Midrash sur Job 34:19

33 Another interpretation of (Numb. 21:17), "Then Israel sang": This is one of the three things that Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He said [back] to him, "You have taught me." He said in front of Him, "Master of the Universe, from where does Israel know what they did (was wrong)? Did they not grow up in Egypt? And all of Egypt are idolaters. And when You gave the Torah, You did not give it to them, and they were also not standing there, as it is stated (Exod. 20:18), 'And the people stood from afar.' And You only gave it to me, as it is stated (Exod. 24:1), 'And He said to Moses, "Ascend to the Lord.'" And when You gave the statements (Ten Commandments), You did not give [them] to them. You did not say, 'I am the Lord, your (plural) God'; but rather I am the Lord, your (singular) God. [Hence] You said it to me. Did I sin?" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "By your life, you have spoken well. You have taught Me! From now on, I will say the expression, 'I am the Lord, your (plural) God.'" The second one is when the Holy One, blessed be He, said ( in Numb. 34:7), "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children": Moses said, "Master of the Universe, how many evildoers begat righteous ones; should they be removed by the iniquities of their parents? Terach was an idol-maker, but his son, Abraham, was righteous; so too Hezekiah was righteous, but Ahaz, his father was an evildoer; Josiah was righteous, but Amon, his father, was an evildoer. Is this proper, that the righteous be struck for the iniquities of their parents?" The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Behold, you have taught Me! By your life, I will nullify My words and preserve your words, as it is stated (Deut. 24:15), ‘The parents shall not die for the children, and the children shall not die for the parents'; and it is by your life that I shall write [these things] in your name, as it is stated (II Kings 14:6), 'as it is written in the Torah of Moses, which God commanded ....'" The third one is when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Make war on Sichon; even if he does not want to engage with you, wage war with him, as stated (Deut. 2:24), 'Get up, go and cross the Arnon .'" But Moses did not do like this. Rather what is written above? "And I sent messengers" (Deut. 2:26). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "By your life, I will nullify My words and preserve your words, as it is stated (Deut. 20:11), 'When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it terms of peace.'" Once Sichon did not accept, the Holy One, blessed be He, felled him in front of them, as it is stated (Deut. 20:33), "and we smote him." And not only that, but even [with] those that were hiding themselves in the caves to kill [the Israelites], the Holy One, blessed be He, signaled to the mountain and it crushed them, as it is stated (Ps. 74:13-14), "who smashed the heads of the monsters in the waters. It was You who crushed the heads of Leviathan." A common proverb says [that] if you gave bread to an infant, let his mother know. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "From where will Israel know the favor I did for them?" What did He do? He distanced the mountains from each other and the streams swept down [the corpses], as it is stated (Numb 21:17), "And the streams poured." And the Israelites passed by and sang song - "then Israel sang" (Numb. 21:17). Israel said, "It is for You to do miracles for us, but it is for us to bless and laud Your name" - "Salvation is to the Lord; upon Your people is Your blessing, Selah" (Ps. 3:9). Upon the waters was it decreed against Moses, so he was not mentioned in the song. Moses said, "Master of the Universe, "I am dying because of them. You gave them the Torah from the wilderness, as it is stated, (Numb. 21:18), 'and from the wilderness, Matanah (which is also the word for gift).' And they possessed (nachalu) it from my hands, as it is stated (Numb. 21:19), 'And from Matanah, Nachliel.'" And from when they possessed it, You decreed death upon me, as it is stated (Numb. 21:19), "and from Nachliel, Bamot" - and from possession comes death (menachal, ba mot). "And from Bamot, Haggai in the field of Moav" (Numb. 21:20), as it is stated (Deut. 34:6), "And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moav." Job said, "He is not partial to princes; the noble are not preferred to the wretched; for all of them are the work of His hands" (Job 34:19).

