I’ve chewed on this one for a long time. When you read Numbers 20, it follows a simple lesson in disobedience. Moses is told what to do, decides not to do it for his own emotional reasons, and then God translates that disobedience as irreverence. What’s the connection?
There are several ways you could answer that question, and, fortunately, for us, the Text provides lots of clues to help.
For one, Moses uses the phrase “you rebels” in his retort back to the nation of Israel. Whether he’s addressing them as rebels towards God or rebels towards himself is unknown, but it’s clear from the question that follows that he feels the spotlight is on him: “Shall we bring water forth from you?” Not God, mind you—them.
That being said, God uses the same phrase in Numbers 20:8: “You shall thus bring forth water.” God identifies Moses and Aaron as the conduit; Moses arguably does the same four verses later.
Then, there’s the issue of how God could accuse Moses and Aaron as “not believing God” (Numbers 20:12). It’s clear they did believe God, though. Why else would they even approach the rock?
To understand God’s stance then, we have to look at the details. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t trust God, it’s that they didn’t follow what He told them. Those are two different ideas entirely.
Think of this in another way. In Hebrews 3:18-19, the Hebrew writer makes the same basic point that Paul does in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. In doing so though, he uses two different words to describe the same essential action: They didn’t enter His rest because they were “disobedient” (Hebrews 3:18) but also because of their “unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19).
Belief and obedience are the same thing, then. As I write this, we’re in the middle of a massive ice storm that’s sweeping through most of the American South. We heard about it days in advance, so, having faith in the weather report (belief), I took action (obedience).
Sometimes we revere weathermen too high. They are human, after all, and still make mistakes. But I respect their position and knowledge enough to take action based on what they say.
Did Moses? Upon hearing what God told him to do, for reasons known only to him, he decided to alter the commandments. He hit the rock instead of speaking to it. It doesn’t matter if water came out or not—what he did was wrong.
His disobedience revealed the respect he had for God. Had he revered God as he should’ve, he would’ve done what God told him to do. Because he didn’t, it shows that he didn’t care for God enough in that moment to do what God said.
Respect for God is at the core of obedience to God. When we respect Him for who He is and remember what He’s done, we do what He says. When we forget is when problems set in.