Numbers 21
ButlerThis probably occurred at a station in the Desert et-Tih (Paran), on the eastward journey toward the Gulf of Akabah, and before reaching the Arabah Valley. B.
7. Now the people are glad to seek to Moses unbidden. They had spoken against God and Moses, and now they humbly ask Moses that he would pray to God for them. He that so often prayed for them unbidden, cannot but much more do it requested; and now obtains the means of their cure. It was equally in the power of God to remove the serpents, and to heal their stinging; to have cured the Israelites by his word, and by his sign; but he finds it best for his people (to exercise their faith) that the serpents may bite and their bitings may envenom and that this venom may endanger the Israelites; and that they thus affected may seek to him for remedy, and seeking may find it from such means as should have no power but in signification; that while their bodies were cured by the sign, their souls might be confirmed by the matter signified. Bp. H.
8,9. The Hebrews cannot but acknowledge a mystery in this brazen serpent, which our Lord Christ himself hath explained in his discourse with Nicodemus. He doth not compare himself to the brazen serpent (for what likeness can there be found between the serpent and the seed of the woman; or how should light be foreshadowed by darkness), but he compares the lifting up of this serpent on the pole with his lifting up, or crucifixion on the cross. For so he himself expresses his death and the manner of it; “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” And their looking on the serpent in the wilderness, as evidently represented men’s believing on Christ; and their cure, the powerful virtue of Christ’s death to preserve all those that believe on him from perishing. Patrick.—From our Lord’s words, we may learn: (1) That as the serpent was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. (2) That as the Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for salvation. (3) That as God provided no other remedy than this looking for the wounded Israelites, so he has provided no other way of salvation than faith in the blood of his son. (4) That as he who looked at the brazen serpent was cured and did live; so he that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life. (5) That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God healed the people; so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men. May not all these things be plainly seen in the circumstances of this transaction, without making the serpent a type of Jesus Christ? A. C.
It was intended to be a pictorial representation in the outer physical world, both of the disease and cure of the souls of a fallen race, bitten by that old serpent, the Devil, who seduced the race into sin. How striking does the resemblance become as we look at it in this light! The disease in both cases is similar. In one case it is the body bitten by the visible serpent, in the other case the soul bitten of him of whom the serpent is the type. As the bite of the one inflames the flesh with fiery sores, so the bite of the other inflames all the evil passions and lusts of the soul. In both cases alike the remedy can be found only in what God prescribes. But our Lord uses it to illustrate the very central truth of his Gospel. For he declares, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” Have you ever pondered the deep significance of this expression, “The Son of Man?” And yet, in assigning the ground and reason for this, he declares, “For God gave his only begotten Son.” It was, therefore, an essential element in the remedy provided for the serpent-bitten souls that the only begotten Son of God should become also the “Son of Man.” And, observe, to provide the remedy for the souls exposed to death and dying on the burning sin-desert, the Son of Man must be “lifted up.” It is no random use of words, this “lifted up,” for Jesus uses them again, with remarkable emphasis, in John 12:32, 33: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die.” The act of faith bridges over the centuries—forgets the Roman soldiers and the Jewish mob—all the historic drapery of the crucifixion, and sees this Jesus here and now lifted up in the shame and agony, and yet in the majesty of the crucified One. He stands out in matchless splendor now from the darkness of human history as the one great object which can arouse the self sacrificing enthusiasm, the enduring patience, the buoyant trust and hope of the human soul. If Jesus had only taught us the guilt of sin without facing it for us; the power of sin without breaking its spell; the beauty of holiness without bestowing upon us the gifts of his holy Spirit—he might have excited our wonder, indeed, but would only have augmented our misery. Thus Jesus “lifted up” is the grand attraction, not because he is the first of all teachers, but because he is the all-sufficient victim for sin—“lifted up” as such, he draws all unto him in loving obedience. It is by his sacrifice that he has such an attractive power. And then, also, by his good Spirit, he renews those thus drawn to himself. S. R.
Our condition in the wilderness of life resembles that of the Israelites in their wilderness. Those were cured who looked to the serpent of brass, and we rise to newness of life by lifting our eyes to the cross. By the good pleasure of God man bears an active and important part in his salvation, but a part which is very simple. All he does is to believe and look, to look and believe. Whoso sees the Son and believes in him hath eternal life. There must be something to look at, and this depends solely on God; but it is necessary to look, and this is the part of man. The object exhibited to our view is of such a nature and of such virtue that when looked at it gives us life, just as life was given to those who looked at the serpent of Moses. . . . We look, and we are saved. We look, and we are comforted. There is the blood of the great sin-offering, the blood that cleanseth from all sin. There is the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. There is the well of living water, springing up into everlasting life. That cross is both death and life; condemnation and pardon, weakness and strength, shame and glory. It kills, and makes alive; it wounds, and it heals; it is wrath, and it is love; it is terror, and it is tenderness; it is righteousness, and it is grace; it is Satan’s victory, and it is Satan’s overthrow; it is the world’s triumph, and it is the world’s destruction; it saves in crucifying, and it crucifies in saving. All hell is there, and all heaven is there; rebellion is there, and reconciliation is there. Vinet.
That cross of agony and shame reared on Golgotha shall never be overturned. Men of every race, and clime, and dye of guiltiness, shall be drawn toward it, and subdued by it. Everything else on earth shall totter and pass away; laws, customs, institutions, religions. But this shall stand unshaken amid the nations. Jews and Gentiles, wise and foolish, high and low, bond and free, shall gather round it. High looming amid the civilizations and the centuries, it shall stand and draw; working slowly, it may be, but working ever surely till its work is done, and great voices are heard shouting back and forth athwart the heavens, that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. R. D. H.
