Commentary for Numbers 20:10

ויקהלו וגו׳ [AND MOSES AND AARON] ASSEMBLED [THE WHOLE CONGREGATION BEFORE THE ROCK] — This was one of the places where the smaller contained the greater, (the entire congregation being assembled in front of one rock) (Leviticus Rabbah 10:9).

ARE WE TO BRING YOU FORTH WATER OUT OF THIS ROCK? Far be it and [G-d] forbid that [we should explain this] as a question indicating impossibility! For Moses our teacher, who was trusted in all G-d’s house,¹⁶⁰See above, 12:7. [knew] that nothing is too hard for Him;¹⁶¹See Genesis 18:14. and he together with all Israel had seen greater and more wondrous miracles than this, and especially since this [miracle of providing water from a rock] had already been done once before through him at the rock in Horeb!¹²⁴Exodus 17:6. Now the commentators¹⁶²R’dak on I Samuel 2:27. have said that there are certain questions which [by apparently doubting that which cannot be denied], have the force of an [impassioned or indignant] affirmation. Thus we find: Did I reveal Myself to the house of thy father?;¹⁶³Ibid. The sense is: “Did I not reveal Myself, although your sons, by their actions appear to belie it!” The king said also unto Zadok the priest: ‘Seest thou?’;¹⁶⁴II Samuel 15:27. The sense here is: “Do you not see [that it is best that you return to the city in peace]!” Wilt thou judge?;¹⁶⁵Ezekiel 22:2. The meaning is: “Wilt thou not judge? Of course you will judge!” Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?¹⁶⁶Genesis 3:11. The meaning is: “Have you not eaten? Of course you have eaten!” But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote [that the meaning of the verse is]: “Do we indeed have power to bring you forth water out of the rock?” He means thereby to explain that Moses said to them: “Hear now, ye rebels against G-d, who say, ‘and why have ye brought the assembly of the Eternal¹⁶⁷Above, Verse 4. unto this evil place?’¹⁶⁸Ibid., Verse 5. Do we have the power by natural means to bring you forth water out of this flint? You should therefore recognize that this is all from G-d, for it is He Who took you out of Egypt, and brought you to this place, and it is He Who will feed you here.” This is similar to what he [Moses] told the people in the case of the manna, and ye shall know that the Eternal hath brought you out from the land of Egypt.¹⁶⁹Exodus 16:6.
In my opinion this letter hei [in the word hamin — “out of”] indicates a [real] query, [and the meaning thereof is as follows]: “Are we to bring you forth water out of this rock or not?” For sometimes Scripture explains a question in its positive and negative aspects, such as: whether there are trees therein or not?’¹⁷⁰Above, 13:20. whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or not?¹⁷¹Deuteronomy 8:2. — and at other times it mentions only the positive aspect, [such as in the following verses]: Is this your youngest brother?;¹⁷²Genssis 43:29. Know ye Laban the son of Nachor?;¹⁷³Ibid., 29:5. Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself?¹⁷⁴Zechariah 7:3. The reference is to the month of Ab, during which the First Temple was destroyed. When the Second Temple was built, the people asked the prophet whether they should still continue to observe the fast of the ninth of Ab. But this question here that Moses asked of them was a probing question [to test their true intention]. He said to them: “Hear now, ye rebels. — What do ye devise against the Eternal?¹⁷⁵Nahum 1:9. — Are we to bring you forth water out of this strong rock? Will this event happen or not?” [i.e., “Do you believe that it is within His power to do it, or not?”] He thus stressed that their [behaviour was a serious] rebellion, telling them they were wanting in faith, and that the reason for their quarrelling with him was because they thought that G-d would not act wondrously for them, in a similar manner to that which it says, And they tried G-d in their heart … ‘Can G-d prepare a table in the wilderness … Can He give bread also?’¹⁷⁶Psalms 78:18-20. Similarly the Rabbis have said:¹⁷⁷Aboth 5:4. “Ten times our ancestors in the wilderness tried the Holy One, blessed be He.” [Moses’ question was thus] like a query as to the belief of the person addressed, [of which we find examples] in many places in Scripture: Must I then bring thy son back?¹⁷⁸Genesis 24:5. which means: “Is that your wish?” Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?¹⁷⁹II Chronicles 18:5. which means, “If that is your advice.” Here too, [the meaning of Moses’ question is]: “Do you think that we shall bring you forth water out of this rock?” The same is also my opinion with regard to [the following verses]: Did I reveal Myself?;¹⁶³Ibid. The sense is: “Did I not reveal Myself, although your sons, by their actions appear to belie it!” Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before Me?¹⁸⁰I Kings 21:29. Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?;¹⁶⁶Genesis 3:11. The meaning is: “Have you not eaten? Of course you have eaten!” Wilt thou judge?¹⁶⁵Ezekiel 22:2. The meaning is: “Wilt thou not judge? Of course you will judge!” For all these are questions, but their purpose is to ask about [the truth of] something well-known, so that the person who is asked is compelled to admit [the truth of the fact] against his will. Thus [Did I reveal Myself?¹⁶³Ibid. The sense is: “Did I not reveal Myself, although your sons, by their actions appear to belie it!” means]: “Have I revealed Myself to your father’s house and chosen you? Since you know this, then Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering?”¹⁸¹I Samuel 2:29. Do ye thus requite the Eternal¹⁸²Deuteronomy 32:6. with such a requital! Similarly, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, about which I commanded you¹⁶⁶Genesis 3:11. The meaning is: “Have you not eaten? Of course you have eaten!” [not to eat], and you are ashamed [and therefore you hid yourself],¹⁸³See Genesis 3:8. or [if you did not eat of the tree], why then did you hide?” And in the same way the other [verses are to be explained]. However, the expression Seest thou?¹⁶⁴II Samuel 15:27. The sense here is: “Do you not see [that it is best that you return to the city in peace]!” is a genuine inquiry about a matter [as to which the questioner is] in doubt, [David saying to Zadok the priest]: “If you ‘advise’ it, then return to the city,” [and the usage of the term ‘seest’ thou? means “do you see fit?”] as in the expression: “I see the words of Admon”¹⁸⁴Kethuboth 109a. [which means: “I find the opinion of Admon correct”]. I have already explained this in Seder Bereshith.¹⁸⁵Genesis 1:4 (Vol. I, p. 30).

