Copyright © 2003 by
Westminster Theological Seminary, cited with permission.
SHORT
STUDY
WHY DID MOSES STRIKE OUT?
THE NARRATIVE-GEOGRAPHICAL SHAPING
OF MOSES' DISQUALIFICATION IN NUMBERS 20:1-13
JOHN A. BECK
I. Introduction
Moses is the man whom God used to bring
the Israelites out of their captivity
in
to lead the Israelites through the
denly and dramatically that
hope is extinguished. Moses strikes a rock and is
immediately disqualified from leading the Israelites
to their geographical goal.
The
story of Moses' disqualification raises many difficult questions. Whose staff
was used to strike the rock, that of Moses or that
of Aaron? Why did Moses
strike the rock twice? What was Aaron's role in this
spiritual fiasco? But the
most arresting question is the one raised here. Why
did Moses strike out? What
did this hero of
Land? Scholars old and new have wrestled with this
question. Yet the passage of
time has done little to overcome the enigma
associated with this disqualifica-
tion. In his day, Rambam called this matter one of the most difficult
problems
of the Torah.1 Seven hundred and fifty years later
matic incident of the
Torah."2
This article will investigate
Numbers 20 through the lens of narrative geog-
raphy to determine what this
approach may contribute to the conversation
about this story. Narrative geography is distinct from both physical geography
and historical geography. Physical geography
investigates the topography, geol-
ogy, hydrology, climate,
forestation, land use, urbanization, and transportation
associated with a place.3 Historical
geography examines the role such physical
geography plays in the shaping of history and
culture.4 Narrative geography,
John A. Beck is
Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at
1 Nahmanides,
Commentary of the Torah By Rambam (New York: Shilo Publishing House, 1975),
213.
2 Eugene Arden, "How Moses
Failed God," JBL 76 (1957): 50.
this text is so difficult because of its
inconsistency. It is inconsistent with the heroics of Moses
and inconsistent with God's previous responses to
Moses' other outbursts.
3 Barry J. Beitzel,
The Moody Bible Atlas (Chicago: Moody,
1985), 25-69.
4
Ibid., xv.
135
136
however, analyzes the literary function of
geographical references within a story.
It
acknowledges that the author may strategically use, reuse, and nuance geog-
raphy in order to influence
the reading experience. Of course, as Longman
acknowledges, the choice of setting
was restricted to where events actually
occurred. Nevertheless, "these authors
controlled the selectivity of detail in the
description of settings, requiring the reader to pay
close attention to these textual
signals.”5 Thus Bar-Efrat concludes that "places in the narrative are not
merely
geographical facts, but are to be
regarded as literary elements in which funda-
mental significance is embodied."6
Why did Moses strike out? What did
he do that merited such a significant
judgment? We will begin by briefly surveying the
traditional solutions offered by
both Jewish and Christian scholars before moving
into the narrative-geograph-
ical analysis of this text
that will illuminate both why Moses struck out literally
against the rock and why this caused him to
strike out metaphorically as the
Israelites' leader.
II.
Traditional Solutions
Why was Moses disqualified? Medieval
Jewish scholars worked this question
very aggressively. Their thoughtful inquiry provides
the ten answers most fre-
quently given to explain the
disqualification of Moses.7 Each of these solutions
assumes that we are dealing with an intact and
coherent text.8
(1)
One possible answer to the question is that there is, in fact, no answer
given in this text. In other words, the author has
intentionally reproduced this
event in a way that obscures the nature of Moses'
sin, thereby preventing an
explicit sin from tarnishing the reputation of
this great leader.9 (2) Moses spoke
rashly and harshly to the people (Ps 106:32-33).10
(3) Although God instructed
5 Tremper
Longman III, "Biblical Narrative," in A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (ed.
Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 75.
6 Shimon Bar-Efrat,
The Art of Biblical Literature (JSOT Bible
and Literature Series 17; Shef-
field: The Almond Press, 1989), 194. See also John A.
Beck, "The Storyteller and Narrative
Geography,"
in Translators As
Storytellers: A Study in Translation Technique (Studies in Biblical
Literature
25;
of Numbers 13,"
BSac 157
(2000): 271-80; idem, "Faith in the Face of Famine: The Narrative-
Geographical
Function of Famine in Genesis," The Journal
of Biblical Storytelling 11 (2001): 58-
66.
7 Jacob Milgrom,
Numbers (JPS Torah Commentary;
Society; 1990), 448.
