Numbers 21
PATVer.l. AND when king Arad the Canaanite. In the Hebrew the words arc thus placed, when the Canaanite king Arad: and so they arc in the LXX. and the Vulgar: and Arad “may as well sighify a place as a person: nay, there seems more reason to translate the words thus, the Canaanitish king of Arad: because there was such a city in Canaan, mentioned Josh. xii. 14. and Judges i. 16. One of the sons of Canaan being called Arad, (as both the rLXX. and the Vulgar translate the Hebrew w r ord Arvad, Gen. x. 18.) who it is likely gave his name to this part of the’country; the chief city of which was also called after •him… - - Which dwelt hi the south.] In the south part of the land -of Canaan, towards’the eastern angleof it, near the Dead Sea. (See chap, xxxiii. 40.) f -Heard that Israel came by the way of the spies.] Which were sent by the king Arad (as many suppose) to bring liim intelligence T^hich way the Israelites marched. For itheing eight-and-thirty years since the spies sent by Moses went that way; or rather, they going so secretly, that it was not known which waythey went, it is thought not proba- “ble that MoseS speaks of them in this place. But there is no necessity of taking the Hebrew word Atharim to signify spies; but it may as well be the name of a place, as the LXX. understood it, by whom it is translated y A$aptf/jL. And; if the situation would agree to it, one might probably conjecture the place was so. called from the spies that went from’ thence by Moses’s order to survey the country. For that was a thing so memorable, that, as it could not well slip out of the minds of the people of Canaan, so they found, I make no question, after they were gone, which way they came into their country (though for the present they -passed unobserved), and ever after called it the way of the spies. Then he fought against Israel.] He marched out of his ^country with an army; and fell upon the Israelites as they passed that way.;‘Andtook some of them prisoners:] He attacked, it is likely, £t first, only the skirts of their camp, where he surprised some of them, and carried them away captive, as *the w r ords are in the Hebrew. * been kept so long from their inheritance, and were lately in such hopes of it, when Moses demanded a passage into it through the country of Edom. perish,” &c. Where 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? as Dr. Jackson speaks), 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, (John xii. 32.) " 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 (as he speaks in the place named before), and procure for them everlasting life. For by his death, our Saviour " destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," (as the apostle’s words are, Heb. ii.14.) which was notably represented in this brazen serpent put upon a pole; which wasnot a figure of Christ, but of the old serpent himself (the devil), as wounded, bruised, and dead, by the lifting up of Christ upon the cross; where he entirely disarmed him of all his power to hurt us. I cannot tell whence Justin Martyr concluded this brazen serpent to have been made in the form of a cross, as he saith it was in his Second Apology; unless we conceive it to have been made with wings at the bottom of its neck, which might give it that figure. But his observation in his book against Trypho (p. 322. 338.) seems very considerable; that there must be some mystery in it, that God, who forbade all manner of images, should now command one to be made: of which, he saith, one of the Jews confessed he could never hear a reason from their doctors; who cannot understand it, till they believe in Christ and him crucified; whose victory over the devil, by his cross and passion, was herein most lively represented. I shall only add, that this lifting tip the brazen serpent, was a thing so public and so well known to all neighbouring nations, that the fame of it, in all likelihood, went into India; where they still set up an idol in form of a writhed serpent, upon a perch six or seven feet high, which they solemnly worship; and carrying it along with them in their travels, set it up every morning for the company to pay their adorations to it. So Taverneir relates in his travels to that country, p. 28. And see the present Lord Archbishop of Canterbury’s excellent treatise of Idolatry, p. 351, &c. with Huetius’s Demonstr. Evang. p. 96. and his Quaestiones Alnetanae, (cap. 12. n. 25.) where he shews the talismans, in all likelihood, were an imitation of this serpent: of which the Jews were so fond, that they burnt incense to it in the days of Hezekiah, and had done so we know not how long, (see 2 Kings xviii. 4.) Which may make it the less wonder, that the poor Indians should worship a serpent upon a pole, when they that should have understood better committed such a foul idolatry, as to do Divine honour to the figure of the greatest enemy of God and of mankind. times, against the Ammonites, who pretended this country belonged to them, (Judges xi. 13 — 15, &c.) Jlebrew word mechokek, (which we render lawgiver) a scribe /or doctor of the law. And front the wilderness.) Mentioned ver. 13. • They tuent to Mattanah.] This and the place following arc otherwise named in the thirty-third chapter, as the forenamed ben Gersom understands it. But others think these were no stations (which alone Moses gives an account of in the thirty-third chapter), where the Israelites pitched their tents, but places through which they passed, till they came to the station from whence they sent to Sihon for leave tp pass through his country. And in all the villages thereof.] In Hebrew the daughters; as villages and castles are called, which depend upon the metropolis, as daughters on their mother. Vcr. 26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites.] He had made this the seat of his kingdom, after his conquest of this country: which Moses observes (together with what follows), that it might appear to posterity, they invaded no part of the Moabites’ territories, or of the Ammonites’, but what was in the quiet possession of the Amoritcs, who had taken this country from them, and, perhaps, in a just war, and long enjoyed it. Who had fought against the former king ofMoab, &c] It is not certain that this Sihon, whom the Israelites now vanquished, had dispossessed the Moabites of this country; but more likely some of his ancestors, who were all called by the name of Sihon (as the kings of Palestine were all called Abimclcch, Gen. xx. 2. xxvi. 1. and the kings of Egypt called Pharaoh), who had fought not with the present king of Moab, but with one of his predecessors, and conquered him and his country. The former king of Moab.] These words are not to be understood as if he fought with: the king of Moab who immediately reigned before Balak, but, as I said, with some of his predecessors. So the LXX. to trportpov, that Jteretofore was king of Moab: and in the Hebrew the words are literally, the king of Moab, the first; perhaps of the present race. Ver. 27- Wherefore they that speak in proverbs ♦] In the Hebrew the words are, wherefore the proverbialists; that is, the poets, whose composures, in those days, were very sententious. Say.]- Have this song in their mouths: which seems to have been composed by some of the Amorites, upon the victory which Sihon got over the Moabites; particularly upon the taking of Heshbon, which, I suppose, he besieged immediately upon the routing of their army. This Moses thought good to insert in his history, as an evidence that this country belonged to the Amorites when the Israelites subdued it. Thus he quotes a common saying about Nimrod, to justify what he writes of his greatness: (see Gen. x.9.) Come into Heshbon.’] The words either of Sihon calling to his people, or of the Amorites exhorting one another -to go to Heshbon, and help to repair the ruins that had been in it by the war, that it might become the royal city of their country. For that is the meaning of the following words. Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared.] Let that place which Sihon hath chose for his seat bo built Up again, and made fit for his reception. Vcr. 28. For thereis afire gone out of Heshbon.] Now the poet rises into a rapture, and prophesies the conquest of the whole country by the army of Sihon marching out of Heshbon. Forin the prophetical language, the desolations made by war are compared to fire and to the flames, which consume all they come near, (Amos i. 7. 10. 12. 14. ii. 2. 5.) A flame from the city of Sihon.] This is but a repetition (as the manner is) of what was now said in other words; expressing the certainty of this presage. It hath consumed Ar of Moab ^ He speaks as if he already saw the thing done which he foretold, though it never came to pass. For they did not conquer Ar, which remained in the possession of Moab in Moses’s time, as appears from Deut. ii. 9. 18. 29. But, in his poetical heat (or fury, as they speak), he exults, as if they had actually taken the capital city of Moab. For so Ar was; and afterward called Itabbath, and Rabbath-moba, i. e. the great city of Moab, to distinguish it from Ilabbath-Ammon, i.e. the great city of the Ammonites. For so we find in Stephanus (dc Urbibus),!Pa/3/3a0/iw/ia (it should be f Pa/3/3a0/ia>/3a, as Bochartus hath truly corrected it, in his preface to his Phaleg.) which he calls IIoA<c Tptri) Ua\aitrr(v7)g Vj vvv *Apz6Tro\tQ m For Ar, as I said, was the old name of it, (Deut. ii. 29. Isa. xvi. 1.) from whence came the name of’AptoTroXtg, which it retained in later ages. And the lords of the high places ofArnon.] The masters or owners (as the word baale may be translated) of the high places, &c. t. e. those that dwell in the strongest forts of the country: or, as some fancy, the priests of the places arc here meant; or, rather their temple where Baal was worshipped. For we find a place in this country called Bamoth-Baal, (Josh. xiii. 17.) the high places of Baal. And it is evident, this poet triumphs in this’Ettivikiov over their gods and their religion, as well as over them.
Numbers 21:2
And Israel vowed’ a voiv Unto the Lord. It was resolved, it seems, that they should engage them;, but tho Israelites being afraid of them, because they were unexperienced in war, implore the Divine aid by this solemn vow. If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand.] Give us the victory over them. Tlien will I utterly destroy their cities.] They vowto reserve none of the spoil to their own use; but devote it all to destruction. For such was the nature of this vow called cherem. (See Lev. xxvii.29.)
Numbers 21:3
And the Lord hearkened to’the voice of IsraeL. He approved their vow. And delivered up the Canaanites.] The Israelites vanquished their army. And they utterly destroyed them and their cities.] Utterly devoted them to destruction, according to their vow. For they did not now actually destroy them, they remaining when Joshua came to Canaan, who executed this cjierem, or curse, upon them, (chap. xii. 14.) which, if it had been executed now, they must have entered into the land of Canaan at this time; from whence we caxinot imagine they would have returned, to march further about before they got into it; but have gone on to prosecute their victory/ by subduing the country, as they had begun. And he called the name of the place Hormah.] From the cherem (or herem as some write it) which nvas pronounced against it; which, when it was put in execution, this namo became more proper to it, (Judges i. 17:)
Numbers 21:4
And they journeyed from Mount Hor. Where their camp was pitched, when the king of Arad assaulted them; and whither they returnee!, after they had.overthrown him.:. By the way of the Red Sea.] Towards Ezion-Gabcr, as we* read Deut. ii. 8. * To compass the land of Edoxn^] Which extended itself unto the Red Sea. And the soul of the people toas much discouraged because of the way.] The word we translate discouraged, signifies two things; to faint, and to breathe short, through the anguish and bitterness of;one’s spirit, (Exod. vi. 9.) And secondly, to be angry at, or at least impatient, by reason of some trouble. And sch.it may be best token in this place, (as Buxtorfius observes, in Histor. Scrp. JEnci, cap. I.) not simply for their being tired, with a tedious, long, and troublesome march; but that accompanied with no small indignation and wrath: which did not only, burn within, but broke out into words of great impatience, as appears by what follows. Whence the Hebrew words ketzar-ruach (short of spirit) signify angry, or hasty, Prov. xiv. 29. and in Job Xxi. 4. we translate it troubled, and Zach. xi. 8.’loathed; where it had better been translated, I was angry with them. Now that which made the people thus fret, or faint (if we will have it so interpreted), was the way wherein they wctc now led, which was about the land of Edom. For when they were come towards Canaan, in tho middle of the fortieth year (at the end of which they were promised to enter in and possess it), they are carried back again towards the lied Sea, whither God had sent their fathers alter they had brought a false report upon the land, (chap;xiv;25.) This made them think, perhaps, that they should never come to Canaan; or, at least, it was tedious to march such a great way about, after they had
