Numbers 20:2 - Exposition

There was no water. There was a large natural spring at Kadesh, and during the time of their previous sojourn there no complaint of this sort seems to have arisen. At this time, however, the bulk of the encampment may have lain in a different direction (cf. Numbers 20:1 with Numbers 13:26 ), or the supply may have failed frorn temporary causes. In either case a total absence of water need not be imagined, but only an insufficient supply.