(Numb. 21:17:) “Then Israel sang.” For what reason is Moses not mentioned there?¹³⁶Numb. R. 19:26. For the reason that he was being punished because of the waters; and no person praises¹³⁷Rt.: QLS. Cf.: Gk.: kalos. his executioner.¹³⁸Lat.: speculator (“examiner” or “overseer”). And why is the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, not mentioned there? The matter is comparable to a governor who made a banquet for the king. The king said, “Will my friend so-and-so be there?” They told him, “No.” He said, “[Then] I also am not going there.” Also here the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Inasmuch as Moses is not mentioned, I also will not be mentioned there.” (Numb. 21:18:) “The well that the princes dug.” Was it dug there? It is simply that it was given through the merit of the ancestors who were called princes. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 105:41-42), “He opened a rock, and water gushed out […]. For he remembered His holy promise and His servant Abraham.” (Numb. 21:18, cont.:) “That the nobles of the people dug with the scepter, even with their own staffs.” The princes were standing by it, and each and every one drew [the water] with his own staff for his own tribe and for his own family. And the space between the [four] standards was filled with a [flow of] water that was gathering strength. A woman who had to go to her companion from one standard to [another] standard went by ship, as stated (in Ps. 105:41), “they traveled the river by tsiyyot.”¹³⁹A more traditional translation would be: IT FLOWED THROUGH THE WILDERNESS LIKE A RIVER. Now tsiyyot (here understood as the plural of tsi) can only denote a ship, since it is stated (in Is. 33:21), “nor shall a stately ship (tsi) pass by.” Now the waters flowed outside the camp and embraced a great strip of land. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 23:3) “He leads me in paths (literally, circles) of righteousness.” In addition, [the encircling waters] would cause endless varieties of green herbage and trees to grow, as stated (in Ps. 23:2), “[He makes me lie down] in green pastures; [He leads me beside still waters].” All those the days that Israel was in the desert they used it (i.e., the well). Therefore, they rendered praise for it [with the song ending] (in Numb. 21:18), “the well that the princes dug.” (Numb. 21:18, cont.:) “From Midbar (literally, desert) to Mattanah,” [so stated] because in the desert [the well] was given (nittenah) them to use as a gift (mattanah). Another interpretation: Why was [the well] given in the desert? Because if it had been given to them in the land, the tribe in whose border it was given would have argued and said, “I have a prior claim to it.” For that reason it was given in the desert where all would have an equal claim to it. And for what other reason was it given in the desert? Just as a desert is neither sown nor cultivated, so is the one who receives the words of Torah. They remove from him the yoke of the government and the yoke of earning a living. Just as a desert does not grow arnona;¹⁴⁰The Latin word generally denotes, as it probably does here, a tax on farm goods paid in kind; but the word also occurs in a broader sense denoting agricultural products generally. so are children of Torah (i.e., Torah scholars) free [from it] in this world.¹⁴¹I.e., by accepting the yoke of Torah, such scholars are exempt from government taxes and the need to earn a living. See Numb. R. 19:26. Another interpretation [of why it was given] in the desert: Who is the one who fulfills the Torah? One who uses himself like the desert, [i.e.,] whoever makes himself like a desert and removes himself from everything [that might distract him]. (Numb. 21:19:) “From Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth.” These three places correspond to the three courts in Jerusalem that would explicate the Torah to all of Israel: (Ibid.) “From Mattanah to Nahaliel,” these refer to the Sanhedrin on the Temple Mount; (ibid., cont.) “from Nahaliel to Bamoth,” these refer to the Sanhedrin¹⁴²Gk.: synhedrion. in the [Temple] court beside the altar; (Numb. 21:20) “From Bamoth to the valley that is in the Plain of Moab.” These refer to the Sanhedrin, when it was in the chamber of hewn stones, which was in the region of that woman who came from the Plain of Moab (i.e., Ruth), of whom it is stated (in Ruth 2:6), “She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the Plains of Moab.” (Numb. 21:20, cont.:) “[At the Summit of Pisgah,] which is visible on the surface of wilderness (yeshimon);”¹⁴³Yeshimon may be a place name, Jeshimon. for from there (she’misham) Torah goes forth into the world. Another interpretation (of these verses, centering on Numb. 21:19) “From Mattanah to Nahaliel”: Moses said, “Master of the world, after all of the miracles that You did for them, I am to die from them? He gave them the Torah from the desert (midbar), [as stated] (in Numb. 21:18), ‘From Midbar to Mattanah (literally, gift).’ And through me, they inherited (nahalu) it, as stated (in Numb. 21:19) ‘From Mattanah to Nahaliel.’ And from when they inherited it, You decreed death upon me [since] (Numb. 21:19, cont.), ‘from Nahaliel to Bamoth,’ [meaning] death came (ba mavet).” (Numb. 21:20) “From Bamoth to the valley that is in the Plain of Moab…,” that is burial, as stated (in Deut. 34:6), “He buried him in the valley in the Land of Moab.” This is related to what Job said (to Job 34:19), “He is not partial to princes; the noble are not preferred to the wretched; for all of them are the work of His hands.”(Numb. 21:20, cont.:) “[At the Summit of Pisgah,] which is visible on the surface of wilderness (yeshimon).” This is in reference to the well which accompanied them until it was hidden in the Sea of Tiberias.¹⁴⁴See above, Lev. 7:7; Numb. 1:2; 6:35, 47-49; and the notes there; also yKil. 2:4 or 3 (32cd); yKet. 12:3 (35b); Lev. R. 22:4; Eccl. R. 5:8-9:5; cf. Shab. 35b, according to which the well is visible from Mount Carmel; similarly M. Ps. 24:6, according to which the well is visible from Mount Nebo. And one standing on the surface of the wilderness sees something in the midst of the sea about the size of the mouth of an oven; and that is the well, which is visible on the surface of the wilderness.