Numbers 21:5
And the people spake against God and against 3foses. This shews they were in a very great rage, which made them so forgetful of their duty, as to charge God himself with ill conduct: whereas their fathers were wont only to murmur against Moses and Aaron. Wlierefore have ye brought us out of Egypt.] The Hebrew word heelithunn (made us to go tip) is a strange word (as Dr. Lightfoot calls it) in this language; declaring the great fume they were in when they uttered it. To die in thevnlderness.] As if they had said (so Abarbinel explains it), What can we expect or hope, for but death’ from this long stay in the wilderness?; For there is no bread, neither is there any water.’] For we want the most necessary things for the support of life (as he also well explains it), which they spake in a rage; for they had both, by a miraculous providence over them. They themselves immediately confess they had manna; and that they lately received water out of a rock. Eut nothing would, satisfy, unless they were brought to* a country" where bread and water were’ to be had without a miracle. For the meaning of their complaint was, that God did not deal with them as he did with other people, who (to speak in our phrase) do not live from hand to mouth, as the Israelites did, who had bread given them only to suffice for one day, and no more; and that such bread as they despised. It. is likely, also, they began now to want water again, which did not follow them, as formerly, out of the rock: and what they had in their vessels, perhaps, was near spent. And our soul loatheth this light bread. 7 ] As for the bread God bestowed upon them, they were so far from being satisfied with it, that they loathe it, and call it by the scornful name of light bread. So we translate the Hebrew word Jiakkilkel: which, being the doubling of a word which signifies light or vile in that language, imports as much as very despicable, exceeding vile; or, as the LXX. translate it, [very empty; having no substance in it to fill their stomachs. So Abarbinel expounds this passage, We are tired with long journeys, which require more solid bread than this to support us. Ver. G. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.] So most of the Jews translate this place; taking seraphim for an adjective (as grammarians speak), and consequently rightly translated fiery. But there are those who take it to signify a peculiar sort of serpents; being added to nechashim (serpents) by way of apposition (as they speak), and signifying such serpents as thc^ Greeks call npTiarrjptQ and KavJwvte, whom Pliny reckons among the sceleratissimi serpentes, most pernicious serpents, (lib. xxiv. cap. 13.) Or, as others will have it, those called Ai\Pahg, because they made great inflammations in men’s bodies, and an unquenchable thirst, being also of a flame colour, ^ut the famous Bochartus hath alleged a great many arguments to prove that they were a sort of serpents, called hydras, because in winter they lived in fens and marshes; which being dried up in summer they were called chersydnts, because then they lived in dry places, and in the hot season had a most sharp, stinging poison, which, as Nicander saith, made such inflammations as brought upon him that, was stung by them, aXyza fivpla, innumerable griefs. See Hicrozoicon, par. ii. lib. iii. cap, 13. where he shews also they were Hying serpents, of which the prophet Isaiah speaks, chap. xix. 29. xxx. G.; and that’now was a, hot season, wherein they were wont to be most ve-, nomous. For Aaron dying the first day of the fifth month (which answers to the nineteenth of our July),arid they mourning for him thirty days; after which followed their encounter with the Canaanites, and then this murmuring, and this punishment; it must fall out in the latter end of August, when the dog-days were going out. (See Vossius dc Orig.’et Progressu IdoloL lib. iv. cap. 56.) And they bit the people.] This Aben Ezra and others think was a punishment suitable to their sin, which was evil-speaking against the Lord, by calumniating his provi dence. For Solomon compares a calumniator to a serpent, which bites if it be not charmed, (Eccles. V. 11.) It is a strange fancy of Fortunatus Licetus, that Moses here speaks of a disease bred in the body, which in children is called dracunculus, and not of the biting of serpents from without, (lib. de Ortu Spontaneo viventium, cap. 51.) For which there is no ground at all; and, on the contrary, nothing more certain, than that, in Arabia, and Egypt, and other countries of Africa, there are such serpents as are here described. Yet Bartholinus seems to think that this opinion may he defended against Ezekiel de Castro, who confuted it. (See Epistol. Medic. Ccntur. i. Epist. 32.) • I And much people of Israel died.] The whole wilderness, through which the Israelites marched so many years, was full of fiery serpents and scorpions, as Moses’s words import, Deut. viii. 15. which makes it the more wonderful, that we never hear of their being bitten and killed by them until now. But it is to be considered, that they were protected by the cloud from this, and from all other dangers (as, the Hebrews well observe), which now withdrew its shadow from them, and let in the serpents upon them. Or rather (as Moses here expressly saith), God, who had hitherto kept them ofF, now sent them, and, perhaps, brought them from remote parts of the Ayilderness to infest the" whole congregation.
