פירוש על במדבר 21:18

באר חפרוה THE WELL, [PRINCES] DIGGED IT means: This is the well which the princes, Moses and Aaron, digged (cf. Targum Jonathan on).

UMIMIDBAR MATANAH.’ The meaning of this is as Onkelos rendered it [“and from the wilderness it was given to them”], this being an elliptical expression that is common in songs. Thus it is saying that “from the wilderness, which is a land of drought and thirst, was this gift [the well] given to us; and from this gift [of the well which descended] unto the brooks, and from these brooks [ascended] to the heights²⁷⁶Verse 19. until Pisgah, which looks down upon the land which is a complete howling wilderness²⁷⁷Deuteronomy 32:10. — Ramban here is thus explaining Verse 20 as well. — there was no other brook, nor any other spring of water except for this one.” This was the Well of Miriam in the opinion of our Rabbis,²⁷⁸Yerushalmi, Kethuboth XII, 3. See also above, Note 154. or a well which came out by word of Moses at the command of the Almighty, which Israel had not asked for. For when G-d told Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water,²⁷³Verse 16. streams overflowed²⁷⁹Psalms 78:20. from it [the well], and continued unto distant places.

באר חפרוה שרים, this well was not full to its brim such as wells which are filled by waters emptying into it from above.