Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 21:17

Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:

This song, recognized by all authorities as dating from the earliest times, and suggested apparently by the fact that God in this place gave the people water not from the rock, but by commanding Moses to cause a well to be dug, bespeaks the glad zeal, the joyful faith, and the hearty cooperation among all ranks, which possessed the people. In after time it may well have been the water-drawing song of the maidens of Israel.

Num 21:18

By the direction of the lawgiver – Some render, with the lawgivers scepter; i. e. under the direction and with the authority of Moses; compare Gen 49:10, and note.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. Spring up, O well, &c.] This is one of the most ancient war songs in the world, but is not easily understood, which is commonly the case with all very ancient compositions, especially the poetic. See Clarke on Ex 15:1, &c.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Israel sang this song, to praise God for giving them such a seasonable blessing, before they asked it, or complained for the want of it.

Spring up; give forth thy waters that we may drink. Heb. Ascend, i.e. let thy waters, which now lie hid below in the earth, ascend for thy use. It is either a prediction that it should spring up, or a prayer that it might, or a command in the name of God directed to the well, by a usual prosopopaeia, as when God bids the heavens hear, and the earth give ear, Isa 1:2. Any of these ways it shows their faith. Sing ye unto it; or, sing ye of it; or, answer to it or concerning it; it being the manner of the Jewish singers that one should answer to another, of which see Exo 15:21; 1Sa 18:7.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17, 18. Then Israel sangThisbeautiful little song was in accordance with the wants and feelingsof travelling caravans in the East, where water is an occasion bothof prayer and thanksgiving. From the princes using their officialrods only, and not spades, it seems probable that this well wasconcealed by the brushwood or the sand, as is the case with manywells in Idumea still. The discovery of it was seasonable, and owingto the special interposition of God.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then Israel sang this song,…. Being affected with the free favour and good will of God towards them:

spring up, O well; for the springing up of which they prayed in faith, believing in the promise of God, that it would spring up; and so encouraged one another not only to believe it, but even to sing on account of it before it actually did:

sing ye unto it; or on account of it praise the Lord for it; or “answer to it” m, it being their manner to sing their songs by responses, or alternately.

m “respondete ei”, Montanus; “alternis canite ei”, Tigurine version, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verses 17-20:

Israel expressed their joy for the well in a song of praise. This was in contrast to their former complaining.

Moses and the princes of Israel entered joyously into the task of digging the well. For this the people rejoiced.

“By direction of the lawgiver,” literally, “with the scepter.” This implies that the princes, including Moses, used the insignia of their office to initiate the work.

“Mattanah,” meaning “a gift,” the next stop after leaving Beer. From there they traveled to Nahaliel, probably the Wadi Zerqa Main which flows into the eastern part of the Dead Sea, about midway.

“Bamoth,” meaning “high places.” This was likely the BamothBaal mentioned in Nu 22:41; Jos 13:17, the place Balak took Balaam.

“Pisgah,” a mountain on the northeast shore of the Dead Sea, today known as Ras es-Siaghah. It was from the top of this mountain that God allowed Moses to view the Promised Land, De 3:27; 34:1. It is closely identified with Mount Nebo, a nearby peak.

“Jeshimon,” meaning “a waster or desert,” often used to refer to the desert of Sinai. In this instance, it is likely the plain to the north of the Dead Sea, overlooked from Mount Pisgah. It is a barren, desolate land whose hills are historically the home of outlaws, 1Sa 23:19-24; 26:1-3. Israel apparently remained at this site a considerable time.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

17. Israel sang this song

“Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it;

The well which the princes digged,

Which the nobles of the people delved

With the sceptre and with their staves.”

“The arrival in Moab marks, indeed, the first outburst of Hebrew poetry. Ordinary words would no longer suffice to give expression to the joy at entering on fertile regions, and leaving the desert behind them.” Geikie. This song, first sung at the digging of the well, was afterward, no doubt, commonly used by those who came to draw water. The maidens of Israel chanted it one to another, verse by verse, as they toiled at the bucket, and thus beguiled their labour. But its peculiar charm lies in the characteristic touch which manifestly connects it with the life of the time to which the narrative assigns it. The leaders were not above doing some part of the work. “This little carol is fresh and lusty with long life; it sparkles like the water of the well whose springing up first occasioned it; it is the expression of lively confidence in the sympathy of their leaders, which might be relied on in all emergencies.” Ewald.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments