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Numbers 21:16-26

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16 From there [they went] to Beer,[a] the well the Lord told Moses about, "Gather the people so I may give them water."
17 Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well-sing to it!
18 The princes dug the well; The nobles of the people hollowed it out with a scepter and with their staffs. [They went] from the wilderness to Mattanah,
19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20 from Bamoth to the valley in the territory of Moab near the Pisgah highlands[b] that overlook the wasteland.[c] [d]

Amorite Kings Defeated

21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon[e] king of the Amorites:
22 "Let us travel through your land. We won't go into the fields or vineyards. We won't drink [any] well water. We will travel the King's Highway until we have traveled through your territory."[f]
23 But Sihon would not let Israel travel through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz,[g] he fought against Israel.
24 Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok,[h] [but only up] to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.[i]
25 Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its villages.
26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.
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Numbers 21:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 21

This chapter gives an account of the defeat of King Arad, the Canaanite, Nu 21:1-3 of the murmurings of the children of Israel, because of difficulties in travelling round, the land of Edom, for which they were punished with fiery serpents, Nu 21:4-6 and how that upon their repentance a brazen serpent was ordered to be made, and to be erected on a pole, that whoever looked to it might live, Nu 21:7-9 and of the several journeys and stations of the children of Israel, until they came to the land of the Amorites, Nu 21:10-20, when they sent a message to Sihon their king, to desire him to grant them a passage through his country; but he refusing, they fought with him, smote him, and possessed his land, concerning which many proverbial sayings were used, Nu 21:21-32 and the chapter is concluded with the defeat of Og, king of Bashan, Nu 21:33-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 9

  • [a]. well
  • [b]. Moabite mountain plateau; Nm 23:14; Dt 3:17,27; 4:49; 34:1; Jos 12:3; 13:20
  • [c]. Or overlook Jeshimon
  • [d]. Nm 23:28
  • [e]. Nm 32:33; Dt 1:4; 2:24-4:46
  • [f]. Nm 20:17; Dt 2:26-33
  • [g]. Dt 2:32; Jdg 11:20; 1 Ch 6:78
  • [h]. Jdg 11:19-22
  • [i]. Or was at Az; LXX reads was Jazer
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