The fact of the erection of the brazen serpent in the desert is fully confirmed by 2 Kings 18:4. We are there told that the brazen serpent which Moses had made was preserved till the time of Hezekiah, and called Nehushlan (brass, copper); that it had become an object of Divine worship (through the offering of incense); and that it was destroyed by Hezekiah himself, who broke it to pieces. But if it is fully established as a historical fact that Moses did erect the serpent, it can hardly be doubted that he set it up not as a (mere) symbol only, but also as a means of healing. And if the Israelites preserved it, and subsequently paid it Divine honors, this is only conceivable on the supposition that they associated with it the historical recollection of the cure that had been wrought. K.
FROM THE DESERT ET-TIH INTO THE ARABAH; TO ELATH AND EZION-GEBER ON THE RED SEA. NORTHWARD ON EASTERN BOUNDARY OF EDOM, OR MOUNT SEIR, TO THE VALLEY OF THE ARNON. DESERT WANDERINGS ENDED BY TWO SONGS OF GLADNESS.
De. 21 THEN we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red 2 Sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. And the LORD 3 spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed 5 unto yourselves therefore: contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on: because I have given mount Seir unto 6 Esau for a possession. Ye shall purchase food of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye 7 shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand: he hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. 8 So we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. 9 And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10 (The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim: these 11 also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites 12 also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead: as Israel did unto the land of his posses- 13 sion, which the LORD gave unto them.) Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered. And 14 we went over the brook Zered. And the days in which we came from Kadesh barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the LORD swore unto them. 15 Moreover the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. 16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the 17 people, that the LORD spake unto me, saying, Thou art this day to pass over Ar, the border of 18 Moab: and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor 19 contend with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a posses-
20 sion: because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them 21 Zamzammim; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed 22 them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: as he did for the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and 23 they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: and the Avvim which dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed 24 them, and dwelt in their stead). Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his 25 land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.
Na. 21 11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness 12 which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they journeyed, and pitched in 13 the valley of Zered. From thence they journeyed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that cometh out of the border of the Amorites: for Arnon is the 14 border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord,
Vaheb in Suphah,
And the valleys of Arnon,
15. And the slope of the valleys
That inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar,
And leaneth upon the border of Moab.
16. And from thence they journeyed to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD said unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
17. Then sang Israel this song:
Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it:
18. The well, which the princes digged,
Which the nobles of the people delved,
With the sceptre, and with their staves.
After being in a part of the very country they were going to on the west of the Dead Sea, they returned toward the Red Sea, and near the eastern tongue or gulf of the Red Sea on the south of Edom marched round Edom to the east of the Dead Sea, in order to enter Canaan from the east side of Jordan! Kennicott.
De. 2:1. By the way to the Red Sea. A careful study of all the connected passages impresses us with the reasonableness of the conjecture that the plague of “fiery serpents” (close of preceding section) occurred at one of the encampments on the way to the Red Sea, in the Wilderness of et-Tih, and before descending into the Arabah to the stations of Elath and Ezion-geber. From that unknown encampment the host proceeded into the Arabah Valley to these stations at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. From thence their course would lie northward and upward on the eastern border of Mount Seir, or Edom. “We compassed Mount Seir many days,” says Moses, referring to the long stay at these Red Sea stations “And the Lord said, Turn you northward.” B.
The great valley of the Arabah is the physical prolongation of that great depression which commences at the north with the valleys of the
Litany and the Orontis [Mount Lebanon], and stretches thence southward along the course of the Jordan, the Salt Sea, and the Ghor, through the El Arabah itself into the Gulf of Akabah; a depression pronounced by Humboldt to be the most remarkable on the face of the earth. Throughout the whole extent of this depression the strata of the earth’s crust have been fractured and vertically displaced, so that those on the eastern side of the fracture have been relatively elevated, or those on the western relatively lowered. This fracture is known among geologists as a “fault,” and in consequence of the displacement above stated, the rocks and formations on opposite sides of this depression do not in general correspond to each other. The line of fault generally runs along the eastern side of the valley, and close to the base of the mountains of granite and porphyry. There are no continuous rivers in the Arabah Valley; and the floods, which from time to time descend from the glens opening out on either hand, are speedily absorbed or evaporated on entering the plain. Hull.
The general direction of Israel’s march, in order to “compass” the land of Edom, was first to the head of the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Akabah. Thence they would, a few hours north of Ezion-geber (the giant’s backbone), enter the mountains, and then pass northward, marching to Moab “by the road which runs between Edom and the limestone plateau of the great eastern desert.” A. E.
The road taken by the Israelites, with the design of skirting the territory of the Edomites, led them into the immediate neighborhood of the gulf, where the Wady el-Ithm (Getum) afforded a good opening through the mountains, by which they could cross without interruption to the eastern side. They turned to the north and traversed the caravan road, which is still in existence, “on a ridge which forms the western boundary of the desert of Arabia, and the eastern boundary of the cultivated country, and leads from the land of Edom to the sources of the Jordan on the eastern side of the Ghor.” K.
