Numbers, Chapter 21

Numbers Chapter 21

Verses 1-35: Victories over the Canaanites, the Journey, and Battles against Sihon and Og

1. When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.
2. Then Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
3. The LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
4. They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way.
5. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
6. Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
9. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
10. The Israelites set out and camped in Oboth.
11. They journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.
12. From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered.
13. From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14. Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, “Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,
15. and the slope of the valleys that extends to the site of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.”
16. From there they went to Beer; that is the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so I may give them water.”
17. Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!—
18. the well that the leaders sank, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah,
19. and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20. and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down upon the desert.
21. Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
22. “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.
24. Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong.
25. Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon.
27. Therefore the poets say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established.
28. For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29. Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30. We have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we have laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”
31. Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
32. Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33. Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
34. But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
35. So they struck him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor left to him, and they possessed his land.

Interpretation: This chapter highlights the challenges and triumphs of the Israelites as they journey towards the Promised Land. It features battles against the Canaanite king of Arad, the miraculous provision of water, the plague of fiery serpents, and victories over Sihon and Og, two Amorite kings. These narratives underscore the Israelites’ reliance on God for provision and victory, their struggles with faith and obedience, and the consequences of rebellion. The victories over Sihon and Og mark significant achievements in the Israelites’ conquest of the land east of the Jordan River, setting the stage for their future settlement in the Promised Land.