Sforno on Numbers 20:8

קח את המטה. ודברתם אל הסלע. כבר רבו הדעות בענין חטא מי מריבה והיה ספק אצל רבים במה חטאו משה ואהרן שנכתב עליהם לא האמנתם מעלתם (דברים לב, נא) ומריתם ואם היתה כונת האל יתברך שידברו בלבד אל הסלע מה ענין ללקיחת המטה ואם היה החטא על שהכה משה את הסלע שלא במצות שולחו במה חטא אהרן. אמנם כשנתבונן בענין המריבה ראוי שנחשוב שתהיה מצות האל בזה על אופן שיכירו רשעת מריבתם והתודו את חטאתם ושבו ורפא למו כי לא יחפוץ במות המת ובכן נבין שבזה החטיאו משה ואהרן את כונת האל יתברך ועל זה הענישם. אמנם המריבה עם משה היתה באמרם שהיתה הנהגתו בלתי שלמה במה שהביא אותם אל אותו החלק הרע מהמדבר ועל האל יתברך היתה מריבתם באמרם שהוציאם מארץ נושבת טובה אל ארץ מדבר ולהודיעם את רשעם בזה התחייב שיהיה הנס מודיע שהשליח היה מנהיג בשלמות ושהמשלח היטיב בשליחותו ולא הרע כלל. ובהיות מיני הנסים המסופרים בכתבי הקדש על אחד מג' פנים. הא' הוא נס נסתר כמו ירידת המטר וההמלט מן החלאים ומן הצרות. וזה המין מן הנסים ישיגוהו הצדיקים בתפלתם כענין ויתפלל אברהם אל האלהים וירפא אלהים את אבימלך וכן ויתפלל משה בעד העם והב' הוא נס נגלה לא יוכל הטבע לעשותו באותו האופן אבל יעשהו אחר תנועות רבות במשך זמן. וזה המין מן הנסים יעשהו האל יתברך על ידי עבדיו עם הקדמת איזו תנועה מסודרת מאתו כענין השליכהו ארצה (שמות ד, ה) הרם את מטך והכית בצור ירה ויור (מלכים ב יג, יז) וזולתם. והג' הוא מין מן הנסים שלא יוכל הטבע לעשותו בשום אופן. וזה המין יעשה האל יתעלה על ידי עבדיו בדבור בלבד שהיא פעולה שכלית ויותר נכבדת משאר תנועותיו הגשמיות כמו שהיה הענין בפתיחת פי הארץ כאמרו ויהי ככלותו לדבר ותבקע האדמה וכן בענין עמידת השמש ליהושע נאמר אז ידבר יהושע. והנה בענין זאת המריבה היה מן ההכרח להעביר את רעת תלונות ישראל שיהיה הנס הנעשה מבאר מעלת המלך המשלח ודרכי טובו ומבאר גם כן מעלת השליח וטובו ושהוא מוכן אל שייטיב המלך על ידו לעמו. ותתבאר מעלת המשלח במין הג' מן הנסים אשר לא יוכל הטבע כלל עליו בשום אופן ובשום זמן ותתבאר מעלת השליח במין הב' מן הנסים הנעשה בתנועת השליח הראוי לזה. ובכן צוה האל יתברך שיהפך הסלע למים כאמרו ונתן מימיו כלומר שיהיו המים מן הסלע לא נמשכים ממקום אחר אליו וזה היה נמנע זולתי בהיותו נהפך מצורת סלע אל צורת מים כאשר העיד אחר כך באמרו המוציא לך מים מצור החלמיש כי אם היו המים מובאים ממקום אחר שם בנס לא יהיה הבדל בין צור חלמיש לזולתו. וזה המין מן הנסים לא יוכל עשוהו הטבע בשום אופן ולא בשום זמן וצוה שזה יהיה על ידי דבור עבדיו כאמרו ודברתם אל הסלע למען יכירו ישראל שהיה זה הנס מן המין הג' כאמור לא שיהיו מים נגרים שם ממקום אחר ובזה ידעו גודל וטוב המשלח וישיבו אל לבם שאף על פי שהוציאם ממצרים אל המדבר אין בזה רעה כלל בהיותו עמהם אחר שיש בידו לשים מדבר לאגם מים וזולת זה ממה שלא יוכל הטבע עליו ושאם הוא כאן הכל כאן כאמרו המדבר הייתי לישראל וצוה עם זה שאחר שיהפך הסלע למים יוציא משה אותם המים להם במטהו לשבטיהם כאמרו במחוקק במשענותם ולזה המין מן הנסים אמר קח את המטה והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע וכו'. והנה משה ואהרן הסכימו לעשות המין הב' מן הנסים ולהגיר המים אל הסלע ממקום אחר כמו שעשו ברפידים כאמרו והכית בצור ויצאו ממנו מים כי לא בטחו שיקים האל יתברך את דברו לעשות לישראל המין הג' מן הנסים בחשבם את ישראל אז ממרים מאד עד שיהיו בלתי ראוים אליו ושינחם ה' על הטובה. ובכן עשו את דרך מין הב' מן הנסים במטה אשר בו הודיע מעלת השליח ולא עשו את דרך המין הג' אשר בו יודיעו לישראל מעלת המשלח וטובו ולזה נכתב עליהם לא האמנתם בי שהרצון בו לא בטחתם בי שאעשה מה שאמרתי ומעלתם בי (דברים לב, נא) שחיללתם כבודי ולא הראיתם למריבים את סכלותם ומריתם פי בשלא שמרתם מצותי: קח את המטה...ודברתם אל הסלע, there are numerous opinions of what precisely Moses’ sin consisted of. Many commentators have difficulty understanding the wordsלא האמנתם, ‘you lacked faith” in verse 12 as well as with the word מעלתם בי, “you trespassed against Me” in Deuteronomy 32,51, as well as the words מריתם את פי “you rebelled against My command” in verse 24 of our chapter here.