8 Martin Noth
suggested that Numbers 20 is merely a retelling of Exodus 17 that is designed
to
explain why Moses did not enter the Promised
Land. This retelling is assigned to the Priestly
source. Martin Noth, Numbers: A Commentary (OTL;
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968), 145-46.
See
also Philip J. Budd, Numbers (WBC 2;
Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1984), 216.
9 Jacob Milgrom,
Numbers, 448; John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch As Narrative
(Library of
Biblical
Interpretation;
(Interpretation, Louisville: John Knox, 1996),
128.
10 Jacob Milgrom,
Numbers, 448; Eugene Arden, "How
Moses Failed God," 52; and C.
and E Delitzch, Commentary on the Old Testament: The
Pentateuch (
1950 56), 130-31.
WHY DID MOSES STRIKE
OUT? 137
Moses
to strike the rock once, he struck the rock twice.11 (4) Moses
sinned when
he asked, "Shall we bring out water for you
from this rock?" The question could
either reflect doubt or reluctance on the part of
Moses.12 (5) A fifth explanation
focuses upon the personal pronoun
"we." "Shall we bring water for you from
this rock?" If the "we" is a
reference to Moses and Aaron, then this pronoun
becomes the fatal pronoun through which Moses
ascribes miraculous powers to
himself and to Aaron.13 (6) Moses was
distracted by the death of his sister and
showed callous indifference to the thirst of the
people.14 (7) Moses was afraid of
the people and fled to the sanctuary of the Lord
rather than facing them in
their tracks.15 (8) Moses selected a rock
other than the one the people wanted.16
According
to one Jewish tradition, the rebels criticize Moses with these words:
"Moses
knows the properties of this particular rock! If he wishes to prove his
miraculous powers, let him bring out water for us
from this other one."17
(9)
Moses struck the rock rather than speaking to it.18 (10) It was the people's
sin, not the sin of Moses, which precipitated the
divine judgment. Moses him-
self observes, "The Lord became angry with me
because of you" (Dent 1:37).19
These
are the ten explanations most frequently given for Moses' disqualifica-
tion. If nothing else, these
wide-ranging and distinctive answers point to the
enduring challenge associated with this text. And
the lack of consensus invites
further reflection so that we might know,
"Why did Moses strike out?"
III. The Geography of
the Wilderness of Zin
We will now inquire into the
contribution that narrative geography may
make when answering this question. Narrative geography
analyzes the careful
mention of geography by the author in order to
investigate its strategic influ-
ence on the reading process.
This analysis begins by placing the story within the
geographical context indicated by
the author.
11 A variety of reasons are given
for this second blow See Nahmanides, Commentary of the
Torah By
Rambam, 218; Solomon Fisch,
ed., Midrash Ha-Gadol. Number,
(
Sepher and , Sivan, 1957),
759; M. Margaliot, "The Transgression of Moses
and Aaron," JQR 74
(1983):
221.
12 Timothy R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 383-85.
See
also Milgrom, Numbers,
448; Eryl W Davies, Numbers (New Century Bible Commentary;
Introduction and Commentary (AB 4A;
Transgression of Moses and Aaron," 213-14.
13 Jacob Milgrom,
"Magic, Monotheism and the Sin of Moses," in The Quest for the Kingdom
of God (ed. H. B. Huffman and A. R. W Green;
See
also Nahmanides, Commentary
of the Torah By Rambam,
215; and Ashley, The Book of
Numbers, 383.
14 Milgrom, Numbers,
448.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Fisch, ed., Midrash Ha-Gadol. Numbers 758.
18 Milgrom
reports on this view (Numbers, 448), but he also critiques it saying that Moses
could
not have been ordered to speak to the rock alone
since this would make his act look like the
incantations associated with pagan magic (Numbers, 454). See also John Sturdy, Numbers: A
Commentary (CBC; New York: Cambridge University Press,
1976), 140.
19 See also Dent 3:26 and 4:21.
138
The writer sets this particular story
within the Wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1).
But
when the early Christian pilgrims report their visits to the site of this
miracle,
we find them in locations outside the traditional
boundaries of the Wilderness of
Zin. For example, Egeria visits the site of the miracle while traveling to
Nebo. She says that she visited this unique rock
while on the northeast side of the
Dead
Sea.20 Later European pilgrims visited another traditional site
associated
with this miracle located in the northwestern
portion of the
approximately one hundred miles
northeast of Cairo.21 Both of these traditional
sites are located some distance from the area that
biblical geographers typically
associate with the Wilderness of Zin. They appear to be traditional worship sites
conveniently located for visiting
pilgrims who are traveling to other nearby wor-
ship sites. Thus their connection to the authentic
location is highly suspect.