4. The name Seir was perhaps adopted on account of its being descriptive of the “rugged” character of the territory. The original inhabitants of the country were called Horites, from Hori, the grandson of Seir (Gen. 36: 20, 22), because that name was descriptive of their habits as “Troglodytes,” or “dwellers in caves.” Immediately after the death of Isaac Esau left Canaan and took possession of Mount Seir. When his descendants increased they extirpated the Horites, and adopted their habits as well as their country. On the south, Edom reached as far as Elath, which stood at the northern end of the Gulf of Elath, and was the seaport of the Edmonites. On the north of Edom lay the territory of Moab, from which it was divided by the “brook Zered,” probably the modern Wady el-Ahsy, which still divides the provinces of Kerak (Moab) and Jebal (Gebalene). P. S.
The land of Edom, or Idumæa, stretches along the sides of a rocky ridge—Mount Seir—which extends from the Gulf of Akabah to near the Dead Sea. Esau’s descendants held possession of it for many generations, and were always remarkable for the intense bitterness of their hatred to the descendants of Jacob. Though subdued by David and also by later kings, the Edomites revived from time to time, and when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, they were a powerful nation. By the Romans Idumæa was treated pretty much as a part of Juda; afterward it seems to have been absorbed into the kingdom of Arabia Petræa. For many centuries it was literally an unknown land, unnoticed by any historian and unvisited by any traveller. It is only within the last fifty years that it has begun to be visited and known. The interest belonging to it is chiefly derived from the wonderful fulfilment of ancient prophecy which it presents. The predictions of utter desolation pronounced against it were more than usually emphatic, and have been most literally fulfilled. At one time a very populous and fertile kingdom, it is now an expanse of shifting sands and rocky mountains. At one time the highway for the commerce between Syria and India—now, not a single merchant passes through it. Though at one time he had his dwelling in “the fatness of the earth,” Esau has now become most “bare” (Gen. 27: 39; Jer. 49: 10). The ancient magnificence of the kingdom, and its present degradation and desolation, are both most strikingly seen in the ruins of Petra. Bozrah (twenty-five miles south of Kerak) appears to have been the ancient capital, but Petra eclipsed its glory. If any city could have defied the ravages of time, that city was Petra. Let the reader fancy a narrow passage of two miles, lined by precipitous cliffs from four hundred to seven hundred feet high, leading into an oblong space, where the rocks retire to some distance from each other; let him fancy these rocks excavated from top to bottom—tombs, temples, and other buildings, everywhere chiselled out of the solid stone; and let him fancy the whole now a collection of ruins, without a single inhabitant, the remains of tombs and temples, palaces and pillars, strewn on every side, and he will have some conception at once of the “terribleness” and strength of the place in former days, and its marvellous degradation now. The unbrotherly act of the Edomites in refusing the Israelites a passage through their borders, was the first of the long series of crimes that provoked upon the land and people of Edom the heavy judgments of God. W. G. B.
5. Contend not with them—i.e., “which dwell in Seir”—for there was another branch of Esau’s posterity—viz., the Amalekites, who were to be fought against and destroyed. But the people of Edom were not to be injured, either in their persons or property. And although the approach of so vast a nomadic horde as the Israelites naturally created apprehension, they were to take no advantage of the prevailing terror to compel the Edomites to accept whatever terms they imposed. They were merely to pass “through” or along their border, and to buy meat and water of them for money (verse 6). The people, kinder than their king, did sell them bread, meat, fruits, and water in their passage along their border. Jamieson.
7. When Moses spake these words Israel was near the verge of Canaan. And the words are retrospective. They are a testimony to Divine faithfulness and care; “These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” So may the believer say and sing as he closes stage after stage of life; so will he sing when he closes the last stage of all: “Not one thing hath failed of all that the Lord hath spoken.” The more life unfolds to him of his own weakness, the louder and sweeter will be his song over Divine care; yea, he will go singing to the heavenly rest! Clemance.
9. He had previously forbidden them to enter the land of Edom, unless consent were obtained. A similar prohibition is now added with respect to the Moabites, because God had allotted to them the territory which they inhabited. Inasmuch as they were the descendants of Lot, and consequently of the race of Abraham, he would treat them with special favor. Calv.
Not very long before the return of the Israelites to the land of their fathers’ pilgrimage, the Moabites and Ammonites, who had previously spread themselves as far as the Jabbok and the Jordan, were driven back by the Amorites toward the south and east, and an Amoritish kingdom was established in Gilead; so that the Arnon was now the northern boundary of Moab. This rendered it possible for the Israelites to take possession of the country to the east of the Jordan, without being obliged to engage in hostilities with any nations that were related to them by birth. K.
10-12. The mention of the Moabites gives occasion to the author to introduce some notices of the ancient inhabitants of Edom and Moab. In Moab dwelt, in the earlier times, the Emim, a giant race, potent and numerous, like the Anakim. They were also, like the Anakim, reckoned among the Rephaim, but were by the Moabites called Emim. The Horim appear from the name to have been a Troglodyte race, inhabiting the caves which abound in the Edomite range, and with whom, perhaps, originated the conception which was at a later period carried out in the marvellous rock city of Petra. Of their own origin nothing is known. W. L. A.
13. Now rise up and get you over the brook Zered. The southern border of Moab, Zered (woody), now Wady Ahsy, forms a natural division of the country between the north and south. Jamieson.—14. This brook formed the boundary line between Edom and Moab, and was the limit of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness. They crossed it thirty-eight years after the doom had been pronounced upon them at Kadesh, and during that period the entire generation of those who had rebelled had died out. W. L. A.