ויאמר להם שמעו נא המורים, just as this staff produced almonds as a reminder of the last rebellious generation, are we to produce water from you from this rock?

המן הסלע הזה נוציא לכם מים, “are we supposed to bring forth water for you from this rock?” Nachmanides writes that we must not misunderstand Moses as saying that it was most unlikely that he could extract water from this or any other rock. He had already produced more impressive miracles than the one he was called upon to perform at this time. Not only that; there were many people alive who had observed him producing a similar miracle at Massa and Merivah in Exodus Moses implied by this question that the people and their conduct did not entitle them to expect such a miracle from him. We find a similar construction in Samuel I 2,27 הנגלה נגלתי, which according to Kimchi, is a rhetorical question, the questioner being aware that the subject he questions is not at all in any doubt. The question is one that confirms the listener’s expectation. Ibn Ezra writes that Moses was chastising the people who had imagined that it was within the power of himself and Aaron to produce water from a rock, a power reserved for Hashem,” so why had they complained to him instead of to Hashem, who alone is the Provider? It is only G’d Who brought you to this situation, and it is He Who will extricate you from your predicament. According to Kimchi, the introductory letter ה when preceding a question could sometimes be used when the answer is affirmative and sometimes when the expected answer is negative. When Moses charged the spies to report if the Land of Canaan had many trees, and he phrased it as היש בו עץ או אין, it is clear from the second half of the question that both answers were well within the possibilities. Similar questions are sometimes posed without the questioner spelling out the alternative as Moses had done when he sent off the spies. When Joseph asked the brothers who had presented Binyamin to him, if this was the younger brother they had spoken of, he only asked הזה אחיכם הקטון, “is this your younger brother?” He did not add the words: “or not?” When Yaakov asked the shepherds around the well if they knew Lavan, he also left the alternative, i.e. that they did not know him, open. (Compare Genesis) Sometimes such questions are posed only to examine the true state of mind of the people who will answer it. When addressing the Israelites as “rebellious,” Moses implied: “do you really think that it is beyond G’d’s ability to produce water from this rock if He wants to?” He added the word המורים to show the people that he considered their conduct outrageous. He implied that they quarreled with him only because they thought that their situation was beyond G’d’s and His prophet’s Moses ability to resolve? Rashi explains that the rock to which Moses had pointed had in the meantime moved to a spot amongst other rocks, so that the people had become despondent, and demanded that Moses produce the water from a different rock. Moses asked them angrily if they really thought that he could produce water from any rock he wanted to, a rock that G’d had not designated for such a miracle?

Where a small area held… Rashi is answering the question: Would it be possible to assemble the entire community before the rock?

