Numbers 21:30

30 We threw them down; Heshbon has been destroyed as far as Dibon.[a] [b] We caused desolation as far as Nophah, which reaches as far as Medeba.[c] [d]

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 For fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of Arnon's heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab! You have been destroyed, people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon the Amorite king.
30 We threw them down; Heshbon has been destroyed as far as Dibon. We caused desolation as far as Nophah, which reaches as far as Medeba.
31 So Israel lived in the Amorites' land.
32 After Moses sent spies to Jazer, Israel captured its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. LXX reads Their seed will perish from Heshbon; Vg reads Their yoke has perished from Heshbon
  • [b]. Nm 32:34; Neh 11:25; Jr 48:18,22
  • [c]. LXX reads Dibon. And their women have further kindled a fire against Moab; Hb uncertain
  • [d]. Jos 13:9,16; 1 Ch 19:7; Isa 15:2
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