Beer · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
well
הַבְּאֵ֗רha.be.'Er
H875
a pit · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
spake
אָמַ֤ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Moses
לְמֹשֶׁ֔הle.mo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Gather
אֱסֹף֙'e.Sof
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
people
הָעָ֔םha.'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
together
אָסַףʼâçaph
H622
to gather for any purpose
give
וְאֶתְּנָ֥הve.'e.te.Nah
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
water
מָֽיִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 20:8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall…
Judges 9:21 And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother.
Isaiah 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 41:17-18 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel w…
Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the…
Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give…
Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of th…
Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 21:10-20
We have here an account of the several stages and removals of the children of Israel, till they came into the plains of Moab, out of which they at length passed over Jordan into Canaan, as we read in the beginning of Joshua. Natural motions are quicker the nearer they are to their centre. The Israelites were now drawing near to the promised rest, and now they set forward, as the expression is, Num 21:10. It were well if we would do thus in our way to heaven, rid ground in the latter end of our journey, and the nearer we come to heaven be so much the more active and abundant in the work of the Lord. Two things especially are observable in the brief account here given of these removals: -
1.…
from thence they went to Beer--that is, a "well." The name was probably given to it afterwards [see Jdg 9:21], as it is not mentioned (Num. 33:1-56).
John Gill on Numbers 21:16
And from thence they went to Beer,.... A place so called from a well which sprung up here, of which the following account is given:
that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses; promising him to give it to the children of Israel, without asking for it; which was a very singular favour, and for which they were thankful: saying to him:
gather the people together, and I will give them water; for as they were now gone from the river Arnon, and the streams and brooks of it, they might be in want of water, though they did not murmur as they had been used to do; and without their petition for it, the Lord promises to give it to them; and that they might be witness of the miracle that would…
Numbers 21:4-20
4. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
4. Et profecti sunt de Hor monte per viam maris Suph, ut circuirent terram Edom: et angustiis affecta est anima populi in via.
5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
5. Itaque loquutus est populus contra Deum et Mosen, Ut quid ascendere nos fecistis ex Aegypto, ut moreremur in deserto? Non est enim panis neque aqua. Et taedet animam nost…
The Church Fathers
The reading about the well and the song which Israel sang at the well has been recited to us from the book of Numbers — a reading which we see overflowing with mysteries in the usual measure, or rather perhaps even beyond the usual. For it says: "and from there, the well; this is the well of which the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people, and I will give them water to drink." But in these words the historical letter does not seem to me to possess much claim. For what is it that the Lord so greatly commanded Moses to gather the people, that he might give them water to drink from the well? — as if indeed the people would not of their own accord come together at the well for the sake of drinking. Why, then, is it so emphatically commanded to the prophet, that by his own zeal and labor he should gather the people to draw the water of the well? Hence the cheapness of the letter sends us back to the preciousness of the spiritual understanding. And therefore I think it fitting to gather the mysteries of wells also from other places of Scripture, so that from a comparison of many, if the present passage contains anything of obscurity, it may become clear. The Spirit of God therefore says through Solomon in Proverbs: "Drink waters from your own vessels and from the fountain of your own wells. And let not the waters be overpoured for you outside your own fountain" — although in other copies we have read: "and let the waters be poured out for you outside your own fountain." "Let your waters be for yourself alone, and let no stranger partake of them." Therefore each one of us has, as is designated in these words, a well within himself. Nay, we say something even more: each one of us has not one well, but many wells, and not one vessel of water, but many vessels; for it did not say: "Drink waters from your vessel," but "from your vessels," and it did not say: "and from the fountain of your well," but "from the fountain of your wells." We read that the patriarchs too had wells: Abraham had them, Isaac also had them; and I think Jacob had them as well. And taking your beginning from these wells, run through all Scripture seeking wells, and come even to the Gospels, and there you will find the well above which our Savior sat resting after the labor of the journey — then, when the Samaritan woman came and wished to draw water from the well, the power of the well or of…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Beer — Well. (1.) A place where a well was dug by the direction of Moses, at the forty-fourth station of the Hebrews in their wanderings (Num. 21:16-18) in the wilderness of Moab. (See WELL.) (2.) A town in…
Beer-elim — Well of heroes, probably the name given to Beer, the place where the chiefs of Israel dug a well (Num. 21:16; Isa. 15:8).
Beerelim — (well of heroes), a spot named in (Isaiah 15:8) as on the “border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:16) comp. Numb 21:13
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Beer · 1. A station of the Israelites — 1. A station of the Israelites
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · To beer or the well — To beer or the well
Wells · Mentioned in scripture: Beer (east of Jordan) — Mentioned in scripture: Beer (east of Jordan)
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
March of Israel round Edom and Moab, to the Heights of Pisgah in the Field of Moab (cf. Num 33:41-47). - Num 21:10. From the camp in the Arabah, which is not more particularly described, where the murmuring people were punished by fiery serpents, Israel removed to Oboth. According to the list of stations in Num 33:41., they went from Hor to Zalmonah, the situation of which has not been determined; for C. v. Raumer's conjecture (der Zug der Israeliten, p. 45), that it was the same place as the modern Maan, has no firm basis in the fact that Maan is a station of the Syrian pilgrim caravans. From Zalmonah they went to Phunon, and only then to Oboth. The name Phunon is no doubt the same as Phino…
The location of Beer is unknown (cp. Isa 15:8). The poetic fragment describes the excavation of a new well and reflects the joy that this occasioned in a semiarid region. That the laborers were princes and leaders and the tools were scepters and staffs may indicate that digging the well included a festive ceremony.
Rashi on Numbers 21:16
ומשם בארה AND FROM THENCE TO THE WELL — from there the flow of blood ran to the well. How? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Who will inform my children of those miracles? — The proverb says: If you have given bread to a child let its mother know (i.e., since the mother has, to an extent, benefitted by this, and the child cannot tell her, you should do so) (Shabbat 10b). After they (the Israelites) had passed by, the mountains returned to their original positions, and the well that followed the Israelites flowed down into the valley and brought up from there the blood and the arms and other limbs of those who had been thus killed, and carried them around the camp, so that Israel saw them, a…