18. Ar, called in later times Rabbah, was the capital of Moab, and situated twenty-five miles south of the Arnon on the banks of a small but shady stream, the Beni-Hamed. It is here mentioned as representative of the country dependent on it—a rich and well-cultivated country, as appears from the numerous ruins of cities, as well as from the traces of tillage still visible on the fields. Jamieson.
16-19. The generation that sinned having quite died out, the people were now to cross the border of Moab and advance to the conquest of the promised land. To the east of Moab was the country of the Ammonites; these, also, the Israelites were to leave unassailed, for the Lord had given to them their land for a possession.
20-23. Another parenthetical insertion, containing some ethnographical notices, intended, probably, to confirm the assertion that to the children of Ammon God had given their land for a possession. W. L. A.—What a strange insight does this parenthesis of four verses give into the early history of Palestine! How many successive wars of conquest had swept over its early state—what changes of dynasty among the Canaanitish tribes had taken place long prior to the transactions recorded in this history! Jamieson.
No. 21:13. Pitched on the other side of Arnon. The Arnon was without doubt the stream or torrent now known as the Wady Mojeb, which breaks its way down to the Salt Sea through a precipitous ravine. It must have been in the upper part of its course, in the desert uplands, that the Israelites crossed it; and this both because the passage lower down is extremely difficult, and also because they were keeping well to the eastward of Moabitish territory up to this point. It would appear from De. 2:26 that Israel remained at this spot until the embassage to Sihon had returned. That cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites—i.e., the Arnon which comes down from the northeast. For Arnon is the border of Moab. It was at that time the boundary. R. W.
It was a marked epoch in their journeyings—almost an anticipation of the passage of the Jordan itself—when, after having crossed the watercourse or torrent, shaded or overgrown by willows (Zered), that formed the first boundary of the desert, they passed the stream of the Arnon—the first that they had seen since the Nile—which, flowing through its deep defile of sandstone rocks, parts the cultivated land of Moab from the wild mountains of Edom. Stanley.
14. The book of the wars of the Lord.** Of this book nothing is known except what may be gathered from the passage before us. It was apparently a collection of sacred odes commemorative of that triumphant progress of God’s people which this chapter records. From it is taken the ensuing fragment of ancient poetry relating to the passage of the Arnon, and probably also the Song of the Well, and the Ode on the Conquest of the Kingdom of Sihon. Espin.—This book was probably a collection of ballads and songs composed on different occasions by the watch-fires of the camp, and for the most part, though not perhaps exclusively, in commemoration of the victories of the Israelites over their enemies. The title shows us that these were written by men imbued with a deep sense of religion, and who were therefore foremost to acknowledge that not their own prowess, but Jehovah’s right hand had given them the victory when they went forth to battle. Hence it was called “The Book of the Wars of Jehovah.” J. P.
No. 21. Three quotations are given successively in this chapter. The first is from “the Book of the Wars of the Lord,” and the last is plainly a triumphant war-song. Hence they all probably belonged to the same book. These quotations are made to relieve the seeming dryness of the details in these journeys, and to show how melodies of song and praise, which had been silent in the wilderness, awoke once as soon as they began to enter upon the land of promise. This “Book of the Wars of the Lord” was probably a small collection of national chants or songs of praise, which grew up during their years of sojourn, after the marvels of the exodus had wakened up the faithful to a new sense of the power and mercy of the God of Israel. Its chief subjects would be the exodus and the entrance; and each chant or song being composed successively as the occasion arose, these brief allusions or quotations serve to light up the details of the march with a dramatic vividness, scarcely attainable in any other way. In fact, the words of verse 27 (“they that speak in proverbs”) seem to imply that this last triumphal song was still current in the lips of the Israelite bards, and had scarcely been enrolled in the book to which it naturally belonged in a written form. The first quotation (verses 13-15) is plainly incomplete. It might have formed part of the opening words of a lyrical song nearly as follows: “I will sing the works of the Lord, the mighty acts of the God of Israel. What he did for us at the Red Sea,” etc. The crossing of the Arnon would thus be marked, in a simple but impressive way, as the close of their wilderness sojourn. The second quotation (verses 17, 18) is a contrast to the miraculous smiting of the rock in the wilderness, and marks their first entrance upon “a land inhabited,” with “fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills.” The rock had been smitten amid the murmurs of the people, but the well of the nobles is digged amid their songs of hope and joy. The third quotation (next section) is clearly an Israelite song of victory upon the conquest of Sihon. His former exploits against Moab are named, to make the victory of Israel more impressive. There is an abrupt lyrical change from Sihon’s triumphs to his sudden overthrow. Birks.
16-18. The second encampment after crossing the Arnon was called Beer, a well. The people suffered here for want of water; but Moses gathered the people together at the command of Jehovah, who gave them water again—not, however, by a miracle in the ordinary sense, but by means of their own exertions in first digging a well. This gave rise to the beautiful WELL-SONG:
Spring up, O well!
Sing to answer it!
Well, which the princes dug,
Which the nobles of the nation bored,
With the sceptre and their staves.
The good-will and activity of the people which are manifest here present a glorious contrast to the bitter spirit and murmuring of the ancient Israelites. K.
Geographical and Ethnographical.
