Numbers 21:10-20--The Song of the Well

Numbers 21:10-20
English Standard Version

The Song of the Well
10 And the people of Israel set out and camped in Oboth. 11 And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered. 13 From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15 and the slope of the valleys
that extends to the seat of Ar,
and leans to the border of Moab.”

16 And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!--
18 the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter and with their staffs.”

​And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert.

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There is a quick summary of the people getting from where they were near Edom and Amon back towards the Red Sea and then bypassing Edom by travelling towards Moab and the Arnon, close to the land of the Amorites.  Again, all these are real places with real lands, and these are real cities. In fact, additional source material is given here in this passage to verify where the people were at during the time of this passage.

The Lord brings the people to a well (Beer is the Hebrew word for well and we see it used in the makeup of many names of towns like Beersheba or specific wells like Beer-lahai-roi).  at this place the people sing a song:

“Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!--
18 the well that the princes made,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter and with their staffs.”

This is probably one of the many wells that the patriarchs dug in this area to water their flocks (and there were many battles over such wells in the book of Genesis).  These Israelites got to reap the benefit of the well which they did not have to dig for themselves.  God had prepared it for them years ahead of time.  In many ways too we also reap where we did not sow.

The people would continue their journey from here through the land of Moab until they reach the border of the land of the Amorites.  The next passage we will study is the Israelites once again asking a nation for permission to pass through their land and once again they are refused passage, but this time the ending is different than with that of Edom.  We'll then have several chapters about the physical and spiritual warfare with the battle with the Moabites and in chapter 26 we will get to the second census in the book of Numbers where the new generation is counted (by that point all of those of fighting age counted in the original census had died).  So, we are getting close to the end of  forty years of wandering in the wilderness, even though it's only been a few chapters of text since the judgment was pronounced.