Numbers 21:7
Wherefore the people came to 3foses, and said, We have sinned. It doth not appear whether they were im-’* mediately sensible of their sin, and confessed it, upon the „ biting of the serpents and the direful efFccts of it, or stayed till there had been a great mortality among them. * It is* likely they instantly made their addresses to him; but before a remedy was found out, by erecting the brazen serpent, many of them perished. For we have sinned against the Lord, and against thee.] They make a particular acknowledgment of their guilt, as a token of the sincerity of their repentance. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.] In the Hebrew the words are, take away the serpent, in the singular number; about which the Jews make V great many curious observations, as if there was one evil angel that governed them all. And if there be any truth in this observation, we Christians cannot but think these words point to the old serpent, the devil, who lost his sting by the lifting up of Christ on the cross; as the brazen serpent, it here follows, was lifted up for the cure of the biting of those serpents, But the simple truth is, that in this Ian-’ ^ guagc the singular number is often used collectively for the 4F2 microsoft ® [chap. XXI. plural. As in Exod. viii. 6. " The frog came up and covered the land," i.e. a vast multitude of frogs. And so Moses speaks in the place just now named, Deut. viii. 15. where he calls this wilderness wherein they travelled, a place of a fiery serpent and scorpion; t. e. saith Jonathan, full of such creatures. And Moses prayed for the people.] Here It. Bcchai and others observe the great meekness and charity of Moses, and thence draw this instruction: that he of whom any one asks pardon for an offence, ought not to be hard-hearted, but ready to forgive. Thus Abraham prayed for Abimclech, Gen. xx. 17. Job for his friends, chap. xlii. 10. It would be a sin to do otherwise, (1 Sam. xii. 19, 20. 23.)
Numbers 21:8
And the Lord said unto Moses. In answer to his prayer. Make thee a fiery serpent*] The figure of one of those serpents which bite the people. Abarbinel thinks that upoq Moses’s prayer the serpents were removed; but still there remained many among the people sorely afflicted by the venomous effects of their biting, for whose cure God graciously gave this direction. It is something strange, that any learned Christian should so much admire the Egyptian learning as not to forbear the mention of their incantations of serpents, when they speak of this relation which Moses makes concerning the brazen serpent which God ordered him to set up. Yet Sir John Marsham (in his Chronicoh, sect. 9.) when he comes to treat of this station of the Israelites at Tsalmona, hath a long discourse to shew how famous the Egyptians and other nations were in this sort of magic; and thus concludes it, that Moses, putting tins brazen serpent upon a perch, " non tarn serpentes igneos incantabat ne nocerent, quam eorum venenum extinguebat/’ did not so much charm these serpents that they should not hurt, as extinguish their venom. This seems to me a scurvy intimation, that Moses had their practices in his mind, but went beyond them. He should have said, Moses abominated their wickad arts (if they had any such in those days), and directed the Israelites to look up to God for healing. So the Jews themselves, particularly Aben Ezra, who takes notice that some superstitious people fancied that this serpent was a talisman, made to receive I know riot what influence from the stars. But God forbid, saith he, God forbid we should have any such thought! this was made by the Divine order; the reason of which let us not scrupulously search: they thought, that is, there was something extraordinary init, as Jon athan plainly declares in his paraphrase of the last words of this verse: he shall be healed if he direct his heart to the name of the Word of the Lord: where no •Christian can forbear to think of our blessed Saviour, the eternal WoTd, who was prefigured (as I shall shew in the following verse) by the erecting of this serpent here mentioned upon a pole, that all might look upon him and live. And set it upon a pole.] So high, that every one in the camp might see it. For the word signifies such a pole as made their ensign or banner, to which all the army was to resoTt. Concerning this word 7ies, sec Bootius, lib. ii. cap. 4. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it.] The Jews generally have so much understanding as to say, that the mere beholding of it did not cure them; but that they were to look up to God (as the Scripture speaks) when they beheld it, and expect a cure from him. So the author of the Book of Wisdom, chap. xvi. 7. " He that turned himself towards it, was not healed by the thing which he saw, but by thee, that art the Saviour of all." And therefore he calls it, in the foregoing verse, " A sign of salvation, to put them in remembrance of the commandment of the law." Shall live.] Be cured, and restored to perfect health: which the Jews think the greater miracle, because naturally it would have made the inflammation greater. So Nachmanides: This rather would have increased the disease; for they who arc bit by venomous beasts (according to the prescriptions of physicians), must not sec the image of the beast by whom they are bitten: but this was commanded by God, that the Israelites might know both their disease and their medicine came from God, who made that whose aspect was hurtful to be the means of their cure.
Numbers 21:9
And Moses made a serpent. Whence this place seems to have been called Zalmonah, (chap, xxxiii. 41.) which imports an image, similitude, or resemblance of a thing represented by it. And another place thereabouts, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, called Maalch Akrabbim, seems to have had its name from the same thing, it signifying the going up of scorpions, Josh. xv. 3. Of brass.] Polished, that it might resemble a serpent of a flaming colour; and being very glittering, it might be the better seen far and near. So several of the Hebrew writers, particularly Nachmanides and Abarbinel, who observe, that God did not bid him make a serpent^of brass, but only a saraph, (ver. 8.) i. e. a resemblance of a flaming -serpent: which could not be made so well of any other metal as of brass; those saraphs (which we render fiery serpents) being fiery red, like copper or brass: of which there was good store not far off from this place; for the next station to Zalmonah, where they now were, was Punon, or Pinon, as Moses tells us, chap, xixiii. 42. a place belonging to the Eclomites, (who had an ancient duke of this name, Gen. xxxvi. 41. I Chron. i. 52.) famous for mines of brass, as Bochartus shews out of several of the fathers; who speak of XoXkov filraXXa lv
Numbers 21:10
And the children of Israel set forward. After they had been at two other places; which Moses now omits for brevity’s sake, because he intended hereafter to give an exact account of all their removals at one view; which he doth in the thirty-third chapter of this book: (see ver. 41, 42.) And pitched in Oboth.] Where, it is probable, they found water; of the want of which they complained: (see chap. xx. 2.)
