https://pixabay.com/photos/stone-big-nature-rock-summer-2715446/
Why are Moshe and Aharon barred from entering the Land of Israel? What was so wrong about hitting the rock?
After all, God explicitly tells Moshe to take his staff with him when going to speak to the rock (Bamidbar 20:8). In the entire Torah, there are only three other places where God instructs Moshe to take up his staff (קח את המטה): at the burning bush (Shemot 4:17), before turning the Nile to blood (Shemot 7:15), and before hitting the first rock (the צור, as opposed to the סלע here) to extract water from it (Shemot 17:5). In all three cases, the staff is used to initiate the miracle that follows. As God says at the burning bush: וְאֶת הַמַּטֶּה הַזֶּה תִּקַּח בְּיָדֶךָ אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה בּוֹ אֶת הָאֹתֹת, Take this staff in your hands to do the signs with it.
Furthermore, hitting is undoubtedly one of the common uses of the staff to perform miracles.
Both in the case of the Nile and the first rock, the staff initiates the miracle by hitting something. This is also true of the plague of lice (Shemot 8:13).
God’s language, when he informs Moshe and Aharon of their punishment, also doesn’t indicate that God is perturbed by the hitting. God says (Bamidbar 20:12):
יַ֚עַן לֹא־הֶאֱמַנְתֶּ֣ם בִּ֔י לְהַ֨קְדִּישֵׁ֔נִי לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לָכֵ֗ן לֹ֤א תָבִ֙יאוּ֙ אֶת־הַקָּהָ֣ל הַזֶּ֔ה אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תִּי לָהֶֽם
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
In other words, God was upset that Moshe and Aharon did not sanctify God’s name when they brought forth the water. The word “האמנתם” translated above as “trust” can also mean “to be true or loyal to,” as can be seen in the Targumim (early Aramaic biblical translations).1 Thus the problem is not that Moshe and Aharon somehow disobeyed God, but rather that they failed to sanctify God at the critical moment.
This interpretation jives nicely with the assertion of Rabbeinu Chananel (11th c., N. Africa) as cited by the Ramban (13th c., Spain–Bamidbar 20:8, s.v. חטא משה):
החטא הוא אמרם: נוציא לכם מים, וראוי שיאמרו: יוציא י״י לכם מים
The sin consisted of their saying, we shall bring you forth water out of this rock. They should have said God shall bring you forth water.
The problem, according to this, was not what they did, but what they said. When Moshe and Aharon gather the people at the rock, they say, שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ הַמֹּרִ֔ים הֲמִן־הַסֶּ֣לַע הַזֶּ֔ה נוֹצִ֥יא לָכֶ֖ם מָֽיִם, Listen, you rebels, we shall get water for you out of this rock!2 What they should have said is, ‘God will get water for you out of this rock!’ Their placement of themselves at the center of the miracle, even unintentionally, even once, is enough to start a cult around their charismatic personalities. For anyone short of Moshe and Aharon, we might even call this borderline predatory behavior. A situation arises in which God is no longer the religious center, but rather, the religious leaders. Besides the theological fallacy, this raises opportunities for all kinds of abuse.
For this reason, God forbids even Moshe and Aharon, the two most humble, and least predatory of Jewish leaders, to enter the Land, where the permanent religion of the Jews will be centered. Moshe, at least, is permitted to continue to lead in the desert, although he performs no more miracles.
It is a truism that the Torah never presents characters that are without faults. We typically understand this as empowering. It teaches us that despite our faults, we all have the potential for greatness. In addition, it urges us towards forgiveness. Even the greatest among us, Moshe and Aharon, themselves, were subject to faults, how much more so we, ordinary folk?
Parashat Chukat reminds us that there are some behaviors that cannot be tolerated in our leaders. Even accidental behaviors! Even if they happen only once. Predatory behavior and attempts to establish cults of personality cannot be countenanced. Leaders who behave this way, must be removed from their positions as Moshe and Aharon were. Leadership of the Jewish people, then and now, belongs only to God. Trying to center that leadership around human personalities is a fallacy so great that it warrants deposing leaders who behave in this way.
[1] The Targumim actually seem to support the claim that the punishment was for hitting the rock, contra to my argument here. I bring them only to note their use of the word האמנתם which they give as “Because you were not true/loyal to my word…”
[2] The interrogative ה at the beginning of the sentence is mysterious. I read it as an intensifier, but I acknowledge that I am unaware of an unambiguous example of this usage anywhere else in Tanach.
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Daf of the Day
