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[Miryam is presumed to be the unnamed young girl who placed her baby brother Mosheh on the river Nile to be discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter (Review Exodus 2:1-10). Descended from the line of Levi, she figures prominently with her brothers Aharown and Mosheh in the wilderness narratives. Yet at the end of her life, this is all that is recorded: “and Miryam died there, and was buried there;” and the narrative promptly moves on to the infamous rock incident that causes Mosheh to miss the anticipated blessing of entering the Land.
As if those two blows were not enough to take in one chapter, another death is recorded, that of Aharown who is allotted more lines than Miryam but then why not, he is after all the first High Priest from whose line all High Priests descend. The weeping for Aharown lasts 30 days, but none is recorded for Miryam.
Noteworthy is the fact that these historical narratives about the generation that was liberated from Egypt present both strengths and frailties, achievements and failures of the chosen people and their leaders. Could any reader in any race, culture and time relate to them? No doubt. For a ‘chosen’ people, they don’t stand out in any ‘holier-than-thou’ way for the rest of us to wonder why they were chosen in the first place. We must remember why they were chosen; YHWH Himself reminds them (and us) in Davarim 7:6-14:
7 Not because of your being many-more than all the peoples has YHVH attached himself to you and chosen you, for you are the least-numerous of all peoples!
8 Rather, because of YHVH’S love for you and because of his keeping the sworn-oath that he swore to your fathers did YHVH take you out, with a strong hand, and redeem you from a house of serfs, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9 Know that YHVH your God, he is God, the trustworthy God, keeping the covenant of loyalty with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments, to the thousandth generation,
10 and paying back those who hate him to his face, by causing them to perish- he does not delay (punishment) to those who hate him to his face; he pays them back!
11 So you are to keep the command: the laws and the regulations that I command you today, by observing them.
12 Now it shall be: because of your hearkening to these regulations, keeping and observing (them), then YHVH will keep for you the covenant of loyalty that he swore to your fathers;
13 he will love you, he will bless you, he will make-you-many, he will bless the fruit of your
belly and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your new-wine, and your shining-oil, the offspring of your cattle and the fecundity of your sheep, upon the soil that he swore to your fathers, to give you.
14 Blessed shall you be above all peoples: there shall not be among you (any) barren-male or barren-female, nor among your animals.
Running commentary is from The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, (P&H) ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is from EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses. S6K is our commentary.–Admin 1.]
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This chapter is, chronologically, the sequel of XIV, where it is related that the Israelites were condemned to wander forty years, and were foiled in an unauthorized attempt to enter Canaan from the south (XIV,40-5). The events narrated in the present chapter belong to the last, the fortieth, year of the wanderings. As Ibn Ezra correctly points out, the history of the preceding 38 years is a blank page in the Book of Numbers. And the reason is not far to seek. The men of that generation had been found wanting, and condemned to a dying life in the wilderness. Their story was, therefore, of no further spiritual value to the Israel of the future. And yet, ‘the ages of silence in the history of the Hebrews were generally ages of growth. These 38 almost uneventful years are one of the those numerous gaps in the nation’s history, during which real progress was made. From them Israel emerged transformed from a fugitive body of slaves into a nation; and it is an evidence of the greatness of the character of Moses, that he knew how to wait in silence, till his people were ready to advance to conquest in obedience to God’s command’ (Foakes-Jackson).
Numbers/Bamidbar 20
1 Now they came, the Children of Israel, the entire community, (to the) Wilderness of Tzyn, in the first New-moon. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miryam died there, and she was buried there.into the wilderness of Zin. This, the third and last stage of the journey from Sinai to the Promised Land, started at Kadesh, was continued round the land of Edom (XXI,4), and ended at the heights of Pisgah in the country of Moab, near the Dead Sea and the fords of the Jordan.
in the first month. Of the 40th year of wandering.
Miriam died there. She died towards the end of the desert wanderings, and like her brothers did not reach the Promised Land. She is spoken of as one of the three good leaders of Israel; and to her merit was due the Well, which, according to the legend, accompanied the children of Israel as long as she lived.
2-23. STRIKING OF HTE ROCK. SIN OF MOSES AND AARON.
