Exodus 17:4-6 - What shall I do with this people?

17:4

The people grumbled to Moses, and Moses cried out to God. We have already seen this pattern in Exodus, and we will see it again. Moses wants to know what he is to do with the people, this will not be the only time that he wants to know this. Moses has been told to lead a rebellious and unbelieving people. “They are almost ready to stone me.” Several other Godly leaders were threatened with stoning, or in Stephen’s case were actually stoned to death.

17:5,6

God tells Moses what to do. He is to take the same staff which he used in dividing the Red Sea. He is then told to stand by the rock at Horeb, to strike the rock, and then water would come forth from the rock. There are some who see this as being the same as the incident in Numbers 20. To do this does seem rather silly. The two incidents are quite clearly presented as different, and there is a key difference with God telling Moses to strike the rock here, and not mentioning striking in the Numbers incident. In this incident Moses did as he was told.