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Sin of Moses
129
Moses Yields to Impatience
“And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together be-
fore 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.”
Here Moses sinned. He became wearied with the continual
murmurings of the people against him, and at the commandment of
the Lord, took the rod, and, instead of speaking to the rock, as God
commanded him, he smote it with the rod twice, after saying, “Must
we fetch you water out of this rock?” He here spoke unadvisedly with
his lips. He did not say, God will now show you another evidence of
His power and bring you water out of this rock. He did not ascribe
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the power and glory to God for causing water to again flow from the
flinty rock, and therefore did not magnify Him before the people.
For this failure on the part of Moses, God would not permit him to
lead the people to the Promised Land.
This necessity for the manifestation of God’s power made the
occasion one of great solemnity, and Moses and Aaron should have
improved it to make a favorable impression upon the people. But
Moses was stirred, and in impatience and anger with the people,
because of their murmurings, he said, “Hear now, ye rebels, must
we fetch you water out of this rock?” In thus speaking he virtually
admitted to murmuring Israel that they were correct in charging him
with leading them from Egypt. God had forgiven the people greater
transgressions than this error on the part of Moses, but He could
not regard a sin in a leader of His people as in those who were led.
He could not excuse the sin of Moses and permit him to enter the
Promised Land.
The Lord here gave His people unmistakable proof that He who
had wrought such a wonderful deliverance for them in bringing them
from Egyptian bondage, was the mighty Angel, and not Moses, who
was going before them in all their travels, and of whom He had said,
“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and