Relieved as they were of all the cares of subsistence through the gift
of manna, it was plainly the duty of the Israelites to devote
themselves exclusively to the study of the Torah. [119] When,
therefore, they slackened in the performance of this duty, punishment
in the form of lack of water immediately overtook them. This was the
first time that they actually experienced this want, for at Marah
nothing more than alarm that this need might come upon them, had caused
them to murmur and complain. In their distress they once more
unreasonably cast reproaches upon their leader, and disputed with him,
saying: "Wherefore is this, children, that thou hast brought us up out
of Egypt, to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst?"
Moses replied: "As often as you quarrel with me, you tempt God, but God
performeth wonders and excellent deeds for you, as often as you dispute
with me, that His name may sound in glory throughout the world."
In spite of the injury they had done him, Moses prayed to God that He
might aid them in their distress and also stand by him. "O Lord of the
world!" said he, "I am surely doomed to die. Thou biddest me not to be
offended with them, but if I obey Thy words, I shall certainly be
killed by them." God, however, replied: "Try thou to act like Me; as I
return good for evil, so do thou return to them good for evil, and
forgive their trespass; go on before the people, and We shall see who
dares touch thee." [120] Hardly had Moses shown himself to the people,
when all of them rose reverently from their seats, whereupon God said
to Moses: "How often have I told thee not to be angry with them, but to
lead them, as a shepherd leads his flock; it is for their sake that I
have set thee on this height, and only for their sake wilt thou find
grace, goodwill, and mercy in My sight." [121]
Then God bade him go with some elders to the rock on Horeb, and fetch
water out of it. The elders were to accompany him there, that they
might be convinced that he was not bringing water from a well, but
smiting it from a rock. To accomplish this miracle, God bade him smite
the rock with his rod, as the people labored under the impression that
this rod could only bring destruction, for through its agency Moses had
brought the ten plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and at the Red
Sea; now they were to see that it could work good also. [122] Upon
God's bidding, Moses told the people to choose from which rock they
wished water to flow, [123] and hardly had Moses touched with his
sapphire rod the rock which they had chosen, when plenteous water
flowed from it. The spot where this occurred, God called Massah, and
Meribah, because Israel had there tried their God, saying, "If God is
Lord over all, as over us; if He satisfies our needs, and will further
show us that He knows our thoughts, then will we serve Him, but not
otherwise." [124]
The water that flowed for them on this spot served not only as a relief
for their present need, but on this occasion there was revealed to them
a well of water, which did not abandon them in all their forty years'
wandering, but accompanied them on all their marches. [125] God wrought
this great miracle for the merits of the prophetess Miriam, wherefore
also it was called "Miriam's Well." [126] But his well dates back to
the beginning of the world, for God created it on the second day of the
creation, [127] and at one time it was in the possession of Abraham. It
was this same well that Abraham demanded back from Abimelech, king of
the Philistines, after the king's servants had violently taken it away.
But when Abimelech pretended not to know anything about it, saying, "I
wot not who hath done this thing," Abraham said: "Thou and I will send
sheep to the well, and he shall be declared the rightful owner of the
well, for whose sheep the water will spout forth to water them. And,"
continued Abraham, "from that same well shall the seventh generation
after me, the wanderers in the desert, draw their supply." [128]
This well was in the shape of a sieve-like rock, out of which water
gushes forth as from a spout. It followed them on all their wanderings,
up hill and down dale, and wherever they halted, it halted, too, and it
settled opposite the Tabernacle. Thereupon the leaders of the twelve
tribes would appear, each with his staff and chant these words to the
well, "Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it; nobles of the people digged
it by the direction of the lawgiver with their staves." Then the water
would gush forth from the depths of the well, and shoot up high as
pillars, then discharge itself into great streams that were navigable,
and on these rivers the Jews sailed to the ocean, and hauled all the
treasures of the world therefrom. [129]
The different parts of the camp were separated by these rivers, so that
women, visiting each other, were obliged to make use of ships. Then the
water discharged itself beyond the encampment, where it surrounded a
great plain, in which grew every conceivable kind of plant and tree;
[130] and these trees, owing to the miraculous water, daily bore fresh
fruits. [131] This well brought fragrant herbs with it, so that the
women had no need of perfumes on the march, for the herbs they gathered
served this purpose. [132] This well furthermore threw down soft,
fragrant kinds of grass that served as pleasant couches for the poor,
who had no pillows or bedclothes. [133] Upon the entrance to the Holy
Land this well disappeared and was hidden in a certain spot of the Sea
of Tiberias. Standing upon Carmel, and looking over the sea, one can
notice there a sieve-like rock, and that is the well of Miriam. [134]
Once upon a time it happened that a leper bathed at this place of the
Sea of Tiberias, and hardly had he come in contact with the waters of
Miriam's well when he was instantly healed. [135]