recovered from “Ohr HaChaim on Deuteronomy 1:37”
Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
אור החיים על דברים א׳:ל״ז
Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 1:37
The passage argues that Moses was prevented from entering the Land of Israel specifically because of the sin of the spies, not because of the incident at the rock, explaining that God decreed Moses' death in the wilderness as part of the same decree against those who sinned with the spies.
וְאִם תֹּאמַר, וַהֲלֹא רוֹאַנִי שֶׁמִּיתַת מֹשֶׁה הָיְתָה עַל מֵי מְרִיבָה (במדבר כ:יג). כְּבָר כָּתַבְתִּי שָׁם שֶׁאִם מֹשֶׁה הָיָה מְקַדֵּשׁ שְׁמוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ, הָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל חוֹזְרִים לְטַהֲרָתָם שֶׁהָיוּ בּוֹ קֹדֶם חֵטְא הַמְּרַגְּלִים בְּאֶמְצָעוּת קִדּוּשׁ הַשֵּׁם הַגָּדוֹל, וְהָיָה ה׳ מַתִּיר שְׁבוּעַת מֹשֶׁה, וְהָיָה נִכְנָס לָאָרֶץ וּבוֹנֶה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתּוֹ עוֹלָמִים.
You may counter that this may be fine homiletics, but that the fact remains that Moses' death in Transjordan was caused due to his failure to speak to the rock at the waters of Merivah (Numbers chapter 20) not to the sin of the spies. The answer which I have mentioned already on that occasion is that had Moses spoken to the rock at that time the Israelites could have recovered the spiritually high level they possessed prior to the sin of the spies by means of watching that great display of G'd's power. In that event G'd would have cancelled His oath not to let Moses enter the Holy Land seeing that he had become the instrument of sanctifying the name of G'd on such a scale. As a result, Moses would have entered the Holy Land, would have built the Temple, and the Jewish people would have lived there permanently, trouble free. Israel's sin at this stage then had prevented all these scenarios from occurring.