Numbers 21:23

. Numbers 21:21 Ver. 21. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites,.... Who were one of the nations of the Canaanites, and a principal and powerful one, and who were devoted to destruction, and their land designed for the people of Israel; see Genesis 15:16, at this time Sihon was their king, to whom Moses, in the name of Israel, sent a very peaceable message from the wilderness of Kedemoth, which lay near his country, Deuteronomy 2:26: saying; as follows. Numbers 21:22 Ver. 22. Let me pass through thy land,.... Through some part of it, which would have been a shorter way to the river Jordan, over which Israel was to pass into the land of Canaan; the terms proposed, or things to be observed in their passage, which they would bind themselves strictly to, are the same that were made to the king of Edom. See Gill on "Numbers 20:17". Numbers 21:23 Ver. 23. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border,....

21:21-35 Sihon went with his forces against Israel, out of his own borders, without provocation, and so ran upon his own ruin. The enemies of God's church often perish by the counsels they think most wisely taken. Og, king of Bashan, instead of being warned by the fate of his neighbours, to make peace with Israel, makes war with them, which proves in like manner his destruction. Wicked men do their utmost to secure themselves and their possessions against the judgments of God; but all in vain, when the day comes on which they must fall. God gave Israel success, while Moses was with them, that he might see the beginning of the glorious work, though he must not live to see it finished. This was, in comparison, but as the day of small things, yet it was an earnest of great things. We must prepare for fresh conflicts and enemies. We must make no peace or truce with the powers of darkness, nor even treat with them; nor should we expect any pause in our contest. But, trusting in God, and obeying his commands, we shall be more than conquerors over every enemy.

And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border,.... Because he could not trust them, and confide in the promises they made, and thought it not safe to let such a body of people into any part of his dominions, Judges 11:20 and chiefly because his heart was hardened by the Lord, that he might be delivered into the hands of Israel, as was determined, Deuteronomy 2:30 , but Sihon gathered all his people together; all that were able to bear arms out of his cities, and which made no doubt a very numerous and powerful army; but then these being defeated, as they were, it became more easy to the Israelites to take their cities, where there were none left but women and children: and went out against Israel into the wilderness; the wilderness of Kedemoth; not content to reject a peaceable message, he went out in an hostile manner against Israel, even out of his own dominions; so that he was the aggressor and unprovoked, which made his ruin appear the more just, and the children of Israel to have a better claim to his country conquered by them: and he came to Jahaz; a frontier town in the land of Moab, see Isaiah 15:4 and which, according to Bunting (p), was sixteen miles from Abarim: and fought against Israel; at the above place, where they had a pitched battle. (p) Travels of the Patriarchs, p. 83.

23 . the wilderness ] See on Numbers 21:13 . Jahaz ] Deuteronomy 2:32 , Isaiah 15:4 , Jeremiah 48:34 . The form Jahzah is used in Joshua 13:18 ; Joshua 21:36 , Jdg 11:20 (Heb.), Jeremiah 48:21 , 1 Chronicles 6:78 . The site is unknown, but it evidently lay on the eastern boundary of Sihon’s territory, since he came thither to prevent Israel from crossing it. In agreement with this it is twice mentioned with Kedemoth ( Joshua 13:18 ; Joshua 21:36 f.), which is the name of ‘the wilderness’ in Deuteronomy 2:26 , and twice seems to be named as a limit of Moab, at some distance from Heshbon ( Isaiah 15:4 , Jeremiah 48:34 ).

In the country of Moab - Rather, in the field of Moab: the upland pastures, or flat downs, intersected by the ravine of Wady Waleh. Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon - Or, "toward the waste." See Numbers 33:47. Pisgah was a ridge of the Abarim mountains, westward from Heshbon. From the summit the Israelites gained their first view of the wastes of the Dead Sea and of the valley of the Jordan: and Moses again ascended it, to view, before his death, the land of promise. The interest attaching to the spot, and the need of a convenient name for it, has led Christians often to designate it as "Nebo," rather than as "the mountain of, or near to, Nebo;" but the latter is the more correct: Nebo denoted the town Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:1, Jeremiah 48:22 on the western slope of the ridge.

Defeat of the Amorite Kings, Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan, and Conquest of their Kingdoms. Numbers 21:21-23 When the Israelites reached the eastern border of the kingdom of the Amorite king Sihon (see at Numbers 21:13), they sent messengers to him, as they had previously done to the king of Edom, to ask permission to pass peaceably through his territory upon the high road (cf. Numbers 21:22 and Numbers 20:17); and Sihon refused this request, just as the king of Edom had done, and marched with all his people against the Israelites. But whereas the Lord forbade the Israelites to make war upon their kinsmen the Edomites, He now commanded them to make war upon the Amorite king, and take possession of his land (Deuteronomy 2:24-25); for the Amorites belonged to the Canaanitish tribes which were ripe for the judgment of extermination (Genesis 15:16). And if, notwithstanding this, the Israelites sent to him with words of peace (Deuteronomy 2:26), this was simply done to leave the decision of his fate in his own hand (see at Deuteronomy 2:24). Sihon came out against the Israelites into the desert as far as Jahza, where a battle was fought, in which he was defeated.

The accounts of the Onom. concerning Jahza, which was situated, according to Eusebius, between Medamon (Medaba) and Debous (Dibon, see above), and according to Jerome, between Medaba and Deblatai, may be reconciled with the statement that it was in the desert, provided we assume that it was not in a straight line between the places named, but in a more easterly direction on the edge of the desert, near to the commencement of the Wady Wale, a conclusion to which the juxtaposition of Jahza and Mephaot in Joshua 13:18; Joshua 21:37, and Jeremiah 48:21, also points (see at Joshua 13:18).

This regular detail in Numbers 33 has occasioned great perplexity as to Numbers 21, where, after the stations at Oboth and Ije-abarim, in Numbers 21:10, Numbers 21:11, we have, in Numbers 21:19, Numbers 21:20, the words Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth; which are usually considered as the proper names of three places, but widely different from the three proper names after Ije-abarim in the catalogue at Numbers 33. "But there is, in reality, no inconsistency here. In the plain and historical catalogue (Numbers 33). the words are strictly the proper names of the three places; but here the words Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth follow some lines of poetry, and seem to form a continuation of the song. They evidently express figurative and poetical ideas. The verbs journeyed from and pitched in are not found here, though necessary to prose narration: see Numbers 33:10 and Numbers 33:11 here, and Numbers 33. Lastly, Numbers 21:20, (in this 21st chapter), usually supposed to express the last encampment, does not. Pisgah signifies a hill; and the Israelites could not encamp on the top of any single hill, such as this is described. Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which looketh toward Jeshimon, (Numbers 23:28), which Peor undoubtedly was in Moab. He took him to another hill in Moab, when he took him (Numbers 23:14) to the top of Pisgah, in the field of Zophim. And if the Pisgah or hill in