Aaron died four months after the death of his sister Miriam, whereas
Moses died nearly a year after his sister. Her death took place on the
first day of Nisan, and that of Moses on the seventh day of Adar in the
same year. Although the death of these three did not take place in the
same month, God spoke of them saying, "And I cut off the three
shepherds in one month," for He had determined upon their death in one
month. [623] It is God's way to classify people into related groups,
and the death of these three pious ones was not determined upon
together with hat of the sinful generation of wanderers in the desert,
but only after this generations had died, was sealed the doom of the
three. [624] Miriam died first, and the same fate was decreed for her
brothers as a consequence of her death.
Miriam's death plunged all into deep mourning, Moses and Aaron wept in
their apartments and the people wept in the streets. For six hours
Moses was ignorant of the disappearance of Miriam's well with Miriam's
death, until the Israelites went to him, saying, "How long wilt thou
sit here and weep?" He answered, "Shall I not weep for my sister, who
had died?" They replied, "While thou are weeping for one soul, weep at
the same time for us all." "Why?" asked he. They said, "We have no
water to drink." Then he rose up from the ground, went out and saw the
well without a drop of water. He now began to quarrel with them,
saying, "Have I not told ye, 'I am not able to bear you myself alone'?
Ye have rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and
rulers of tens, princes, chiefs, elders, and magnates, let these attend
to your needs." Israel, however, said: "All rests with thee, for it is
thou who didst lead us out of Egypt and brought 'us in unto this evil
place; it is no place of seed or of figs, or of vines, or of
pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.' If thou wilt give
us water, it is well, if not, we shall stone thee." When Moses heard
this, he fled from them and betook himself to the Tabernacle. There God
said to him: "What ails thee?" and Moses replied: "O Lord of the world!
Thy children want to stone me, and had I not escaped, they would have
stoned me by now." God said: "Moses, how much longer wilt thou continue
to calumniate My children? Is it not enough that at Horeb thou didst
say, 'They be ready to stone me,' whereupon I answered thee, 'Go up
before them and I will see whether they stone thee or not!' 'Take the
rod and assemble the congregation, thou and Aaron thy brother, and
speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its
water.'"
Moses now went to seek for the rock, followed by all Israel, for he did
not know which was the rock out of which God had said water was to
flow. [625] For the rock out of which Miriam's well flowed vanished
among the rest of the rocks in such a way that Moses was not able to
distinguish it among the number. [626] On the way they saw a rock that
dripped, and they took up their places in front of it. When Moses saw
that the people stood still, he turned around and they said to him:
"How long wilt thou lead us on?" Moses: "Until I fetch ye forth water
out of the rock." The people: "Give us water at once, that we may
drink." Moses: "How long do ye quarrel? Is there a creature in all the
world that so rebels against its Maker as ye do, when it is certain
that God will give ye water out of a rock, even though I do not know
which one that may be!" The people: "Thou wert a prophet and our
shepherd during our march through the desert, and now thou sayest, 'I
know not out of which rock God will give ye water.'"
Moses hereupon assembled them about a rock, saying to himself: "If I
now speak to the rock, bidding it bring forth water, and it bring forth
none, I shall subject myself to humiliation in the presence of the
community, for they will say, 'Where is thy wisdom?'" Hence he said to
the people: "Ye know that God can perform miracles for ye, but He hath
hidden from me out of which rock He will let the water flow forth. For
whenever the time comes that God wished a man not to know, then his
wisdom and understanding are of no avail to him." Moses then lifted his
rod and let it quietly slide down upon the rock which he laid it,
uttering, as if addressing Israel, the words, "Shall we bring you forth
water out of this rock?" The rock of its own accord now began to give
forth water, whereupon Moses struck upon it with his rod, but then
water no longer flowed forth, but blood. Moses hereupon said to God:
"This rock brings forth no water," and God instantly turned to the rock
with the question: "Why dost thou bring forth not water, but blood?"
The rock answered: "O Lord of the world! Why did Moses smite me?" When
God asked Moses why he had smitten the rock, he replied: "That it might
bring forth water." God, however, said to Moses: "Had I bidden thee to
smite the rock? I had only said, 'Speak to it.'" Moses tried to defend
himself by saying, "I did speak to it, but it brought forth nothing."
"Thou," God replied, "hast given Israel the instruction, 'In
righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor'; why then, didst not thou
judge the rock 'in righteousness,' the rock that in Egypt supported
thee when out of it thou didst such honey? Is this the manner in which
thou repayest it? Not only wert thou unjust to the rock, but thou didst
also call My children fools. If then thou are a wise man, it does not
become thee as a wise man to have anything further to do with fools,
and therefore thou shalt not with them learn to know the land of
Israel." [627] At the same time God added, "Neither thou, nor thy
brother, nor thy sister, shall set foot upon the land of Israel." For
even in Egypt God had warned Moses and Aaron to refrain from calling
the Israelites fools, and as Moses, without evoking a protest from
Aaron, at the water of Kadesh, called them fools, the punishment of
death was decreed for him and his brother. [628] When God had informed
Moses of the impending punishment due to him and his brother, He turned
to the rock, saying: "Turn thy blood into water," and so it came to
pass. [629]