Striking of the Rock

Striking of the Rock

R. Yehudah ben Shomeyr

Num. 20:8-12 Take 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. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And 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? And 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. And 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.

Woah! Pretty harsh don’t you think? So what, Moses lost his temper and hit a rock, an inanimate object, when G-d told him not to, and because of this he cannot enter the Promised Land!? It’s not like he struck a sheep, or another person!

Oh really? Is that so?

I Cor. 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

This Rock obviously was recognized as some sort of sacred place in the wilderness that they were in and it was some how related to and or symbolized in some way HaShem Himself. And The L-RD told Moses to give glory and honor to Him by speaking to, or petitioning the Rock if you will. And Moses in his grief over the loss of his sister Miriam and thus the drying up of the well, and in anger over the ingratitude and complaining of the Israelite people, lost it and struck the Rock twice. It’s as if and it was equivalent to Moses smiting Elohim Himself twice! He slapped Messiah; he slapped Salvation in the face so to speak. You slap a king you die or have your hand cut off at the very least and so I think Moses got off pretty easy! Many think he was ban from entering the Land but he was ban from leading this particular generation into the Land for we see after his death Moses shows up in the Land with Yeshua.

Matt. 17:1-3 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

It is believed that in the resurrection that it will be Moses that leads the resurrected saints into the Land. So in retrospect I think God was pretty easy on Moses.