Numbers 21:3

And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel,.... In their prayers and vows; with acceptance heard, and answered them according to their wish: and delivered up the Canaanites: into their hands, gave

And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.

They utterly destroyed them: when? Answ. Either, 1. Some time after this, under Joshua, who subdued, among others, the king of Arad, . And so this is mentioned here by anticipation, that the vow being now made and mentioned, the effect or performance of it might be recorded, though out of its place; and so this verse must be supposed to be added by some of the prophets, and inserted into Moses’ s history, as some other passages seem to be. Or, 2. At this time; and so this is not the same Arad with that, , nor this the same Hormah with that there mentioned, but another of the same name, which is most frequent in persons and places in Scripture. And this is the more probable, because that Arad and Hormah, , are two distinct places, and had divers kings, whereas here the same place is called both Arad and Hormah; and because that Arad seems to be at some good distance from this, and more within the country, and more northward, as may be gathered from the other places joined with it, Joshua 12$. whereas this Arad was near Edom, , and in the south, . Quest. 1. How could this be done in the land of Canaan, when Moses neither entered himself, nor led the people into that land? Answ. Neither Moses nor the whole body of the people did this exploit, but a select number sent out for this purpose to punish that king and people, who were so fierce and malicious that they came out of their own country to fight with the Israelites in the wilderness; and these, when they had done this work, returned to their brethren into the wilderness. Quest. 2. Why did they not all now go into Canaan, when some of them had once entered it, and pursue this victory? Answ. Because God would not permit it, there being several works yet to be done, other people must be conquered, the Israelites must be further humbled and tried and purged, Moses must die, and then they shall enter, and that in a more glorious manner, even over Jordan, which shall be miraculously dried up, and give them passage.

Numbers 21:3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah.Ver. 3. Delivered up the Canaanites.] This King Arad, heartened with his former success, might - as Guicciardini saith of Charles VIII of France, in his expedition against Naples - come into the field like thunder and lightning, but go out like a snuff; more than a man at first, less than a woman at last.

(3) And they utterly destroyed them and their cities.—The meaning of the verb which is here employed is to devote to destruction, and hence to destroy utterly. It does not clearly appear whether this destruction was effected at once, or whether the fulfilment of the vow took place at a later period. (See Joshua 12:14; Judges 1:17.) If the attack of the Canaanites was made at the time of the final departure from Kadesh, the latter view must be maintained, as it can scarcely be supposed that the cities could have been rebuilt and again destroyed in so short an interval. And he called the name of the place Hormah.—Better, And the name of the place was called Hormah. The word Hormah—i.e., a devoted thing—is cognate with the verb which occurs in this and the preceding verse, and which is rendered utterly destroy. The place is so called by anticipation in Numbers 14:45, and, as in regard to other names (e.g., Bethel and Jacob), the name was probably given anew to the place on a later occasion (Judges 1:17).

Verse 3. The Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel] The whole of this verse appears to me to have been added after the days of Joshua. It is certain the Canaanites were not utterly destroyed at the time here spoken of, for this did not take place till after the death of Moses. If, instead of utterly destroyed them, ויחרם vaiyacharem, we translate they devoted them to utter destruction, it will make a good sense, and not repugnant to the Hebrew; though some think it more probable that the verse was added afterwards by Joshua or Ezra, in testimony of the fulfilment of God's promise; for Arad, who is mentioned as being destroyed here, is mentioned among those destroyed by Joshua long after, (see Joshua 12:14): but this is quite consistent with their being devoted to destruction, as this might be fulfilled any time after. See Clarke on Leviticus 27:34.

3. the name of the place was called Hormah] In view of the expression ‘destroyed them and their cities,’ Hormah would seem to be a district and not a town; and perhaps it is so in Numbers 14:45 (‘the Hormah’) and Dt. 1:441 [Note: This is the more probable if we read ‘from Seir’ with LXX., Syr., Vulg.] . But in other passages Hormah is a city; cf. Joshua 12:14; Joshua 15:30; Joshua 19:4, 1 Samuel 30:30, 1 Chronicles 4:30; and in Judges 1:17 it is said that its former name was Ẓ ?ephath.

He called the name of the place - Render it as: “the name of the place was called.” The transitive verb here is, by a common Hebrew idiom, equivalent to an impersonal one. Hormah - i. e. “Ban.” See Numbers 14:45 and note.

3. They utterly destroyed them and their cities — It is supposed by some that the actual destruction of the cities did not take place then, for two reasons: 1.) It would have required an entrance