Over and over again Scripture brings out, on the one hand, the fickleness of the people—their murmurings, mutinies, vehement repentance, and woeful self-assertion; and, on the other hand, the marvelous constancy of Moses—his humility, faithfulness, generosity, and his sublime patience. Once only was his mighty spirit unable to stand the strain. The meaning of ‘ye believed not in Me’ (v. 12) does not make it quite clear whether the sin was a momentary presumptuousness, or disobedience to a Divine command. It is but a single blot in his career, and in any other man would have been unnoticed. ‘Judaism teaches that the greater the man, the stricter the standard by which he is judged and the greater the consequent guilt and punishment, if there is a falling away from that standard’ (S.R. Hirsch). For this sin, recorded in this chapter, Moses forfeits his right to enter the Promised Land.
2 Now there was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moshe and against Aharon;the people quarreled with Moshe, they said, saying: Now would that we had expired when our brothers expired before the presence of YHVH!
when our brethren perished. In the revolt of Korah, or at other occasions of ‘murmuring’.
4 Now why did you bring the assembly of YHVH into this wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle?and our cattle. ‘”A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast”; and the fact that these people, so near death, still considered the suffering of their beasts, shows that they were, notwithstanding their attitude towards Moses and Aaron, really pious men. And in truth God did not take amiss their words against Moses and Aaron, for God holds no one responsible for words uttered in distress’ (Midrash).
6 Moshe and Aharon came away from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Appointment,
went from the presence of the assembly. Abarbanel and other commentators understand this in the sense of fleeing from before the assembly, and see in this action the lack of faith for which Moses and Aaron were condemned.
7 and YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:8 Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aharon your brother; you are to speak to the boulder before their eyes so that it gives forth its water, thus you are to bring out for them water from the boulder, that you may give-drink to the assembly and to their cattle.
take the rod. With which the miracles had been wrought in Egypt and the rock at Rephidim had been smitten, when likewise the people strove with Moses; Exod. XVII,r (‘what shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me’).
unto the rock. i.e. the first rock in front of them, and standing in their sight (Nachmanides).
9 So Moshe took the staff from before the presence of YHVH, as he had commanded him.took . . . the LORD. It had been deposited in the Tabernacle.
ye rebels. Heb. morim; the Midrash connects it with the Greek word for ‘fools’, and also with the Heb. word for ‘teacher’, and renders it, ‘Hear now, ye who presume to teach your teachers’; i.e. ye who imagine yourselves to be wiser than your leaders! ‘This impatience with the people was considered reprehensible in Divinely appointed leaders’ (Maimonides).
shall we bring you forth. i.e. can we bring forth water out of this rock? In that moment of irritation and gloom, Moses gives expression to doubt in front of the masses as to the fulfillment of God’s promise.
smote the rock. Carried away by anger, Moses still further forgot himself, and instead of speaking to the rock,m as he had been commanded, he struck it twice. Had he merely spoken to the rock, the miracle would have been undeniable, and God’s Name would then have been sanctified in the eyes of the unbelieving multitude.
12 Now YHVH said to Moshe and to Aharon: Because you did not have-trust in me to treat-me-as-holy before the eyes of the Children of Israel, therefore: you (two) shall not bring this assembly into the land that I am giving them!
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because . . . in the eyes of the children of Israel. In what did the offence really consist for which Moses and Aaron were excluded from the Promised Land? Some commentators hold that Scripture intentionally does not specify the sin of Moses: his sin, like his grave, was to remain unknown to posterity. Such, however, is not the opinion of the Rabbis, who maintain that this sin is sufficiently indicated in v. 10 and 11. ‘”Thou hast decreed”—said Moses—“that I die in the desert like the generation of the desert that angered Thee. I implore Thee, write in Thy Torah wherefore I have been thus punished, so that future generations may not say I had been like the generation of the desert.” God granted his wish, and in several passages, Scripture sets forth the offence for which Moses was not to enter the Promised Land’ (Midrash).
13 Those were the Waters of Meriva/Quarreling, where the Children of Israel quarreled with YHVH, and he was hallowed through them.waters of Meribah. i.e. the waters of strife. There is a similar use of the word for a similar occasion in Exod. XVII,7. To distinguish the two the later occurrence is frequently known as ‘Meribath-Kadesh’.
was sanctified in them. God vindicated His Name by His giving water to the people, and by allowing justice to take its course, without respect of persons, in punishing Moses and Aaron (Talmud); Lev. X,3.
14-21. KING OF EDOM REFUSES PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH HIS LAND
The Israelites, having failed to enter Canaan from the south, must now seek to enter it by a roundabout way from the east. The refusal of the king of Edom forced the Israelites to take a still more circuitous route round the southern portion of Edom. The journey was a terrible one.
