KING ARAD THE CANAANITE - Rather, “the Canaanite, the king of Arad.” Arad stood on a small hill, now called Tel-Arad, 20 miles south of Hebron. IN THE SOUTH - See Numbers 13:17, Numbers 13:22. BY THE WAY OF THE SPIES - i. e. through the desert of Zin, the route which the spies sent out by Moses 38... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE - Render it as: “the name of the place was called.” The transitive verb here is, by a common Hebrew idiom, equivalent to an impersonal one. HORMAH - i. e. “Ban.” See Numbers 14:45 and note. In Judges 1:17, we read that the men of Judah and Simeon “slew the Canaanites... [ Continue Reading ]
The direct route to Moab through the valleys of Edom being closed against them Numbers 20:20, they were compelled to turn southward. Their course lay down the Arabah; until, a few hours north of Akaba (Ezion-Geber) the Wady Ithm opened to them a gap in the hostile mountains, allowed them to turn to... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS LIGHT BREAD - i. e. “this vile, contemptible bread.”... [ Continue Reading ]
FIERY SERPENTS - The epithet Deuteronomy 8:15; Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 30:6 denotes the inflammatory effect of their bite. The peninsula of Sinai, and not least, the Arabah, abounds in mottled snakes of large size, marked with fiery red spots and wavy stripes, which belong to the most poisonous species... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE THEE A FIERY SERPENT - i. e. a serpent resembling in appearance the reptiles which attacked the people. The resemblance was of the essence of the symbolism (compare 1 Samuel 6:5). As the brass serpent represented the instrument of their chastisement, so the looking unto it at God’s word denoted... [ Continue Reading ]
The earlier stations in this part of their journey were Zalmonah and Punon Numbers 33:41. Oboth was north of Punon, east of the northern part of Edom, and is pretty certainly the same as the present pilgrim halting-place el-Ahsa. Ije (“ruinous heaps”) of Abarim, or Iim of Abarim, was so called to di... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VALLEY OF ZARED - Rather, the brook or watercourse of Zared “the willow.” It is probably the present Wady Ain Franjy.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Arnon, now the Wady Mojeb, an impetuous torrent, divided the territory which remained to the Moabites from that which the Amorites had wrested from them, Numbers 21:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of “the book of the wars of the Lord” nothing is known except what may be gathered from the passage before us. It was apparently a collection of sacred odes commemorative of that triumphant progress of God’s people which this chapter records. From it is taken the ensuing fragment of ancient poetry r... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE DWELLING OF AR - Ar (compare Numbers 21:28; Isaiah 15:1) was on the bank of the Arnon, lower down the stream than where the Israelites crossed. Near the spot where the upper Arnon receives the tributary Nahaliel Numbers 21:19, there rises, in the midst of the meadow-land between the two torre... [ Continue Reading ]
Beer is probably the “Well,” afterward known as Beer-elim, the “well of heroes” Isaiah 15:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
This song, recognized by all authorities as dating from the earliest times, and suggested apparently by the fact that God in this place gave the people water not from the rock, but by commanding Moses to cause a well to be dug, bespeaks the glad zeal, the joyful faith, and the hearty cooperation amo... [ Continue Reading ]
NAHALIEL - i. e. “brook of God;” the modern Wady Enkheileh. The Israelites must have crossed the stream not much above Ar. BAMOTH - Otherwise Bamoth-baal, “the high places of Baal” Numbers 22:41 : mentioned as near Dibon (Dhiban) in Joshua 13:17, and Isaiah 15:2. See Numbers 32:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
Jabbok (now Wady Zerka: compare Genesis 32:22) runs eastward under Rabbah of the children of Ammon, thence westward, and reaches the Jordan, 45 miles north of the Arnon. It was between Rabbah and Gerasa that it formed the Ammonite boundary.... [ Continue Reading ]
HESHBON - Now Heshban, a ruined city, due east of the point where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea; conspicuous from all parts of the high plateau on which it stands, but concealed, like the rest of the plateau, from the valley beneath.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT SPEAK IN PROVERBS - The original word is almost equivalent to “the poets.” The word supplies the title of the Book of Proverbs itself; and is used of the parable proper in Ezekiel 17:2; of the prophecies of Balsam in Numbers 23:7; Numbers 24:3; etc.; and of a song of triumph over Babylon i... [ Continue Reading ]
CHEMOSH - The national God of the Moabites (compare the marginal references). The name probably means “Vanquisher,” or “Master.” The worship of Chemosh was introduced into Israel by Solomon 1Ki 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13. It was no doubt to Chemosh that Mesha, king of Moab, offered up his son as a burnt-of... [ Continue Reading ]
JAAZER - To he identified probably with the ruins Sir or es-Sir 10 miles north of Heshbon. The occupation of it by the Israelites virtually completed their conquest of the Amorite kingdom; and prepared the way for the pastoral settlements in it which they not long after established Numbers 32:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
In these apparently unimportant words is contained the record of the Israelite Numbers 32:39 occupation of Gilead north of the Jabbok; a territory which, though populated, like southern Gilead, by the Amorites (Deuteronomy 3:9; Joshua 2:10, etc.), formed part of the domain of Og king of Bashan, who... [ Continue Reading ]