MOSES STRIKES A ROCK IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN

NUMBERS 20

It was springtime when the entire community arrived at the Wilderness of Zin, where Miriam died. The absence of water again stirred up a longing for the water-rich land of Egypt, and the Israelites decried the lack of water at their current location (Num. 20:2–5). Within verses of their complaint, we read that gallons of water came gushing from a rock. But as that water flowed, God informed Moses and Aaron that their actions had disqualified them from entering the Promised Land (Num. 20:12). As we will discover, these actions happened where they did for a reason.

Moses may have used a rod like this rod of Pharaoh Khafre (ca. 2500 BC) to strike the rock to provide water for the people.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Cairo Museum.

Water seeping from a rock in the Wilderness of Zin.

The first verse of Numbers 20 establishes the location of Moses and the Israelites as the wilderness called Zin. That placed the people south of the Promised Land between the Negev and the Wilderness of Paran.15 This land resembles a moonscape, without significant vegetation or rainwater. But it is the geology of this region that promises us the most assistance in understanding the actions of Moses.

The stratified limestone structure of this region finds softer, more porous layers of stone rising above denser, less porous layers of limestone. When it rains, gravity carries the water downward, dissolving softer chalk of the upper layers and carrying it downward as a mixture. Eventually this descending water encounters a less porous layer of limestone and begins to flow laterally until such time as it exits the stone into the bright sunshine and warmth of the hillside. While the water may flow from this exit point for a time, eventually evaporation will leave behind a mineral cap that seals off the flow of water. Through the years, rainwater continues to collect behind that cap under increasing pressure. If a water seeker is wise enough to read this geology well, one deft blow to the mineral cap promises a rush of fresh water.16 In order to emphasize the importance of the geology in this narrative, the biblical writer purposely uses a special word for rock that is unique to this event and location in Zin.17

A similar event occurred at a different place with a very different geology. Earlier at Rephidim, Moses had been instructed to take the staff the Lord had given him to use during the course of delivering the plagues on Egypt and use it to strike a granite rock in order to provide water for the people. Striking such a rock in this location would not normally have produced water.18 Thus the blow to the rock at Rephidim en route to Mount Horeb revealed Moses’s obedience, which honored and gave credit to the Lord (Exod. 17:1–7).

When the Israelites were in the Wilderness of Zin, however, the Lord instructed Moses to speak to the rock. Zin was in a geographic region where any knowledgeable shepherd could strike a wisely placed blow that would produce water naturally. If Moses had spoken to the rock as instructed, the Lord would have been recognized as the one who provided water for the people. But Moses knew his staff would work as it had so many times before. So when Moses used his predictable staff rather than words to bring forth water, his actions replaced the Lord, and Moses became the provider for the people. From then on, who needed God when the people had Moses, Aaron, and the staff that always worked? Moses had stepped into the place reserved for the Lord alone.

Where Moses struck rocks for water

The Wilderness of Zin at En Avdat (aerial view). It was in the Wilderness of Zin that Moses struck a rock, rather than speaking to it as instructed, in order to provide water for the entire Israelite community.

A blow from his staff where a word would do sealed his fate in this place for a reason. Just before striking the rock, Moses cried out to the people, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10). In times past, the people had complained and rebelled against God, Moses, and Aaron. But in this situation, when Moses struck the rock rather than speaking to it, he became the rebel. Therefore the Lord declared that he and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land because their actions replaced the Lord as the provider of the people (Num. 20:12)—something the Lord would not allow.