"Speak to the Rock"

At first glance, the above phrase sounds really weird. Why would anyone speak to a rock? But this was a command given to Moses by God. In Numbers 20, when the people of Israel complained about being thirsty, God told Moses, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock” (Num. 20:8).

The command may seem strange to us, but at least it was simple. And yet what did Moses do in response? He did gather all the people together as commanded, and yet instead of speaking to the rock, we are told that “Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod” (Num. 20:11). God said “speak to the rock” but instead, Moses “struck” it.

Here’s the question: did Moses disobey God? According to the reasoning of many religious people today, Moses did nothing wrong. After all, God never said not to strike the rock; therefore, it wasn’t wrong. This is the way so many church-going people reason. They assume that if an action isn’t condemned in the Bible, then it’s not wrong. What we need to realize is that we don’t need a “thou shalt not” to know that something is wrong. What we need is a “thou shalt” to know that it’s RIGHT. If it’s not right (authorized), then it’s wrong and we have to avoid it.

When God told Moses to “speak to the rock” He automatically ruled out everything else, including the action of striking the rock twice. What Moses did was unauthorized, and God punished him for it. We need to PROVE that what we’re doing is right by pointing to the book, chapter and verse!