Commentary for Numbers 21:20

ומבמות הגיא אשר בשדי מואב AND FROM THE HEIGHTS (it descended finally) INTO THE VALLEY THAT IS IN THE FIELD OF MOAB, for there Moses died, and there the well finally ceased to flow. Another explanation is: כרוה נדיבי עם THE NOBLES OF THE PEOPLE HOLLOWED IT — each prince of the tribes when they encamped took his staff and drew a line on the ground from the well to his banner and encampment, and the waters of the well ran by way of that mark and came before the camping place of each tribe (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 21).

As there Moshe died. Meaning: Since it mentioned here (v. 19), “The gift [traveled] to the valley” it also mentioned that the well traveled on to the heights, and from the heights to the valley, even though these journeys had not yet happened. Once the well is mentioned here, the Torah relates everything about it. Consequently, once we see that [after the valley] it did not travel any further with them, Rashi gives the reason for this saying “Moshe died there and it was discontinued.” Re’m

ומבמות הגיא, “and from the elevated ground back to the valley.” It continued to flow until it came to the summit which looked down on a district known as the face of the wasteland. Compare chapter 32,10. This was a source of great joy as they could see that even in the distance and in that wasteland there was plenty of water to provide water for their herds and flocks. In the Talmud, tractate Eyruvin, folio 54 the Talmud concluded that the words וממדבר מתנה, the point that the Torah was making is a figure of speech, i.e. that if one allows oneself to be trampled on by others as they trample the ground in the desert, one will be rewarded with acquiring a great deal of Torah knowledge as if it had been given to one as a gift. Seeing that it had been come by as a gift, it will become almost a hereditary gift, and being so that person will eventually attain considerable stature among his peers, i.e. ומנחליאל במות, “and due to gifts from the Lord he hill rise to lofty heights.” On the other hand, if he starts out in life with a haughty attitude, he will ultimately wind up very low, like the גיא, valley, at the bottom of the lofty hills, במות. If he will then change his attitude, the Lord will raise him up again, i.e. כל גיא ינשא, “every valley will be uplifted,” (Isaiah 40,4) [The passage is understood as a synopsis of Jewish history. Ed.]

ומבמות, and from “bamot" the Israelites spread out into the valley referred to in Numbers 33,39, as “avel hashittim.” The word; avel means: valley, steppe.

במחקק THROUGH THE LAWGIVER — by command of Moses who is called the מחוקק, the Lawgiver, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 33:21) “for there is the portion of the lawgiver (Moses’ grave) concealed”. But why is Moses not expressly mentioned by name in this song? Because he was punished through the well! And since Moses’ name is not mentioned, the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is also not mentioned. A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king whom his subjects invited to a feast. He said: If my friend will be there, I, too, will be there, but if not, I will not go (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 21).

And there the well was discontinued. You might ask: Was the well not discontinued when Miriam died, as stated above (20:2)? The answer is that it returned in the merit of Moshe, and when he died, it [permanently] stopped (Taanis 9a).

אשר בשדה מואב ראש הפסגה, “that is in the field of Moav, by the top of the Pissgah; the word ומבמות which introduced this phrase means combined: “the elevation in the field of Moav which is beside the top of summit, which in turn looks down on pney hayeshimon, is the great desert.” Seeing that at one time this tract of land had belonged to Moav, it was still described by the Torah as such, as it had been known as such by the Israelites who were familiar with the region. This is also why the Torah still speaks about ערבות מואב, “the region formerly belonging to Moav, and still referred to by many as such.”A different approach to these verses commencing with וממדבר מתנה. The well of which the Israelites spoke in their song had great significance seeing that in a desert, a place completely devoid of water, they had been provided with ample water completely free of charge, i.e. as a gift, .מתנה

ראש הפסגה — Understand this as the Targum has it: to the top of the height.

Why is Moshe not mentioned… You might ask: Above, immediately in the beginning of the song “It was then that Yisroel sang” (v. 17). Rashi should have asked why Moshe was not mentioned as well. The answer is that one might have thought that it was because he sinned at the well, as it is written above that he struck the rock (20:11). Consequently [one would say that] the Torah did not wish to mention him in this song which refers to the well, as Rashi explains. However now that he explains that במחוקק ["through the lawgiver"] refers to Moshe, [Rashi asks] why Moshe was not mentioned explicitly in the song.

וממתנה נחליאל, “and from the place called Matanah as far as Nachaliel” there could not be found any other wells capable of supplying the water needed for the Israelite nation. Once they had received this gift of water from G-d, the river Arnon swelled way beyond its normal flow. (B’chor shor)

פסגה denotes “high”, just as (Psalms 48:14) פסגו ארמנותיה, which means “make high its palaces”.

That peak. Because we cannot say that it refers to the valley, given that גיא ["valley"] is in the masculine form while ונשקפה ["that overlooks"] is in the feminine form.

The letter י in the word נחליאל, is superfluous, just as it is superfluous in Psalms 123,1 היושבי בשמים, and in Psalms113,5, 113,6. The ending אל in the word expresses strength, as it does in Ezekiel 17,13: ואת אילי הארץ לקח, “and the mighty of the land he took away.”We also find this spelled out in Numbers 20,11 where the Torah stressed that a large amount of water came forth, i.e. far more than was needed. [there was no other reason to emphasize this just as it was not emphasized in Exodus 17, 6, where Moses had struck a rock for that purpose a first time. Ed.]

ונשקפה AND IT LOOKS — this height looks towards the place whose name is ישימון, which word describes the wilderness because that is waste (שמם with which the word ישימון may be linguistically associated). Another explanation is: ונשקפה AND IT LOOKS — the well looks על פני ישימון towards the front of ישימון, the wilderness, for it was hid (emptied) itself in the sea of Tiberias, and anyone who stood by the wilderness may look and see a kind of sieve in the sea, and that was the well!. Thus did R. Tanchuma (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 21) expound this passage.

Another interpretation: The well may be seen. Because באר ["well"] is in the feminine form. The other interpretation is necessary because according to the first reason there is the difficulty that the entire passage deals with the well, so how could one explain that ונשקפה ["that overlooks"] refers to the peak? Consequently Rashi brings the other interpretation. However, according to the other interpretation there is the difficulty that it should have said ונשקפה מן הישימון ["that looks out from the wastelands"], but what is the meaning of על פני ["over the wastelands"]? Consequently Rashi brings the first reason also.