Numbers 21:14

14 Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the LORD, Vahev in Sufah, The valleys of the Arnon,

Numbers 21:14 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:14

Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord
A history of wars in former times, which the Lord had suffered to be in the world; and which, as Aben Ezra thinks, reached from the times of Abraham and so might begin with the battle of the kings in his time, and take in others in later times, and particularly those of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and his conquests of some parts of Moab; and to this book, which might be written by some one of those nations, Moses refers in proof of what he here says:

what he did in the Red sea;
that is, what Sihon king of the Amorites did, or the Lord by him, "at Vaheb in Suphah", as the words may be rendered; either against a king, or rather city, of Moab, whose name was Vaheb, in the borders of the land of Moab, or how he destroyed that city Vaheb with a storm or terrible assault F12:

and in the brooks of Arnon:
some places situated on the streams of that river, which were taken by the Amorites from the Moabites, as the book quoted plainly testified.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Vid. L'Empereur. Not. in Mosis Kimchi (odoiporia) p. 195.

Numbers 21:14 In-Context

12 From there they journeyed, and encamped in the valley of Zered.
13 From there they journeyed, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that comes out of the border of the Amori: for the Arnon is the border of Mo'av, between Mo'av and the Amori.
14 Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the LORD, Vahev in Sufah, The valleys of the Arnon,
15 The slope of the valleys That inclines toward the dwelling of `Ar, Leans on the border of Mo'av.
16 From there [they journeyed] to Be'er: that is the well whereof the LORD said to Moshe, Gather the people together, and I will give them water.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.