VV. 10 u. 11. ויקהלו וגו׳ ויאמר וגו׳ וירם וגו׳. Dürfen wir es wagen, den Regungen vermutend nachzuspüren, die das Gemüt eines Mosche, dieses treuesten Dieners Gottes, von dem Gott selbst es bezeugte בכל ביתי נאמן הוא, in einem Momente seines Lebens von der entsprechenden Erfüllung seiner Sendung ablenken konnten?? Diese Vermutung wäre: Mosche nahm den Stab aus dem Heiligtum, wo er seit fast vierzig Jahren niedergelegt war, auf Gottes Geheiß wieder in die Hand, und mit diesem Abzeichen seiner göttlichen Sendung versammelte er das Volk. Als er aber nach fast vierzig Jahren sich wieder dem Volke gegenüber mit dem Gottesstab in Händen sah, dessen er vor fast vierzig Jahren beim Antritt seiner Sendung zur Beglaubigung seiner Sendung dem Volke gegenüber bedurfte (siehe Schmot 4, 1 — 15 u. 17), da tat es ihm bitter wehe, dass er in allen diesen vierzig Jahren und mit allem, was er in diesen vierzig Jahren vollbracht hatte, nicht weiter in dem Vertrauen des Volkes gekommen war, und in der Bitterkeit dieses Gefühles vergass er seines Auftrages, redete, statt ruhig den Fels, mit Vorwürfen das Volk an und schlug in heftiger Erregung — וירם וגו׳ ויך וגו׳ פעמים den Fels, worauf Wasser in Fülle ihm entströmte und das Volk und ihre Tiere befriedigte.

?המן הסלע הזה נוציא לכם מים, “Are we supposed to extract water for you from this rock?” The Israelites understood Moses’ exclamation at face value, i.e. that he thought that it was quite impossible to extract water from the rock he pointed at, (or they had pointed at). Actually, what Moses had meant to say was: “did you think that what we are going to do to this rock is the same as what we did for your fathers 40 years ago, i.e. by striking it?”G-d’s command to speak to the rock was precisely to teach them that it was not even necessary to strike the rock. Moses had not been precise in his exclamation.

Listen, you rebels! Some of the Sages held the view that Moshe and Aharon’s sin was that they slighted Bnei Yisroel’s honor; they slighted the honor of people who had not sinned. The verse only informs us of the sin of the עם (the people) — a reference to the coarse ones among them, known as the mixed multitude. However, “the community” is the community of the righteous among Yisroel, called “the congregation of Adonoy,” and they had not spoken at all in this matter. They only assembled, and perhaps this was for the sake of requesting Moshe and Aharon to make efforts in prayer in order to satiate their thirst. They did not sin at all, and yet Moshe spoke harshly to them and called them rebels.

AND MOSES AND AARON GATHERED THE "KAHAL" BEFORE THE ROCK: Now we will tell how Moses strayed from the word of Hashem...Because Hashem Said to Moses, "gather the Eidah, you and Aaron, your brother," but they gathered the "Kahal." And I have already explained previously that there is a difference between Eidah and Kahal. And Eidah is called when the Elders of the people are standing at the front. This is when they are called and Eidah, when the Sanhedrin, who are the essence, are at the forefront. A Kahal is called when the multitudes of people are gathered in no particular or correct order and the elders are not at the front. And so at the moment when the water came out of the rock at Chorev, which was also a great miracle...it was important that it was done in front of those who were deserving of seeing a great miracle- the Elders. And so too, it applies here, Hashem wanted this miracle to be performed in front of the Elders who were deserving of seeing this miracle, because the people were rebelling against the Elders. The Tanchuma Explains that when Moses saw them approaching, he said, "What is this gathering?" and Aaron answered, "They came to do Chesed because of Miriam's death (to be menachem avelim)." Moses said, "no, this is not a respectful gathering: this is one of chaos and rebellion. A respectful gathering would have its Elders at the head." At the beginning, it calls them an "Eidah" as the elders were leading, and then they devolved into a "Kahal" who was undeserving of a miracle, Moses and Aaron gathered the wrong group when attempting to perform the miracle. When Moses and Aaron were rebuking them, they said, "Shimu na Homirim! This rock will NOT take out water for you!" IF they had gathered the "Eidah," then water would have been produced immediately.

המן הסלע הזה נוציא MUST WE BRING [WATER] OUT OF THIS ROCK? — They said this because they could not distinguish it (the rock intended by God), for the rock from which the water had hitherto flowed during these forty years had vanished and taken a place amongst the other rocks when the “well” disappeared after Miriam’s death, and Israel said to them, “What difference is it to you from which rock you bring forth water for us?” — It was on this account that he (Moses) said unto them (called them) המרים — which may mean “refractory”, or, as a Greek expression, “foolish people” (µώροι), or, “such as would teach (מורים) their teachers” — from this rock about which we have received no Divine Command can we bring forth water for you?! (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 9).