The deep rocky valley of the Wady Ahsy (Ahsa), the lower end of which is called Kurahy, divides the land of the Edomites from the Moabilish mountains. In the time of Moses, and also in later periods of the Old Testament history, the country of the Moabites extended northward as far as the Wady Mojeb, through whose deep rocky bed, the sides of which are almost perpendicular, the river Arnon flows to the Dead Sea. The Wady Kerak (Haditheh) intersects Moabitis, and divides it into two nearly equal halves. As long as it received a certain amount of cultivation, Moabitis was an extraordinarily fertile country; but now that all cultivation has been suspended for many centuries, it is barren and waste. The ancient capital was Ar, or Ar-Moab, on the left bank of the Arnon. Rabba, or Rabbath-Moab, which was the second capital, was situated in the heart of the country. The fortified city of Kir, or Kir-Moab, the modern Kerek, was in the south, and stood upon a rocky height, not far from the northern declivity of the Wady Kerek. K.
The Arnon (Wady Mojeb), which formed the boundary between Moab and the Amorites, and at a later period between Moab and Israel, is a tremendous ravine, more than two thousand feet deep, which cuts its way through the plateau, and discharges its waters into the Dead Sea. The district south of the Arnon is termed in Ruth 1 “the country of Moab,” and may be considered as Moab proper; but Moab extended at one period much farther to the north, over the district called the “land of Moab” in De. 1:5, and embraced the plain of Seisaban, north of the Dead Sea, termed in the Bible Arboth Moab, or the plain of Shittim. On the south, Moab extended to the borders of the Wady Sidiyeh, or Seil Gharabi, down which runs a fine stream, which is probably the brook Zered, that lay between Moab and Edom, and was the proper term of the Israelites’ wandering. The character of this portion of the country is very similar to that north of the Arnon, an elevated plateau, with a rich soil providing abundant pasturage for the flocks of the Bedouin, as it formerly did for those of the Moabites, whose pastoral character may be inferred from the fact that the country paid a tribute to Ahab of one hundred thousand rams, and the same number of wethers with their fleeces. The relations between the Moabites and Israelites appear to have been of a mixed character; the story of Ruth points to a friendly intercourse between the two peoples at that time, and at a later period we find David’s father and mother dwelling with the King of Moab “all the while that David was in the hold” (1 Sam. 22:4); but with the exception of these instances, the relations were hostile rather than amicable. Wilson.
The Moabites were descended from Moab, the son of Lot’s eldest daughter, and the Ammonites from Ben-Ammi, the son of his youngest daughter. The near relation between the two peoples indicated in the story of their origin continued throughout their existence. Indeed, so close was their union, and so near their identity, that each would appear to be occasionally spoken of under the name of the other. Zoar was the cradle of the race of Lot. From this centre the brother-tribes spread themselves. The Ammonites, whose disposition seems throughout to have been more roving and unsettled, went to the northeast. The Moabites, whose habits were more settled and peaceful, remained nearer their original seat. The Moabites originally dwelt on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, extending as far north as the mountain of Gilead, from which country they expelled the Emims, the original inhabitants. But they themselves were afterward driven southward by the warlike Amorites, who had crossed the Jordan, and were confined to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary (Nu. 21:13; Judges 11:18). The territory occupied by Moab at the period of its greatest extent, before the invasion of the Amorites, divided itself naturally into three distinct and independent portions. Each of these portions appears to have had its name by which it is almost invariably designated. (1) The enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon was the “field of Moab” (Ruth 1:1, 2, 6, etc.). (2) The more open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho, and up to the hills of Gilead, was the “land of Moab” (De. 1:5; 33:49). (3) The sunk district in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley, taking its name from that of the great valley itself—the Arabah—was the Arboth-Moab, the dry regions—in the Authorized Version very incorrectly rendered the “plains of Moab” (Nu. 22:1, etc.).
Unlike Moab, the precise position of the territory of the Ammonites is not ascertainable. In the earliest mention of them (De. 2:20) they are said to have destroyed the Rephaim, whom they called the Zamzummim, and to have dwelt in their place, Jabbok being their border. “Land” or “country” is, however, but rarely ascribed to them, nor is there any reference to those habits and circumstances of civilization which so constantly recur in the allusions to Moab. On the contrary, we find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of marauders in their incursions. The hatred in which the Ammonites were held by Israel is stated to have arisen partly from their opposition, or, rather, their denial of assistance to the Israelites on their approach to Canaan. But it evidently sprang mainly from their share in the affair of Balaam (De. 23:4; Neh. 13:1). But whatever its origin, it is certain that the animosity continued in force to the latest date. P. S.
SIHON SMITTEN, HIS LAND AND CITIES TAKEN. OG AND HIS PEOPLE DESTROYED, BASHAN AND ITS CITIES POSSESSED. ENCAMPMENTS NORTH OF THE ARNON. FINAL AND PROTRACTED GATHERING ON THE ARBOTH MOAB, PLAINS OF JORDAN.
Nu. 21 21 And Israel sent messengers 22 unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land : we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard ; we will not drink of the water of the wells : we will go by the king’s high way, until we have 23 passed thy border. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border : but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz ; and he fought against 24 Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon : for the border of the children of 25 Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities : and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the 26 towns thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto 27 Arnon. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established : 28 For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon : It hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon 29 Woe to thee, Moab ! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh : He hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, 30 Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them ; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, And we have laid waste even unto Nopah, which reacheth unto Medeba. 31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns thereof, and drove out the 33 Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan : and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, 34 he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not : for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land ; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the 35 Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining : and they possessed his land.
Nu. 21 And from the wilderness they journeyed to Mattanah : and from Mattanah to 20 Nahaliel : and from Nahaliel to Bamoth : and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh down upon the desert.
