Numbers 21:30

30 "But we have taken them over. Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have destroyed them as far as Nophah. Nophah goes all the way to Medeba."

Numbers 21:30 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:30

We have shot at them
Either the Amorites at the Moabites, or else the Israelites at the Amorites; for, according to Aben Ezra, these are the words of Moses, though they, with ( Numbers 21:29 ) , seem rather to be a continuation of the song of the old Amorite bards, describing the ruin of the country of Moab by them; and this clause may be rendered with the next, "their light, or lamp, is perished from Heshbon" F18; or their yoke, as Jarchi, and so the Vulgate Latin version; that is, their kingdom, and the glory of it, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, and so Jarchi:

even unto Dibon;
which was another city in the land of Moab; see ( Isaiah 15:2 ) :

and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which [reached] unto
Medeba;
Nophah perhaps is the same with Nebo, mentioned along with Medeba, ( Isaiah 15:2 ) , however, they were both places in Moab, and are mentioned to show how far the desolation had or would spread; and the whole is observed to prove, that this part of the country of Moab, now possessed by the Israelites, was taken from them, not by them, but by the Amorites, a people Israel now conquered, and so had a right to what they found them in the possession of.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Nwbvx dba Mryn) "lucerna eorum, Heshbon (seilicet) periit", Tigurine version; "regnum eorum periit a Chesbon", Pagninus, Vatablus; "imperium eorum", Munster.

Numbers 21:30 In-Context

28 "Fire went out from Heshbon. A blaze went out from the city of Sihon. It burned up Ar in Moab. It burned up the citizens who lived on Arnon's hills.
29 Moab, how terrible it is for you! People of Chemosh, you are destroyed! Chemosh has deserted his sons and daughters. His sons have run away from the battle. His daughters have become prisoners. He has handed all of them over to Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
30 "But we have taken them over. Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have destroyed them as far as Nophah. Nophah goes all the way to Medeba."
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 Moses sent spies to the city of Jazer. The people of Israel captured the settlements that were around it. They drove out the Amorites who were there.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.