@futurebird @wakame The metaphor I use with line numbers in error messages is "I fell down on line 32. I don't know where I tripped, but this is where I fell."
It is a hint, and you can find it from there, but the cause could be before. Students understand that tripping and falling are distinct, causal actions, and that knowing what you tripped on may be unknowable until you go back and look.