Hashem became angry with me as well because of you, saying, “You, too, shall not come there.”[1]
This does not sound like the story we read about in parshas Chukas. There, Moshe alone was faulted for his conduct at Mei Merivah. Hashem says, “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me…therefore you will not bring this congregation to the Land.”[2] In our pasuk, Moshe seems to place the blame on the people for Hashem barring him from entering the Land. Which was it?
We have an abundance of approaches concerning Moshe’s sin at Mei Merivah. Ramban,[3] citing Rabbenu Chananel, prefers the explanation that it was a single word. “Shall we bring forth water from this rock?”[4] Using the plural “we” created room for error – as if Moshe was somehow a partner in the miracle – as if he possessed some incredible power. Or that he attempted to glorify himself by linking himself to the great event.
Of course, Moshe meant nothing of a kind. He used the phrase rhetorically: “Do you really think any of us could get water from a rock?” But Moshe’s imprecision in expressing himself left room for error. And chachamim are advised to be meticulous about the way they speak.[5]
Now, were Moshe speaking to a group uniformly strong in their Emunah, and cognizant of Hashem’s providence, there would have been no concern about the words he used. Everyone would have understood them the way they were intended. It was only because Moshe addressed a congregation of people on different spiritual levels that the ambiguity in the word “we” left room to distort his intent.
Moshe was sadly aware of the weakness of many people in regard to Hashem’s hashgachah. He had witnessed their reaction to the report of the spies. Had they been strong in their belief, they would have told themselves that with Hashem’s help, every obstacle and challenge in the Land would easily be overcome. Nothing stood in the way of their success in entering and possessing the Land. Alas, their belief was not strong enough. Time and again, they had entertained the idea that not everything happening to them was the result of His hashgachah. They suspected that Moshe’s great wisdom and powers – or Hashem’s love for him – had influenced decisions and their consequences. Some of that doubt entered into their reaction to the meraglim. Maybe entering the Land was not such a good idea.
Moshe in fact verbalized his awareness of the problem. “In this matter, you do not believe in Hashem.”[6] He was telling them that many people sin – but not out of a lack of emunah. Faced with an upwelling of some yetzer hora, they fail to resist. They don’t, however, betray any faulty belief. In spurning the gift of the Land, argued Moshe, they displayed their lack of emunah.
Conscious of this deficiency in the recent history of the people, Moshe should have been especially careful in his choice of words. Failing to do so, he diminished the potential kiddush Hashem of the miracle. The aveirah was his – but it would not have been an aveirah at all were it not for their faulty Emunah. Thus, Moshe could accurately say that his downfall came about “because of you.”