Chukat

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.”

20:12

His whole sin lay in erring on the side of anger and deviating from the mean of patience…that a man of his stature should give vent to anger in front of the whole community of Israel, where anger was “not called for.” This behavior in such a man constituted a profanation of the Name, since he was the model of good conduct for all the people…When they saw him thus in anger, they must certainly have concluded that he was not displaying personal animus or pique but, on the contrary, had not God been angry with them at their demand for water?

Maimonides (12^th Century)

Moses made the fatal mistake of saying, “Shall we bring you forth water,” instead of saying “Shall God bring you forth water,” as in all the other miracles where the authorship of God is always explicitly stressed. The people might have been misled into thinking that Moses and Aaron had extracted the water for them, by their own skill. Thus they failed to “sanctify Me in the midst of the children of Israel.”

Nachmanides (14^th Century)

In light of all the foregoing, one could not deny that Moses, even if only for a fleeting moment, must have doubted the ultimate success of his own Divine mission and the possibility of ultimately winning the entire nation for the accomplishment of its vocation on earth…Now the grave of the leaders beside those of all the others who had had to die in the wilderness will bear eternal witness to the justice of God’s sovereignty, upon whose scale even the slightest error or men close to Him…weights as heavily as the most heinous crime of ordinary mortals. Precisely by making even Moses and Aaron expendable for further progress in the accomplishment of His purposes on earth…even men like Moses and Aaron are not indispensable…

Samson Raphael Hirsch (19^th Century)

The decision that he should step aside for a new leader was not a punishment, but rather the acknowledgment of a fact. Moses had “lost his touch.”…It all happened after the death of Miriam. This personal loss was a terrible blow to Moses. It was only then he must have realized how dependent he was on his beg sister, the one who when he was still a baby had stood with a heavy heart on the river-bank, to make sure that her little brother would not drown…In his dealings with the people and the world, the support of his close family circle…they had been a natural trio – Miriam, Aaron and Moses.

Pinchas Peli (20^th Century)

True Tzaddikim do not promote themselves. On the contrary, they often take great pains to conceal their virtues and charitable deeds. It is not uncommon that we become aware of their true greatness and nobility of spirit only after they are no longer with us…In this way the positive impact of the righteous as inspiring role models increases after their death…In short, the death of Tzaddikim inspires us to imitate their personal conduct – if possible, in our own actions, and if not, by ensuring that there will be others who will fill this spiritual void.

Abraham Isaac Kook (20^th Century)

Moses our teacher committed one sin, but our commentators have heaped on him thirteen and more, each one of them having invented a fresh one…I have therefore hitherto refrained from going into this problem for fear I might attribute a new sin to Moses.

S. D. Luzzatto (19^th Century)