Thread by @benzgreenfield

The glory of reading the Bible in Hebrew (explicitly inspired by @AriLamm 🧵's)
On Miriam, Marinara Sauce & *Muted Rage*

God ordered Moshe to speak to the rock. So why did Moses *hit* it instead? (Num 20)

Why fail such an easy order??

A key Hebrew word explains it all.

Vital background:
This story of rock and water is preceded by the death (!) of Moses' sister, Miriam.

But her death is presented as a side point, barely whispered between two other stories, not even worthy of its own verse.

2/n

“the people settled in Kadesh, Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water …” (Num 20:1-2)

Notice that she’s buried, but its without Ceremony or Mourning! Died, buried, chick-chock.

3/n

Compare to Sarah’s death: “and Abraham mourned and wailed for her” Gen 23:2, or Aaron’s death, “and the whole house of Israel wailed for him thirty days” Num 20:29.

But Here: nothing!

It’s like Miriam has literally “passed away”, exited the story, callously forgotten :(

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And yet, in the Hebrew text, the presence of MIRIAM animates the entire story of the Rock.

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To see it, first recall just how tightly Miriam, as a Biblical character, is connected to *Water*.

We first meet Miriam at the River-Waters in Egypt, hovering over baby Moses, protecting him from a Watery end, and ensuring he’ll have mother’s Milk to Drink. (Ex 2)

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We next meet Miriam at the Sea's Split, dancing as the Waters crash upon Pharoah’s armies. She leads the people in song: “horse and driver did God lift into the Sea! - רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם” Ex 15:21

And in the very next verse after Miriam’s song … the people lack Water. (22)

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The Torah's theme could not be more clear:

If you see Miriam in the Torah, expect to see a narrative about water!

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Even Miriam’s **name** might be Water! Many connect the name מרים to the Hebrew word for bitter מ.ר.ר. or rebellion מ.ר.י (more on this in a moment).

But … pretty strange way to name a newborn!
There’s a different approach:
מרים = מר + ים = Mir + Yam

9/n

Yam, the second half of her name, means Sea. And Mir, the first, means drop - as in
הֵ֤ן גּוֹיִם֙ כְּ**מַ֣ר** מִדְּלִ֔י
“Yes, the nations are like a drop in a bucket” (Is 40:15)

10/n

In that read, Miriam’s name means something like “Ocean-Drop”, or “Remnant of the Seas”, or if you really want to stretch it: WaterWord-WaterWord.

A Fun translation: Miriam="Mer-Maid”

(Mir or Mar as a “sea” word is also in English! Mariner, maritime, marinara, Mermaid)

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And the most common Hebrew word for water (מים/MaYiM) is itself so close to her name -- מרים/MirYaM.

In name and in Torah narrative, Miriam is a clear Water figure.

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Back in Exodus, the Hebrew text demands we see this. The people can’t drink desert water because its “bitter” - or in Hebrew, מָרִ֖ים, MaRiM, spelled in Hebrew exactly as one would spell Miriam. (Ex 15:23).

In an obvious poetic touch, this one verse uses מר four times!!

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Four times!

וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ מָרָ֔תָה וְלֹ֣א יָֽכְל֗וּ לִשְׁתֹּ֥ת מַ֙יִם֙ מִמָּרָ֔ה כִּ֥י מָרִ֖ים הֵ֑ם עַל־כֵּ֥ן קָרָֽא־שְׁמָ֖הּ מָרָֽה
The people came *Marata* (“to Marah”), and could not drink water from *Marah*, because it was *Marim* (bitter), therefore its name is called *Marah*

The Torah wants so badly to connect this Exodus episode of an absence of water,

to the character of *Miriam*, who was just singing about water just one verse before!

15/n

[Side point: You can see why the Sages of the Talmud (Taanit 9a, Bava Metzia 86a) were not making a jump when they derived a notion of “Miriam’s Well”, which miraculously traveled with the Israelites across the desert, as the source of their water for forty years ...

... Of course, for the Sages, water would be provided through some mechanism associated with the merit and presence of Miriam! The Bible itself casts her as Water-Woman!]

Back to the Torah!

And back to the story of Striking the Rock, in Numbers.

Miriam is **seemingly invisible** to the people after her death. No tears, no wailing.

So Moses has no opportunity to mourn or process the loss of his older sister (and only consistent maternal figure), before the people immediately complain.

16/n

Listen to how the Torah describes the people’s problem:
וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָעֵדָ֑ה
The people had no Mayim/water. (20:2)

It’s a *triple* entendre.

17/n

They have no water (drought).
They have no Mir-yam (who just died).
And they had shed no **tears** -- there were no water after Miriam’s death. No crying. No grieving.

The people moved on. Dry as a rock.

18/n

The people are so insensitive, that Miriam's death is hinted to in the words of their complaining!

וְל֥וּ גָוַ֛עְנוּ בִּגְוַ֥ע אַחֵ֖ינוּ
"O If only we had already died in the dying of our brothers!”(20:3) - a reference to those who died in the desert, before facing this drought

But that word אחינו/acheinu, our brothers, refers to a group of both male and *female* relatives.

In English sister/brother are two separate etymologies, but in Hebrew they are the same word, just with fem and masc form (like actor & actress) - אח (ach) and אחות (achot).

20/n

So a better translation is: "if only we had died in the dying of our *siblings*.

Moses is mourning his sister. Her grave lays before him. And they say, hey Moses!, drop what you're doing!, things are so bad for **us** that we wish we could be like *our* dead siblings.

21/n

And they use that term ach/achot -- the exact word with which Miriam is first introduced to us, back when she watches over her Moses at the River:
ותתצּב אחתו מרחק...ותאמר אחתו
And his sister (achoto) stood from afar…then his sister (achoto) said to Pharoah’s daughter (Ex 2:4,7)

Sister -- or better yet, "sib" (f.) -- is the way Miriam is first described in the Torah.

And here they come to Moses with a complaint, and of all the images to run with to express their needs, they invoke that of “deceased sibs”.

23/n

You can only imagine the anger building up in Moses. In fact, the expression of that anger itself contains a reference to his loss.
וַיָּ֨רֶם מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶת־יָד֗וֹ וַיַּ֧ךְ
So Moses **lifted** his hand and struck (Num 20:11)

24/n

That “lifting” word may be familiar. It’s what Miriam sang back at the sea--רמה בים, God lifted the Egyptians into the sea.

Not only is the narrator evoking Miriam’s lyrics, it echoes her name. רמה (RaMa) and וירם (vaYaReM), are words that sparkle with the name MiRYaM.

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(As an English translation, "Moshe *reared* his hand", would offer a hint of that delicious connection to mEARyam.)

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Even more evocative of the word “Miriam” is the narrator’s condemning description of this episode:
הֵ֚מָּה מֵ֣י מְרִיבָ֔ה
These are the Quarrel Waters (heiMa MeY MeRiba) (20:13)

27/n

The last of these words begins just as Miriam would, מרי…, as if the Torah is just about to call it *Miriam* Waters, before switching course, using a letter ב instead of ם, and reminding Moses yet again, that Miriam is gone, and is her place is Quarreling.

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(These are the Waters of Mere Miffing, would be a fun translation -- close to "Waters of Miriam" before taking a turn for the worse.)

29/n

One more subtle point, before the Grand Slam.

The people emphasize, somewhat unexpectedly, that their *beasts* also need water. They use the rare term, בְּעִיר bi’ir. Not sheep, or cattle, or animals, but this odd word that appears 4x in the entire (animal filled) Bible.

30/n

So God asks that Moses provide water for “their beasts” בְּעִירָ֑ם, Bi’iram, and Moses does just that, using that same term, בְּעִירָ֑ם, Bi’iram. (20:8,11)

(PS This is the only moment in the entire Bible that the word in this form appears!!)

31/n

And note how בְּעִירָ֑ם, Bi’iram

is almost perfectly assonant with מִרְיָ֔ם, Miriam.

(Heck, B and M are also both bilabials, pronounced with the same lip motion.)

The words are eerily close!!

32/n

So:

What would cause Moses to choose striking over words? To either thoughtlessly mishear or intentionally disobey the command of God?

33/n

Miriam dies, and while the people ignore here…every phrase and word reminds Moses of her absence! The Torah writes this narrative from Moses’s perspective, where normal words like hit or animal or quarrel, all blur into Miriam, Miriam, Miriam.

All leading to the moment ...

34

when Moses’s Miriam madness finally emerges.

The climax of the Water-Rock narrative is when Moses, staff in hand, assembled before the people, explodes in words of rage before them. It is in that rage that he strike the rock.

Moses’ words are a game-changer:

35/n

שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ הַמֹּרִ֔ים
Listen now, O rebels!

Did you catch it? The word for rebels, מֹּרִ֔ים, is an exact spelling of his sister’s name, מרים.

--
That's the word that shoots out of Moses' mouth in this moment of passion.

His sister's name.

36/n

For Moses, this wasn’t about the people’s complaints. He’s been there before, he’s managed it.

It wasn’t about God briefly failing to provide sustenance for the people -- not his first rodeo.

It’s about Miriam gone, and no one but Moses willing to recognize it.

37/n

It’s about mourning bottled up -- by a people unable to muster empathy for their leader --

a people heartlessly evoking Water and Sister, demanding he tend to their bi’iram instead of his Miriam,

until the Muted Rage finally spills over.

38/n

And Moses' rage, Moses' sadness, Moses' need to grieve

It pours out like water,

rush, rush, rushing

right out a broken stone.

39/39

with better formatting:

שִׁמְעוּ־נָא֙ הַמֹּרִ֔ים
Listen now, O rebels!

Did you catch it? The word for rebels, מֹּרִ֔ים, is an exact spelling of his sister’s name, מרים.

--
That's the word that shoots out of Moses' mouth in this moment of passion:

His sister's name.