Numbers 21:1

_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._ King Arad the Canaanite, х_ HA-KªNA`ªNIY_ (H3669) _ MELEK_ (H4428) _ `ARAAD_ (H6166)] - the Canaanite king of Arad; an ancient town situated 'in the south' (ha-negeb, i:e., the south country) of Palestine (cf. Numbers 33:40; Judges 1:16). The site of it is indicated by the bare hill, Tell 'Arad, on which Van de Velde found some fragments of very ancient pottery, and a dilapidated well ('Syria and Palestine.' vol. 2:, p. 84). Eusebius and Jerome place the town about 20 Rom

1._And when king Arad the Canaanite. _It is not altogether agreed among commentators who this king Arad was. Some think that he was an Amalekite, but this error is refuted by the fact that the Amalekites had already attempted in vain to interrupt the journey of the people. Nor is it credible that after so great a slaughter, they would have endeavored to do so again, especially since their territories remained untouched. Besides, it would have been absurd to call the Amalekites Canaanites, since they derived their origin not from Canaan but from Esau, and thus were connected with the Israelites by a common descent from Shem. We shall, however, rightly understand this as referring to the Amorites, who were certainly reckoned among the Canaanites, as being of the same race; as Moses tells us in his first book, (Genesis 10:16, and Gen

1-3 Before the people began their march round the country of Edom, the king of Arad, a Canaanite, who inhabited the southern part of the country, attacked them in the wilderness, and took some prisoners. This was to lead the Israelites to look more thoroughly to the Lord....

CHAPTER XXI _Arad, a king of the Canaanites, attacks Israel, and makes same_ _prisoners_, 1. _They devote him and his people to destruction_, 2; _which they afterwards accomplished_, 3. _They journey from_ Hor, _and are greatly discouraged_, 4. _They murmur against God and Moses, and loathe the manna_, 5. _The Lord sends fiery serpents among them_, 6. _They repent, and beg Moses to intercede for them_, 7. _The Lord directs him to make a brazen serpent, and set it on a_ _pole, that the people might look on it and be healed_,

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 years before had adopted (compare Numbers 13:21). HE FOUGHT AGAINST ISRAEL - This attack (compare Numbers 20:1 and note), can hardly have taken place after the death of Aaron. It was m

EXPOSITION THE LAST MARCH: FROM MOUNT HOR TO JORDAN (CHAPTER 21-22:1). EPISODE OF THE KING OF ARAD (Numbers 21:1). NUMBERS 21:1 AND WHEN KING ARAD THE CANAANITE, WHICH DWELT IN THE SOUTH, HEARD TELL. Rather, "And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, which dwelt in the Negeb, heard tell." It is possible that Arad was the name of the king (it occurs as the name of a man, 1 Chronicles 8:15), but it was alm

AND [WHEN] KING ARAD THE CANAANITE, WHICH DWELT IN THE SOUTH,.... Arad seems rather to be the name of a place, city, or country, of which the Canaanite was king, than the name of a man, since we read of the king of Arad, Joshua 12:14 see also Judges 1:16 and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem here render it, the king of Arad; and the Targum of Jonathan says, he changed his seat and reigned in Arad, which might have its name from Arvad, a son of Canaan, Genesis 10:18 and Jerom says n, that Arath, the same with Arad, is a city of the Amorites, near the wilderness of Kadesh, and that to this day it is shown, a village four miles from Malatis and twenty from Hebron, in the tribe of Judah; and so Aben Ezra observes, that the a

Numbers 21:1. _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. 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. 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. 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._ They were not allowed to go through the land of Edom, they had therefore to turn round, and go right away from the land where they one day hoped to dwell, and the road was a particularly trying one, over hot and burning sand

CHAPTER 21 Murmuring and Conquest _ 1. Opposition of King Arad (Numbers 21:1)_ 2. Murmuring and the fiery serpents (Numbers 21:4) 3. The serpent of brass (Numbers 21:8) 4. Journeying and singing again (Numbers 21:10) 5. Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:21) The first victory is here recorded. The Lord delivered Canaanites into the hands of Israel, and according to their vow they utterly destroyed them and their cities. But in spite of this victory the people became again discouraged because of the w

SUCCESS OVER THE KING OF ARAD. Since Arad, the modern Tell Arad, 17 miles from Hebron, was in the south of Canaan, and a successful advance of the whole people in that direction would hardly have been followed by a circuit round Edom (Numbers 21:4 f_.)_ with a view to the invasion of Canaan from the E., it is likely that this section relates to an independent movement on the part of the tribes of Judah and Simeon (_cf._ Judges 1:16 f., where, however, the advance is represented as made from Jericho). NUMBERS 21:1. ATHARIM: the place and the meaning of the name are unknown. Numbers 21:2. utterly destroy: persons