At the time he raised the staff he struck it twice in succession followed by saying :did you really think that we would produce water from this rock?” Moses said this because he harboured doubt; seeing that G’d had instructed him to take the staff with him (verse 8) he did not think that speaking to the rock was meant to result in the rock yielding up its water, but that striking it may be required, just as he had done at Refidim.
As to the fact that G’d had specifically instructed him to “speak” to the rock, he thought that speaking to a rock, i.e. communicating one’s thoughts to it, consisted of striking the rock. In the absence of certainty about which course to follow, Moses decided to speak to the rock in addition to striking it, but G’d had already indicated that He accepted Moses’ striking the rock by making all that water come forth.
In spite of G’d’s apparent approval of what Moses had done he was punished, seeing that G’d employs more stringent rules in dealing with the righteous such as Moses than He applies to ordinary mortals. This is what He meant when he said in verse 12 “because you did not demonstrate faith in Me to use this opportunity to sanctify Me by means of first having spoken to the rock.”
“Seeing that I, the commentator, am aware that Moses was quite incapable of deliberately countermanding G’d’s instructions, I had to explain the episode as resulting from an error Moses made.”

Because they did not recognize it. Rashi is answering the question: What reason did they have for saying “Can we [extract] from this rock…”? Since Hashem had said it will give water it would certainly happen! He answers that it was “because they did not recognize it.” The Israelites were asking them, “What difference is it to you from which rock you extract [water]?” Meaning: What difference is there between this rock and another one? Therefore he said to them…

Es lautete aber der Vorwurf: שמעו נא המורים וגו׳. Wir haben schon zu Bereschit 26, 35 die Grundbedeutung der Wurzel מרה, wovon ja auch מ ֹ ָרה, das Schermesser, als: entgegenfahren, somit eine gegensätzliche Richtung innenehmen, erkannt. Wir haben im Deutschen einen aus ähnlicher Gedankenanschauung gebildeten Begriff: widerhaarig. Obgleich nun מרה vorzugsweise sich auf Handlungen bezieht und sowohl die positive, als negative Unfolgsamkeit bezeichnet, so kommt es doch auch überhaupt als Bezeichnung eines den Wünschen und Erwartungen völlig entgegengesetzen Verhaltens und Zustandes vor. So heißt es von einem alle Wünsche versagenden Elend: עני ישראל מֹרֶה מאוד (Kön. 11. 14, 26). So bezeichnet Job seine Klagen als גם היום מרי שיחי, מרי (23, 2) er könne seine Äußerungen nicht den Wünschen seiner Freunde gemäß gestalten, denn ידי כבדה על אנחותי, das Leid, das ihn gefasst habe, laste zu schwer auf seinem Seufzen. (Jes.50, 5): ד׳ אלקים פתח לי אזן ואנכי לא מריתי, Gott habe ihm das Ohr geöffnet und er habe sich der göttlichen Belehrung nicht unzugänglich gezeigt. Diese Unzugänglichkeit einer Belehrung gegenüber nennt er מרה. Auch hier dürfte המרים nicht speziell die Ungehorsamen bedeuten, da in dem Vorgang nicht eigentlich tätiger Ungehorsam zu Tage getreten. Vielmehr dürfte damit nur ihre Ungefügigkeit und ihr den gerechten Erwartungen nicht entsprechendes Verhalten im allgemeinen, insbesondere aber ihre Unzugänglichkeit für alle die Belehrung bezeichnet sein, die sie doch aus all den großartigen Erfahrungen bereits geschöpft haben mussten. In diesem Sinne dürfte denn auch die Vieldeutigkeit, die שיטין הרבה, wie im מ ר der Ausdruck lautet, zu fassen sein, die dort in dem Ausdruck המרים gefunden werden, wonach der Vorwurf: סרבנים שוטים ,מורי חצים ,מלמדים את מלמדיהם, Ungehorsam, Unverstand, Anmaßung und Streitlust darin liege. Es kann eben nicht Ungehorsam im engern Sinne, sondern Widerhaarigkeit im allgemeinen ausdrücken wollen. — המן הסלע הזה נוציא לכם מים. Wir glauben, diese Frage also zu verstehen: Werden wir aus diesem Fels euch Wasser herausschaffen: d. h. ihr habt uns vorgeworfen, wir hätten euch אל ,אל המדבר הזה מקום הרע הזה gebracht, woselbst מים אין לשתות! Wohlan, wenn durch unser Wort, wie uns geboten worden, dieser Fels, an dem ihr steht,, euch das nötige Wasser gibt, werdet ihr da endlich aufhören, מרים, zu sein, werdet ihr da endlich der Überzeugung zugänglich sein, dass überall nicht wir, sondern Gott euch hierher geführt? Mit diesen Worten war Mosche noch immer nicht aus der Bahn seines Auftrages gewichen. Ihrem Sinne nach waren sie die geeignete Vorbereitung zu dem, was לעיניהם, vor ihren Augen und zu ihrer Belehrung geschehen sollte. Nur die Erregtheit, in der sie gesprochen wurden, und die ihn dann zum heftigen Staberheben und Schlagen des Felsen führte, wäre die Verirrung gewesen.