על חיי משה, ספר א ל״גOn the Life of Moses, Book I 33
א׳
1[181] They set out from the sea coast, and travelled for some time, no longer in any fear of danger from the enemy. But after three days the water failed, and thirst once more reduced them to despondency. Again they began to grumble at their lot, as though nothing good had befallen them hitherto. For, under the onset of the present terror, we always lose sense of the pleasantness of past blessings.
ב׳
2[182] Then they saw some springs and ran to draw from them, full of joy, but in their ignorance of the truth were deceived. For the water was bitter, and, when they had tasted it, the disappointment broke them down. Their bodies were exhausted and their souls dejected, not so much for themselves as for their infant children, the sight of whom, as they cried for something to drink, was more than they could face without tears.
ג׳
3[183] Some of the more thoughtless, men of feeble piety, even denounced the past events as not having been intended for their benefit, but rather to bring them into worse misfortunes. It were better, they said, to die thrice, not merely once, at the hands of enemies, than to perish, or worse than perish, by thirst. To depart from life swiftly and easily is, in the eyes of the wise, the same thing as never dying, and death in the true sense is that which comes slowly and painfully, whose terrors appear not in the state of death, but only in the process of dying.
ד׳
4[184] While they were engaged in such lamentations, Moses again addressed his supplications to God, that, knowing the weakness of His creatures, and particularly of mankind, and the necessities of the body, which depends on food, and is tied to those stern mistresses, meat and drink, He should pardon the despondent and also satisfy the needs of all, not at some distant time but with a boon bestowed promptly and swiftly, considering the inborn short-sightedness of mortality, which desires that assistance should be rendered quickly and at the moment. Hardly had he so prayed,
ה׳
5[185] when God sent in advance the power of His grace, and, opening the vigilant eye of the suppliant’s soul, bade him lift and throw into the spring a tree which he shewed him, possibly formed by nature to exercise a virtue which had hitherto remained unknown, or possibly created on this occasion for the service which it was destined to perform. Moses did as he was bid,
ו׳
6[186] whereupon the springs became sweet, and were converted into drinkable water, so that no one could even guess that they had originally been bitter, since no trace or tang remained to remind one of its former badness.