Anyway, to cut to the chase, Bechor Shor suggests that the story of the people complaining about lack of water, and Moses hitting the rock, is one and the same with another story with very similar details - in the book of Exodus. Let's see our story, in the full. Translation from Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's Living Torah:
Even more than Rashi, to whose exegetical school he belonged, he confined himself to literal interpretations (peshat). Anticipating later Biblical criticism, he assumed the presence of duplicate narratives in the Bible, and he strove to give rational explanations to the miraculous stories. Thus he interprets "tree of life" (Genesis ii. 9) as "tree of healing", explaining that the fruit of the tree possessed the virtue of healing the sick, without, however, bestowing eternal life. In regard to the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26) he explains that, disbelieving in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she lingered on the road, and was overtaken by the rain of brimstone and fire, which are usually mixed with salt.
Well acquainted with the Vulgate and Christian Biblical exegesis, Joseph, in commenting on Psalm ii., cites Jerome, whose explanation of the word he criticizes.
Miriam's Death; Lack of Water 20:1 In the first month, the entire Israelite community came to the Tzin Desert, and the people stopped in Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried. 20:2 The people did not have any water, so they began demonstrating against Moses and Aaron. 20:3 The people disputed with Moses. 'We wish that we had died together with our brothers before God!' they declared. 20:4 'Why did you bring God's congregation to this desert? So that we and our livestock should die? 20:5 Why did you take us out of Egypt and bring us to this terrible place? It is an area where there are no plants, figs, grapes or pomegranates. [Now] there is not even any water to drink!' 20:6 Moses and Aaron moved away from the demonstration to the Communion Tent entrance, and fell on their faces. God's glory was revealed to them.
Water from the Rock20:7 God spoke to Moses, saying, 20:8 'Take the staff, and you and Aaron assemble the community. Speak to the cliff in their presence, and it will give forth its water. You will thus bring forth water from the cliff, and allow the community and their livestock to drink.' 20:9 Moses took the staff from before God as he had been instructed. 20:10 Moses and Aaron then assembled the congregation before the cliff. 'Listen now, you rebels!' shouted Moses. 'Shall we produce water for you from this cliff?' 20:11 With that, Moses raised his hand, and struck the cliff twice with his staff. A huge amount of water gushed out, and the community and their animals were able to drink.
Punishment of Moses and Aaron20:12 God said to Moses and Aaron, 'You did not have enough faith in Me to sanctify Me in the presence of the Israelites! Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly to the land that I have given you.' 20:13 These are the Waters of Dispute (Mey Meribhah) where the Israelites disputed with God, and where He was [nevertheless] sanctified.
Review: The people are at the Tzin Desert. The people complain about water, that they need to water their livestock, and they question why they were brought out of Egypt to die of thirst. God says to Moses to take a staff, and speak to the "cliff" (or bedrock) in front of the people, and the cliff will give off water. He hits the cliff, and it fed the people. God says that Moses and Aaron failed, and they would never go into the land of Israel. They called the place "Mei Mariva".
Let's see the place in Exodus where something interestingly similar happens:
The stories are almost the same. They are in the Sin Desert (similar to Tzin Desert), they complain to Moses about no water to drink, that they need to water their livestock, and they question why they were brought out of Egypt to die of thirst. God tells Moses to take his staff and hit the rock in front of everyone. He does, and everyone's happy. This place is not named Mei Meriva, but rather Massa u'Meriva.
Water from the Rock 17:1 The entire Israelite community moved on from the Sin desert, traveling according to God's instructions until they camped in Rephidim. There was no water for the people to drink. 17:2 The people began to quarrel with Moses. 'Give us water to drink!' they exclaimed. 'Why are you quarreling with me?' asked Moses. 'Are you trying to test God?' 17:3 The people began to suffer thirst because [of the lack] of water, and they began demonstrating against Moses. 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt?' demanded [the leader]. 'Do you want to make me, my children and my livestock die of thirst?' 17:4 Moses cried out to God. 'What shall I do for this people?' he said. 'Before long they will stone me!' 17:5 God said to Moses, 'March in front of the people along with the elders of Israel. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 17:6 I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. You must strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.' Moses did this in the presence of the elders of Israel. 17:7 [Moses] named the place Testing-and-Argument (Massa u'Meriba) because the people had argued and had tested God. They had asked, 'Is God with us or not?'
