Kommentar zu Bereschit 14:7

עין משפט היא קדש EN-MISHPAT, THE SAME IS KADESH — It is here named EN-MISHPAT (“the well of judgment’’) in reference to what would happen there in the future — where Moses and Aaron would once be judged because of what occurred at that fountain. It is identical with “the waters of Meribah” (cf. Numbers 20:1 and Numbers 20:13) (Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 8). Onkelos, however, translates it according to its plain sense: the plain where the people of the district used to gather for every lawsuit.

TO EIN MISHPAT, WHICH IS KADESH. It is named [Ein Mishpat, meaning, “the Well of Judgment”] on account of a future event, for Moses and Aaron will be judged because of what will occur at that fountain.¹⁴⁸See Numbers 20:7-13. Thus the words of Rashi based upon an Agadah.¹⁴⁹Tanchumah Chukath, 11. So also in Targum Jonathan here.
But I do not understand this for this Kadesh [mentioned here] is Kadesh-barnea which is in El-paran which is by the desert,¹⁵⁰As mentioned here in Verse 6. and it is from there that the spies were sent by Moses in the second year following the Exodus from Egypt, as it is said, Unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh.¹⁵¹Numbers 13:26. And it is further written, And we came to Kadesh-barnea… and ye said, Let us send men before us,¹⁵²Deuteronomy 1:19, 22. and there Israel abode many days.¹⁵³Ibid., Verse 46. But the Kadesh where the judgment of the righteous ones¹⁵⁴Moses and Aaron. took place is in the wilderness of Zin, which they entered in the fortieth year following the Exodus, as it is said, And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people abode in Kadesh,¹⁵⁵Numbers 20:1. and finish the chapter.¹⁵⁶A charge by the author to finish the chapter containing the account of the smiting of the rock by Moses to bring forth water and his consequent punishment. Perhaps the Midrash [mentioned above] alludes only to the name, meaning that a place bearing this name Kadesh will become “the Well of Judgment.”
Now Onkelos said, “the plain of pilug dina,” but I do not know what this means. Perhaps the word pilug is derived from [the Hebrew word used in the following verses]: ‘Plagim’ (Streams) and watercourses;¹⁵⁷Isaiah 30:25. Who ‘pilag’ (hath cleft) a channel for the waterflood.¹⁵⁸Job 38:25. Similarly, in the language of the Sages we find,¹⁵⁹Esther Rabbah, 5. “Pilgo (The openness) of the sea.” The verse thus states that on that plain there will flow “a fountain of judgment” entering the depth of the case, as this was a fitting plain destined for kings who would sit there to judge all the peoples of these lands.

וישבו ויבאו, after they had first spread out as far as the edge of the desert, they changed direction and marched towards Sodom encountering in their path a place called עין משפט. They were familiar with the history of these places and knew why they bore such names. All of these place-names referred to events that had occurred there at one time or another. There is a Midrash quoted by Rashi in which these names are understood as allusions to events in the future, such as the time when Moses and Aaron would be judged there for hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. At that time the place was called מי מריבה, “waters of the strife.”

עין משפט, according to Rashi, the name mentioned here is borrowed from the name of that place in later years. At that time Moses and Aaron would be judged in that location. (מי מריבה). Nachmanides expresses his confusion about this commentary, referring to the קדש, which, he claims is identical with קדש ברנע that we know from Numbers 20,2 in the desert of Tzin, where Moses and Aaron failed to speak to the rock. [I will not bother to translate all he writes as it is clearly based on a misunderstanding of the location. Joshua 12,22 as well as 20,7 refers to locations known as Kedesh in the land of Canaan, There were numerous locations known by that name, so that there is nothing strange about Rash’s explanation, though his apparent conclusion that this was the location later on known as מי מריבה is geographically untenable.

שדה העמלקי THE COUNTRY OF THE AMALEKITES — Amalek, it is true, was not yet born, but it is here named in reference to the name it would bear in the future (Genesis Rabbah 42:7).

שדה העמלקי, [this name supports Rashi’s opinion that the names referred to events in the future, seeing that Amalek, a grandson of Esau, had not been born yet for at least another hundred years. Ed.] When a plain is large enough so that cities can be built in it, it is called שדה. One such example is שדה אדום in Genesis 32,3; another is found in Ruth 1,6 שדה מואב.

What may have bothered Rashi is the reference to שדה עמלקי, considering that also Amalek had not been born yet, seeing that he was a grandson of Esau. Ed.] I believe (author speaking) that the reason the Torah speaks of שדה העמלקי is that there was an important person called Amalek in that region at the time, and that is the reason why Eliphaz, son of Esau, named his son (from the concubine Timnah after this original Amalek. (Genesis 36,12). Esau certainly ruled that region at one time after having separated from Yaakov.

THE COUNTRY OF THE AMALEKITES. Rashi comments: “Amalek, it is true, was not yet born, but it is so named here because of the name it would bear in the future.”
Now I do not know whether Rashi’s intent is to say that Moshe Rabbeinu called the place by the name it was referred to in his time, but if this be the case, there is no reference to future events involved. Or [if Rashi’s intent is that the nations of Abraham’s era called it by that name] what is being foretold by the nations’ prophetic naming of this place?
But the language of Bereshith Rabbah¹⁶⁰42:11. is as follows: “Amalek was not yet born and yet you say, ‘All the country of the Amalekites!’ However, the Torah declares the end from the beginning.”¹⁶¹Isaiah 46:10. This method of d’rash¹⁶²Homiletical interpretation of Scripture. of the Sages is found in many places. Concerning the rivers of the garden of Eden they also made a similar statement.¹⁶³“That [river] is the one which surrounds the whole land of Havilah. (Genesis 2:11). Havilah was not yet in existence, and yet the verse says, the whole land of Havilah! However, the Torah declares the end from the beginning.” (Bereshith Rabbah 16:2.) The intent of the Rabbis is to say that from the time the rivers came forth it was already declared that a particular river go towards a land which is destined to be called Assyria.¹⁶⁴Reference here is to the third river, namely, the Tigris. (Above, 2:14.)
The correct interpretation concerning “the country of the Amalekites” mentioned here is that there was in ancient times some honorable person of the sons of the Horites, the inhabitants of the land,¹⁶⁵See further, 36:20. by the name of Amalek, who ruled over this place. Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, named his son after this man.¹⁶⁶Ibid., Verse 12. Perhaps this Amalek mentioned here was of the family of Timna, his mother,¹⁶⁶Ibid., Verse 12. and he also ruled in that place and was chieftain over them.

בחצצון תמר IN HAZEZON-TAMAR — This is En-Gedi: so a text plainly states in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 20:2) in the history of Jehoshaphat.