By
contrast, biblical geographers use texts like Num 13:21 and 34:3-4 to place
the Wilderness of Zin
between
Wilderness
of Paran and between the Arabah
and the Mediterranean Sea.22
The
topography of this region is rugged and forbidding. A land of "bare land-
scapes, bold colors and fiery
bright light,”23 a land "that is hostile to humans"24
whose entire surface is irregular, "running up
here and down there into intoler-
able hills and all seamed with stony torrent
beds."25 Geologically, this rugged
moonscape is generally layered with softer limestone
rising above harder lime-
stone.26
Those who cross this barren wilderness will
find it to be nearly waterless27 with
only meager vegetation presenting itself after a
rain shower.28 And that rain is
scarce, totaling only about four inches per year at
the highest elevations.29 The
rain that is absorbed percolates down through the
softer lavers of limestone until
it encounters the harder, impermeable layers
beneath. The water then runs later-
ally through the rock and in various places breaks out
of the hillsides as a spring.30
This
is the barren, rugged, and waterless landscape faced by Moses and the
Israelites in Numbers 20.
20
John Wilkinson, Egeria's Travels (3d ed.;
21 Bellarimino Basggati,
ed., Visit to the Holy Places of
1384 by Frescobaldi,
Gucci and Sigoli (Studium Biblicum
Franciscanum 6;
Franciscan
Press, 1948), 55, 100, and 101; Nicolo of Poggibonsi, A Voyage
Beyond the Seas
(Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 2; Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1945), 100.
22 Yohanan
Aharoni, The Land of the Bible:
A Historical Geography (
23 Glueck, Rivers in the
Desert, 15.
24
Beitzel, The Moody Bible Atlas,
37.
25 C. Leonard Woolley
and T E. Lawrence, The Wilderness of Zin
(
1936),
70.
26 Efraim
Orni and Elisha Efras, Geography of
Society
of
27 George Turner, Historical Geography of the
28
George Smith, The Historical Geography of the
29 Orni
and Efrat, Geography
of
30 Arie
Issar, Water
Shall Flow from the Rock: Hydrology and Climate in the Lands of the
Bible (New York: Springer, 1990), 119.
WHY DID MOSES STRIKE
OUT? 139
IV. Narrative Geography
and Numbers 20
The author of our story employs
reference to the geography noted above in
the telling of this story. It is used to create
tension in the plot and clarify the act
of Moses that disqualified hint from entering the
Promised Land.
First of all, geography provides the
tension that enlivens the plot of this story
The
author places the word "water" (Mym) in over half of the
verses in this story.
In
an ironic twist, that abundance of water in the text contrasts markedly with
the lack of water faced by the thirsty Israelites.
The narrator announces that
there is no water for the community (20:2). Then the
people bring this grievance
to Moses in vv 4-5. "Why have you brought the
assembly of the Lord to this
wilderness to die, both we and our animals? Why did
you lead us up from
to bring us to this wicked place? There is no
agriculture here, no fig tree, vine, or
pomegranate. And there is no water to drink."
Their complaint is constructed of
many components. But they are all linked by and
focused on the last phrase.
There
is no water. This lack of water provides the conflict that draws the reader
in and calls for resolution as the plot unfolds.
The
reader is led to anticipate that the resolution to this conflict will come from
a rock (fls). The unique choice of
vocabulary invites more careful attention.
This
particular word for rock is used seven times in the Torah. Five of those seven
times occur within this story And all seven seem to
have an association with the
region we are studying.32 The writer could have used the more generic
word for
rock (fls) that is used
eighty-eight times in the Torah or the word rvc that is
used sixteen times in the Torah. The former would
call no special attention to
itself: The latter seems to be associated with the
harder rock of Sinai or
(Exodus
17; 33:21-22; Num 23:9; and Deut 8:15). Given this, the choice of fls
is not serendipitous but strategic. Furthermore,
this unique choice of vocabulary
also helps distinguish this story from the story
told in Exodus 17. In Numbers 20,
Moses
is to speak to the fls in order to provide
water for the people. In Exodus
17,
Moses is to strike a rvc in order to provide
water for the people.33 Thus the
careful reader of the Torah presumes that there
is something unique about this
rock in Numbers 20 that will contribute to the
resolution of this conflict.
