Numbers 21:14-24

14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: “. . . Zahab^[a] in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon

15 and^[b] the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”

16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”

17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,

18 about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah,

19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

Defeat of Sihon and Og

21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:

22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.

24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified.

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Numbers 21:14-24 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 16

1. 1 Samuel 17:47; 1 Samuel 18:17; 1 Samuel 25:28
2. ver 28; Deuteronomy 2:9,18; Isaiah 15:1
3. Numbers 25:1; Numbers 33:49; Judges 9:21; Isaiah 15:8
4. S Exodus 15:1
5. Numbers 23:14; Deuteronomy 3:17,27; Deuteronomy 34:1; Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:20
6. S Genesis 32:3
7. Numbers 32:33; Deuteronomy 1:4; Deuteronomy 2:26-27; Joshua 2:10; Joshua 12:2,4; Joshua 13:10; Judges 11:19-21; 1 Kings 4:19; Nehemiah 9:22; Psalms 135:11; Psalms 136:19; Jeremiah 48:45
8. S Exodus 23:23
9. S Numbers 20:17
10. Numbers 20:21
11. Deuteronomy 2:32; Joshua 13:18; Joshua 21:36; Judges 11:20; Isaiah 15:4; Jeremiah 48:21,34
12. Numbers 20:18
13. Deuteronomy 2:33; Deuteronomy 3:3; Deuteronomy 29:7; Psalms 135:10-11; Amos 2:9
14. ver 35; Deuteronomy 3:4
15. S Genesis 32:22; Numbers 32:33; Judges 11:13,22
16. S Genesis 19:38; Deuteronomy 2:37; Joshua 13:10

Footnotes 2

[a]. Septuagint; Hebrew "Waheb"
[b]. Or "“I have been given from Suphah and the ravines" / "of the Arnon " 15"to"