Numbers 21:17

Num 21:17 Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:

Ver. 17. Then Israel sang this soug.] A sign of that Christian joy. {Isa 12:3-4}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 21:17-18. Spring up — Hebrew, ascend; that is, let thy waters, which now lie hid below in the earth, ascend for our use. It is either a prediction that it should spring up, or a prayer that it might. With their staves — Probably as Moses smote the rock with his rod, so they struck the earth with their staves, as a sign that God would cause the water to flow out of the earth where they smote it, as he did before out of the rock. Or, perhaps, they made holes with their staves in the sandy ground, and God caused the water immediately to spring up.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Israel

The spiritual order here is beautiful:

(1) atonement Num 21:8; Num 21:9; Joh 3:14; Joh 3:15

(2) water, symbol of the Spirit bestowed Num 21:16; Joh 7:37-39.

(3) joy Num 21:17; Num 21:18; Rom 14:17.

(4) power Num 21:21-24.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye that receive the commodity thereof, give praise for it.

Or, spring.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Then Israel sang--This beautiful little song was in accordance with the wants and feelings of travelling caravans in the East, where water is an occasion both of prayer and thanksgiving. From the princes using their official rods only, and not spades, it seems probable that this well was concealed by the brushwood or the sand, as is the case with many wells in Idumea still. The discovery of it was seasonable, and owing to the special interposition of God.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 lawgiver; either the Lord himself, the lawgiver of his people, who pointed out the spot, and directed the princes where to dig, that is, be did this by Moses; and who, as Jarchi thinks, is the lawgiver, and not amiss: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render the word by Scribes, in the plural number, and interpret them of Moses and Aaron: and this the princes and nobles "dug with their staves"; either their walking sticks, or their rods, the ensigns of their authority; with these they smote the ground, or stuck them in a soft and sandy place, upon which the waters bubbled up and flowed out. Dr. Shaw (n) chooses to render the words, "with their united applause", or "clapping of hands", as the word in Chaldee signifies; or it may be expressed, as by Dr. Hunt, quoted by him, "by describing" or "marking out" the figure or fashion of the well "with staves". Mr. Ainsworth thinks that this well signified Christ, the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters; and the waters of it the Spirit and his graces, which are a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life; the means of which are the labours of the governors of the church, the ministers of Christ,by preaching the word, and opening the Scriptures; and such grace is worthy of a song, and to be had with joy out of the wells of salvation, Isa 12:3,

and from the wilderness they went to Mattanah; from the wilderness near Arnon, which came out of the coasts of the Amorites, Num 21:13 to a place which signifies a gift. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render it,"and from the wilderness it was given to them for a gift''that is, the well; and so the people of God, that are called out of the wilderness of this world, and come up from it, are called to partake of the gifts and blessings of grace, which are freely given unto them of God.

(n) Travels, p. 67. Ed. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 lawgiver’s scepter; i. e. under the direction and with the authority of Moses; compare Gen 49:10, and note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They sung. Hebrew, "sing ye unto it," in chorus, men and women. Septuagint, "commence a canticle unto it. This well the princes dug, the kings of nations hewed in the rock, in their kingdom, while they held dominion."

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Israel sang this song. This song of the well may be taken from the same collection of odes, but more probably is quoted from memory. It is remarkable for the spirit of joyousness which breathes in it, so different from the complaining, desponding tone of the past.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Spring up - Hebrew. ascend, that is, let thy waters, which now lie hid below in the earth, ascend for our use. It is either a prediction that it should spring up, or a prayer that it might.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Spring up, well

Here "well" represents the water in the well. The Israelites are speaking to the water as if it were a person who could hear them, and they are asking for it to fill the well. AT: "Water, fill up the well" (See: Metonymy and Personification)

the well that our leaders dug, the well the nobles of the people dug

These two phrases mean basically the same thing and emphasize the role of the leaders in digging the well. (See: Parallelism)

with the scepter and their staffs

A scepter was carried by those with authority, and the staff was carried by everyone. Neither of these are digging tools. These two items emphasize that they were not too proud to use any means available. AT: "using even their scepter and staffs" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Israel

noble

scepter

staff

desert

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

עלי באר COME UP, WELL from the valley and bring up what you have to bring up! — Whence do we know that it was the well that announced to them these miracles as it is stated above? Because it is said: ומשם בארה “and from there to the well”. For you cannot say that it means: “from that place was (they got) the well”, because was it indeed from there that they got it? Had it not been with them from the beginning of the forty years’ wanderings? But it means that from there it flowed down to the Israelites to proclaim the miracles! Then again, also, the paragraph beginning with the words: אז ישיר … השירה הזאת were spoken at the end of the forty years whilst the well was given them at the beginning of the forty, and what reason then can there be to write it as late as here. But the subject of the song has to be explained in connection with what precedes it (that it was a summons to the well to bring up the bodies of the slain) (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 20).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.