Nu. 33 45 And they journeyed from Ijim, 46 and pitched in Dibon-gad. And they journeyed from Dibon-gad, and pitched in Al- 47 mon-diblathaim. And they journeyed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the moun- 48 tains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they journeyed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by the 49 Jordan at Jericho. And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
Moses, in the first instance, sent a message of peace to Sihon, proposing to pass through his territory on the same terms as he had made with the Moabites and Edomites, travelling by the highway, and paying for such provisions as his followers required. But this Sihon refused, and came out against Israel, with all his people, to battle. The issue was that he was utterly discomfited; all his towns were captured, he and all his people utterly destroyed, and the cattle and spoil of the whole country taken for booty. W. L. A.
The rejection of Moses’ request by Sihon, and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom in the first pitched battle-field with the Canaanites, and secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but a free access to the Jordan on the east. Jamieson.
25. Heshbon.** Now Heshban, a ruined city, due east of the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea; conspicuous from all parts of the high plateau on which it stands, but concealed, like the rest of the plateau, from the valley beneath. Espin.
Israel’s Song of Victory.
The meaning of these triumphant proverbial sayings is this: “Heshbon, the chief city of the Amorites, lies overthrown. Better to depict the greatness and glory of the city the poet alludes to its former power, when the sons and daughters of the Moabites were led captive by Sihon. Israel has now destroyed the glory of this town—has thrown down the mighty people with their spears.” Heshbon is still found on the end of the Wady Hesban, as also are places under the names Diban and Madeba. Hesban is entirely in ruins, but these bear evidence to the considerable circumference and splendor of the ancient town. Madeba lies on a hill, and is about two miles in circumference. Gerl.
On closer inspection it becomes more and more obvious that this song of victory is altogether of a sarcastic character, and is not a song of thanksgiving. Come home to Heshbon—to the city, that is, which can now no longer furnish either house or shelter;—restore (if you can) the city, which is now laid forever in ruins! That the guilt of the vanquished may be the more loudly proclaimed, a second voice is heard recalling their earlier history. This Heshbon is the very same city from which the fire of war once issued forth in its most destructive form against unfortunate Moab, for whose fall and the impotence of its god Chemosh the most piteous lamentations had been uttered! But at the very moment when these Amorites, who had devastated Moab with fire and sword, were imagining themselves to be in perfect security (the clear voice of the victors now returns to the opening of the song), our fire of war burst forth from Heshbon, as the leading and central place, and burned and devastated the country to its utmost borders. Thus was Moab avenged by Israel. That this ode dates immediately from the period of the conquest, is also obvious from the fact that shortly afterward (Nu. 32:37) Heshbon was restored by the tribe of Reuben, and that henceforward it was always a place of importance. Ewald.
Attacked by Og, King of Bashan. His People Destroyed, his Cities and Territory Taken by Israel.
As Og, the King of Bashan, saw at once that his own country was endangered by this successful campaign, he also prepared for war, and met with the same fate. A decisive battle was fought at Edrei, in which the army of Og was utterly annihilated. As the whole of Bashan now came into the possession of the Israelites, they established their headquarters in the Arboth Moab, within sight of the Jordan, opposite to Jericho, between Beth-Hajeshimoth and Abel-Shittim. K.—Thus Israel became possessed of two kingdoms—whose united territories extended from the river Arnon to the roots of Lebanon—forming one of the finest countries in the world, well wooded, and full of rich pastures. Thus Israel began its career of conquest by acquiring a valuable possession over and above what had been promised to them; and by this their faith must have been much encouraged. Kit.
The boundaries of Bashan, the northern portion of Manasseh’s inheritance, are very clearly laid down. It extended from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon in the north, to Gilead in the south—the frontier line between Bashan and the northern Gilead of King Og being the river Hieromaz or Sheriat-el-Mandhur, which runs due west and enters the Jordan just below the Sea of Galilee. North of this the country is comparatively flat, a high table-land, whence the name Bashan—i.e., “level;” while south of it is the undulating and rugged country of Gilead. The Upper Jordan and the Sea of Galilee bounded Bashan on the west, the city of Salcah and the country of the Geshurites and of the Maacathites, on the east. H. B. T.—The region of Bashan, as Scripture informs us in many places, was fertile, and famous for its rich pastures; Moses also testifies to its great extent. In Psalm 135:10-12 God’s power and goodness is magnified in reference to these victories; because he “slew mighty kings Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og King of Bashan, and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage unto his people.” Calv.—Bashan was famous for its kine in Bible times, and is so still. In southern Palestine I observed flocks of sheep and goats in numberless instances, yet saw no herds of kine. But coming into the northern country, opposite Bashan, on the slopes of Little Hermon and the wooded plain north of Tabor, our party encountered immense herds. N. C. B.
De. 3:4. Region of Argob. It would be difficult to mention a spot in civilized lands which could be compared to this ancient region in regard to its wild and savage aspect. The lava bed proper embraces about three hundred and fifty square miles, and its average height above the surrounding plain is perhaps twenty feet. The bed in its outline or edge is far from being regular, but sends out at a multitude of points black promontories of rock into the surrounding plain. Argob, or the Lejah itself, is a great plain, and one of the strangest on earth. The surface is black, and has the appearance of the sea when it is in motion beneath a dark, cloudy sky, and when the waves are of good size but without any white crests of foam. But this sea of lava is motionless, and its great waves are petrified. In the process of cooling the lava cracked, and in some cases the layers of great basalt blocks look as if they had been prepared and placed where they are by artificial means. In other cases, the hillocks have split lengthwise, or sometimes into several portions, and thus seams have been opened, forming great fissures and chasms which cannot be crossed. Merrill.
