Numbers 21

Chapter context

What is happening in Numbers 21?

pilgrimagerebellionjudgmentmercy

Numbers 21 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as crises involving spies, Korah, serpents, and Balaam. Numbers combines census lists, camp order, priestly concerns, wilderness rebellion, judgment, mercy, and renewed preparation for entering the promised land. Read this chapter with the wider themes of pilgrimage, rebellion, and judgment in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. ² And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. ³ And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. ⁴ And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. ⁵ And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. ⁶ And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. ⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. ⁹ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. ¹⁰ And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. ¹¹ And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. ¹² From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. ¹³ From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, ¹⁵ And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab. ¹⁶ And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. ¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: ¹⁸ The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: ¹⁹ And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: ²⁰ And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon. ²¹ And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ²² Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high way, until we be past thy borders. ²³ And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²⁴ And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. ²⁵ And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. ²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. ²⁷ Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: ²⁸ For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. ²⁹ Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. ³⁰ We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. ³¹ Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³² And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. ³³ And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. ³⁴ And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. ³⁵ So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.

Study helps

Glossary

Arad Place v. 1: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Arad.
Atharim Place v. 1: Biblical road. Modern identification: road between Kadesh-barnea and Arad.
Negeb Place v. 1: Biblical region. Modern identification: Tel Beer Sheva.
Hormah Place v. 3: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Masos.
Edom Place v. 4: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.
Mount Hor Place v. 4: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Har Zin.
Way of the Red Sea Place v. 4: Biblical road. Modern identification: road between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
Egypt Place v. 5: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Oboth Place v. 10-11: Biblical campsite. Modern identification: Ein Weibeh.
Iye-abarim Place v. 11: Ruins. (1. ) A city in the south of Judah ( Josh. 15:29 ). (2. ) One of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness ( Num. 33:45 ). Modern identification: Medeineh.
Moab Place v. 11, 13, 15, 20, 26, 28-29: Biblical region. Modern identification: Kerak.
Valley of Zered Place v. 12: Biblical valley. Modern identification: Wadi al Hasa.
Amorites People v. 13, 21, 25-26, 29, 31-32, 34: Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan ( Gen. 14:7 ), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions.
Arnon Place v. 13-14, 24, 26, 28: Biblical river. Modern identification: Wadi Mujib.
Suphah Place v. 14: ( Num. 21:14 , marg.; also R. V. ), a place at the south-eastern corner of the Dead Sea, the Ghor es-Safieh. Modern identification: Sufeh.
Waheb Place v. 14: Biblical campsite. Modern identification: Sufeh.
Ar Place v. 15, 28: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet al Balua.
Beer Place v. 16: Well. (1. ) A place where a well was dug by the direction of Moses, at the forty-fourth station of the Hebrews in their wanderings ( Num. 21:16-18 ) in the wilderness of Moab. (See WELL. ). Modern identification: Wadi eth Themed.
Mattanah Place v. 18-19: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet el Medeiyineh.
Bamoth Place v. 19-20: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Khirbet el Quweiqiyeh.
Nahaliel Place v. 19: Biblical campsite. Modern identification: Wadi Zerqa Main.
Jeshimon Place v. 20: Biblical region. Modern identification: Zahrat al Kula.
Pisgah Place v. 20: A part, a mountain summit in the land of Moab, in the territory of Reuben, where Balak offered up sacrifices ( Num. 21:20 ; 23:14 ), and from which Moses viewed the promised land ( Deut. 3:27 ). Modern identification: Rujm Siyaghah.
King’s Highway Place v. 22: Biblical road. Modern identification: King’s Highway.
Jahaz Place v. 23: Trodden down. Modern identification: Khirbet el Medeiyineh.
Ammon Place v. 24: Biblical region. Modern identification: Amman.
Jabbok Place v. 24: Biblical river. Modern identification: Zarqa River.
Jazer Place v. 24, 32: He (God) helps, a city of the Amorites on the east of Jordan, and assigned, with neighbouring places in Gilead, to Gad ( Num. 32:1 , 35; Josh. 13:25 ). It was allotted to the Merarite Levites (21:39). Modern identification: Khirbet Sara.
Heshbon Place v. 25-28, 30, 34: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tell Hesban.
City People v. 26-28: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Dibon Place v. 30: Pining; wasting. (1. ) A city in Moab ( Num. 21:30 ); called also Dibon-gad (33:45), because it was built by Gad and Dimon ( Isa. 15:9 ). Modern identification: Tall Dhiban.
Medeba Place v. 30: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Madaba.
Nophah Place v. 30: Blast, a city of Moab which was occupied by the Amorites ( Num. 21:30 ). Modern identification: Kerak.
Bashan Place v. 33: Biblical region. Modern identification: Saham al Jawlan.
Edrei Place v. 33: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Daraa.