Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Awit 78:16

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].

ונתן מימיו, “it will yield its waters.” The Torah should have simply written ונתן מים, “it will yield water.” What is the meaning of the suffix “its?” Had the Torah not written the suffix we might have concluded that there was water beneath the rock which had been freed through Moses’ addressing it, moving it by giving it an order to move. This would not have been a special miracle. The Torah therefore reports that Moses was instructed to release water from the rock itself merely by giving such a command in the name of Hashem. Another way of looking at this suffix is that the potential of this rock producing water goes back to the six days of creation. Now G’d had seen fit to activate this potential. Our sages in Avot 5,6 already mentioned that the well of Miriam was one of the things created at dusk on the sixth day to be activated when the occasion would arise. Seeing that the word מימיו, “its waters,” allows people to think that perhaps the waters of this rock were natural, the Torah had to emphasize “you will produce waters for them out of the rock.” The Torah also chose the expression הוצאה because it is usually associated with supernatural events. When G’d told Avraham that He had taken him out of the fire of the Chaldeans (Genesis 15,7) saying אשר הוצאתיך מאור כשדים, He referred to the miracle of saving him from the furnace of Nimrod. When G’d referred to having taken Israel out of Egypt, He also used the expression הוצאתיך (Exodus 20,2). He referred to the miracles associated with the Exodus. Isaiah 48,21 is similar in nature where the prophet referred to צור to stress the miraculous nature of what occurred. The words והוצאת להם מים indicate that whole rivers of water flowed from the rock seeing that otherwise it would have been impossible for several million Israelites to drink water from that rock as well as to water their beasts. Psalms 78,16 makes this point clear when referring to the event in a second verse: “He brought forth streams from a rock and made them flow down like a river.”

29. “But the Israelites had marched through the sea on dry ground,” (Ex. 14:26) This is written another time: “And the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground,” (Ex. 14:22) The reason for the repetition is, to teach us that despite the Egyptians being drowned in the sea and being turned upside down by the powerful waters, they saw the Israelites marching through the dry ground. God gave the Egyptians the power to see this to increase their suffering. They would see the great love for Israel by God and would be humiliated by what God did for them. Among the thing (they saw) was the Israelites eating and drinking as they marched along. Thus, it is written in the Mekhilta: The Israelites ate and drank and rejoiced (as they walked through the sea). God caused fresh water to come out from the salty water,²¹⁸See Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael 14:16:1, Mekhilta DeRabbi Ishmael 14:15, 15:8 as it says, “He brought forth streams from a rock…” (Ps. 78:16) Nozlim (“brought streams”) always refers to fresh living waters. Scripture states, “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.” (Pro. 5:15) “Sixty discomforts come to one who hears his friend eating and he cannot eat” ²¹⁹BT Baba Kama 92b - in other words the discomfort for the Egyptians was that they saw the Israelites drinking fresh water and eating when they could not.