Commentaire de citation sur Les Nombres 12:16

אלה מסעי THESE ARE THE JOURNEYS (STAGES) [OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — Why are these stations recorded here? In order to make known the loving acts of the Omnipresent: that although He had decreed against them to make them move about and wander in the wilderness, you should not think that they wandered and moved about without cessation from one station to another station all the forty years, and that they had no rest, for you see that there are here only forty-two stages. Deduct from them fourteen, all of which were their stopping places in the first year after they left Egypt, before the decree was made, viz., from the time when they journeyed from Rameses until when they came to Rithmah whence the spies were sent out — as it is said. (Numbers 12:16): “And afterwards the people journeyed from Hazeroth, [and encamped in the wilderness of Paran], whereupon the Lord said unto Moses, (Numbers 13:2) "Send thee men [who may search out the land]”; and here (v. 18) it states, “and they journeyed from Hazeroth and they encamped in Rithmah”, so you learn that it (Rithmah) is in the wilderness of Paran. — Further deduct from them the eight stages which were after Aaron’s death viz., those from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab in the fourtieth year (v. 38). It follows that during the whole of the thirty eight years they made only twenty journeys. This is excerpted from the work of R. Moses the Preacher. — R. Tanchuma gave another explanation of it (of the question why these stages are here recorded). A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king whose son was ill and whom he took to a distant place to cure him. When they returned home the father began to enumerate all the stages, saying to him, “Here we slept, here we caught cold, here you had the head-ache, etc.” (Midrash Tanchuma 4:10:3.

Between Paran and between Tofel. The phrase between… and between does not make any sense or have any reasonable explanation according to Rashi’s interpretation. Furthermore, it is difficult to understand why Moses did not at least hint at the incident of the waters of Meribah, as it is written They provoked Him at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses because of them (Psalms 106:32). If they were the ones who provoked God, why didn’t Moses mention this incident among all the provocations they committed? It must be that he hinted to them with the language of between… and between, because in Paran was the incident of the spies, and “Tofel” refers to when they complained [taflu] about the manna, saying our soul loathes this worthless bread (Numbers 21:5). And in between these two incidents occurred the matter of the waters of Meribah. Even though Korah’s rebellion is written after the incident of the spies, it nevertheless preceded it, as Rashi explained that “Hazeroth” refers to Korah’s rebellion which took place in Hazeroth, and it is written They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped in the desert of Paran (Numbers 12:16). And from there the spies were sent out. This indicates that between the incident of the spies in Paran and the incident of “Tofel,” they had committed only the provocation at the waters of Meribah. It is as if Moses was saying, “Remember what you did between these two boundaries.” This is a hint within a hint, because Moses also sinned in this matter and was afraid they might say to him, “Remove the beam from between your own eyes,” therefore he embedded this sin between what came before and after, using their actions as evidence that they were the cause, and the main sin depends on them. For see what you did in Paran, when you said let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt (Numbers 14:4), and similarly at Tofel you said, Why did you bring us up from Egypt? (Numbers 21:5). And likewise at the waters of Meribah you said, Why did you bring us up from Egypt? (Numbers 20:5). From this there is evidence that one transgression leads to another similar one, and the before and after indicates that this sin which was committed in between should also be attributed to you and not to me.

This refers to the rebellion of Korach, etc. This implies that the rebellion of Korach happened before the spies were sent [as follows]: It is written, “The People traveled from Chatzeiros and they camped in the desert of Poron (Bamidbar 12:16),” and afterwards it is written, “Send for yourself men [and have them scout the land].” Since it is written here “Chatzeiros,” and Rashi explains, “This refers to the rebellion of Korach,” then we can infer that before they came to the desert of Poron, the rebellion of Korach had already taken place in Chatzeiros. See Parshas Korach [where Rashi explains differently] regarding the verse (ibid. 16:4), “And Moshe heard, etc.”