Numbers 20 · a question people ask
What exactly did Moses and Aaron do wrong?
The chapter names it in the LORD's words: "Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel" (20:12), and "you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah" (20:24). Other passages add: "you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes" (27:14); "you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh" and "didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:51); and a psalm says the people "angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips" (Psalm 106:32-33). The text doesn't point to one act and say, "this was it". Christians agree on what these verses say; the three main readings below each start from different verses, and they are not exclusive of one another.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
He struck the rock instead of speaking to it
Those who hold this view start from the difference between the command and the act. The LORD said, "speak to the rock before their eyes" (20:8); "Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice" (20:11). In Exodus 17 the LORD had said, "You shall strike the rock" (Exodus 17:6); here he said to speak. They note that the LORD calls it rebelling "against my word" (20:24; 27:14).
Numbers 20:8 · Numbers 20:11 · Exodus 17:6 · Numbers 20:24 · Numbers 27:14
What he said, in front of the people
Those who hold this view start from Moses' words: "Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?" (20:10). They note the psalm, "he spoke rashly with his lips" (Psalm 106:33), and that three accounts of the LORD's verdict set it before the people: "to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel" (20:12), "to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes" (27:14), "you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:51).
Numbers 20:10 · Psalm 106:33 · Numbers 20:12 · Numbers 27:14 · Deuteronomy 32:51
Not believing, underneath both
Those who hold this view start from the first thing the LORD says: "Because you didn’t believe in me" (20:12). They note that the LORD used the same words of the people after the spies: "How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?" (14:11). On this reading, the striking and the words both came from not believing, and the LORD names the root.
Numbers 20:12 · Numbers 14:11
The verses
“Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?” Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.””
““Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.”
“because in the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, to honor me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)”
“because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel.”