Cheit Merivah / What was Moses' Sin?

(1) The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.

(2) The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. (3) The people quarreled with Moses, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished at the instance of ה' ! (4) Why have you brought יהוה’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? (5) Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!”

(6) Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of ה' appeared to them, (7) and ה' spoke to Moses, saying, (8) “You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts.”

(9) Moses took the rod from before ה', as he had been commanded. (10) Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?” (11) And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank.

(12) But ה' said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.” (13) Those are the Waters of Meribah —meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with ה' —whose sanctity was affirmed through them.

The sin of Moses and Aaron in the [matter of the] waters of Meribah is not clearly expressed in Scripture.

Rashi: They stuck and did not speak to the rock

Rashi explains that [their sin consisted of hitting the rock], because God had commanded them, and speak ye unto the rock, and did not say “and ye shall strike it.” For had they spoken [to the rock and it had brought forth water] the Holy Bountiful One would have been sanctified before the whole congregation, since the people would have said: “If [even] this rock, which does not hear and does not speak, nonetheless obeys the command of the Holy One Bountiful, how much more so should we [obey God's commands]!”

[Ramban's Critique of Rashi] These words are a homiletic interpretation, but they do not clarify. For since God had commanded Moses: Take the rod, it implied that he should smite [the rock] with it, for had God only wanted that he should speak to it, what was [the point of] this rod in his hand? ...Moreover, the miracle [involved in the rock giving forth water] is no greater if [accomplished] by speech than by smiting, for as far as the rock is concerned both are equal. Furthermore [if the sin consisted of smiting the rock], why did God say about this: you [Moses and Aaron] trespassed against Me? [It cannot be because they failed to speak to the rock], for the [fulfillment of the] command to [Moses to] speak to the rock is indeed [also] mentioned at the occurrence [of the event]! Thus God commanded [Moses and Aaron] to speak while the rock “listens” that God will bring forth water out of this rock...And they [Moses and Aaron] indeed did so, as Scripture states, And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said unto them etc. Thus the rock did “hear” when he [Moses] spoke these words to all the people!

Ibn Ezra: Moses lost his concentration with the first strike of the rock.

Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has already refuted many claims of the commentators in [their explanations of the nature of] this sin. But the secret to which he alluded is also incorrect. For if Moses lost his concentration of mind because of the strife of the people, and [therefore] did not speak to the rock, so that the water did not come forth [when he smote the rock] the first time, and only when he hit the rock again, a second time, with concentration of cleaving unto [the Creator of] all, did the water come forth [as Ibn Ezra explains] — then they [indeed] sinned the first time, [Ramban's critique of Ibn Ezra] but it was not such [a sin] about which God would say: you believed not in Me, to sanctify Me, since there was no lack of “faith” here at all!

Rambam: Moses became inappropriately angry at Israel

Now Rabbeinu Rabbi Moshe [ben Maimon] advanced the following reasoning, and explained “that the sin of Moses our teacher, of blessed memory, consisted of tending towards anger, when he said, Hear now ye rebels, and God...treated this as a failing, that a person like him should show anger in front of the congregation of Israel, in a situation in which anger was not warranted. All similar actions of such a one are treated as a profanation of God’s Name, because the people take an example from all his [Moses’] movements and words, hoping thereby to achieve successes in this world and the World to Come....Thus whatever Moses said or did the people would examine, so that when they saw him becoming angry, they said that he...did not lack moral perfection, and therefore ‘unless he knew that God was angry with us for demanding water, and that we have aroused God's anger, Moses also would not have been angry with us.’ But we do not find that God was angry [with the people] when God spoke to Moses on this matter. But [instead] God said: Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.

[Ramban's Critique of Rambam] He has added vanity upon vanities! For Scripture says you trespassed against Me, meaning that they transgressed God's command, and God [further] stated, you believed not in Me, meaning that they lacked faith in God, [and if so] the punishment [of Moses] was not because he showed anger!

Rabbeinu Chananel: Moses and Aaron took credit for the miracle

The most likely explanation amongst all those that have been said about this matter, and the one best suited to answer a questioner, is that of Rabbeinu Chananel, who wrote [in his commentary] that the sin consisted of their saying, are ‘we’ to bring you forth water out of this rock? They should [not have said “are we”, but] “shall the Eternal bring you forth water?” just as they had said when ‘the Eternal shall give’ you in the evening flesh to eat etc., and similarly in [the case of all the] miracles they [Moses and Aaron] informed them that the Eternal would do wonders for them. And [since they did not say so here], perhaps the people thought that Moses and Aaron brought forth the water for them out of the rock through their own wisdom [and that it was not a Divine miracle]. This is [what G-d referred to in saying], ye sanctified Me not.

[Ramban's further explanation of Rabbeinu Chananel] And [according to Rabbeinu Chananel’s explanation, the criticism that] lo he’emantem bi (you believed not in Me) refers [not to Moses and Aaron themselves lacking in belief, but] to the children of Israel [i.e., it does not mean, as it is generally translated, “you believed not in Me,” but “‘you did not cause the children of Israel to believe in Me’ because you did not attribute to Me the bringing forth of the water from the rock”].

Jewish Mysticism (from Ramban): Moses and Aaron simply lacked faith in God

[The Mystical Explanation] The Truth is that this subject [i.e., the nature of Moses’ sin in the incident of the waters of Meribah] is one of the great secrets amongst the mysteries of the Torah. For on the first [occasion with the rock] He said to Moses, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, meaning to say: “My Great Name will be upon the rock in Horeb,” which is the Glory of the Eternal, the devouring fire on the top of the mount. Therefore he only hit it there once, and a great amount of water came forth. But here [at the second occasion with the rock] God did not tell him so, and so both of them [Moses and Aaron] agreed that they would smite the rock twice — and that was their sin. Therefore He said, lo he’emantem bi, “you did not put faith in My Name [when you should have known] that by faith [alone] the miracle will be done.”

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