And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass over before the people, and take the rod, with which thou didst smite the river, in thine hand, and go from the face of their murmuring. Behold, I will stand before thee there, on the spot where thou sawest the impression of the foot on Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock with thy rod, and therefrom shall come forth waters for drinking, and the people shall drink.” And Moses did so before the Elders of Israel. And he called the name of that place Temptation and Strife; because the people strove with him there, and tempted God.[540] Tabari gives these particulars concerning the smitten rock. In the desert there was no water. Moses prayed to God, and He commanded him to strike a rock with his staff. Some say that this was an ordinary stone in the desert, others that it was a stone from Sinai which Moses carried about with him that he might stand on it whenever he prayed. Moses struck the rock, and twelve streams spouted from it. Then Moses said, “You have manna and quails in abundance, gather only sufficient for the day, and you shall have fresh on the morrow.” But they would not obey his word; therefore the Lord withdrew the birds, and the people were famished. Then Moses besought the Lord, and the quails were restored to them. And this is how the quails fell in the camp.[541] A wind smote them as they flew over the camp, and broke their wings. Then the people murmured again, and said to Moses, “The heat is intolerable, we cannot endure it.” So he prayed, and God sent a cloud to overshadow Israel; and it gave them cool shade all the day.[542] After that, they complained, “We want clothes.” Then God wrought a marvel, and their clothes waxed not old and ragged, nor did their shoes wear out, nor did dirt and dust settle on their garments.[543] It is also commonly related that the rock followed the Israelites, like the pillar of fire and the manna, all the time they went through the wilderness; to this tradition S. Paul alludes when he says, “_They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ._”[544] 9. MOSES VISITS EL KHOUDR. One day, say the Mussulmans, Moses boasted before Joshua of his wisdom. Then said God to him, “Go to the place where the sea of the Greeks joins the Persian Gulf, and there you will find one who surpasses you in wisdom.” Moses therefore announced to the Hebrews, who continued their murmurs, that, in punishment for their stiffneckedness and rebellion, they were condemned by God to wander for forty years in the desert. Then having asked God how he should recognize the wise man of whom God had spoken to him, he was bidden take a fish in a basket; “and,” said God, “the fish will lead thee to my faithful servant.” Moses went on his way with Joshua, having the fish in a basket. In the evening he arrived on the shore of the sea and fell asleep.