Numbers 21:20

20 Bamoth is a valley in the country of Moab, in the top of Pisgah, that beholdeth against the desert. (and from Bamoth to the valley in the country of Moab, below the top of Mount Pisgah, that looketh towards Jeshimon, that is, towards the wilderness.)

Numbers 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:20

And from Bamoth, [in] the valley
Or rather "to the valley", as the Targum of Onkelos, since Bamoth signifies high places; though, according to the Jerusalem Talmud ^F15, Bamoth, Baal, which seems to be the same place, was in a plain:

that is in the country of Moab;
the valley belonged to Moab, into which Israel came:

to the top of Pisgah;
not that the valley reached to the top, nor did the children of Israel go to the top of it, only Moses, but rather to the bottom, which indeed is meant; for it intends the beginning of it, where Pisgah, which was an high mountain near the plains of Moab, began, and which was properly the foot of it:

which looketh towards Jeshimon;
that is, Pisgah, as Jarchi rightly interprets it, which looked over a place called Jeshimon; and which signifies a wilderness, and is no other indeed than the wilderness of Kedemoth, ( Deuteronomy 2:26 ) for from thence the following messengers were sent.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F15 Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.

Numbers 21:20 In-Context

18 The well which the princes digged, and the dukes of the multitude made ready, in the giver of the law, and in their staves (The well from the Giver of the Law, which the leaders dug, yea, which the leaders of the multitude brought forth with their staffs). And (then) they went forth from the wilderness to Mattanah,

19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel into Bamoth;

20 Bamoth is a valley in the country of Moab, in the top of Pisgah, that beholdeth against the desert. (and from Bamoth to the valley in the country of Moab, below the top of Mount Pisgah, that looketh towards Jeshimon, that is, towards the wilderness.)

21 Soothly Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of Amorites, and said, (And the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and they said,)

22 I beseech thee, that it be leaveful to me to pass through thy land; we shall not bow into thy fields, and vineries; we shall not drink waters of thy wells; we shall go in the king's way, till we pass (by) thy terms. (We beseech thee, that it be lawful for us to pass through thy land; we shall not go into thy fields, or into thy vineyards; we shall not drink any water from thy wells; we shall go on the king's highway, until we go out again over thy border.)