Rabbi Yossi and The Redactor

Rabbi Yossi ben Yehuda bar Ilai said that in the merit of Miriam there was a well of water in the desert. And he deduces it from "and Miriam died there" and right after that "there was no water" {Taanit 9a}. It should be clear that it is not a Mesora that comes from J. And it is not a Mesora that comes from P. It is a Mesora that comes from R, the combiner of P and EJ and D. If it is taken in a literal fashion, it is a "fake" Mesora.

The true "Mesora" you can see with your own eyes. The redactor was an ultra-conservative man. He could easily have discarded the introduction of the J story of the spies, but he kept it, in Bamidbar 20. He kept it, because he knew that somewhere in the texts that he combined, there were prophetic secrets. Here is the real lesson to learn. In the desert of texts, there are prophetic "wells," that will provide "water" at some point. The redactor was not privy of all of the details of the prophetic wells, and so he had to be conservative.

In the merit of the redactor, the committer of the pious fraud that has confused the world, who put "and Miriam died there" next to "there was no water," the prophetic wells exist for who digs for them in Truth, to give water for them to drink from. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water, in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.

עָ֭לֶיךָ הׇשְׁלַ֣כְתִּי מֵרָ֑חֶם
  מִבֶּ֥טֶן אִ֝מִּ֗י אֵ֣לִי אָֽתָּה

(Tehilim 22)