Thank you for your reflection. I meant to send you my comment in the morning, but got distracted at work.

Could you please clarify why you feel that God had instructed Moses to “tap the rock”? What God stated was, “Take your staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order [or ‘command’] the rock to yield its waters.”

Based on what is written, God did not order or command Moses to “tap” or even “strike” the rock. What is clear, however, is that God instructed Moses to “order” the rock to yield its waters i.e. make a verbal command. The fact that God instructed Moses to take his staff with him doesn’t mean that he wanted Moses to tap or strike the rock. As Moses was the leader and he was to gather his people, it appears that the staff was required in order for him to truly project himself as the leader while making the verbal command.

Either way you look at this, God was angry with Moses for not following his instructions. I am interested in understanding why you feel God wanted Moses to “tap” the rock.

Again, thank you and God bless.

Put yourself in the shoes of Moses. Your told to do something, you do it and nothing happens. What would you do? What would be your train of thought?

How many times have you gone into a room, hit the light switch and nothing happens? What’s the first thing you do? In my case, I’d try flipping the switch a few more times. In other words, something is wrong and I’m trying to figure out why. The first thought that comes to mind is I did something wrong not that the power company has a problem.

As we read through the Bible, there are many instances that the “punishment doesn’t fit the crime”. My favorite is when the arc of the covenant is being transported and Uzzah goes to steady it because it is starting to fall and, zap! God strikes Uzzah dead on the spot. (2 Samuel 6).

On the surface God appears to punish Man for what we would consider a natural ingrained reflex, hit the rock until something happens or catch a falling precious object, but as you pointed out, dig a little deeper.

God is just.

Mark