{"id":47724,"date":"2019-01-19T18:30:37","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T16:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47724"},"modified":"2022-08-14T16:01:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T13:01:46","slug":"what-did-moses-and-aaron-do-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-did-moses-and-aaron-do-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"What Did Moses And Aaron Do Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Children of Israel lack water. God instructs Moses, \u201cTake the staff and you and Aaron gather the people; and speak to the rock in front of their eyes and it will give its water\u201d (20:8). Moses gathers the people and says, \u201cListen you rebels! Shall we get water for you out of this rock?\u201d (20:10). Moses strikes \u201cthe rock twice with his staff\u201d and water flows (20:11). But alas, all is not well. God tells Moses and Aaron, \u201cBecause 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\u201d (20:12).<\/span><\/p>\n

For centuries, commentators have debated what Moses and Aaron did wrong. Was it, as Rashi explains, that Moses should have spoken to the rock instead of striking it? Or is it as Maimonides avers that Moses should not have gotten angry and called the people \u201crebels\u201d? Nahmanides states that when Moses says <\/span>we<\/em> <\/span>will get water in 20:10, he improperly implies that he and Aaron, not God, would make the miracle. Don Isaac Abarbanel creatively argues that out of respect for Moses\u2019 and Aaron\u2019s honor, God pins their denial of entry to the Land of Israel on the minor infraction at the rock, even though their real sins lie elsewhere (Moses sent the spies and Aaron made the Golden Calf).<\/span><\/p>\n

Each approach has textual and theological problems. The proliferation of opinions leads the nineteenth-century commentator Samuel David Luzzatto to proclaim in dismay, \u201cMoses sinned only once, but the commentators have heaped on him thirteen sins or more!\u201d Thus, Luzzatto reminds the reader of the importance of interpretive humility.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that vein, perhaps the text simply does not give one enough information to figure out the sin. God\u2019s terse and mysterious punishment of Moses and Aaron instead leads the reader to ask the ultimate question: if God is just, why does the world not always reflect Divine justice? <\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving such devastating news from God, Moses could have laid down the mantle of leadership and gone quietly into retirement. But he does not. In Deuteronomy, he guides the people into another covenant on the plains of Moab and gives his most rousing speeches. When faced with adversity, Moses does as one must do: he puts one foot forward and then the other.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"What Did Moses And Aaron Do Wrong?","main_caption":"After receiving such devastating news from God, Moses could have gone quietly into retirement. But he does not. When faced with adversity, Moses does as one must do: he puts one foot forward and then the other.","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Maybe nothing, maybe one thing, maybe many things","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47724"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107194,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47724\/revisions\/107194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}