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Q&A Did Moshe have free will when he struck the rock in the wilderness?

Gittin 60a (as explained by Rashi) alludes to a debate as to whether the Torah was written down one paragraph at a time throughout the stay in the desert, and then put together at the end of the fo...

posted 3y ago by JoelK‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar JoelK‭ · 2020-08-02T20:05:36Z (over 3 years ago)
Gittin 60a (as explained by Rashi) alludes to a debate as to whether the Torah was written down one paragraph at a time throughout the stay in the desert, and then put together at the end of the forty years, or was only written down for the first time, in one go, at the end of the forty years (with earlier installments simply remembered orally until the time came to write it all down).

Either way, it seems that Moshe was not given the full written text of the Torah as we possess it today on Har Sinai. It only took on its final written form at the end of the forty years. 

Thus I don’t think there is any reason to believe that Moshe knew of the episodes in the desert in advance.