Numbers 21:11
And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched in Jie-Abarim. Not that Mount Abarim where Moses died, (chap, xxvii. 12.) but another place in the confines of Moab, as it here follows: (see what I have observed, chap. xx. 2.) In the wilderness which is before Moab.] Called the wilderness of Moab, Deut. ii. 8. Towards the sun-rising.] On the east part of it, as Jephthah observes, a great many years after this, that they came by the east side of the land of Moab, (Judges xi. 18.)
Numbers 21:12
And from thence they removed. As they were about to remove from this last place, they received a command from God not to meddle with the country of Moab, (Deut. ii. 9.) wliich is the reason (as Abarbinel observes) that Moses here sets down briefly, whence and whither they went, and where they pitched; that it might appear they did not transgress that command. And pitched in the valley ofZared.] Or, as some translate it, in Nachal-Zared; which is called Dibon-Gad, chap. xxxiii.45. For this place had two names (as the same author observes), and it was just eight-and-thirty years since the spies went up to survey the country, from Kadeshbarnea till their passing this brook, as we translate it, Deut. ii. 14. But I take Dibon-Gad rather to have been a place which lay upon the brook Zered.
Numbers 21:13
And from thence they removed, and pitched on the other side ofArnon. The Hebrew word meheber may be translated on this side, or on the other side. And some think they were now on this side of the river, and not yet gone over it. Nor did they immediately come hither from their former station; but first to Almon-Diblathaim, (chap, xxxiii. 46.) which is also called Beth-Diblathaim in the wilderness of Moab, Jerem. xlviii. 22. and Diblah, Ezek. vi. 13. And then, passing by Ar, in the confines of Moab, and approaching to the country of the children of Ammoh, God commanded them not to invade the Ammonites, being descendants from Lot, as well as the Moabites, (Deut. ii. 18, 19. 37.) but to pass over the river Arnon, (Deut. ii. 24.) to that side of it which belonged to the Amorites. For this river, at that time, divided the Moabites from the Amorites, as it here follows. Which is in the wilderness, that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites.] Huns by the wilderness of Kedemoth, unto which the Amorites extended their dominion, (Deut. ii. 20.) For Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.] This river flowed from the mountains of Arabia, where it had its rise, and fell into the Dead Sea, (as Josephus saith, lib. iv. Antiq.) opiZwv rtjv rt Mwaj3tVj)v teat’A^opinv, bounding the country of the Moabites, and of the Amorites; the country of Moab lying on one side of it; and that of the Amorites on the other. For though the Moabites formerly possessed the country on both sides ofArnon, as far as Heshbon, yet the Amorites had driven them out of that part of it which lay next to them; and made the river the boundary of their two kingdoms, (ver. 26, 27.) This Moses recites the more exactly, that it might appear tho Israelites invaded none of the Moabites* possessions, but what was now possessed by the Amorites: by which Jephthah defended the right of the children of Israel, in future
Numbers 21:14
Wherefore it is said in the book of the tears of the Lord. A proof of this Moses thought good to allege out of an authentic record in those countries, containing the history ofall the wars that had been in those parts; which are here called the wars of the Lord, because ho is the great Governor of the world (as Abarbinel interprets it), from whom and by whom are all things, who pntteth down one, and setteth up another (as the Psalmist speaks) at his good pleasure. This book, he thinks, was written by some of the wise men of thoso nations (and so thinks Nachmanides), who, looking upon this conquest made by Sihon as a very memorable tiling, put it down in their Annals; which, after the way of those countries, were written, he thinks, in a poetical manner. There are those who are of opinion, that this book was written by Moses himself; who left in it directions to Joshua how to proceed in the wars of the Lord, when he conquered Canaan. So Dr. Lightfoot conjectures; and Bonfrerius doth not much differ from him. But I take the former account to be the more probable, that Moses justifies what he writes concerning this conquest out of their own books; which he quotes just as St. Paul, in the New Testament, doth one of the Greek poets. What he did in the Red Sea.] These are the words of the book, out of which he quotes a small fragment: and the marginal translation of them is most proper, Vaheb in Supheh, only the word eth is omitted; which makes the sense to be this, against Vaheb in Supheh; that is, he came (some such word must be understood) against Vaheb (a king of the Moabites), and overthrew him in Supheh, a place in the frontiers of Moab. (See Deut. i. 1.) Others understand by Vaheb the place where Sihon gave the Moabites this blow; which he did by falling upon them on a sudden, with a terrible fury. So Nachmanides understands these words 6csuphah; he stormed the city, and made a furious assault, when they thought not of it: for Supheh signifies a ivhirlwind, or stormy tempest, (Isai. v. 2S.). And in the brooks of Anion J] The same Nachmanides takes the word veeth, which we translate and in> to signify rather and with; and. these, being still the words of the bookbeforementioned, the sense is this: In the same manner he smote the brooks or torrents of Arnon; upon which he fell like a tempest, and carried all before him.
