1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he attacked Israel and took some prisoners.
2 Then Israel made this vow to Yah weh, “If you put these people into my hand, I will consecrate their towns by anathema.”
3 Yahweh heard the voice of Israel and delivered the Canaanites into their hands. They were wiped out and their towns were destroyed according to the anathema. Because of this that place was named Hormah.
The bronze serpent
4 From Mount Hor they set out by the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. The people were discouraged by the
journey
5 and began to com plain against God and Mo ses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”
6 Yahweh then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died.
7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against Yahweh and against you. Plead with Yahweh to take the serpents away.”
Moses pleaded for the people
8 and Yahweh said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.
Towards Transjordania
10 The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth,
11 Then they left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that borders Moab, toward the sunrise.
12 They set out from there and camped in the Valley of Zered.
13 They set out from there and camped beyond the Arnon. This valley in the desert begins in the land of the Amorites and is on the border of Moab, between the Moabites and the Amorites.
14 Because of this, it is written in the book of the Wars of Yah weh: Wa heb, by Suphah, and the Valley of Arnon
15 and the slope of the ravine that runs down to Ar along the border of Moab.
16 From there they went on to Beer. This is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses, “Call the people together and I will give them water.”
17 Then it was that Israel sang this song, “Let the water spring! Sing out for the well;
18 the well sunk by princes, the well dug by the leaders of the people with their sticks, with their staves.”
From the desert they went to Mat tanah;
19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel; from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
20 from Bamoth to the valley that gives on to the country of Moab, toward the heights of Pisgah which looks down on the desert.
Conquest of Transjordania
21 Israel sent this message to Sihon, king of the Amorites,
22 “We want to pass through your land. We will not cross any fields or vineyards or drink any water from the wells. We will keep to the king’s road until we are out of your land.”
23 But Sihon refused to let Israel pass through his land. He gathered all his people, marched into the desert to meet Israel and reached Jahaz. There he gave battle to Israel.
24 But Israel struck him down and conquered his country from the Arnon to the Jabbok, which is the frontier of the Ammorites because this frontier was well-defended.
25 Israel occupied all the cities and the towns of the Amorites, including Heshbon and the towns depending on it.
26 Heshbon was the capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and captured from him all this territory as far as the Arnon.
27 Because of this the poets continue singing this song, “Cour age, Heshbon, city of Sihon, well built and well founded!
28 A fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab and the Baals of the high places of Moab.
29 Woe to you, Moab! You are lost, people of Chemosh! Your sons have fled; your daughters were taken captive.
30 For Sihon, king of the Amo rites, has destroyed Heshbon. The little children and the women were brought as far as Dibon and Nophah, the men were taken as far as Medeba.”
31 When the Israelites settled in the country of the Amorites,
32 Moses sent spies to explore Jazer. Israel took this city with all the towns depending on it, and the Amorites who lived there were evicted.
33 After that the Israelites turned and went up to Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, set out with all his people to meet them and gave them battle in Edrei.
34 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have given him into your hands with all his people and his land. You shall deal with him as you did with Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
35 The Israelites killed him, his sons and all his people to the last. And they took possession of his land.
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Comments Numbers, Chapter 21
• 21.4 With regard to this bronze serpent, two quite different questions may be asked. The first: what is the historical origin of this account? An easy answer: near the Sinai mines a healing god was honored and little bronze serpents were offered in thanksgiving. The stories of travellers must have inspired the narrative. But the important question is the second: what does this page of the holy book intend to say?
The people complained. The Israelites complain again: this is the inner rebellion of those who do not accept sacrifices and will not exert themselves in order to become better and who would rather blame others.
Make a bronze serpent. A strange command to the Israelites, but the bronze serpent will be a prophetic sign: God intends to cure the sin with the very instrument of the sin.
Whoever looks at it shall live: another pro-phetic statement. Sinners will not have to follow strict prescriptions: let them merely look with faith at the sign God sends for their healing. Jesus will say: “As Moses lifted up the ser pent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up (on the cross) so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14).
The story of the serpent is one of those biblical images with a hidden meaning, and peo ple had to wait for the day when Christ would give them meaning. The same is true of the story of Mel -chi zedek (Gen 14) and the story of Joseph.
The same is true in our own lives; in our past there have been some incidents which we did not understand at that time. Why did this happen to me? Some day, the light of Christ will reveal the meaning.
• 21. After their years of confinement in Kadesh were over, the Israelites together with Moses started their march toward the land of Canaan.
They surrounded the country to the south and the east and temporarily settled in the territories east of the Jordan. Two victories occurred there and, once again, the Israelites saw that God saves his people. In Psalm 136, after praising God “who made them cross the Red Sea because his love is everlasting” they recall that “he struck great kings to death, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan.”