4,5. Threescore cities, fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns, a great many. That sixty walled cities, besides unwalled towns a great many, should exist in a small province, at such a remote age, far from the sea, with no rivers and little commerce, appeared to be inexplicable. Inexplicable, mysterious though it appeared, it was true. On the spot, with my own eyes, I now verified it. The walled cities, with their ponderous gates of stone, are there now as they were when the Israelites invaded the land. Some of them retain the ancient names recorded in the Bible. I have more than once entered a deserted city in the evening, taken possession of a comfortable house, and spent the night in peace. Many of the houses in the ancient cities of Bashan are perfect, as if only finished yesterday. The walls are sound, the roofs unbroken, the doors, and even the window-shutters in their places. The great numbers of unwalled towns are there, too, standing testimonies to the truth and accuracy of Moses, and monumental protests against the poetical interpretations of modern rationalists. There are the roads once thronged by the teeming population; there are the fields they enclosed and cultivated; there are the terraces they built up; there are the vineyards and orchards they planted; all alike desolate, not poetically or ideally, but literally “without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast.” J. L. P.
—It is astonishing to learn that, in some of these ancient cities, from two to five hundred houses have been found perfect, but without a solitary inhabitant. From the battlements of the Castle of Salcah, Dr. Porter counted no fewer than thirty towns and villages dotting the vast plain, many of them perfect as when first built, and “yet, for more than five centuries, there has not been an inhabitant in one of them.” All that has been recently discovered has completely established the descriptions in the writings of Moses and the prophets. To the very letter their statements have been vindicated by architectural remains, which are without a parallel. W. Fraser.
11. Bedstead of iron. The “iron” was probably the black basalt of the country, which not only contains a large proportion, about twenty per cent, of iron, but was actually called iron, and is still so regarded by the Arabians. The word translated “bedstead” may certainly mean “bier,” and perhaps does so in this passage. Modern travellers have discovered in the territories of Og sarcophagi as well as many other articles made of the black basalt of the country. Is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Probably after the defeat and death of Og at Edrei the remnant of his army fled into the territory of the friendly Ammonites, and carried with them the corpse of the giant king. Rabbah was not captured by the Israelites till the time of David; but it is not likely that this remarkable relic would remain at Rabbah unknown to them. Nine cubits. The bedstead or sarcophagus would thus be from thirteen to fourteen feet long: but was of course considerably larger than the body of the man for whom it was designed. Espin.
It was not for nought that Og and his people were dispossessed. Great strength was combined with ghastly wickedness. This is the reason why they were swept away. Unless a nation is accomplishing God’s purposes, it will not be spared to fulfil its own! Whether it is best for the world that a nation should continue in being depends on the virtue, purity, and piety of the people who compose it. If virtue be a-wanting, no number of cities and towns, nor any strength and hardness in the race, will shield a nation from absolute extinction. Cemance.
In reading the Old Testament account of the terrible destruction brought upon these nations, we are to bear in mind that we are reading the execution of a dreadful but just sentence, pronounced by God against their intolerable and incorrigible crimes; that they were intended to be made an example to the whole world of God’s avenging wrath against sins of such a magnitude and such a kind; that the miseries inflicted upon the nations by the invasion of the Jews were expressly declared to be inflicted on account of their abominable sins; that God had borne with them long; that he did not proceed to execute his judgments till their wickedness was full; that the Israelites were mere instruments in the hands of a righteous Providence for effecting the extermination of a people whom it was necessary to make a public example to the rest of mankind; that this extermination, which might have been accomplished by a pestilence, by fire, by earthquakes, was appointed to be done by the hands of the Israelites, as being the clearest and most intelligible method of displaying the power and righteousness of the God of Israel—his power over the pretended gods of other nations, and his righteous hatred of the crimes into which they were fallen. This is the true statement of the case. It is no forced or invented construction, but the idea of the transaction set forth in Scripture; and it is an idea which may fairly reconcile us to everything which we read in the Old Testament concerning it. Paley.
The character of the nations to be extirpated furnishes the reason of the Divine procedure toward them. That the total extirpation of a pre-eminently wicked race is in no respect more opposed to Divine justice than was the destruction of the world by a deluge, and of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven, will hardly be questioned. Other instances of the destruction of tribes and nations are of frequent occurrence in the world’s history. Further, experience abundantly confirms the testimony of Scripture, that God employs men, as well as inferior agencies, for the accomplishment of his purposes, whether of good or evil. Individuals and nations have a mission, and God employs them often, unconsciously or even contrary to their intentions, as the instruments of his wrath, and when they have fulfilled their destiny arms in turn other powers against them. This is the voice of universal history, and of Scripture his tory in particular, which discovers the hidden springs of actions and the will which directs all affairs (Is. 10 : 5-12). In these matters God not merely permits—for this were to take a low view of the Divine government, and utterly inadequate to explain the various perplexing phenomena of Providence—he arranges all events and regulates their issues. If God, then, does employ men as the unconscious ministers of his will, can he not also legitimate a people as righteous instruments of punishment? If God can and does employ an instrumentality of destruction, acting from its own will and for the accomplishment of its own ends without any respect to the Divine will, can he not also employ an instrumentality which, acting under his sole and supreme authority, shall be guiltless of wrong? This is the precise point to which the present question is reduced, and it is with this that the objector has to deal. D. M.
