Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me before the eyes of the B’nai Yisrael, you will not bring this congregation into the land that I have promised them.” (Bamidbar 20:12)
The story of the Mei Merivah and its consequence - Moshe and Aharon losing their right to enter Eretz Yisrael – is the subject of a vast body of interpretation. But in virtually all readings of the story, the above cited verse remains problematic; the story does not seem to depict any lack of belief on the part of Moshe and Aharon.
The crisis which gives rise to the story – the desperate need for water – had also occurred almost forty years before. As described in Parshas B’shalach (Shemos 17:1-7), Moshe brought forth water by striking a rock with his staff. According to Chazal (Ta’anis 9a) this miraculous spring was granted in the merit of Miriam; her death, at the end of the forty years, resulted in the spring’s drying up. Again, as described in our Parsha, Moshe is commanded to take his staff, but this time he is meant – according to Rashi’s interpretation of the story – to speak to the rock and not to strike it. The incessant demands of the people anger Moshe, in error he strikes the rock, and the sin has been committed.
The Malbim takes note of one fascinating detail that differentiates the two episodes. In the first story, the rock is described in the Hebrew text as “Tzur”; in the second story, as “Selah”. The difference, says the Malbim, is that “Tzur” implies a hard. Solid, dry stone, while “Selah” implies a porous stone that may contain water. The miracle of extracting water from a “Tzur” is achieved by the application of a powerful force that transforms the stone into water; thus, the miracle was achieved by Moshe striking the stone with his staff. A “Selah”, by contrast, already contains water. If Moshe was to strike the rock, the emerging waters would not appear to be miraculous at all. Perhaps Moshe merely cracked open the covering rock and the waters flowed naturally. That it be understood as miraculous, it was necessary that Moshe coax water from the rock using words alone.
The question is: Why were the two rocks different? It would seem that the earlier generation that left Mitzrayim and the later generation that was entering Eretz Yisrael were being taught two different lessons.
The earlier generation needed to be educated in the fundamentals of belief, most importantly, the belief in the omnipotence of G-d. The miracles performed for this generation, therefore, were dazzling in their power – the Ten Plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, the thunder, lightning, and smoke of Har Sinai, and finally, drawing water for the entire nation from a hard stone.
Over the next 39 years, these lessons were absorbed, but there was a new lesson that needed to be taught, and – it can be argued – that the need was prompted by the nature of those dazzling miracles. The fact that Klal Yisrael was routinely saved just in the nick of time – the proverbial “damsel in distress” – left the people wondering whether Hashem really cared about them, because, if He really cared, wouldn’t He have made proper provisions for them well in advance? (See Shemos 17:7. Even after all the miracles the Bnai Yisrael apparently questioned whether Hashem was in their midst.)
The “Selah” was designed to impress upon Klal Yisrael that they are always utmost in G-d’s thoughts. Contained within the rock is the water they so vitally need; it is just waiting to be tapped. This is a unique type of Emunah/belief; not belief in G-d’s power but belief in G-d’s caring. Thus, Moshe’s striking the rock – treating the “Selah” as “Tzur” – was a failure to believe that the water was really there all along and could be extracted with mere words.
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