Numbers 21:15
And at the streams of the brooks. None, I think, hath given a better account of these words than the same Nachman, who by esched hannechalim (which we’ translate the* streams of the brooks), understands either a cliff from whence the torrents flowed (as Aschdod and Happisgah, Deut iii. 17. arc the hills from whence the springs gushed), or the valley through which the torrents ran; where they made a great broad water, which is here called an effusion of torrents, as R. Levi ben Gersom interprets the Hebrew words, esched hannechalim. That goeth down to the dwelling of Ar.] Which extends itself as far as Ar, a city of Moab, (ver. 28.) R. Levi ben Gersom takes the word Schebet (which we translate dwelling) to signify a place as well as Ar, towards which these torrents bent their course., And lieth upon the borders of Moab.] Which leancth or belongeth unto Moab, being in the border of that country. Thus far are the words of the book of the wars of the Lord: and (lie meaning of them is; that the king of the Arriorites took all these places by a sudden, furious invasion; which Moses therefore punctually recites, to shew that the country of the Moabites now reached no further than Anion: all the brooks, or torrents, and all the effusions of water as far as Arnon (i. e. all the country about* them), being taken from them by the Amorites, in whose possession it now was, and, perhaps, had been a long time. And therefore the Israelites took nothing from the Moabites when they conquered this country (as was said before), nor from the Ammonites neither; part of whose country the Amorites also had got from them, (Deut. iii. 11.) and the Israelites took from the Amorites, when they. conquered Sihon and Og;.and it fell to the share of the Gadites, (Josh. xiii. 25.) Ver. Ifju And from thence they went to Beer.] A place which took its name from the pit, or well, which was here digged by God’s order, as the next words tell us. That is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses.]- That is, saith Abarbinel, that place was remarkable for the well that God gave us, of his own accord, without.our petition; which he prevented by bidding Moses dig it for us. Gather the people togetJier, and I will give them water.] Which they now again wanted, being removed from the river Arnon; but did not murmur about it, as they had done formerly: and therefore God most graciously, when he saw their distress, provided it for them.
Numbers 21:17
Then Israel sang this song. This extraordinary kindness of God, which prevented their prayers, and gave them water out of his own good pleasure alone (as Abarbinel speaks), transported them with such joy, that it made them express their thankfulness in this song. Spring up, O well.] As soon as they saw Moses and the princes thrust their staves into the earth, and the water began to bubble up, they said, with a loud voice, Come up, O well; that is, let waters flow abundantly to satisfy uS all. Sing ye unto it.] Or, as it is in the margin, answer unto it. " The manner of the Hebrews was anciently to sing their songs of praise alternately, as appears from Exod. xv. 20. And so one company having, said, Spring up, O well (which it is likely they repeated often), they called to the rest to answer to them; w T hich they did, I suppose, in the following words.
Numbers 21:18
The princes. i. e. The seventy elders, and heads of the tribes. Digged the well.] Very easily, only turning up the earth with their staves. " The nobles of the people digged it.] The other side of the choir, perhaps, took up the song again^ repeating the sense of what the former company had said. By the direction of the lawgiver.] Or, together with the lawgiver, who began the w r ork, and whose example they followed. JWth their staves.] With no more labour but only thrusting their staves into the ground and turning up the earth. For, as R. Levi ben Gersom takes it, the ground here being sandy and very soft, was easily penetrated, though they were not likely to find water in it. But they believing Moses, and following his direction, God sent itcopiously unto them; and with no more pains than a scribe takes when he writes with his. pen. For so he translates the
Numbers 21:19
And from Mattanah to Nahael, &c. This, as well as the place next mentioned in this verse, seems to.have been on the borders of Moab.
Numbers 21:20
And from Bamoth in the valley. Rather/rom Bamoth (which signifies a very high place) to the valley. Or, as it may be translated, from Bamotha valley (that is, there is a valley) in the field of Moab, &c. unto which they came next; for some such thing must be. understood. That is in the country of Moab.’] Or near to it. To the top of Pisgah.] Or, to the beginning (as the Hebrew word rosch may be interpreted) of the high Mount Fisgah; that is, they pitched at the foot of it, where the mountain began: which mountain was a part of the mountains of Abarim, as appears from Deut. xxxii. 49. xxxiv. 1. Which looks towards Jeshimon.] Or, towards the wilder- *nes$. For so R. Levi ben Gersom interprets it; to a land that was shemumah, untitled and desolate, viz. to the wilderness of Kedemoth: where they pitched and settled their Wmp; and from thence sent messengers to Sihon.
Numbers 21:21
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites. These messengers were sent from the wilder: ness of Kedemoth, which was in the skirts of his country, (Deut. ii. 26.) or lay just upon it: for there was a city of,this name in that country, which was given to Reuben, in the division of the land, (Josh. xiii. 18.),
Numbers 21:22
Let me pass through thy land/. They do not seem to desire a passage through the midst of his country, but only the extreme parts of it; which would have shortened their journey to the fords of Jordan. We tvill not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the tvell, &c] Tnis is the,very same civil message which they sent to Edom, (chap. •xx.‘17.) By whose example they pressed Sihon toga-ant them, at least,, as much as the Edomites and Moabites had done: (see Deut. ii.28, 29.)
