Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Jeremias 18:14

And ten [miracles were performed] at the [Reed] Sea: One - "and the water split" (Exodus 14:21); the second - that the sea turned into a type of of tent and Israel went into it, as it is written (Habakuk 3:14), "You have pierced with his rods, the head of his rulers"; the third - that the sea floor became dry without clay and mud, as it is written (Exodus 14:29), "And the children of Israel walked on dry land"; the fourth - that the sea floor, that the Egyptians that chased after Israel trod upon, dampened and became clay and mud, as it is written (Habakuk 3:14), "the clay of great waters"; the fifth - that the water that congealed on the sea floor did not become one piece, but rather [many] small pieces, similar to bricks and building stones arranged one next to the other, as it is written (Psalms 74:13), "You crumbled the sea with Your power," [meaning] that it turned into a type of [surface made up of] crumbs; the sixth - that the water that congealed hardened and became as hard as boulders, as it is written (Psalms 74:13), "you broke the head of the 'sea monsters' upon the waters," and the Egyptians were called sea monsters; the seventh - that the sea was split into twelve pieces so that each and every tribe could cross by itself in [its own] path, and that is [the meaning] of that which is written (Psalms 136:13), "To tear the Reed Sea into pieces"; the eighth - that the waters congealed [with the appearance of] sapphire and onyx and glass, so that the tribes would see each other, since the pillar of fire was giving them light, and this is what is stated (Psalms 18:12), "the darkness of the waters, the clouds of the sky," which is to say that the gathering of waters was like clouds of the sky, 'like the essence of the sky in purity'; the ninth - that sweet water would come out from it, such that they would drink it, and this is what is stated (Exodus 15:8), "flowing"; the tenth - that after they drank what they wanted from it, the remainder would congeal and turn into piles, as it is written (Exodus 15:8), "the waters piled up, they stood up like a flowing stack."

AND THE ETERNAL SAID UNTO MOSES: PASS ON BEFORE THE PEOPLE. This is similar in usage to the following expressions: he [Joseph] caused them to pass into cities;⁴¹⁸Genesis 47:21. and I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not.⁴¹⁹Jeremiah 15:14. Thus the meaning thereof here is: “go away from them to another place,” [as will be explained further]. Perhaps this is similar to the expressions: and he [Ahimaaz] overran the Cushite;⁴²⁰II Samuel 18:23. and he [Jacob] himself passed over before them,⁴²¹Genesis 33:3. meaning that he [Jacob] went in the forefront of them.
The purport of this verse is that the people were in Rephidim, and the rock from which the waters were to come was in Horeb,⁴²²Verse 6: Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. this being Mount Sinai, according to the opinion of the former ones,⁴²³I.e., the Rabbis of the Talmud. See Shabbath 89 a: “Mount Sinai bears five names: the wilderness of Zin, Horeb, etc.” or in my opinion, some city near the mountain, as I will yet explain.⁴²⁴At the beginning of Seder Yithro (18:1). Moses therefore had to go first before the people, to pass on from Rephidim to Horeb — a distance of one more parsah [a Persian mile] or more — from the camp before them. It was for this reason that G-d said to him, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel… and go. That is to say, “Go until you will see Me stand before you upon the rock in Horeb.” Now Moses hit the rock, and water came out of it. Scripture however does not relate that the congregation and their cattle drank, as it does in the second incident [at the waters of Meribah],⁴²⁵Numbers 20:11. This took place in Kadesh. See also above, Note 414. for it is self-understood that they did so. It is clear that the people did not go to Horeb to drink, since they did not arrive in front of Mount Sinai until afterwards in the third month.⁴²⁶Further, 19:1. Instead, they sent their young men and their cattle there to draw water and bring it to them, as is customary in camps.
It appears likely to me that the waters — cold flowing waters⁴²⁷Jeremiah 18:14. — came out from the rock in Horeb and flowed to Rephidim, and there the people drank them. This is Scripture’s intent in saying, He brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers,⁴²⁸Psalms 78:16. and it is further written, He opened the rock, and waters gushed out; they ran, a river in the dry places.⁴²⁹Ibid., 105:41. The verse stating, Behold, He smote the rock, that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed,⁴³⁰Ibid., 78:20. also applies to the rock in Horeb, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture.⁴³¹According to the Midrash, however, this verse (Psalms 78:20) was said with reference to Moses’ smiting the rock in Kadesh, or, as they are called, the waters of Meribah (Bamidbar Rabbah 19:8). The second rock in Kadesh,⁴³²Numbers 20:1. [instead of gushing forth water], became cleft with a sort of spring welling forth waters, and therefore Scripture states, That is ‘the well’ whereof the Eternal said unto Moses, etc.,⁴³³Ibid., 21:16. and Israel said in the Song, ‘The well,’ which the princes digged,⁴³⁴Ibid., Verse 18. for it was like a well that was dug. It is for this reason that Scripture says there, and the congregation drank, and their cattle,⁴³⁵Ibid., 20:11. which means that there they drank from it at that place immediately, but here [in Horeb], overflowing rivers came from it and they drank of it in their homes at their will. Now although according to the tradition of our Rabbis, it was all Miriam’s Well,⁴³⁶“That is to say, the rock which was in Rephidim (Horeb) is the same as the one in Kadesh, this being ‘Miriam’s Well,’ which accompanied the Israelites on all their marches during the forty years’ wandering” (Rabbeinu Bachya, Vol. II, p. 153 in my edition). The tradition is mentioned in Bamidbar Rabbah 20:2. This miracle was wrought for the merits of the prophetess Miriam. Ramban’s intent is thus clear: If it was all Miriam’s Well, how can you explain its different forms of activity, for in Horeb it was like a gushing stream, and in Kadesh it was like a well? it is possible that on the first occasion [in Horeb] and during all their forty years’ wandering, the waters came gushing out from the rock like overflowing rivers. The second time, [in Kadesh], as a punishment for that which took place there, it became [only] like a dug well that was full of fresh water [not a gushing spring].

Zophar taps strange, cold, flowing waters (Jeremiah 18:14) from the founts of understanding and philosophy, and on the basis of abstract perception, by examination and drawing from what is subsequent that which was prior,¹⁰i> What is subsequent - the observed physical phenomena; what was prior - the underlying principles, universals or general qualities:
We do not think that we know a thing until we are acquainted with its primary conditions or first principles and have carried our analysis as far as its simplest elements. Plainly therefore in the science of Nature, as in other branches of study, our first task will be to try to determine what relates to its principles. The natural way of doing this is to start from the things which are more knowable and obvious to us and proceed towards those which are clearer and more knowable by nature. So in the present inquiry we must follow this method and advance from what is more obscure by nature, but clearer to us, towards what is more clear and more knowable by nature. (Aristotle's Physics 1, Ch. 1). as is the method of the Peripatetic philosophers,¹¹Here, Zophar is identified as a follower of Aristotle, but Malbim interprets his speech in the first cycle in terms drawn eclectically from Kantian philosophy. he assembled his loft in heaven, its construction founded on earth (Amos 9:6).