Shabbat Parashat Chukat - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

God said to Moshe and to Aharon, "Because you (plural) did not believe in Me

to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you (plural) will not

bring this congregation to the land that I have given them." [Bamidbar 20:12]

Moshe and Aharon were both punished severely for the incident in our portion.

Many commentators discuss what Moshe might have done wrong to warrant this,

but what did Aharon do? How did he get included in the punishment?

In [20:8], God tells Moshe to "Take the staff and gather together the assembly,

you and Aharon your brother, and you (plural) shall speak to the rock." It then says,

"You (singular) shall bring forth for them water from the rock and you (singular) shall

give drink." Moshe strikes the rock just before our verse, then finally in [20:24], God

announces that Aharon is about to die, "because you (plural) defied My word at the

waters of strife." It seems from this that God was speaking to both Moshe and

Aharon, but gave instructions only to Moshe about the rock and the water, although

Aharon was included in the instruction about speaking to it.

Setting aside Moshe's issue regarding striking the rock, it appears that Aharon

violated only the "speak to" part. Is that enough to warrant the punishment he

received? Ramban and others say that the sins of Moshe and Aharon that warranted

these punishments were not explicitly given in the Torah, in which case our question

would only call for speculation.

But Rashi points at the "to sanctify Me" phrase in our verse as the key. He puts it,

"For had you spoken to the rock and it would have brought forth, I would have

been sanctified before the eyes of the assembly and they would have said,

now if this rock which neither speaks nor hears and does not need subsistence

fulfills the word of God, how much more so we?"

If Moshe was supposed only to speak to the rock, why did God command him

to take the staff? This appears to have stumped both Moshe and Aharon, in

which case, perhaps their sin was not asking for clarification but just guessing.

Since both were commanded to speak to the rock, and Moshe failed to do so,

it would seem that Aharon should have stepped up to the job, in which case it

would have given water. This answer of the Malbim seems to fit, but we are left

with wondering whether Aharon the student would have been allowed to act in

front of Moshe his teacher.

Hal Miller