Kaisipang Hudyo sa Exodo 17:5: Derashot HaRan & Guide for the Perplexed

There is no doubt that this rock from which water had flowed for forty years, or close to it, though it had been stopped up by the death of Miriam — there is no doubt that it was more greatly predisposed to the flowing of water than it had been in the beginning. (This follows from the third premise.) And because the first time it lacked this predisposition entirely, the Blessed One said to Moses (Exodus 17:5-6): "Pass before the people and take with you of the elders of Israel; and the rod with which you smote the river, take it in your hand and go. I will stand before you there on the rock in Chorev, and you will smite the rock, and water will issue forth from it, and the people will drink." Because the rock was not at all predisposed to the issuance of water, the Blessed one commanded that Moses take in his hand the rod which, because of the Divinity residing upon it, had been instrumental in the performance of the miracles, and that he strike the rock with that rod so that it acquire permeability and malleableness and be converted to the form of water (for the element of earth can thus be converted to that of water, as indicated in the second premise). Now there is no doubt whatsoever that if a vast multitude pounded away at that rock interminably with hatchets and with hammers, not a single drop would issue forth. Still, striking the rock with the rod was effectual in that this rod served as the potent natural instrument supporting the miraculous act (as explained in the first premise). This is the first consideration in respect to the rock.

IN its primary signification the Hebrew ‘abar, “to pass,” refers to the motion of a body in space, and is chiefly applied to living creatures moving at some distance in a straight line, e.g., “And He passed over (‘abar) before them” (Gen. 33:3); “Pass (‘abor) before the people” (Exod. 17:5). Instances of this kind are numerous. The verb was next applied to the passage of sound through air, as “And they caused a sound to pass (va-ya‘abiru) through out the camp” (Exod. 36:6); “That I hear the Lord’s people spreading the report” (ma‘abirim) (1 Sam. 2:24).

You will surely not find it strange that this subject, so profound and difficult, should bear various interpretations; for it will not impair the force of the argument with which we are here concerned. Either explanation may be adopted: you may take that grand scene altogether as a prophetic vision, and the whole occurrence as a mental operation, and consider that what Moses sought, what was withheld from him, and what he attained, were things perceived by the intellect without the use of the senses (as we have explained above): or you may assume that in addition there was a certain ocular perception of a material object, the sight of which would assist intellectual perception. The latter is the view of Onkelos, unless he assumes that in this instance the ocular perception was likewise a prophetic vision, as was the case with “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces” (Gen. 15:17), mentioned in the history of Abraham. You may also assume that in addition there was a perception of sound, and that there was a voice which passed before him, and was undoubtedly something material. You may choose either of these opinions, for our sole intention and purpose is to guard you against the belief that the phrase “and the Lord passed,” is analogous to “pass before the people” (Exod. 17:5), for God, being incorporeal, cannot be said to move, and consequently the verb “to pass” cannot with propriety be applied to Him in its primary signification.