Hint: The story follows the red heifer ritual, i.e., the laws of corpse contamination, and the death of their sister Miriam.
Prof.
Marvin A. Sweeney
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If the people are thirsty for lack of water, why complain to Moses that they “have no grain or pomegranates”? Together with other textual anomalies, this narrative discontinuity suggests that interwoven into the water-at-Merivah story is a fragment from a different story: the missing opening verses of the non-Priestly account of the spies.
Prof. Rabbi
David Frankel
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Biblical narratives describe the Israelites living in tents in the wilderness and make no mention of sukkot, “booths.” So when and where did God “settle the Israelite people in booths”(Leviticus 23:43)? The answer: Kadesh! Although Israel journeys through the wilderness for forty years, they arrive at Kadesh early on and dwell there for more than thirty-five years.
Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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