The religion of the Bible is no less remarkable for its tenderness than for its severe purity. Once in five hundred or a thousand years, when morality is on the brink of perishing among men, the sword of justice smites and spares not. Hostile criticism, blind because hostile, fixes on these rare and long-deferred examples of Divine severity (always preceded by forbearance and warning) and overlooks the fact that the prevailing representation of the Divine character places mercy, compassion, kindness, tenderness among its foremost attributes. Heathen poets have sounded the depths of human sorrow, passion, and pity; but nowhere in pagan literature, least of all in the religious books of heathendom, can we catch even the echo of that full-toned tenderness and gracious comfort which rings through the Hebrew Scriptures, assuring us that “the LORD is very pitiful,” and “his tender mercies are over all his works.” E. R. Conder.
Stations of Israel in Sihon’s Territory. Final and Protracted Encampment on the Plains of Moab, or Shittim, opposite Jericho.
Nu. 21 : 19, 20. The encampments of the Israelites, amounting to forty-two, are recorded all together in historical succession in ch. 33, where Ije-abarim is the thirty-eighth; Dibongad, thirty-nine; Almon-Diblathaim, forty; mountains of Abarim, forty-one; and the plains of Moab, by Jordan, forty-two. The words are strictly the proper names of the three places: but here the words Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth follow some lines of poetry, and seem to form a continuation of the song. They evidently express figurative and poetical ideas. The word Mattanah signifies a gift; Nahaliel, great streams; Bamoth may point out any high places of signal benefit in the country of Moab. If, therefore, these words were meant to express poetically some eminent blessing, what blessing was so likely to be then celebrated as copious streams of water? And after they had wandered near forty years through many a barren desert where there was no water, it is no wonder they should shout for joy at finding water in plenty. No wonder they should sing, in poetic rapture, that after the wilderness was (Mattanah) the GIFT OF GOD, meaning the great well in Moab, dug by public authority; and no wonder that, after such a gift, there were (Nahaliel) blessed streams, by which they passed, till they came to (Bamoth) the high places, from which these streams descended. Kennicott.
Nu. 33 : 48. Pitched in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. The plains (Arboth) OF MOAB, Israel’s last place of encampment in the valley to the east of the Jordan, must not be confounded, as is often the case, with the FIELD OF MOAB on the top of the mountain (Nu. 21 : 20). Arboth Moab is the name given to that portion of the Ghor (Arabah) which stretches along the eastern bank of the Jordan, from the Jabbok or thereabout to the Dead Sea. It answers to the lowlands of Jericho, on the other side of the Jordan; and for this reason it is frequently described as being “over against Jericho.” The field of Moab, on the other hand, was undoubtedly the large tract of table-land to the east of the Jordan, which stretched pretty uniformly from the mountains of Gilead to the Kerek. This is evident, first, from the fact that, according to Nu. 21 : 20, the Israelites encamped in a valley of the field of Moab before they reached the Arboth Moab (22 : 1); secondly, from 21 : 20, where Bamoth, or more properly Bamoth-Baal, the heights of Baal (22 : 41), which was situated between Dibon and Beth-Baal-Meon, is also described as being in the field of Moab; and thirdly, from the fact that the cities of Heshbon, Dibon, Medeba, and others, were in this field. K.
Nu. 21 : 20. “And from Bamoth (they marched) to the valley, which is in the field of Moab (on the plateau of Moab), on the height of Pisgah, and looks over to the face of the wilderness”—that is, over the tract of land which extends to the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. From this plateau on the mountains of the Abarim, of which Pisgah and Nebo were peaks, Israel had its first view of the Land of Promise, and especially of that mysterious Sea of Salt whose glittering surface and death-like surroundings would recall such solemn memories and warnings. The whole country east of the Jordan was now Israel’s, and the passage of that river could not be disputed. A. E.
Nu. 33 : 49. Abel-Shittim signifies “marshes of the acacia,” and from hence to Beth-Jesimoth, near the head of the Dead Sea, the camp extended. Immediately under the hills of Gilead and Moab a rich wilderness of garden extends the whole way, watered by the abundant, never-failing springs and streams that gush from the foot of the wooded mountains. Among the tangled wilderness, chiefly on its western edge, still grow many of the acacia-trees, “shittim,” from which the place derived its name. No place could thus be better situated for the vast camp—abundant water and forage behind, and open space for miles in front. Here, in these sultry groves, Israel was seduced by the Moabites into the licentious rites of Baal-Peor. Upon this rich plain Balaam looked down from the top of Peor, from Pisgah, from the bare hill on the top of the rocks and from the cultivated field of Zophim, “that looketh on the face of the waste.” Here, not many months after, did
Moses give his last blessing to the people he had led so long; hence he ascended those gray heights that towered beyond, and gained at length a glimpse of the land he was never himself to tread. Here were the tribes marshalled by his successor. In front of these green pastures their hosts were drawn out in the early morning just before their last halt on the river’s brink (Josh. 3 : 1). H. B. T.
The pilgrimage of Israel through the desert to the promised land presents three points, around which all the rest is grouped: first, the rest at Sinai, where they were set apart as the people of God, and where the covenant with Jehovah was concluded; second, the sojourn at Kadesh, in the Desert of Paran, where the unbelief of the Israelites came to a head, and the Divine sentence was pronounced, that they should be detained in the wilderness for forty years; and third, their stay in the plains of Moab, where the period of the curse came to an end, and the new generation arrived at the goal of its pilgrimage and the borders of the promised land. K.