ellauri164.html on line 959: This story takes place during the fortieth and final year of the Israelites’ consignment to the wilderness before entering the Land of Promise. The generation of those who, by their own admission, were not prepared to enter the Land has died off, and only those men who were nineteen years old or younger at the Exodus (and the tribe of Levi) will enter. The only named survivors of the previous generation are the leaders: Miriam, Aaron, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Early in this parashah, Miriam dies without explanation, successor, or national mourning.
ellauri164.html on line 963: But wait. Didn’t we already learn a similar story back in Exodus? In fact, the first story of thirst came very soon after the crossing at the Sea of Reeds (Shemot 17:4). Since that was at the very beginning of the sojourn in the wilderness, before the events that led to God’s decision to delay the Israelites’ entry to the Land—and this story is at the end of the forty years—we can see the two stories as forming a kind of a framework around the whole saga of the wandering. In the first story, the Israelites were the first generation of those who left Egypt. In this story, they are the children and grandchildren of that generation. When we see this kind of framework, we look for the similarities and differences between the bracketing stories. At the same time, we understand that they suggest a theme for the stories between them.
ellauri185.html on line 781: In this scene from the biblical book of Exodus, Moses and Aaron (upper right) visit the pharaoh, who is mourning his son. The Egyptian ruler’s son had died from one of the plagues sent by God to secure the Israelites’ release from Egypt. The gloom of the painting reflects the father’s intense grief.
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