If it had indeed been G’d’s intention that they were only to speak to the rock, what purpose was served in commanding Moses to take the staff? If the sin consisted in that Moses struck the rock, something he had not been commanded to do, what was Aaron’s sin?
However, when we scrutinise the matter (the quarrel) more thoroughly we must remember that G’d’s instructions were designed to bring home to the people how wrong they had been in their rebellious attitude. They were meant not only to become aware of this, but to repent it and to apologise for it, seeing that G’d does not desire the death of the sinner but his rehabilitation by his own efforts.
Knowing that this is so, Moses and Aaron’s actions or inaction resulted in G’d’s intention of bringing about the people’s repentance of their conduct was thwarted. G’d punished them for having become the instrument of thwarting His plan.
The quarrel of the people with Moses was that they accused him of a failure of leadership that resulted in their finding themselves in a situation where they even lacked water for survival. Their quarrel with G’d consisted in their accusing Him of taking them out of a good land called Egypt and bringing them to a desert instead. G’d had wanted to make it clear to them by means of the miracle that Moses had not acted on their own but had merely been His messenger, had carried out his mission faithfully, and that the One Who had sent him had not caused the people any harm at all. We must remember that there are three distinct kinds of miracles in Scripture
1) The “hidden” miracle such as that rain occurs when needed, or that people are recovering from a variety of life threatening diseases. These are the types of miracles that the righteous can bring about by means of their prayers. The Torah quotes an example of this kind of miracle in Genesis 20,17 when it tells us that Avraham’s prayer resulted in G’d healing the households in Avimelech’s kingdom where an outbreak of a disease had resulted in none of the expectant women being able to give birth to their babies until after Avraham’s prayer. A similar miracle occurred in Numbers 21,7 when Moses prayed on behalf of the people who had acknowledged that they had sinned.
2) The second type of miracle is an “open” miracle, something that could not be produced by nature without a special assist by G’d, although it could conceivably be become a natural phenomenon over a long period of time. Examples of this kind of miracle are Moses throwing his staff to the earth and G’d turning it into a snake (Exodus 4,5) or G’d commanding Moses to raise his staff (Exodus 14,16) and the waters of the sea parting, or Moses striking the rock in Exodus 17,6 in order to produce water from that rock. Kings II 13,17 is a similar miracle where Elisha by letting the king shoot arrows means to assure victory over the armies opposing Israel.
