God’s Word for You
Numbers 21:16-20 The digging song at the new well
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, November 3, 2021
16 From there they continued to Be’er. That is the well which the LORD spoke about to Moses: “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, O well! Sing about it.
18 Sing about the well which the officials dug,
which the nobles of the people hollowed out
with their scepters and their staffs.
A “Be’er” is a well, which is how Beersheba is named: “The Well of the Oath” (Genesis 21:31). At this well on the border of Moab, the Lord blessed the people with water without their asking for it. They had been showing their trust and faithfulness, and he gave graciously. Some of the men had to work to enlarge the spring into a well big enough to serve the whole nation. The diggers are called “officials” here, and “nobles.” I think it’s even likely that some of the leading men from each tribe took part.
The last line of the song can be taken as poetic license. Scepters and staffs don’t seem like the best digging tools in any substances, but “scepters and staffs” helps us to identify who the diggers were: the leaders of the tribes of Israel. Actually, “scepter” is a word worth examining in Hebrew. It is machoqeq. In its simple root form, it means to carve or dig out, such as a grave (Isaiah 22:16), but can also mean to scratch or inscribe a law (Isaiah 30:8). Related to that is its use in Job’s famous words, “O that my words were inscribed on a scroll” (Job 19:23). Here the root appears in an intensive stem (the poel) which can mean “scepter” (Genesis 49:10) or with the verbal idea of an official, declarative or forensic action, “with their official inscription tools.” “Scepters” is a less cumbersome term, but it carries the meaning of a thing done in an official capacity. We might make a joke like this today if, for example, it were your birthday and a Prince showed up to carve your birthday cake. You might say he did it with his scepter, even if he used a knife. “Scepter” adds an official sense to the action.
Unlike the halting, limping rhythm of a qinah or lament, this song has a strong, regular and even tempo. It gives the impression of a happy tune, sung to encourage those royal diggers in their digging.
From the wilderness they continued to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 from Bamoth to the valley in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah that overlooks the wasteland.
Here some more geographical names carry us along into a land that had evidently once belonged to Moab but which was at this time the possession of a group called the Amorites. Mattanah is high up on a gulch north of the Arnon and which empties into the Arnon. This little stream is known as the Wadi eth-Themed. From there, the Israelites moved through the high plateau (Bamoth means “high places”) to the northeastern corner of the Dead Sea. Pisgah is a ridge of mountain heights that includes Mount Nebo. This is the northern end of the Mountains of Abarim. In Jeremiah, the three mountainous corners of Israel are given as Lebanon (northwest), Bashan (northeast) and Abarim (south) (Jeremiah 22:20). Besides “overlooking the wasteland,” the Pisgah ridge overlooks all of the Promised Land. Since the valley is described but not the summit, we take the passage to be saying that they did not go up the mountain at this time, but remained in the valley below much as they had when they were at Mount Sinai.
Verses 18-20 seem to be an overview of the journey at this point that omits one important event. This is the war or battle against Sihon and the Amorites. The details will be given in the verses that follow, and the information is given outside the chronology because of the additional war against Sihon’s northern ally, Og king of Bashan.
The leaders were showing their leadership by rolling up their sleeves and working alongside, and even in place of, ordinary workers. The people were showing their faith and obedience with the simple good work of daily life without complaining, even under the difficult conditions of these final months of the sojourn, nearly forty years after leaving Egypt. The happy digging song of our passage today shows their frame of mind, content with the task at hand in the service of the Lord. When we live under our government with contentment and perform our God-given tasks, God grants us happiness, prosperity, and contentment. Job’s younger friend observed this: “If they obey and serve God, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment” (Job 36:11), and of course, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). When God grants us happy days on earth, we should thank him all the more because days of grief and hardship come often enough. We should learn to live with reverence and honor given to Christ no matter what we happen to have as blessings in the moment, for “a little with righteousness is better than wealth with wrongdoing.” May God bless you with your everyday tasks today, whether it is a joyful day, a sad day, a birthday, or simply today. Serve the Lord with eagerness and joy, and may God help you to show your faith in everything you do.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.