Numbers 21:10

"And the children of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Oboth. And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they journeyed, and encamped in the valley of Zered. From thence they journeyed, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that cometh out of the border of the Amorites: for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah,

Vaheb in Suphah,

And the valleys of the Arnon,

And the slope of the valleys

That inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar,

And leaneth upon the border of Moab.

And from thence they journeyed to Beer: this is the well whereof Jehovah said unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

Then sang Israel 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.

And from the wilderness they journeyed unto Mattanah; and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh down upon the desert."

Concerning both this chapter and the next, Gray alleged that, "They contain the work of many writers."[15] However, he did not give the names of any such writers, nor identify them as to age, race, nationality, or in any other manner, thus casting a dark cloud over any such notion. Moses' name is the only name associated with Numbers throughout human history. Nothing is any more ephemeral, speculative, or uncertain than that great hosts of "writers, redactors, and editors" so numerously stabled in the stalls of liberal critics!

The list of places where Israel camped (Numbers 21:10-13) is different from that in Numbers 33, making this an abbreviated account, or minor adjustments associated collectively with the same camp. It makes no difference at all. Only the people hunting discrepancies can have the slightest interest in such things. First, the names of many of the places were certainly dual, making two different names to be assigned here and there to the same place; and nobody knows whether, in each case, "all Israel" or only its headquarters was moved here or there, and to which, reference is here made.

Of particular interest is the mention of "The Book of the Wars of Jehovah." Moses here quoted from it; but we cannot know all that was in it or in fact anything that was in it except what is quoted here. Certainly, it has the utility of showing that "books" were being written in that era of time, and that there were perhaps many of them. Writing had been known for centuries, as witnessed by the Code of Hammurabi dated from about 2000 B.C.

"I will give you water ..." (Numbers 21:16) "... The princes digged ..." (Numbers 21:18). The event here was not a case of Moses striking the rock and bringing forth water, but of God's ordering a well to be dug; and the leaders of the people "digged it." That is still the way God gives water to people all over the world; and Israel was here initiated into the universal understanding of the problem.

"With the sceptre and with their staves ..." One need not suppose that it was possible to dig a well with any such thing as a staff or a sceptre, and perhaps Adam Clarke was correct in the affirmation that the word here rendered "digged," actually means "searched out, which is a frequent meaning of the root."[16] It could also be a metaphorical reference to their lending the full authority of their office to the effort.

"This song ..." (Numbers 21:17). "This song was sung for centuries in the Temple in Jerusalem on every Third Sabbath."[17]

"Pisgah ..." (Numbers 21:20). The mention of this place appears somewhat ominous, as it was from its summit that Moses received his only glimpse of the Holy Land. "It is located in the Abarim mountains, opposite Jericho, east of the northern tip of the Dead Sea. Here Moses viewed Canaan; and he died there. (Deuteronomy 34:1,5)."[18]