with contact with the worship of alien gods. Numbers chapter 20 An episode in the journey similar to is recorded in when the people complained of thirst and contended with God, Moses struck the rock with his rod to bring forth water, and the place was named Massah and Meribah. Psalms and recall Meribah: "I tested you at the waters of Meribah" and "Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness." Numbers chapter 21 The defeat of the Canaanites recorded at Hormah in followed an earlier unsuccessful attempt to enter into the Promised Land reported in when the Amalekites and the Canaanites excluded the Israelites and pushed them back as far as Hormah. On two occasions, the Israelites proposed passage through territories without recourse to local resources ( and ), and on one they proposed payment terms for use of local supplies (). When the Edomite King refused to allow passage, the Israelites took an alternate route (), whereas when the Amorite King refused them passage, they chose to press on anyway with the aid of 'the edge of the sword' (). reports that Israel put the Amorites to the sword and took possession of their land. Similarly, in the 8th century BCE prophet Amos announced that God said: “I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose stature was like the cedar’s and who was stout as the oak, destroying his boughs above and his trunk below!” In early nonrabbinic interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these early nonrabbinic sources: Numbers chapter 19–20 Josephus told that after having completed her fortieth year in the wilderness, Miriam died (as reported in ). The Israelites staged an expensive public funeral for her, and buried her on a mountain called Sin. After they had mourned for her 30 days, Moses purified the people by preparing the first mixture of the water of lustration prepared with the Red Cow described in Numbers chapter 21 Professor Lawrence Schiffman of New York University noted that one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Damascus Document, contains a portion that has become known as the “Well Midrash,” which interprets to say, “A well which the officers have dug, which the notables of the people have dug . . . .” The Damascus Document then interpreted the “well” to refer to the Torah, and interpreted those who dug it