¹The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.

²Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron. ³The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the LORD! ⁴Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink.” ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. ⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ⁸Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.

⁹So Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he had commanded him. ¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. ¹²But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ¹³These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and by which he showed his holiness.

Now, God does not play favourites. Miriam had challenged Moses, and was corrected: she now dies. Moses did not speak to the rock — he hit it. Now why Moses was damned remains difficult Calvin here speaks wisely

There is no doubt but that Moses was perplexed between hope and doubt, so that, although he committed the event to God, he was still to a certain extent oppressed with anxiety; for he would never have been so ready and prompt in obeying, and especially in such an unusually arduous matter, if he had been without faith. Aaron and himself had recently hidden themselves in alarm; it was, therefore, a task of no slight difficulty straightway to call the people, from whom they had fled, and voluntarily to encounter their madness. Thus far, then, we see nothing but a readiness to obey, conjoined with magnanimity, which is deserving of no common praise; but inasmuch as the unbelief of Moses is condemned by the heavenly Judge, in whose hands is the sovereign power, and at whose word we all stand or fall, we must acquiesce in His sentence. We scarcely perceive anything reprehensible in this matter, yet, since God declares that the fall of Moses displeased Him, we must abide by His decision rather than our own. And hence, too, let us learn that our works, on the surface of which nothing but virtue is apparent, are often abounding in secret defects, which escape the eyes of men, but are manifest to God alone.

If it be asked in what respect Moses transgressed, the origin of his transgression was unbelief; for it is not allowable, when this species of sin is expressly referred to in the answer of God, to imagine that it was anything else. But it is doubtful in what point he was incredulous; unless it be, that in asking whether he could fetch water out of the rock, he seems to reject as if it were impossible and absurd what God had promised to do. And, in fact, he was so entirely taken up by considerations of their contumacy, that he did not acknowledge the grace of God. He inquires whether he shall fetch water out of the rock? whereas he ought to have recollected that this had already been permitted to him by God. It became him, then, confidently to assert that God had again promised the same thing, rather than to speak with hesitation.

Others think that he sinned, because he was not contented with a single blow, but smote the rock twice. And this perhaps did arise from distrust. But the origin of the fault was that he did not simply embrace God’s promise, and strenuously discharge the duty assigned to him as an evidence of his faith. Although, therefore, his smiting the rock twice might have been a token of his want of confidence, still it was only an aggravation of the evil, and not its origin or cause. Thus, then, we must always come back to this, that Moses did not give God the glory, because he rather considered what the people had deserved, than estimated the power of God according to His word. And this, too, has previous reprimand denotes, when, in accusing the Israelites of rebellion, he shows, indeed, that he was inflamed with holy zeal; yet, at the same time, he does not bestir himself with suitable confidence in order to their conviction; nay, in a manner he confesses that the power of God fails beneath their wickedness. Thus it is said in Ps. 106:32, 33,

“That it went in with Moses for their sakes, because they provoked his spirit, so that he spoke with his mouth:”  109

for the Prophet does not there excuse Moses; but shows that in consequence of the wickedness of the people, he was carried away by inconsiderate fervor, so as to deny that what God had promised should take place. Hence let us learn that, when we are angered by the sins of others, we should beware lest a temptation of an opposite kind should take possession of our minds.

It may be that, as others have suggested, that the rock was known to have a spring under it — and Moses knew how to get at it. That striking the rock was usual. In that case, however, some other person should have done it.

Slaves moan.  As Calvin pointed out, this provoked Moses to Anger and in this he could not glorify God.

And here liberalism falls down. For it also cannot glorify God. Nor man. Nor anything… for any sense of the miraculous, the altruistic, from the most noble to simple human decency must be subverted to fit within their ideology. They may have the form of religion, but the power, the power of salvation, is missing.

As they cannot acknowledge God, they destroy all that is good and just… to the point where people rebel because not only are they poor and oppressed, but the simple comforts of family, of beauty, and of truth have been taken from them.  They make us dependent: then they demand courage and sacrifice from those they have trained to be cowards with a sense of entitlement.

But there is hope. During this time, a new generation rose in Israel, that under the command of Joshua destroyed the ritual (child sacrifice and temple prostitution of the Canaanites. The pendulum will turn. The current iteration of liberalism (social democrat or socialist politics) will be on the ash heap. I hope, however, that this does not require the destruction of nations and Peoples — for if we continue down the path, we are on, our society will die.