Numbers 21:30

30 the yoke, or lordship, of them perished (their yoke, or their rule, hath now ended), from Heshbon unto Dibon; the weary men came into Nophah, and unto Medeba.

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 fire went out of Heshbon, flame went out of the city of Sihon, and devoured (the city of) Ar of (the) Moabites, and the dwellers of the high places of (the) Arnon (and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon River).
29 Moab, woe to thee! thou, people of Chemosh, hast perished; it gave the sons thereof into flight, and the daughters into captivity to Sihon, king of Amorites; (Moab, woe to thee! O people of Chemosh, now ye have perished; thy god hath given his sons into flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon, the king of the Amorites;)
30 the yoke, or lordship, of them perished (their yoke, or their rule, hath now ended), from Heshbon unto Dibon; the weary men came into Nophah, and unto Medeba.
31 And so Israel dwelled in the land of (the) Amorites.
32 And Moses sent men that should espy Jaazer, whose towns they took, and wielded the dwellers. (And Moses sent men to spy out Jaazer, and then they took it, and its towns, and drove out all of its inhabitants.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.