Chapter Twenty-One

The battle of the Israelites with the Canaanite king Arad. – Complaint of the people. – An extraordinary abundance of venomous snakes. – The bronze serpent. – Movement toward the borders of the Amorite king Sihon. – An embassy to him with a request for unhindered passage. – His refusal. – The conquest of the Amorite kingdom. – The conquest of Bashan.

Numbers 21:1. The Canaanite king Arad, who lived in the south, heard that Israel was traveling by the way from Atharim, and he engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive. The little kingdom of Arad was located in the south of Canaan. The place-name, known at the present time as “Tel Arad,” perhaps indicates the place where Arad once existed.

Numbers 21:2. And Israel made a vow to the Lord, saying: If You will deliver this people into my hand, then I will devote them and their cities to destruction. Numbers 21:3. The Lord heard the voice of Israel and delivered the Canaanites into his hand, and he devoted them and their cities to destruction and named the place Hormah. Ancient Hormah (or Zephath, see Judg 1:17) is identified with the place-name Rakhma, lying not far from the gorge leading from Wadi al-Arabah to the elevation of the southeastern edge of Canaan.

Numbers 21:4. From Mount Hor they journeyed by way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became discouraged on the way, “By way of the Red Sea” – “by the way of the plain from Elath and Ezion-Geber” (the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, Deut 2:8), having Edom on their left and the Arabian desert on their right.

Numbers 21:8. And the Lord said to Moses: Make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and if a serpent has bitten anyone, the one who is bitten, looking at it, shall remain alive. “Looking at it” with faith in the healing power of the almighty and most gracious Lord. “Not by the thing seen are you healed, but by Your word, O Lord, which heals all things. The mercy of the Lord came and healed them” (Wis 16:7). The typological significance of the bronze serpent is clearly expressed in the words of the Savior: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Explaining the details of the type, the blessed Theodoret remarks: “As the bronze serpent was an image of the serpents, but did not have serpent’s poison; so the Only-begotten Son had a human body, but did not have the defilement of sin. As those bitten by serpents, looking upon the bronze serpent, received salvation; so those wounded by sin, firmly believing in the suffering of our Savior, prove to be victors over death, acquiring eternal life” (Commentary on the book of Numbers, question 38). As an incontestable memorial of the miraculous manifestation of God’s mercy, the bronze serpent was preserved among the people until the time of the Jewish king Hezekiah. Noticing the inclination of the Hebrews to pagan worship of the memorial, Hezekiah ordered the serpent to be destroyed (2 Sam 18:4).

Numbers 21:10. And the sons of Israel set out and camped in Oboth; Numbers 21:11. And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-Abarim, in the wilderness opposite Moab, toward the sunrise; Numbers 21:12. From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered; Numbers 21:13. From there they set out and camped on this side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Having traveled from west to east (perhaps through the Wadi al-Ifm gorge), going around the mountains of Edom, the Israelites turned toward the northeast in the direction of the Moabite valleys, traveling, according to the remark of Aspine, the same road along which caravans now move from Mecca to Damascus. From Num 33:41-42 it is clear that before arriving at Oboth, the Israelites had camps at Salmah and Punon. It is believed that Oboth is the present place-name El-Ahsa. The small stream Wadi al-Ahsa now forms the boundary between two regions – Jebel and Kerak – as in ancient times it perhaps served as the boundary between Edom and Moab. Regarding the Valley of Zered, the book Deut 2:14-16 reports that along the way between this valley and Ar, the last Israelites of that generation that had been condemned to die in the wilderness died. The stream Arnon is now called: in its upper course – Seil es-Saide, in its lower course – Wadi Mujib (Vlastov).

Numbers 21:14. Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: The “Book of the Wars of the Lord,” that is, a book in which the accounts of the wars of the people of God were recorded.

Numbers 21:16. From there to Beer; this is the well of which the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people, and I will give them water. The well of Beer is identified with the well “Beer-Elim” (the well of the mighty) in the land of Moab (Isa 15:8).

Numbers 21:20. From Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Mount Pisgah, which overlooks the wilderness. Pisgah is the name of one of the heights of the mountainous range of Abarim.

Numbers 21:24. And Israel struck him down with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, to the border of the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong; The stream Jabbok is now called “Zerka,” that is, “Blue.” The distance between the Arnon and the Jabbok is 45 miles, or 68 versts.

Numbers 21:25. And Israel took all these cities and dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependencies; Numbers 21:26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought with the former king of Moab and taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon. Heshbon was situated on an elevated plateau, on the same parallel as the mouth of the Jordan, 20 miles (30 versts) to the east of it. Its ruins still bear the name Hesbon today (Vlastov, Sacred Chronicles).

Numbers 21:29. Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters as captives, to the king of the Amorites, to Sihon; Chemosh was a pagan god worshipped by the Moabites, similar to Baal and Molech.

Numbers 21:30. So we defeated them; Heshbon’s dominion has passed to Dibon, and we laid waste even to Nophah, which extends to Medeba. Medeba, now Madeba (mentioned in the famous inscription of the Moabite king Mesha), is located 4 miles (6 versts) to the southeast of the ruins of Hesbon (Heshbon – Vlastov).

Numbers 21:33. And they turned and went up toward Bashan. And Og, king of Bashan, came out against them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. The kingdom of Bashan extended from the stream Jabbok in the north, along the Jordan River, to Mount Hermon (Deut 3:8). * * * Curse. Well.