14 Now Moshe sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: Thus says your brother Israel: You know (about) all the hardships that have found us:thy brother Israel. i.e. thy kinsman Israel. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob; gen. XXV,30.
all the travail. lit. ‘the weariness.’ The sufferings which the Israelites had undergone should have filled the Edomites with brotherly sympathy, and induced them to help their kinsfolk. The unnatural hostility of Edom towards Israel at a later period is the subject of the Book of Obadiah.
“The prophecy of Obadiah is directed against Edom, the nation descended from Esau. It thus connects with the Sedrah, reflecting the opposition between the two brothers in the story of Jacob and Esau. The bitter enmity of the Edomites to Israel was particularly inexcusable, because of their common descent. The Prophet instances the cruelty of the Edomites in the day of Israel’s ruin. Apart, however, from the denunciation of unbrotherliness wherever exhibited, the book has a wider application. Other nations in later times played the cruel role of Edom towards Israel. Against these too, according to our commentators, Obadiah prophetically inveighs and predicts Israel’s triumph over them. The forces of evil will never destroy Israel, because Israel’s Faith, and the Truth enshrined in it, are eternal.”
15 that our fathers went down to Egypt and we stayed in Egypt for many years, and Egypt ill-treated us and our fathers.16 Now we cried out to YHVH, and he hearkened to our voice, he sent a messenger and brought us out of Egypt. So here we are at Kadesh, (the) town at the edge of your territory.
an angel. Here in the literal sense of ‘messenger’. The reference is to Moses, the God-sent liberator and guide.
17 Pray let us cross through your land, we will not cross through field or through orchard, we will not drink water from wells. (upon) the King’s Road we will march, not turning right or left, until we have crossed through your territory.king’s highway. Better, the king’s way. The public high road made for the king and his armies.
18 But Edom said to him: You shall not cross through me, lest with the sword I come out tomeet you!
19 The Children of Israel said to him: On the byway we will go up; if we drink your water, I and my livestock, I will give (you) its selling-price- only (let it) not be a matter-of-dispute; on foot let me cross!
highway. Heb. mesillah. This must be identical with the caravan trade-route that from immemorial times connected Egypt with the lands beyond the Dead Sea and Jordan.
let me only . . . feet. Better, let me only—there is no hurt—pass through on my feet (Luzzatto). We ask for nothing that can cause you injury or annoyance.
20 But he said: You shall not cross! And Edom went out to meet him with a heavy (host of) fighting-people and with a strong hand.21 So Edom refused to give (Israel) leave to cross through his territory, and Israel turned away from him.
away. In the direction indicated in v. 22.
22-29. DEATH OF AARON
22 They marched on from Kadesh, and they came, the Children of Israel, the entire community, to Hill’s Hill.came unto Mount Hor. lit. ‘came unto Hor the mountain.’ The site is stated to be ‘by the border of the land of Edom; XXXIII,37); probably Jebel Madurah, N.E. of Kadesh and a day’s journey from the Dead Sea.
23 Now YHVH said to Moshe and to Aharon at Hill’s Hill, by the border of the land of Edom, saying:24 Let Aharon be gathered to his kinspeople, for he is not to enter the land that I am giving to the Children of Israel- since you (both) rebelled against my orders at the Waters of Meriva.
be gathered unto his people. The Bible phrase for reunion with those who had gone before—an intimation of immortality; see Gen. XV,15 and XXV,8.
ye rebelled. See on v.12. ‘The leaders as well as the people with whom they were impatient were “rebels”‘ (Dummelow); see v. 10.
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strip Aaron of his garments. i.e. the official robes which he wore as High Priest.
upon Eleazar his son. In token that the High Priesthood was transferred to him.
27 So Moshe did as YHVH commanded him: they went up Hill’s Hill before the eyes of the entire community;28 Moshe stripped Aharon of his garments and clothed in them El’azar his son. So Aharon died there on top of the hill. When Moshe and El’azar came down from the hill,
29 the entire community saw that Aharon had expired, and they wept for Aharon thirty days, the whole House of Israel.
thirty days. The same number of days as they wept for Moses; Deut. XXXIV,8.
all the house of Israel. A national mourning for their first High Priest.
In later Jewish thought, Aaron is the ideal peace-maker; and Hillel bids every man to be a ‘disciple of aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving his fellowmen and bringing them near to the Torah’.