Numbers 21:18

The princes digged the well,.... The princes and heads of the several tribes: the nobles of the people digged it; the seventy elders, according to the Targum of Jonathan: by the direction of the

The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.

The princes digged; either by themselves, or by others whom they commanded to do it. By the direction of the lawgiver, or, with the lawgiver, i.e. Moses; they together with Moses, or they by Moses’ s direction and appointment, which is signified . Their staves are here mentioned, either, 1. As the ensigns of their authority, , by which they gave this command of digging. 2. As the instruments of their work; not that they, did formally and effectually dig the well or receptacle for the water, for which spades were more proper than staves, but that as Moses smote the rock with his rod, so they struck the earth with their staves, making only some small impression for form sake, or as a sign that God would cause the water to flow forth out of the earth where they smote it, as he did before out of the rock.

Numbers 21:18 The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by [the direction of] the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness [they went] to Mattanah:Ver. 18. The princes digged the well.] Called therehence Beerelim, i.e., the well of the mighty ones. Nunquam vilior erat annona Romae, quam cum terram colerent iidem qui remp. regerent: quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere scilicet, et aratore triumphali. With their staves.] Those ensigns of their honour they made to be instruments of the common good. See the Epist. Dedicat. set before my notes upon John. Plin.

(18) By the direction of the lawgiver.—Better, with the ruler’s staff. The same word occurs in Genesis 49:10, where it stands in parallelism to “the sceptre.” (See Note in loc.) And from the wilderness they went to Mat-tanah.—The Targums interpret this and Numbers 21:19-20 of the well, And from the wilderness it was given to them for a gift, and from thence it was given to them in Mattanah, &c. The Targum of Onkelos is as follows: “And from the time that it was given to them, it descended with them to the rivers, &c.” The Targum of Palestine is—“And from the wilderness, &c.” (as above).

Verse 18. The princes digged the well - with their staves.] This is not easily understood. Who can suppose that the princes dug this well with their staves? And is there any other idea conveyed by our translation? The word חפרו chapharu, which is translated they digged, should be rendered they searched out, which is a frequent meaning of the root; and במשענתם bemishanotham, which we render with their staves, should be translated on their borders or confines, from the root שען shaan, to lie along. With these corrections the whole song may be read thus: - Spring up, O well! Answer ye to it. i.e. Repeat the other part of the song. The well, the princes searched it out. This is the answer. The nobles of the people have digged it. By a decree, upon their own borders. This was the chorus. This is the whole of the quotation from what is called the book of the wars of the Lord. But see Dr. Kennicott's remarks at the end of this chapter.

18. with the ruler’s wand, with their staves] These do not seem to be implements suitable for digging a well. But it is suggested by Budde that there is ‘an allusion to a custom by which when a well had been discovered it was lightly covered over, and then, on a subsequent occasion, solemnly opened with a symbolic action of the sceptre-like staves of the Sheikhs’; see Gray, Numb. p. 289, where parallels are cited for the practice of singing to a well. R.V. marg. ‘by order of the lawgiver’ retains the improbable interpretation of the A.V. [Note: .V. The Authorised Version.] The historical setting in which the song has been placed obscures its real nature. Popular snatches of song were sung during the intervals of labour in the field, or in honour of the vine at the vintage, or in honour of a well or spring at the time of drawing water. The present stanza appears to be of the latter class. Wells were highly prized; and the songs would, as it were, persuade them to yield up their precious contents. And from the wilderness [they journeyed to] Mattanah] The clause is doubtful, for (1) they had already left the wilderness (of Numbers 21:13) when they moved to Beer, and (2) the Lucianic recension of the LXX. omits ‘and from Mattanah’ in Numbers 21:19. Mattanah, if it was the name of a place, is unknown; but the word means ‘a gift,’ and Budde ingeniously suggests that the clause forms the last line of the song—‘from the wilderness a gift,’ omitting the initial ‘and’ (å). The LXX. translators appear to have felt the difficulty of ‘from the wilderness’ and to have removed it by reading ‘And from Beer to Mattanah.’ The Targ. of Onkelos on this verse contains a legend according to which the well followed the Israelites on their journeys over hill and dale. In 1 Corinthians 10:4 S. Paul refers to the legend but combines with it a reference to the rock which produced water (Numbers 20:11).

18. Mattanah cannot be identified. Le Clerc suggests that it may be the same as the mysterious Vaheb, (Numbers 21:14, note,) since its meaning in Arabic is the same as that of Mattanah in Hebrew.