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Yeshivat
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PARASHAT CHUKAT
SICHA OF HARAV YAAKOV MEDAN
SHLIT"A
The Miracle at Arnon
Adapted by
Yoni Weitz
Translated
by Kaeren
Fish
From there
they journeyed and encamped at the side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness
that emerges from the border of the Emori, for Arnon is the border of Moav,
between Moav and the Emori. Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of God:
Vahev in Sufa and the wadis of Arnon, and the stream of the wadis that goes
down to the dwelling of Ar and lies upon the border of Moav. And from there
[they went] to Beer; that is the well of which God said to Moshe, Gather the
people and I shall give them water. Then Israel
sang this song: Arise, O well, sing to it
(Bamidbar 21:12-17)
Chazal
interpret these words not merely as a description of a station somewhere during
the course of Bnei Yisraels travels, but as the story of the blood-drenched
demise of Israels enemies. According to Chazal
(cited by Rashi here), these enemies lay in wait around the cliffs and crannies
on the sides of the deep canyon of Wadi
Arnon, through which the nation were supposed to
pass. While Bnei Yisrael encamped, a miracle happened: the mountains on the two
sides of the canyon came together, crushing the enemies waiting in ambush. Their
corpses rose and floated in the well, and therefore the Song of the Well was
uttered.
The
obvious question that arises from this remarkable story and its happy ending,
is: where in the text is there the slightest hint to support this description of
what took place?
A
review of the songs of Israel in Tanakh
shows that the nation sang only in commemoration of victory over their enemies.
Examples include the Song of the Sea and the Song of Devora. There are also
other texts which are regarded as songs even though they do not appear that
way: such instances include the list of the thirty-one kings defeated by
Yehoshua and the list of Hamans ten sons. The manner of writing in these
instances testifies that they are songs, and these, too, commemorate victory
over Israels enemies.
Hence, Chazal deduce that here, too, Israel offer song in
the wake of a victory over their enemies.
Closer
inspection of the verses reveals that there are, in fact, further linguistic
hints to these events. Firstly, there is the obvious therefore it is said in
the Book of the Wars of God
Then, there are the words et vahev
be-sufa; Rashi proposes the reading, et yahav sufa God brought
[miracles as] at Yam Suf (the Sea of Reeds). Likewise, the stream of the
wadis that goes down hints at the flow of the wadi being directed in such a way
as to produce a strong downward current. In other words, the enemies are drowned
in the sudden, mighty surges of water, and their corpses are found floating in
the well. Bearing in mind that all of this takes place in the burning, dry
summer (immediately following the death of Aharon at Hor ha-Har, which is in the
month of Av), the entire episode is unquestionably of a miraculous nature.
A
related narrative appears in II Melakhim (chapter 3):
The king of
Israel went, and the king of
Yehuda and the king of Aram, and they made a circuit of
seven days journey, and there was no water for the camp
And Elisha said
So
says God: Make this wadi full of trenches. For so says God: You will see no
wind, nor will you see rain, yet this wadi will be filled with water, that you
may drink
and all of Moav heard that the kings had come up to fight with them
and they arose early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and Moav
saw the water on the other side as red as blood, and they said: This is blood;
the kings have smitten one another by the sword
Here too, as in
our parasha, two purposes are achieved by means of the water. It quenches thirst, following a period
of acute shortage, and it plays a critical role in the war: because of the sun
reflecting in the water, Moav believed that they were seeing flowing blood,
testifying to a collapse of the alliance between the kings. They believed that the water was the
blood of the soldiers of Israel, Yehuda and Edom
who were killing each other. This led Moav to a premature sense of confidence,
such that they did not exercise the proper caution in approaching the battle.
The victory of Siseras army was likewise achieved with the aid of water Wadi
Kishon swept them away
The same image arises, of course, in connection with
the Splitting of the Reed Sea.
It
is therefore altogether in keeping with an established pattern that Chazal offer
their interpretation in our parasha. May we, too, merit divine aid to defeat
our enemies.
(This sicha was
delivered by Rav Medan while on a visit to students serving in the IDF in 5752
[1992].)
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