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21. The Bronze Snake

¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. ² Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 3. their cities.” ³ The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah. Hormah means destruction.

The Bronze Snake

⁴ They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, Or the Sea of Reeds to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

⁶ Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

The Journey to Moab

¹⁰ The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. ¹¹ Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. ¹³ They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says:

   “. . . Zahab Septuagint; Hebrew Waheb in Suphah and the ravines,
   the Arnon ¹⁵ and Or “I have been given from Suphah and the ravines / of the Arnon to the slopes of the ravines
that lead to the settlement of Ar
   and lie along the border of Moab.”

¹⁶ From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”

¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song:

   “Spring up, O well!
   Sing about it,
¹⁸ about the well that the princes dug,
   that the nobles of the people sank—
   the nobles with scepters and staffs.”

Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, ¹⁹ from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

Defeat of Sihon and Og

²¹ Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:

²² “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”

²³ But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. ²⁴ Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. ²⁵ Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.

²⁷ That is why the poets say:

“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon’s city be restored.

    ²⁸ “Fire went out from Heshbon,
   a blaze from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
   the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
²⁹ Woe to you, Moab!
   You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives
   and his daughters as captives
   to Sihon king of the Amorites.

    ³⁰ “But we have overthrown them;
   Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah,
   which extends to Medeba.”

³¹ So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.

³² After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. ³³ Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.

³⁴ The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”

³⁵ So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

13. From thence they removed, and pitched. I will presently add, what Moses relates in Deuteronomy respecting the Moabites and Ammonites. Since here he only briefly touches upon the main facts, he only specifies that the people came to the borders of their enemies, where it was necessary to give battle, because there was no means of entering the land of Canaan, except by force of arms. Here, then, was the end of their journeying, for, when the Amorites were conquered, they began to inhabit their cities. He, therefore, immediately adds, that this place would be memorable in all ages, because in it God again exerted His power, by putting to flight their enemies. Still translators appear to me to be mistaken as to the meaning of the words. Almost all of them render the word ספר, sepher, “the book;” and afterwards eagerly discuss what book it is, without coming to any satisfactory conclusion. I rather understand it to mean “narration;” as if Moses had said, that when the wars of Jehovah shall be recounted, the memory of this place would be celebrated; as David, when he is recounting, and magnifying God’s mercies, expressly mentions that king Sihon and Og were conquered.

There is also another ambiguity in the following words: for some suppose Vaheb to be the proper name of a city, and Suphah a noun common, which they translate “in a whirlwind;” ¹²³¹²³ את-והב בסופה eth-vaheb b’suphah. None of the most ancient translations can be said to be in unison with the present reading of the Hebrew in this clause. The LXX. appear to have read זהב and render it τὴν Ζωὸβ ἐφλόγισε The Chaldee Paraphrast, Onkelos, has על ימא דסוף, “By the sea of Suph,” i.e., the Red Sea. The Syriac has, “A flame with a whirlwind,” translating סופה instead of treating it as a proper name, and having apparently read some form of להב instead of את-והב. The V. has, “Sicut fecit in mari rubro;” our A.V. “What he did in the Red Sea,” but in the Margin, “Vaheb in Suphah.” The translation of S. M. agrees with that in the text of A. F.; but in his notes he says, “Kimchi interprets והב to be the name of a place, but R. Salomon treats it as equivalent to יהב he gave, and expounds the clause thus, As God gave many signs by the Red Sea, so was He wonderful in his works by the brook Arnon. — W but, since the shore of the Red Sea was not habitable, I do not see how mention could be suitably made of any city situated there. But if they think it was a city near Arnon, it is surprising that it should never be spoken of elsewhere, and yet here referred to, as if it were well known. I therefore rather incline to their opinion, who explain it as a vero, and suppose that ו (vau) is used for י (yod,) so that the sense should be; As God had begun to fight gloriously for the Israelites at the Red Sea, so also He continued the same grace at Arnon. I admit, that if the points be scrupulously insisted upon, this meaning would not be altogether accordant with grammar; but I prefer eliciting a probable meaning at the cost of a single point, than to go out of the way in search of poor conjectures, as they do who imagine Vaheb to be the proper name of a place. Appropriately, indeed, does Moses compare Arnon with the Red Sea, in order to shew that God’s grace, at its end, is thoroughly in accordance with its commencement. He had mightily fought against the Egyptians, and had destroyed the army of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, but small would have been the fruit of this deliverance, unless, with equal efficacy, He had succoured His people when they had to contend with the Canaanitish nations: for the question here is not as to God’s blessings in general, but only as to the victories, wherein it was manifested that the Israelites did not fight without the approval and guidance of God. Moses, therefore, does not recount the miracles performed in the desert: but only says, that in the history of the wars of God the name of Arnon would be equally renowned with that of the Red Sea. Still, in the word Arnon it must be observed that there is a synecdoche; forMoses comprehends in it all the subsequent battles. Since, therefore, from the time that the people arrived at Arnon, where their enemies came forth to meet them, God again lifted up His standard, and gloriously honored His people by continued victories — hence the special celebrity of the place arose. There is a poetical repetition in the verse, where, for the torrents, the stream of the torrents ¹²⁴¹²⁴ A.V. “the brooks” — “the stream of the brooks.” is spoken of, which descends to Ar, and reposes in the border of Moab.