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Numbers Chapter 21

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

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 light bread.

⁶ And the LORD sent 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 pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

⁹ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

¹⁰ And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth.

¹¹ And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising.

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 spake 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 lawgiver, with their staves. 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 Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.

²¹ 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 Jabbok, 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 Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.

²⁶ 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 Arnon.

²⁷ Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:

²⁸ For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and 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 that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰ We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.

³¹ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

³² And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there.

³³ 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 didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

³⁵ So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

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GiGi's Numbers Chapter 21 comment on 6/25/2023, 7:49pm...

NUMBERS CHAPTER 21

Cont...

The people sang a song, "Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. "So apparently, they sang to the well to open up the springs. Then they traveled to Mattanah, Nahaliel, Bamoth, in the valley, then to the top of Pigsah, which looked towards Jeshimon. These places are all on the east side of the Jordan valley and river. They were traveling north ward. From there the leaders of Israel sent messengers to the king of the Amorites, Sihon, to ask to pass through their land, going along the king's highway until they leave the border of the Amorites. But Sihon would not allow them to do so and went against them with his armies at Jahaz. Israel overcame the Amorites and took possession of the king's land from the Arnon to the Jabbok rivers. They dwelled in the Ammonite cities, including the king's city of Heshbon. c

They continued to push out the peoples of the Amorites until they came to Bashan east of the sea of Galilee. Og, the king of Bashan, (was a giant-14 ft.) came against Israel at Edrei. The LORD told Moses not to fear because the people of King Og will be delivered to Israel just like the people of king Sihon. And so it happened and none of the people of Bashan were left alive. Israel took possession of this land.

God continued to be faithful to Israel and His promises despite the rebellion and unbelief of the people. When they repented, He blessed them, giving them victory after victory of the people along the east side of the Jordan valley. They possessed this land. But the Edomites were still in possession of their land. God must have had a reason for Edom remaining in control of their land. Perhaps it was due to them being close kinsmen, being descended from Esau, Jacob's twin brother, a descendant of Abraham, though not the lineage of the chosen nation of God, but nonetheless, blessed by God on account of Abraham, just like Ishmael was blessed by God because of Abraham, though not the people of the promise as Isaac was.

GiGi's Numbers Chapter 21 comment on 6/25/2023, 7:17pm...

NUMBERS CHAPTER 21

Continued...

They asked Moses to pray to the LORD and have Him remove these serpents. They must have been very prevalent and not just a few here and there. I would say they were overrun by the serpents, just as sin overruns those who are careless towards God. Perhaps the serpents just dropped out of the sky, since elsewhere in Scripture they are described as flying fiery serpents, (dragons)

Moses prayed and God instructed Moses to create a bonze serpent and place in on a pole. Those who followed his instructions to look upon the snake on the pole would be healed of their bite, but those who refused to look upon the snake would die from their bite. Interesting in that the serpents were sent upon them due to their sin. And the image on the pole was the object God used to punish them for their sin. They had to look upon the object that brought their punishment to be healed.

Jesus said compared Himself to the serpent on the pole in this chapter and that any who look to Him and believe on Him will not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15) He became sin on the cross, he took our sin upon Himself, and took the punishment for our sin from the Father, and nailed our sin to the cross, so that we could have eternal life in Him.

After this episode with the serpents and God removing the serpents, the Israelites set out and camped in Oboth, then Ije-abarim, in the wilderness of Moab, east of Jordan. Then move on to the valley of Zared. From there they camped on the other side of the Arnon River, in the Amorite territory where it borders Moab. Verse 14-15 mentions a book of wars that tell of what the LORD did in these areas for the Israelites. This must have been a book scribed by another Israelite and was not preserved or discovered yet.

From the brooks of the Arnon River (Ar) they went to Beer, were there was a well without water. God promises to bring forth water from the well after the princes and nobles dug up the well at God's direction.

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