The story seems to have reached it
climactic moment when Moses strikes the
rock and it produces water. But an even more
arresting moment occurs at 20:12
when the author tells us that Moses has been
disqualified as leader of the people
because he failed to trust and to sanctify the
Lord before the eyes of the Sons of
31 Ashley, The Book of Numbers, 380.
32 Num 24:21 associates the Kenites with this word for rock. The Kenites
are said to live in the
of Numbers 20.
33 Ashley notes that it is
details like this that make the two stories so distinct as to refute the
claim of Noth and others
that this is really the same story told by two different authors. Compare
Ashley, The Book of Numbers,
378-79; and Noth, Numbers,
145-46.
140
Israel.34
Some contend that the true nature of Moses' failure is
deliberately sup-
pressed.35 But if the geographical
clues left by the author are carefully observed,
the sin of Moses comes into view.
God's directions are clearly stated
in our text at 20:8. Moses is to take the
staff, assemble the people, and speak to the rock.
Instead he assembles the
people, speaks to the people, and strikes the rock
with his staff. In doing this, "he
prevented the full power and might of Yahweh from
being evident to the
people."36 But why would striking the
rock do that? The selection of the word
fls here provides the
interpretive clue. Let's return to the geology of the
region to deepen our understanding of this lexical
choice.
Rainwater that gravity forced
through the soft upper courses of limestone
would dissolve and transport components of that soft
chalk down through the
upper strata. This mixture of water and chalk would
settle through the upper
layers of limestone until it reached a less permeable
layer. The water would
then flow laterally and would, at times, exit the
rock face. As the water flowed
from the rock, evaporation would occur leaving
behind crystals that had for-
merly been dissolved in the
water. Given enough time and the right conditions,
a mineral cap would form sealing off the flow. Of course, water would continue
to collect behind its former effusion point under
increasing pressure. This hid-
den water resource awaited the blow from a shrewd
water seeker who knew
how to read the rock.37 A sharp blow
would break the mineral cap and cause
water to flow from a rock.
Some have argued that there would have
been no difference between speaking
to and striking the rock.38 Milgrom says, "If Moses was told to obtain water out
of the rock by striking it (as he did in Exodus
17), how could he not but strike it
again
when asked to repeat the miracle (Numbers 20)?”39 But these stories
occur in two different geological environments. In
Exodus 17, the Israelites are
standing before impermeable granite. Given the
properties of this rock, no
amount of sustained striking could ever hope to
produce water. Thus God
instructs Moses to strike the rock and produce a
miracle giving glory to God. By
contrast, one could expect to get water from a
rock in the Wilderness of Zin by
striking it. Thus God instructs Moses to speak to
the rock and produce a miracle
giving glory to God. Moses sinned by failing to trust
God.40
Perhaps as Moses looked at the angry crowd
pressing against him, he thought
it unwise to risk a new paradigm. What would
happen to him if he spoke to the
34 See also Num 27:14 and Deut
32:5 1.
35 John H. Sailhamer,
"The Mosaic Law and the Theology of the Pentateuch," WTJ 53 (1991): 259.
36 Budd, Numbers,
218.
37
Bedouin living in this region still bring water from a rock by excavating this
type of mineral cap.
Issar, Water
Shall Flow from the Rock, 121. See also Julius H. Greenstone, The Holy Scriptures: Numbers
with Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication
Society, 1939), 213.
38 Nahmanides,
Commentary of the Torah By Rarnbam, 211.
39 Milgrom, "Magic, Monotheism and the Sin of
Moses," 253.
40 I am indebted to Dr. James
Martin of Bible World Seminars who first suggested this under-
standing to me during our time in
WHY DID MOSES STRIKE
OUT? 141
rock and no water came out? So rather than speaking
to the rock, he selects an
approach that by human standards seems more
prudent. Earlier he had struck
a rock and produced water (Exodus 17). And here
in the Wilderness of Zin, he
knows something about the character of this rock.
This is clearly implied in the
Midrash. "The rebels began
to say, ‘Moses knows the natural properties of this
particular rock!’"41 So instead of
speaking to the rock, he strikes the rock. This
act produces water but does not demonstrate or
solicit faith. In this act, he
defies the direction of God, demonstrates his lack of
faith, and brings glory to
himself rather than to the Lord. That is why
Moses struck out.
41 Fisch, ed., Midrash Ha-Gadol. Numbers,
758.
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