Numbers 21:2

2 Then Israel made an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give up this people into my hands, then I will send complete destruction on all their towns.

Numbers 21:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:2

And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord
The Israelites made supplication to the Lord for help against their enemies, and that he would give them victory over them, and made promises to him:

and said, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand;
certainly and entirely deliver them, so as that a complete victory shall be obtained over them:

then will I utterly destroy their cities;
or "anathematize", or devote them to utter destruction ^F15; slay man and beast, burn their houses and take their goods, not for a spoil, for their own private use, but reserve them for the service of God; all which is implied in the vow made, as was done to Jericho, ( Joshua 6:21 Joshua 6:24 ) and so it is a vow, as Abendana observes, of what they would do when they came to the land of Canaan.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (ytmrxhw) "et anathematisabo", Montanus; "devovebo", Tigurine version.

Numbers 21:2 In-Context

1 And it came to the ears of the Canaanite, the king of Arad, living in the South, that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, and he came out against them and took some of them prisoners.

2 Then Israel made an oath to the Lord, and said, If you will give up this people into my hands, then I will send complete destruction on all their towns.

3 And the Lord, in answer to the voice of Israel, gave the Canaanites up to them; and they put them and their towns completely to destruction: and that place was named Hormah.

4 Then they went on from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, going round the land of Edom: and the spirit of the people was overcome with weariness on the way.

5 And crying out against God and against Moses, they said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to come to our death in the waste land? For there is no bread and no water, and this poor bread is disgusting to us.