What is it about Moses's words at the rock that incurs God's ire? At the beginning of the People's journey Moses had struck a rock to produce water without ill effect - what was so wrong about his behavior forty years later?
At Rephidim the people quarreled against Moses over a lack of potable water: God instructed him to "Pass before the people and take with you some of Israel’s elders, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go. Look, I am about to stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out from it and the people will drink." And thus did Moses do before the eyes of Israel’s elders. (Exodus 17:5-6) But at Kadesh when the People again complained and God gave instructions, Moses added something to the script: And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and he said to them "Listen, pray, rebels! Shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?" (Numbers 20:10)
It wasn't that Moses hit the rock when he was instructed to speak to it - it's that Moses (a) took credit for it himself and (b) spoke down to the people he was supposed to be leading. At the beginning of his career Moses is the very model of modest leadership, but after forty years of being in charge he seems to be trending towards the dictatorial.
When a leader denigrates the people they are leading or takes all the credit for the successes of the organization, some adjustments may be required.
