To strike the rock once or twice?
“Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” Water is essential anytime and anywhere, but it becomes a lifesaver in the desert. Moses struck the rock twice, and the water of life flowed out. However, striking the rock twice made Moses and Aaron ineligible to enter the promised land. “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I gave them.” Numbers 20:12. What did Moses do wrong?
Some commentators believe Moses erred when he said, “…must we bring you water out of this rock?” Numbers 20:10. It would have been more appropriate if Moses had said, ‘Look, God will bring you water out of this rock.’ However, God did not deny him entry into Canaan because of what Moses said but because of what he did. God instructed Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses hit it twice. If Moses had hit the rock once, it might have been acceptable; he did so at another place, and it was acceptable (Exodus 17:6). To understand what was wrong with what Moses did, we need to understand what the rock represented to the people. We also need to know who the rock symbolizes.
“They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4. Moses was not unaware of the Messiah, the Christ. He spent many days on the mountain with God, who taught Moses about his plans for humankind. The rock symbolized the Savior of the world, who is the new human life of the new humankind that God created in Jesus Christ. The Savior of the world could be struck only once, not twice. “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, …” Hebrews 9:28. Since the Savior of the world could not die (be struck) more than once, Moses misrepresented the gospel by striking the rock twice. That was a serious mistake on Moses’s part. Even today, if we claim that Jesus is offering himself anew for each individual sinner, we would be making a serious error. Jesus Christ suffered the cross once to save all of humankind. By this, God made all human beings His children. Unfortunately, not all God’s children want God as their Father.
The Bronze Snake. Read the next blog.