3) The third type of miracle is something that nature could never produce however long it practiced. It is a miracle to accomplish which only words are employed. G’d, by means of His prophet, produces a result by means of mere words which demonstrates that use of intelligence without any physical action can produce phenomenal results. This kind of miracle within a material universe employs an absolute minimum of the tools that are the basic instruments of running this terrestrial universe. This is the type of miracle employed when the earth opened and swallowed Korach, etc. (16,31) or when at Joshua’s command the orbit of both the sun and the moon were arrested (Joshua 10,12).
In our situation G’d was about to provide the Jewish people with the demonstration of such a miracle in order to bring about their repentance when the people would become alert to the uniqueness of the prophet as well as to that of the One Who had made him His emissary, and Moses and Aaron deprived Him of that opportunity by preempting Him through hitting the rock. When G’d said to Moses that the rock ונתן מימיו, “it will give forth its waters,” He meant that it would dissolve into water so that no one could claim that the source of its waters had been elsewhere and that the course of these waters had merely been diverted to make it look as if the stone had turned into water. Moses’ high-handed action in merely striking the rock had been responsible for the fact that this type of miracle had not occurred, and that the aggrandizement of G’d’s name by the performance of such a miracle had not taken place. He himself had testified to this when he said in Deuteronomy 8,15 that G’d is One Who המוציא לך מים מצור החלמיש, “Who has produced water for you from the rock which is as hard as flint.” The reason that he chose this adjective is clear. If the waters that gushed forth from that rock had merely been diverted from somewhere else, what difference would it have made if the rock were soft or hard as flint?
This type of miracle could never be produced by forces concealed within nature irrespective of thousands and millions of years of evolution. [my choice of word, but author’s meaning. Ed.] G’d had commanded that this type of miracle occur as a result of words spoken by His servants. This is the reason for the emphasis on the words ודברתם אל הסלע, “you are to speak to the rock.” The Children of Israel were to be alerted not just to a miracle, but to the specific nature of this kind of miracle. Observing Moses in action in this fashion, they would get an inkling of the Power of the G’d Who had employed him as His emissary.
They were to reflect on the fact that although G’d/Moses had taken the people out of Egypt they had not suffered any harm from that at all seeing that their G’d had been with them every step of the way. He had converted the desert into a pool of water on their behalf, had performed miracles totally beyond the latent powers of nature ever to perform. As long as G’d was with them, i.e. in the words of Sukkah 53,אם אני כאן הכל כאן, “if I, the Lord, is present, everything you need is present.” Jeremiah 2,31 phrased it thus: המדבר הייתי לישראל, “was I G’d then a desert for Israel?” (did I not provide everything that is otherwise lacking in a desert?)
G’d commanded that as soon as the rock would yield up its water, Moses was to use his staff in order to guide separate streams of that water to the various areas in which each tribe had its tents, so that they would not have to leave their homes, as they did to collect the manna, in order to benefit from this vital resource.
This was the meaning of the words “take the staff…..and extract the water for them from the rock and provide water for the congregation” (verse 8). This is also the meaning of 21,18 במחוקק במשענותם, “when they split it with their staff.” Moses and Aaron had agreed between them to carry out the second part of the miracle by bringing water to the people via the rock as they had done at Refidim when the Torah had described what would happen as “when you strike the rock the water will come forth from the rock an the people will drink.” (צור, not סלע), (Exodus 17,6)
The type of miracle we had described as category three earlier is described here with the words והוצאת להם מים מן הסלע, what Moses and Aaron agreed to do was the lesser level of miracle as they were not sure G’d meant to perform the third category of miracle, i.e. not involving any action such as striking the rock. The reason why they doubted that G’d was going to perform the latter miracle was that they did not considered the Israelites worthy at the time to experience this kind of miracle seeing they had acted in a rebellious manner, Moses himself having addressed them as ממרים, rebels. By performing the second category of miracle, the one which demonstrates only the elevated stature of the messenger, while failing to perform the third category of miracle which would also have demonstrated the exalted nature of the One Who had instructed them as His emissary they committed a serious error. This is the reason the Torah writes לא האמנתם, “you did not have faith enough” (verse 12). The meaning is not that they considered G’d incapable of producing water from the rock by their merely speaking to it, but they did not believe that the circumstances at the time warranted that G’d would put Himself out to such an extent for these people. Deuteronomy 32,51 makes clear that their sin of omission constituted a desecration of G’d’s honour.