A couple of extra details are different, and they're pretty obvious even from the English, but all in all, pretty much the same. Bechor Shor writes that at the end of the Torah, in Deuteronomy, the two names are combined into one name because it is one story in reality:
33:8: You tested him at Massah, contended with him at the Waters of Dispute.
A few questions bother me about this.
First, a lot of hoopla is made by Rashi about the fact that in our story in Chukat, Moses is told to speak to the rock instead of hit it, and Rashi even identifies that as the sin of Moses. Even if that's not the sin, God does indeed tell him to take the staff, speak to the rock, and Moses hits it instead. Why, in the earlier story in Exodus, is there no confusion about what Moses was to do or what he did instead? The Daat Zekenim, a compendium of the comments of the Tosafists, quotes Bechor Shor approvingly, and answers for him that all it says in our story is that he should speak "el" the rock. "El" can mean "in front of", meaning speak to the people of Israel in front of the rock that they should watch what will happen because God is awesome.
Second, Moses' response to the people is different. In our story, he shouts, "Can we take water from a rock?" and in the Exodus story, he asks why they are fighting with him, are they trying to test God? This, too, is answered by the Daat Zekenim. When he asked "Can we take water from a rock?" he was really saying, "Why are you asking me to get water? Ask God! Are you testing God, as if you don't believe He can do this for you?" In this way (although a little forced), the responses match up.
The question I really want to get to is: Why have the same story in two places? Bechor Shor contends that the Torah wanted to describe the times that the people of Israel asked for food, such as the manna story, and the fish story, and then put the story again in its appropriate place in the timeline of events that happened to the people of Israel. The fact that we learn some new details doesn't bother him, for this happens in other contexts as well, such as the sending of the spies, which is repeated somewhat and more details are added in Deuteronomy 1:22, where we find that the people had actually asked to send spies, and it didn't come straight from God out of the blue like Shlach would have you believe.
I find this to be a difficult answer, mostly because there are so many discrepancies, such as which desert they were in, or what they named the place after.
I think we should look at the stories as telling alternate-universe stories of the same event. In Exodus, things were still on track. The people left the land of Egypt and were on their way to Israel. They could do no wrong, and even when they did, Moses would fix it. But when you get to mid-Numbers, things have taken a turn for the worse. God promises that their debacle with the spies means they will die in the desert, and only their children will see the land of Israel. They would spend their days in the desert for nothing. A huge shift has happened, and we read with our dismay the difference between what could have been, and what happened. As one of my rebbeim, Rabbi Pesach Wolicki explained, this was the purpose of the backward "nuns" that interrupt the storyline by saying, (Numbers 10:35) "When the Ark went forth, Moses said, 'Arise, O God, and scatter your enemies! Let your foes flee before You!' This is what could have been! they would have went straight into Israel and their enemies would have scattered before the glory of God! In fact, one opinion in the gemara is that that verse represents its own book of the Torah! But that idealistic state didn't happen. And so we now enter the lacrymose history of a people who made one too many mistakes. Looks different, doesn't it?
So think about what would happen if the people were thirsty. How would the people ask for it, and how would Moses react? It completely changes! In the Exodus story, the people simply demand water, for their kids and livestock. Moses pushes them away at first, but when he sees they're getting really agitated, he acquiesces to their request and making a sanctification of God's name. In the Numbers story, the people begin by saying they should have died in Egypt! This is a "terrible place" to them! Egypt was better, they say. Moses responds by getting angry at them, a sure sign of someone whose nerves are frayed, having had to deal with this rebellious people for quite a long time. None of this is in the Exodus story.
This is what I thought of when I saw that Bechor Shor. Unfortunately for me and my desire to be mechadesh, I see now that Rabbi Nethaniel Helfgot has written basically this understanding and more, based on the Netziv, in his book, Mikra And Meaning, page 113. Ayin Sham.
No comments:
Post a Comment