Numbers 21:16

16. Beer, so called because of the well which was there dug by the princes, is possibly the modern Beer-elim, or “well of heroes.” Isaiah 15:8.

Gather the people together They were to be witnesses of the last miraculous production of water. According to Jewish tradition a spot, dry and sandy, was pointed out by Moses. The princes surrounded with their staves the place where the water was to burst forth. The parched soil was pierced by the staves and a cooling stream gushed forth. Later commentators think that there is no trace of a miracle in this account. I will give them water According to the tradition in part adopted by St. Paul, this was one of the appearances, the last before crossing the Jordan, of the water which had “followed” the people from Rephidim through their wanderings. After Miriam’s death special acts were necessary to evoke the water. See especially 1 Corinthians 10:4, note.