Numbers 21:23
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his borders. This shews that they asked only to pass through the skirts of his country: (see Deut.ii. 30.) • But Sihon gathered alt his people together.] He not only -refused to grant their request; but came in a hostile manner, with all the forces he could raise, to oppose their pas-‘sagfc over Arnon. • And tveut out against Israel into the wilderness.] From whence they sent their friendly message to him, ver. 21. which Moses, in Deut. ii. 26. calls, words of peace. And he came to Jahaz.] A city, it is probable, belonging to the Moabites; whither the Israelites, perhaps, retreated,,when Sihon denied them a passage through his country. For Isaiah plainly mentions Jahaz, as a place either in the country of Moab, or near it, (chap. xv. 4.) and Jeremiah, also; calling it Jahazab, (chap, xlviii. 21.) UPON NUMBERS. And. fought against Israel.] Who had orders from God, not to decline the battle (as they did with the Edomites and the Moabites), and were assured of victory, (Deut. ii. 31.) For they were Amorites, whose country God promised to Abraham, (Gen. xy. 21.) being part of the Canaanites, whom they were commanded to destroy; for they were descended from one of the sons of Canaan: (Gen. x. 16.) which made this war with them to have a just ground; not because they denied the Israelites a passage through their country, against the right of nations, as Grotius thinks (which was but the occasion, not the ground of the war), but because they were one of the seven nations condemned by God to destruction, (whose land he bestowed upon the Israelites, Josh. iii. 10.) and because Sihon came out armed against them, beyond the bounds of his own dominions; and fell upon them, when they had given him no provocation:.
Numbers 21:24
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword. Utterly overthrew his army; and, putting them all to the sword, made themselves masters of his country.. And possessed his land.] For they destroyed all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, (Deut. ii. 33, 34.) From Arnon ttnto Jabbok, even unto the children of Amnion.] This is a brief description of the extent of Sihon’s country; which reached from the river Arnon, the bound of the Moabites* country on the south, (chap. xxii. 36.) unto Jabbok, which was the bound of the Ammonites* country on the north, (Deut. iii. 16. Josh. xii. 2. xiii. 10.) But they meddled with no place that lay upon the river Jabbok, which belonged to the Ammonites; for that God had forbidden, (Deut. ii. 37.) By which Jeptithah (as I observed), two hundred and sixty years after this, justified the title of the Israelites to all the country here mentioned; which they took not from the Ammonites, or Moabites, but from the Amorites,. who were the owners of it when they conquered it, (Judges xi..l3. 15.22,23.) For Sihon had got half of their country, as well as part of the country of Moab, as appears from Deut. iii. ll^and from Josh. xiii. 25. where it is plain, Joshua gave the Gadites half of the country of the children of Amnion, which was now taken from the’ Amorites, who had dispossessed them. Josephus describes it as lying between three rivers, like an island: for the banks of Arnon were the bounds of this region on the south side; and Jabbok on the north, which running info Jordan lost its name; and the western tract of it was washed by Jordan itself: and on the east part it was surrounded with the mountains of Arabia. For the border of the children of Amnion was strong.] This is not mentioned here as a reason why the Israelites did not set upon their country, (for they were expressly forbidden to do it, Deut. ii. 19.) but why Sihon “conquered’ none of the Ammonites’ country beyond Jabbok (as he did allfrom Arnon thither)* because their frontiers on. that side of the country were very strong, by the fortifications, which it is likely they had made upon the river.
Numbers 21:25
And Israel took all these cities. All the cities of that country which lay between Arnon and Jabbok: some of which are named, ver. 30.. And Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites.] Having destroyed the former inhabitants, as I noted before, Deut. ii. 34. In Heshbon.] Even in their royal city.
Numbers 21:29
Woe unto thee, Moab!. He goes on to foretell the calamity of the whole country. Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh!] So he calls the Moabites, who served (as the Chaldee translates it) or worshipped Chemosh as their god: for so we read he was, Jerem. xlviii. 7. 13. 1 Kings xi. 7. Judges xi. 24. which St. Jerome thinks differs from Baal-Peor only in name. (See Vossius de Orig. et Progr. Idolol. lib. ii. cap. 8.) Some take Chemosh to be Saturn; particularly Scharastanius: the manner of whose worship sco in Dr. Pocock’s excellent annotations in Specim. Hist. Arab. p. 316, I shall only add, that as the Moabites arc called the people of Chemosh, because they worshipped him as their god, so the Israelites are called the people of the Lord and the people i of God, because they worshipped the Lord alone. (Judges v. 11. 1 Sam. xiv. 13.) For in the days of paganism, as Mr. Mede observes, every country, nay, every city, had its proper and peculiar gods, which were deemed as its guardians and protectors: from whence the nations themselves are expressed by the name of their gods. That is evident from this place; but it is not so plain, that when God threatens to deliver up Israel to serve other gods, he means giving them up into the bands of the people of strange countries; which he takes to be intended in Deut. iv. 28. xxviii. 64. Jerem. xvi. 16, &c. (Sec book iv. p. 977.) And so he thinks the words of David may be expounded, (1 Sam. xxvi. 19.) " They have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods;” i. e. banished me into the country of idolaters. See book iii. p. 823. where this is more largely explained. He hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity, mito Sihon king of the Amorites.] This is a manifest triumph over their god Chemosh, who was not able to save his worshippers (whom he calls his sons and his daughters, i. e. his children) who were under his protection. No, he could not so much as preserve those that escaped the fury of the sword, but they were afterward taken captive, to make up part of the triumph of Sihon king of the Amorites.
