at all, let alone twice, rather simply to order it to give out water.

I guess by Moses not physically touching the rock it would have been

a) more clearly God’s doing rather than Moses’ own and

b) a more impressive miracle, more clearly of supernatural origin rather than perhaps a natural phenomenon.

That perhaps would have strengthened the peoples’ faith in God more and that they would have resisted the worship of other gods.

 

[mirandajb]

Actually there are two incidents where the Israelites, drank off the rock.
The first event mentioned in Ex.17 occurred at Rephidim and the second event mentioned in Num. 20 occurred at Kadesh where Miriam died.

1. Ex 17 – at Rephidim

5 The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

1. Num 20 – at Kadesh

7And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, 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 water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
12And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

In the second event, Moses got his orders crossed and instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock twice. In doing so, he disobeyed God’s direct command and dishonored God in the presence of his people when he took credit for the event and did not give God the glory. Moses was leader and model for the entire nation. Because of his great responsibility to the people, he could not be let off lightly.
Moses was the only person who ever spoke with God face to face (Ex 33:11, Num 12:8). He was considered Israel’s greatest prophet. No matter how good we are, how great we are or how much we have done for God, we sometimes disobey Him. God has to discipline us severely.
But then again God showed the side of Him that is ever merciful. Whilst He scattered the bodies of the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness (1Cor 10:5), God showed His mercy and love for His friend Moses by burying Moses personally. God personally buried him in the land of Moab (Dt 34:5). What an honor!!

The rock was Jesus Christ (1Cor 10:4)
As mentioned earlier, Joshua is a type of Christ, and the name Jesus (Greek Iesous) is the equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua (Yehoshua). The law (Moses) cannot enter the Promised Land - only Grace (Jesus Christ) (Jn1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.)