The Quran

Preface

۞ وَإِذِ استَسقىٰ موسىٰ لِقَومِهِ فَقُلنَا اضرِب بِعَصاكَ الحَجَرَ ۖ فَانفَجَرَت مِنهُ اثنَتا عَشرَةَ عَينًا ۖ قَد عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُناسٍ مَشرَبَهُم ۖ كُلوا وَاشرَبوا مِن رِزقِ اللَّهِ وَلا تَعثَوا فِي الأَرضِ مُفسِدينَ

Yusuf Ali

And remember Moses prayed for water for his people; We said: “Strike the rock with thy staff.” Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each group¹ knew its own place for water. So eat and drink of the sustenance provided by God, and do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth.

Here we have a reference to the tribal organization of the Jews, which played a great part in their forty-years’ march through the Arabian deserts (Num. 1 and 2) and their subsequent settlement in the land of Canaan (Josh. 13 and 14). The twelve tribes were derived from the sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel (soldier of God) after he had wrestled, says Jewish tradition, with God (Genesis 32:28). Israel had twelve sons (Gen. 35:22-26), including Levi and Joseph. The descendants of these twelve sons were the “Children of Israel.” Levi’s family got the priesthood and the care of the Tabernacle; they were exempted from military duties, for which the census was taken (Num. 1:47-53), and therefore from the distribution of Land in Canaan (Josh. 14:3); they were distributed among all the Tribes, and were really a privileged caste and not numbered among the Tribes; Moses and Aaron belonged to the house of Levi. On the other hand Joseph, on account of the high position to which he rose in Egypt as the Pharaoh’s minister, was the progenitor of two tribes, one in the name of each of his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus there were twelve Tribes in all, as Levi was cut out and Joseph represented two tribes. Their having fixed stations and watering places in camp and fixed territorial areas later in the Promised Land prevented confusion and mutual jealousies and is pointed to as an evidence of the Providence of God acting through His Prophet Moses. Cf. also 7:160.
The gushing of twelve springs from a rock evidently refers to a local tradition well known to Jews and Arabs in Al Muṣṭafā’s time. Near Horeb close to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given to Moses, is a huge mass of red granite, twelve feet high and about fifty feet in circumference, where European travellers (e.g., Breydenbach in the 15th Century after Christ saw abundant springs of water twelve in number (see Sale’s notes on this passage). It existed in Al Muṣṭafā’s time and may still exist to the present day, for anything we know to the contrary. The Jewish tradition would be based on Exod. 17:6: “Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.”
The story is used as a parable, as is clear from the latter part of the verse. In the desolation and among the rocks of this life people grumble. But they will not be left starving or thirsty of spiritual life. God’s Messenger can provide abundant spiritual sustenance even from such unpromising things as the hard rocks of life. And all the nations can be grouped round it, each different, yet each in perfect order and discipline. We are to use with gratitude all spiritual food and drink provided by God, and He sometimes provides from unexpected places. We must restrain ourselves from mischief, pride, and every kind of evil, for our higher life is based on our probation on this very earth.