קח את המטה והקהל. אמר הרב בכור שור ולהכות בסלע קאמר לו שיקח המטה וזהו המעשה של בשלח דכתיב שם והכית בצור אלא שהיה מסדר שם איך פרנס ישראל במן ובשלו ובמים ואחר מפרש כל אחד במקומו ותרוייהו חד מעשה הוא דהא כתיב התם ויקרא שם המקום מסה ומריבה ובפרשת וזאת הברכה כתיב אשר נסיתו במסה תריבהו על מי מריבה. וגם כאן כתיב המה מי מריבת קדש מדבר סין והתם נמי כתיב ויסעו ממדבר סין והא דכתיב כאן ודברתם אל הסלע לאו לאפוקי שלא להכותו קאמר אלא ה"ק תדברו אל בני ישראל (אל) לפני הסלע כדי שיראו הדבר לעיניהם שאני מוציא להם מים מצור החלמיש והם אמרו שמעו נא המורים המן הסלע הזה נוציא לכם מים כלומר למה תריבון עמי וכי אנו יכולין להוציא לכם מים מן הסלע הזה אם לא ע"י הקב"ה וא"כ דרך תפלה ובקשה היה לכם לבקש ממנו ולא דרך מריבה ותלונה ולפי שהיה להם לפרש דבריהם יותר הקפיד הקב"ה עליהם ואמר יען לא האמנתם בי ולפי הפשט העונש ממה שאמר נוציא והיה להם לו' יוציא דמשמע יוציא הקב"ה וכן ייסד הפייט נוקש בעשר והיינו היו"ד דיוציא עשר: קח את המטה והקהל את העדה, “take the staff and assemble the congregation!” According to Rabbi b’chor shor, the instruction to Moses to take the staff was meant in order for him to strike the rock with it which was meant to produce the water. [The instructions addressed to both Moses and Aaron in the same verse, were addressed to both Moses and Aaron who were to speak to the people first Ed.] This was similar to the instructions in Exodus 17,6, except that there the rock was called צור, tzur. At that time G–d was going to provide both bread (heavenly), meat, (quails) and water, each one of which was listed in detail shortly thereafter. The provision of water on both occasions is to be understood as the same miracle, and that is also why the first location was called מסה ומריבה, “trying and strife,” and on this occasion reference is only made to מי מריבה, “waters of strife” (verse 13) When Moses, in retrospect, refers to these events in Deuteronomy 33,8 he uses both expressions in the same verse. They are referred to also in Numbers 20,24:למי מריבה ”at the waters of strife.” Those waters were in the desert of Sin, near Mount Sinai, (during the first year of the Exodus) As far as the instructions here for Moses and Aaron to address the rock by word of mouth, ודברתם אל הסלע, is concerned, they were meant to speak to the people near the rock in order to watch the miracle about to be performed. On the first occasion, Moses took the elders with him, but the people stayed far behind and they did not even witness the striking of the rock. Those elders had long died so that the present generation had not even been told what they had witnessed. (Exodus 17,5) The water at that time formed into a small river and that was where the Israelites filled their buckets from. Moses and Aaron, instead of announcing the miracle about to take place, addressed the people by calling them rebellious, and asking if they really expected that they were worthy of G–d performing such a miracle for them. They should have known that it was not in Moses’ or Aaron’s power to get water out of a stone, so what was the point of accusing them of the shortage of water. Therefore, they should have prayed to G–d in a deferential manner, asking Him to help them in their predicament. If Moses and Aaron had explained all this to them without displaying anger with a thirsty people, the result would have been a great sanctification of the Lord’s name. According to the plain meaning of the text, Moses’ and Aaron’s sin consisted of using the word נוציא לכם מים, “We are going to produce water for you,” instead of saying that “G–d is going to produce water for you.”