opened by striking the rock in among ten miraculous things that God created at twilight on the eve of the first Sabbath. A Midrash interpreted to teach that Moses struck the rock once and small quantities of water began to trickle from the rock, as says, "Behold, He smote the rock, that waters issued." Then the people ridiculed Moses, asking if this was water for sucklings, or babes weaned from milk. So Moses lost his temper and struck the rock "twice; and water came forth abundantly" (in the words of ), overwhelming all those who had railed at Moses, and as says, "And streams overflowed." Reading God's criticism of Moses in "Because you did not believe in Me," a Midrash asked whether Moses had not previously said worse when in he showed a greater lack of faith and questioned God's powers asking: "If flocks and herds be slain for them, will they suffice them? Or if all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, will they suffice them?" The Midrash explained by relating the case of a king who had a friend who displayed arrogance towards the king privately, using harsh words. The king did not, however, lose his temper with his friend. Later, the friend displayed his arrogance in the presence of the king's legions, and the king sentenced his friend to death. So also God told Moses that the first offense that Moses committed (in ) was a private matter between Moses and God. But now that Moses had committed a second offense against God in public, it was impossible for God to overlook it, and God had to react, as reports, "To sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel." Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar taught that Moses and Aaron died because of their sin, as reports God told them, "Because you did not believe in Me . . . you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar thus taught that had they believed in God, their time would not yet have come to depart from the world. The Gemara implied that the sin of Moses in striking the rock at Meribah compared favorably to the sin of David. The Gemara reported that Moses and David were two good leaders of Israel. Moses begged God that his sin be recorded, as it is