These both are Beni Israel's complaint against Moshe for him bringing them out of Egypt.
Comparison #2
(יג) הֵ֚מָּה מֵ֣י מְרִיבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־רָב֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה וַיִּקָּדֵ֖שׁ בָּֽם׃ (ס)
(13) Those are the Waters of Meribah—meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD—through which He affirmed His sanctity.
In both of these Pesukim, the place is named Massah/ Mai Meriva because of Bnei Yisrael's fights with Hashem.
Comparison #3
(ב) וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָעֵדָ֑ה וַיִּקָּ֣הֲל֔וּ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹֽן׃ (ג) וַיָּ֥רֶב הָעָ֖ם עִם־מֹשֶׁ֑ה...
(2) The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. (3) The people quarreled with Moses...
(א) .... וְאֵ֥ין מַ֖יִם לִשְׁתֹּ֥ת הָעָֽם׃ (ב) וַיָּ֤רֶב הָעָם֙ עִם־מֹשֶׁ֔ה ...
(1) ...and there was no water for the people to drink. (2) The people quarreled with Moses...
In both Bamidbar and Shemot, the Pasuk states that Bnei Israel have no water. Then, in both stories, they start to fight with Moshe, both with similar wording.
In Bamidbar, God commands Moshe to take his staff, but then to go and speak to the rock in order to get the water. In Shemot, God commands to Moshe to hit the rock, not talk to it.
In Shemot, Moshe does exactly what Hashem commands him, and he hits the rock. In Bamidbar, Moshe hits the rock instead of talking to it. Hashem then makes it seem like a big sin and a big chilul Hashem, and he is punished for this by not being able to lead Beni Yisrael into Israel.
(יג) הֵ֚מָּה מֵ֣י מְרִיבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־רָב֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה וַיִּקָּדֵ֖שׁ בָּֽם׃ (ס)
(13) Those are the Waters of Meribah—meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD—through which He affirmed His sanctity.
In Shemot, it says that Bnei Yisrael tested Hashem and fought with Him, but in Bamidbar it only says that they fought with Him, but they did believe in him. This shows that Beni Yisrael in the second generation didn't have problems with their emunah, just with their patience. But the first generation had problems with their emunah in Hashem and their patience.
(8) ודברתם אל הסלע, G’d did not command Moses to take the staff in order to strike the rock as he had commanded him in Exodus 17,6. He only commanded Moses to display the staff to remind them that they had again been very obstinate. They had acquired this attribute in Numbers 17,25 when the Torah speaks of למשמרת לאות לבני מרי, “to be kept as a lesson to rebels.” However, the water was to be produced merely by speaking to the rock.
Rashbam finds these two stories to be different. He says that in shemot, he was commanded to take the staff and use it to hit the rock and get the water. But in Bamidbar, the staff was only taken to remind Bnei Yisrael about how they were so stubborn and rebellious with Korach. He differentiates the stories by saying in Shemot, Moshe was actually supposed to use the staff, but in Bamidbar, the only reason he even took it was to remind Bnei Yisrael of their past sins and stubbornness with Korach.
(ה)...והנה הכה בצור ויצאו ממנו מים, ולא ספר הכתוב ותשת העדה ובעירם כאשר בשניה (במדבר כ יא), אבל בידוע שעשו כן וברור הוא שלא הלכו העם אל חורב לשתות, כי לא באו לפני הר סיני עד אחרי כן בחדש השלישי. אבל שלחו שם נעריהם ובהמתם לשאוב מים ולהביא להם כמנהג המחנות. וקרוב אלי שיצאו מים מן הצור בחורב, מים קרים נוזלים, הלכו אל רפידים, ושם שתו אותם, והוא שאמר הכתוב (תהלים עח טז) ויוציא נוזלים מסלע ויורד כנהרות מים, וכתוב (שם קה מא) פתח צור ויזובו מים הלכו בציות נהר. ומה שאמר (שם עח כ) הן הכה צור ויזובו מים ונחלים ישטופו, גם הוא על הצור הזה בחורב על דרך הפשט:
Ramban asks why in Bamidbar it says after Moshe hit the rock, Beni Yisrael drank, but in Shemot, it does not mention that at all? He answers that in Bamidbar, the rock was where they were camping, so they could drink right away, but in Shemot, the rock was at Har Sinai, but they were in Rephidim. He then gives two opinions on how they got the water, either by sending animals and kids to get it, or it flowed all the way to rephidim.
