Numbers 21

Numbers 21:1-3

The armies of Israel now begin to enter upon action. Here is, 1: The defeat of Arad the Canaanites, ver. 1—3. 2. The chastisement of the people with fiery serpents for their murmurings, and the relief granted them upon their submission by a broken serpent, ver. 4—9. 3. Several marches forward, and some occurrences by the way, ver. 10—20. 4. The celebrated conquest of Siloan king of the Amorites, ver. 21—32. and of the king of Bigham, ver. 33—35. And possession taken of their land.

1. AND when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. 2. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. 3. And the LORD hearkned 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.

Robert 1457. 1457.

The king Arad, (or rather of Arad) a Canaanite, is the first to console Israel’s progress, and suffers for it. To prove his people, God permits him at first some little success. Thus are sinners by prosperity often hurried faster to their ruin; but when, instead of murmuring, they humbly approach unto God, and vow to devote to him the spoil, and utterly to consume the people and their cities; then God delivers them up. They are routed on every side, and universal desolation spread through their country. Note, (1.) The we may be foiled with an attack of our spiritual enemies, we may not faint, but pray, and then we shall at last be conquerors. (2.) We must give no quarter to our sin; these Canaanites must be slain without mercy.

4. ¶ And they journeyed from mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this sight bread. 6. And the LORD first fiery serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. 7. ¶ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD that he take away the serpents from us: and Moses prayed for the people. 8. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pals, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9. And Moses made a serpent of a brah, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pals, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brah, he lived.

Numbers 21:4-9

New provocations bring down new plagues upon them. We have here, 1. Their murmuring. Discouraged by the length and difficulties of the road, they quarrel not only with Moses, but speak also against God, as if his design was to destroy them, instead of saving them; and loathing God’s provision of manna, they pretend to be now famished with that sight food, though so long and comfortably fed by it. Note, (1.) Many like these are discontented, though surrounded with mercies. (2.) The long continuance of the means of grace is apt to make them cheap in our eyes. The longer some enjoy the preaching of the gospel, the less they value it: when it was new their appetite was sharp, but now it is become insipid to them. God visits their sin with fiery serpents, whose bite was venomous, and the effect of it burning brats, and intolerable thrift: a punishment suited to their sin. They feared they should die, where no fear was; God therefore will give reality to their fears, and they shall die. Thus they who complain without cause, shall have cause to complain. 3. When they felt the smart of the serpents, they began to lament the sin which brought them, and beg Moses’s advocacy, whom so often they had abused. Note, (1.) It is a mercy, when sufferings by sin lead us to repentance for sin. (2.) In affliction, these ministers of God will be first sought to, whom we have most despised. 4. Moses prays, and God hears and answers. A serpent of brah is appointed to be made, elevated on a pole, that it might be visible to the utmost part of the camp; and whoever looked thereunto lived. Though they smarted by the pain of the bite, they should not suffer death from the poison. Note, Though we do not suffer under sin in hell, we shall smart for it in the body.

In their sin, suffering, and method of cure, we may, as in a glass, see our own image reflected. Every man by nature is stung with the poison of sin by that old serpent the devil; the effects of which must be shortly fatal, unless the venom be removed; and always painful, even to those who recover. Christ Jesus is to us this brahm serpent, fashioned after the likeness of sinful flesh, and lifted up once on the cross, and still in the preaching of the gospel, for the healing of the nations. No other method than this, which Infinite Wisdom hath contrived, hath any efficacy to remove the guilt of sin, or quiet the fears of a wounded conscience. We are commanded to look to him, and whoever by faith, however desperate his case appears, turns to a dying Saviour his dying eyes, shall feel his mortal pains affuage, and the fling of death plucked from his heart. But if, neglecting or defoiling his salvation, the miserable sinner feels by his own righteousness to recover, or dares not must alone on the perfect work of Jesus for life and glory, then he presides without remedy, and his sin will be his eternal ruin.

10. ¶

11. ¶ And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. 11. And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-aharm, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sun-rising. 12. ¶ From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. 13. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, ¶ What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, 15. And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and ¶ lieth upon the border of Moab. 16. And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD broke unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 17. ¶ Then Israel sang this song, ¶ Spring up, O well, ¶ sing ye unto it: 18. The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it by the direction of the law-giver, with their slaves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: 19. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: 20. And from Bamoth in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pigah, which looketh toward § Jefsimon.

12. 10—20. We have here the journeys of the people towards Canaan. Great exploits were performed by them against the Amorites, who had possessed a part of Moab; the particulars of which were recorded in a book called the Wars of the Lord, that is not now extant. When they were advanced from Oboth to Beer, in their want of water, God of his own motion promises to supply them abundantly. They seem now to have studied without murmuring, and they find the blessing of doing so. Hereupon, 1. They celebrate with soaps of praise the divine mercy, and in confidence of the promise, as if already fulfilled, pray and praise the gracious giver. Now, (1.) Every promised mercy is as much our own, as if we actually possessed it. (2.) Christ, by his spirit in the believer’s heart, as a well of water, springeth up unto eternal life. (3.) Praise is the grateful tribute we owe to God for his rich and undeserved mercies. 2. As the people sang, the princes digged in faith, and their slaves, like Moses’s rod, brought streams out of the dry ground. When our confessions seem at the lowest ebb, God can thus open youth in the wilderness; and whilst we, in dependence upon him, employ the staff of prayer, we need not fear, but that he will lead us forth beside the waters of comfort.

13. ¶ And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22. ¶ Let me pass through thy land; we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards, we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high-way, until we be past thy borders. 23. 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 he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 24. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jahosh, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. 25. And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites in Hefshon, and in all the villages thereof. 26. For Hefshon 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 Arnon. 27. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs, say, Come into Hefshon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. 28. For there is a fire gone out of Hefshon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29. We to thee, Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. 30. We have shot at them; Hefshon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waft even unto Nopshah, which reacheth unto Mecheha. 31. ¶ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32. And Moses sent to spy out Jazzar, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there.

VOL. I.

9. 21—32. Being advanced to Jefsimon, and their way to Canaan lying through the country of Sihon, a king of the Amorites, on this side Jordan, they send him a peaceable message, as before to Edom, which he returns with a denial, and seconds his answer with a fierce and unprovoked attack; the consequence of which is his own destruction, and the loss of his country, which Israel took possession of, and here, and in the kingdom of BaShan, two tribes and a half of the Israelites afterwards dwelt. Though this once belonged to Moab, it had been conquered by the Amorites; a record of which conquest is quoted in this fragment of a song of triumph, which the Amorites composed on the occasion; wherein their conquest, and Moab’s inability to recover it, are strongly painted: so that no injury was hereby done to the Moabites. Now, (1.) They who intend mislaid to others, often fall themselves into the pit they have digged. (2.) Worldly possessions at best are changeable things, and ill-gotten gain especially is seldom long enjoyed.

10. ¶ And they turned and went up by the way of BaShan: and Og the king of BaShan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. 34. 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 shalt unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Hefshon. 35. So they smote him and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

11. 33—35. Instead of being warned by the fate of his neighbours, Og, king of BaShan, hailens to the attack, and meets the like destruction. God encourages his people; they fight and conquer, and possess the land. No weapon turned against them can prosper. The powers of corruption, though strong as this gigantic Amorite, must fall before the believer, who is clad in the panoply of God. These successes were a happy earnest of future victory; and from every struggle against sin, our faith should grow more confirmed. He who is our strength now, will be our salvation for ever.