Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 15:27 reads the stopover at Elim as a map of Israel's constitution: And they came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, a fountain for each tribe; and seventy palm-trees, corresponding with the seventy elders of Israel: and they encamped there by the waters.
Twelve fountains for twelve tribes. Seventy palms for the seventy elders. The Targumist refuses to let these be coincidence. The desert had arranged itself for the shape of Israel's future governance.
The seventy elders will appear by name a few chapters later, when Moses cannot judge the people alone (Exodus 18). They will return in Numbers 11, when the Holy One takes the spirit from Moses and distributes it among them. Seventy is the number of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinic high court that would preside over Jewish law until the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
Twelve is the number of tribes. Each tribe gets its own fountain because each tribe will develop its own relationship to Torah. Reuben will not drink where Judah drinks. Each will need water of its own. The Targum is telling us that Jewish peoplehood is not a uniform crowd. It is twelve distinct fountains, each feeding a tribe, all within the same oasis.
The Maggid hears in this the deep wisdom of the Jewish tradition. Unity is not uniformity. The land of Israel will eventually be divided among the tribes in exactly this pattern, twelve portions with shared boundaries. The governance will be delegated among seventy elders, shaded by the same palms.
Takeaway: a healthy community has many fountains, not one. It has many shade-givers, not one. Elim was not a rest stop. It was a blueprint.