Numbers 21:20

20 From Bamoth they went to the valley of Moab where the top of Mount Pisgah looks over the desert.

Numbers 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:20

And from Bamoth, [in] the valley
Or rather "to the valley", as the Targum of Onkelos, since Bamoth signifies high places; though, according to the Jerusalem Talmud F15, Bamoth, Baal, which seems to be the same place, was in a plain:

that is in the country of Moab;
the valley belonged to Moab, into which Israel came:

to the top of Pisgah;
not that the valley reached to the top, nor did the children of Israel go to the top of it, only Moses, but rather to the bottom, which indeed is meant; for it intends the beginning of it, where Pisgah, which was an high mountain near the plains of Moab, began, and which was properly the foot of it:

which looketh towards Jeshimon;
that is, Pisgah, as Jarchi rightly interprets it, which looked over a place called Jeshimon; and which signifies a wilderness, and is no other indeed than the wilderness of Kedemoth, ( Deuteronomy 2:26 ) for from thence the following messengers were sent.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.

Numbers 21:20 In-Context

18 Princes dug this well. Important men made it. With their scepters and poles, they dug it." The people went from the desert to Mattanah.
19 From Mattanah they went to Nahaliel and on to Bamoth.
20 From Bamoth they went to the valley of Moab where the top of Mount Pisgah looks over the desert.
21 The Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,
22 "Let us pass through your country. We will not go through any fields of grain or vineyards, or drink water from the wells. We will travel only along the king's road until we have passed through your country."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.