Numbers 21:1-8

Arad Destroyed

1 When ¹the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ²the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.

2 ³And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction."^[a]

3 And the LORD heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ⁴Hormah.^[b]

The Bronze Serpent

4 From Mount Hor ⁵they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ⁶to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.

5 And the people ⁷spoke against God and against Moses, ⁸"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ⁹we loathe this worthless food."

6 ¹⁰Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and ¹¹they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7 ¹²And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. ¹³Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

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Numbers 21:1-8 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

Cross References 13

1. Numbers 33:40; [Judges 1:16]
2. See Numbers 13:17
3. [Genesis 28:20; Judges 11:30]
4. Numbers 14:45; Deuteronomy 1:44; Joshua 19:4; Judges 1:17
5. Numbers 20:22; Numbers 33:41
6. Judges 11:18
7. Psalms 78:19
8. Exodus 16:3; Exodus 17:3
9. [Numbers 11:6]
10. Deuteronomy 8:15; 1 Corinthians 10:9; [Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 30:6]
11. Jeremiah 8:17
12. Psalms 78:34; [Numbers 11:2]
13. [Exodus 8:8, 28; 1 Samuel 12:19; 1 Kings 13:6; Acts 8:24]

Footnotes 2

[a]. That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 3
[b]. Hormah means destruction

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.