(Numb. 21:17:) THEN ISRAEL SANG. For what reason is Moses not mentioned there?¹⁸⁹., Numb. 6:21; Numb. R. 19:26. For the reason that he was being punished because of the waters, and no person praises¹⁹⁰. Cf.: Gk.: kalos. his executioner.¹⁹¹ (“examiner” or “overseer”). And why is the name of the Holy One not mentioned there? The matter is comparable to a governor who made a banquet for the king. The King said: Will my friend so-and-so be there? They told him: No. He said: I also am not going there. [Also here the Holy One said: In as much as Moses is not mentioned, I also will not be mentioned there.]

footnotes: ¹⁸⁹ Tanh ¹⁹⁰ Rt.: QLS ¹⁹¹ Lat.: speculator

(Numb. 21:18:) THE WELL THAT THE PRINCES DUG. Was it dug there? It is simply that it was given through the merit of the ancestors, since they were called princes. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 105:41–12): HE OPENED A ROCK, AND WATER GUSHED OUT…. [FOR] HE REMEMBERED HIS HOLY PROMISE AND HIS SERVANT ABRAHAM.

(Numb. 21:18, cont.:) THAT THE NOBLES OF THE PEOPLE DUG WITH THE SCEPTER, EVEN WITH THEIR OWN STAFFS. When the princes were standing by it, with each and every one drawing the water with his own staff for his own tribe and for his own family, the space between the standards was filled with a flow of water that was gathering strength. A woman who had to go to her companion went from standard to standard by ship, as stated (in Ps. 105:41): THEY TRAVELED THE RIVER BY TSIYYOT.¹⁹² Now a tsiyyot (here understood as the plural of tsi) can only denote a ship, since it is stated (in Is. 33:21): NOR SHALL A STATELY SHIP (tsi) PASS BY. Now the waters flowed outside the camp and embraced a great strip of land. Thus it is stated (in Ps. 23:3) HE LEADS ME IN PATHS (literally: CIRCLES) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In addition, the encircling waters cause endless varieties of green herbage and trees to grow, as stated (in Ps. 23:2): HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES; HE LEADS ME BESIDE STILL WATERS. All the days they were in the desert they used it (i.e., the well).¹⁹³ Therefore, they rendered praise for it with the song ending: (in Numb. 21:18): THE WELL THAT THE PRINCES DUG.

footnotes: ¹⁹² A more traditional translation would be: IT FLOWED THROUGH THE WILDERNESS LIKE A RIVER. ¹⁹³ Although the pronoun is masculine and “well” is feminine, “it” still probably denotes the well, as the parallel texts recognize by writing “it” in the feminine.

(Numb. 21:18, cont.:) FROM THE DESERT OF MATTANAH, so stated because in the desert the well was given (nittenah) them to use as a gift (mattanah).¹⁹⁴., Numb. 6:21.

footnotes: ¹⁹⁴ The words in the angle brackets come from the parallel in Tanh