Mrs. Goldfischer:
The sin of Beni Yisrael was much worse in Shemot than Bamidbar. This is the reason that in Shemot the water is far away from them, but in Bamidbar, it is right with them and close. In Shemot, Beni Yisrael ask, "Is Hashem in our midst or not?" This angers Hashem, that they are doubting his ability, and therefore the rock with the water is at Chorev, when they are at Rephidim. In Bamidbar, they don't doubt Hashem, so he gives them the water where they are encamped. We can see from here that Beni Israel did not have emunah in Hashem in Shemot, and were therefore burdened to have to go far in order to get water. But in Bamidbar, where they had emunah in Hashem, they didn't have to go to get their water.
Rashi makes Moshe's sin in Bamidbar seem not as bad because according to Rashi, Moshe did listen to Hashem's words at first but he spoke to the wrong rock. Then, Moshe decided to hit a rock since that is what he did back in Shemot. Only a few drops came out, so Moshe hit the rock a second time and the water started to flow. Rashi is comparing the two stories in that Moshe did what he did in Bamidbar only because of what he was commanded to do the first time around in Shemot.
a) The first difference is that the 1st generation had a lack of emunah while the 2nd one didn't. The second difference is that in the 1st generation story, Moshe just hits the rock and is done. But in the 2nd generation, Moshe first says, "Listen, you rebels" and then performs the miracle. So, the fact that Moshe addresses the 2nd generation with this shows that he was angry at them.
b) We do feel that the 2nd generation is better than their parents. This is because of one main reason. On the surface, both generations are complaining about their lack of water. But if you look deeper in the story in Shemot, Bnei Yisrael are also doubting Hashem's ability to provide for them. This absence of Emunah is not found by the 2nd generation in מי מריבה. They didn't doubt Hashem which distinguishes them from the 1st generation.
i: He thinks the difference between the generations is their ability to fight. He says that the first generation too weak and untrained to fight, which was why they were supposed to stand and watch God, and not fight. The Egyptians were their masters, so how could they ever fight them. But the second generation, who had never been enslaved and had the belief and training to fight and win wars.
ii:This approach relates to our texts as we said that the problem with generation 1 compared to generation 2 was their lack of emunah. This is in accordance with Ibn Ezra's opinion of the generations, because he says that Generation 1 could not fight because they never would have full emunah. Generation 2, who were never enslaved, and always supported by Hashem, would never not believe in God, only complain to him. This also fits in with the Ibn Ezra, because he says that Generation 2 could fight, because they had the right emunah and training.
iii: I agree. Beni Yisrael had just seen God's powerful hand take them out of mitzrayim, and save them, but he also kept them as slaves there for over 200 years. Therefore, Generation 1 would never fully commit to believing in Hashem and be able to fight with the right amount of emunah. Generation 2 would have the right amount of emunah, and would be able to fight.
a) This project is similar to the project in the beginning of the year because in both projects, we were required to be able to not only analyze one פרק, but to find comparisons between two פרקים. We had to find similarities on the surface, just by looking at the פסוקים. But we also had to analyze different פרשנים and figure out how they compare the two פרקים.
b) We think that both of our textual and analytical skills have improved greatly since the start of the year. We can both understand parshanim much better, and also on our first try more. We can better analyze and compare stories, and parshanim.
c) We think these online text sources will greatly impact us in the future because they help us translate the פסוקים, give us multiple פרשנים on each פסוק, and also help make connections with other פסוקים and פרשנים elsewhere in Tanach in a way we could never do.