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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

In Numbers 20, why did Moses and Aaron sin when they struck the rock?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

When Moses and Aaron got water from the rock in Numbers 20, what exactly did they do wrong that caused them to be punished?

Answer:

If you re-read Numbers 20:6–11, you’ll see that Moses and Aaron did not do as the Lord commanded them to do. He asked them to speak to the rock and told them that it would bring forth water. Instead, Moses and Aaron decided to strike the rock for water, which was a method of obtaining water that had previously been successful for them (Ex. 17:5–7). In other words, they decided to ignore the Lord’s request and go with what had worked before, which demonstrated a lack of faith (Num. 20:12) and, arguably, superstition (CCC 2111).

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