Numbers 21:30
We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even (5) CHAP. XXI. UPON NUMBERS. unto Dibon.] The Hebrew words vanniram abaci Heshton ath Dibon, may as well, if not better, be translated, their light is perished (or taken way) from Heshbon unto Dibon, So Forsterus in his Lexicon, and the Tigurin version, and others. That is, their glory is gone from: one end of the country to the other: for Heshbon and Dibon were two famous places in this territory, (Josh. xiii. 17.) And some think this is the place called Dibon-Gad, chap, xxxiii. 45. which was the more noted, because there Nebo, one of their gods, was worshipped: for in Isaiah xy. 2. Dibon is mentioned as one of their high places; and there Nebo is lamented, i\ e. their god which was there worshipped; whence Hesyehius saith, Aajj3wv (which, no, doubt, is this Dibon) tottoc tvOa e’Spurat hpbv Moaj3tTwv, a place where the Moabites had a temple. (See Selden de Diis Syris, Syntagm. 2. cap. 12.) t We have laid them waste even unto Nophah.] Another place in that country, as appears by the words following. Which reacheth Unto Medeba.] That is, the territories of Nophah extended as far as Medeba, which was certainly a place in the country of Moab, (Isaiah xv. 2.) But the word reacheth is not in the Hebrew; and the words without it may be thus truly translated, and as far as Medeba. For so the Hebrew particle ascher is sometimes used, to signify simply and, as Eccles. vi. 12. ascher mi, and who can tell, &c. so here ascher ad, and unto, &e. And here I think fit to note, that it is likely these verses were some part of the history of those countries: for a poetical way of writing was in use before prose, as Strabo tells us, lib. i. Geograph. p. 18. where he saith, 6 TnZ,hg Xoyoc 3 yz Kare<TKeva<rfx(vog nlfxrifxa rov Trotv\TtKOv. Updriara yap V notnrtKrj, &c. All set or artificial speech (whether •historical or rhetorical) was but an imitation of poetical compositions, the ancients knowing no other: Cadmus, and Pherecydes,and Heeataeus, being the first who brought in this form of writing now in use. (See Salmasius in Solinum, p. 841. and Cuperus in his Apotheosis Homeri, p. 55.) However, this is certain, that they who would instruct the people put their lessons into verse, as Strabo there shews; where he says, p. 15. 01 UaXaidl $tkoao$iav rtva Xlyovat irptlrrriv rrjv TronrrtKrjv tlvayovaav, &C the ancients call poetry the first philosophy, forming our lives from ten-_ der years, teaching good manners, governing the passions and actions xvith pleasure: for which cause the Greeks instituted their children in their cities by poetry, Ov i/o/xaywyiag %^9 LV ^WovOzv ^tXrjc oXAd auxppovKjfxov, not merely for the sake of bare delectation, but to form them to sobriety.
Numbers 21:31
Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. This he mentions again to make it the more observed, that this was the country of the Amorites, into which the children of Israel entered, not of the Moabites, who had been expelled out of it, as was notoriously known, there being a song in every body’s mouth which continued the memory, of it.
Numbers 21:32
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer. Another city formerly belonging to Moab, but now in the possession of the Amorites, which the Israelites did not take at the first; but after they had conquered all the country beforei mentioned, they sent some men to bring them intelligence, which way it was best to attack that city, also, and the country about it. It was not far from Mount Gilead, (2 Sam. xxiv. 5,G. 1 Chron. xxvi. 31.) and both of them were vol. i. famous for good pasture, and therefore given to the tribes of. Reuben and Gad,; who had much cattle,- (chap, xxxii. of this book, 1. 3, 4. 35, 3G.) After the ten tribes were car r ried captive from their own land, it fell into the hands of the Moabites again, as may, be gathered from Jer. xlviii. 32. And they took the villages thereof] As well as the city itself.,, - And drove out the Amorites that dwelt there.] If it had not been possessed by them they would not have meddled with it.,’ -* t t. t
Numbers 21:33
And they turned. Or returned (as the LXX. have it) from Jaazer. And went np by the way ofBashan.] A famous mountain (Psalm lxviii. 15.) lying more northerly than the country of Sihon, and belonging also to the Amorites, where was very rich pasture, and an excellent breed of cattle, (Deut. xxxii. 14. Psalm xxii. 12.) and stately oaks, (Ezek. xxvii.‘G.). And Og the king ofBashan.] The whole country of which he was king had its name from that mountain, and was: -called the kingdom of Og-in Bashan, Deut. iii! 10. where he is said, as well as Sihon, to be a king of the Amorites,* (ver. 8.) and (ver. 11.) that, he was of the remnant, of the giants, or of the Eephaim, who were a mighty people in that country ofBashan, (see Gen. xiv. 5.) whichin afterages was called Batanaea. • Went out against them.] To oppose their passage. He and all his people.] With all the men of war in his country.. ♦ <-, s To the battle at Edrei.] A city near that country, after-.ward called Adafa,as St. Jerome tells us in his book De Locis Hebraicis. He offered the Israelites battle, which, by God’s order, they accepted.
Numbers 21:34
And the Lord said unto Moses. That he might report it to the people. Fear hint not.] They had reason to be courageous (and not affrighted, because he was a giant), having lately overcome a mightier king than he, of which God puts them in mind in the. end of this verse.,, >,,,/[ For I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, &c] For their greater encouragement he adds his promise, on which he bids them rely, as if they saw it already done, that he would give them the victory over Og and all his forces, and bestow upon them his country. This his- -tory Moses reports more at large, Deut, iii. 1 — 3, &c.
Numbers 21:35
*** So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there teas none, left him alive.** After they had overthrown him and his army, they pursued the victory till they had destroyed all the people of the country; some part of which held out longer than the rest, (as appears from chap, xxxii. 39, &c.) but at length was wholly subdued by Jair, the son of Manasseh, who had all the region of Argob given him for his pains, (chap, xxxii. 41. Deut. iii. 14.) „ \ And they possessed his land.] Wherein were sixty walled cities, besides a great many small towns, (Deut. iii. 4, 5. Josh. xiii. 30.) All which was given to’ the half tribe of Manasseh, (Deut. iii. 13. Josh. xiii. 29, 30. 1 Kings iv. 13.)