Numbers 21:2

2 So ¹Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."

Numbers 21:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:2

And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord
The Israelites made supplication to the Lord for help against their enemies, and that he would give them victory over them, and made promises to him:

and said, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand;
certainly and entirely deliver them, so as that a complete victory shall be obtained over them:

then will I utterly destroy their cities;
or "anathematize", or devote them to utter destruction ^F15; slay man and beast, burn their houses and take their goods, not for a spoil, for their own private use, but reserve them for the service of God; all which is implied in the vow made, as was done to Jericho, ( Joshua 6:21 Joshua 6:24 ) and so it is a vow, as Abendana observes, of what they would do when they came to the land of Canaan.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (ytmrxhw) "et anathematisabo", Montanus; "devovebo", Tigurine version.

Numbers 21:2 In-Context

1 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, then he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

2 So Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities."

3 The LORD heard the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites; then they utterly destroyed them and their cities. Thus the name of the place was called Hormah.

4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey.

5 The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 28:20; Judges 11:30

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "devote to destruction"