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שתים עשרה עינת מים TWELVE SPRINGS OF WATER — A number corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel were ready for them (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:27).

AND THERE WERE TWELVE SPRINGS OF WATER, AND THREE SCORE AND TEN PALM TREES. It is not such a significant matter that seventy palm trees are found in a certain place. In the lowlands, a thousand and more palm trees can be found in one location, and springs of abundant water are springing forth in valleys and hills,²⁷²Deuteronomy 8:7. and Scripture does not mention them at all! [Why then are these springs and palm trees singled out here?]
Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that Scripture narrates that they came to a good place which was unlike Marah. In Elim, there were many springs, and the waters were sweet and good, since palm trees cannot thrive in soil where the waters are bitter. It is for this reason that Scripture says here and they encamped there, because on account of it, they stayed there for more days than in the other places they passed through. In the section of Eileh Mas’ei,²⁷³Numbers 33:1-49. A detailed listing is given there of all the places through which Israel passed on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land. however, Scripture does not relate anything about Marah, and yet it states, And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and three score and ten palm trees, and they encamped there,²⁷⁴Ibid., Verse 9. Accordingly Ibn Ezra’s explanation that the springs and palm trees of Elim were mentioned here in order to contrast with Marah, where the waters were bitter, cannot be correct, because there in Eileh Mas’ei, Scripture states nothing about Marah and yet mentions the same about Elim as here. and a description of a place at such length is not found there about any of the places they traversed!
Now Rashi wrote: “Twelve springs of water, a number corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, were ready for them. And seventy palm trees — these corresponded to the seventy elders.” But I do not know the nature of this preparation, i.e., whether it was done for them by a miracle just for that time. I have however, seen here in the Mechilta: “Rabbi Eleazar of Modaim said: ‘On the very day that the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, He created twelve springs corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees corresponding to the seventy elders.’” Scripture thus tells that each tribe encamped beside his spring and the elders sat in their shade praising G-d for them, because He had prepared for them [such a restful place] in a land of drought. Our Rabbis have yet another explanation in the Midrash of Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah²⁷⁵Sefer Habahir, 161. Another name for this Midrash of Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah is Sefer Habahir (Book of the Bright Light). It is one of the oldest books of the Cabala. See I. Weinstock, B’maglei Haniglah V’hanistar, pp. 15-20, on the origin of the names. on this verse, which is wonderful in our eyes.²⁷⁶See my Hebrew commentary, pp. 361-2, for further elucidation on this mystic matter.

שתים עשרה עינות מים, in spite of this, the people moved on from there.

ושם שתים עשרה עינות מים ושבעים תמרים, “and there were 12 wells of water there as well as 70 date palms.” Nachmanides holds that this was not something so special, as there are may oases in the desert where sweet water wells are found, wells that are surrounded by fruit-bearing palm trees. Rashi writes that the number 12 is allegorically significant, as it represents a separate well of water for each of the 12 tribes. The number 70, i.e. seventy palm trees, is a hint at the 70 elders. I do not know whether Rashi meant to imply that the wells, their number, and the palm trees, as well as their number were phenomena that came into being miraculously for that occasion. There is even a commentary on our verse in the Mechilta that both phenomena had been created during the six days of creation and that they had awaited being able to serve a useful purpose until that time. Ibn Ezra is of the opinion that our verse simply tells us that after having encountered an oasis that had first been disappointing, the waters having been bracken, now they found an oasis that offered all the advantages commonly associated with such places in the midst of a desert. When they saw the date palms they knew immediately that the wells provided drinking water, as otherwise the date palms could not have grown there successfully.

Corresponding to the twelve Tribes. Rashi is answering the question: Why does it mention the number?

Then they came to Eilim. This was close to Marah so they should not have needed to camp there. For this reason it is written “they came” rather than “they camped.” In fact, when they first arrived they did not intend to camp but only to avail themselves of the water from the springs. The twelve springs and seventy date palms signified that after receiving statutes and ordinances at Marah they were now to have appointed over them seventy elders and twelve tribal princes. Only after this are they referred to as “the community of the B’nei Yisrael,” for they are only a “community” when led by the elders.

(Exodus 15:27) "And they came to Eilim, and there (they found) twelve springs of water.": We are hereby apprised that it was (specially) favored above all other places. Know this to be so, for there were twelve springs there, which sufficed for (only) seventy palm trees; but when Israel came and sixty ten thousands encamped there, it sufficed for them (for one day) and twice and thrice over. "and they encamped there by the waters": R. Elazar Hamodai says: When the Holy One Blessed be He created His world, He created twelve springs, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Jacob, and seventy date-palms, corresponding to the seventy elders. What is the intent of "and they encamped there by the water"? They preoccupied themselves there with the study of the (sections of the) Torah which had been given to them at Marah.

ויחנו שם, “they encamped there.” The reason why they did so was to devote time to study the laws G-d had taught them, as we read about in verse 25.

ושבעים תמרים AND SEVENTY PALM-TREES — corresponding to the seventy elders (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:27).

Were made available to them. I.e., B’nei Yisrael found them. It does not mean they were created now, for it is written (Koheles 1:9), “There is nothing new under the sun.”