Comentario sobre Génesis 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.”