Numbers 21 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Numbers 21:1-9

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 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.

4 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go round 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.

A. Find Out:

1. Who attacked Israel? v.1
2. What was Israel ‘s response and eventual outcome? v.2,3
3. Why did Israel next grumble? v.4,5
4. What judgement did God send? v.6
5. What was the people’s response? v.7
6. How were people saved? v.8,9

B. Think:

1. How did Israel show they had learnt something when they were attacked?
2. How did they show they had learnt with the snakes?

C. Comment:

     You would hope that the old grumbling generation would have gone by now, because they are almost at the end of their wilderness time and they are making for the Promised Land with hope. There is still some grumbling to go!

     However, before we come to that we come to the encounter with the king of Arad who lived in the south of Canaan, who simply came and attacked them. Perhaps he had heard that Edom had warned them off and thought he could deal with them. However, they are beginning to learn – they turn to the Lord and seek Him, coming to a place of commitment to God’s calling. As a result they defeat this king.

     But then comes the grumbling. They had had to turn southwards again to skirt round Edom, meaning more desert and they are fed up with it. They grumble and so the Lord sends a form of judgement that is going to train them. There are snakes here and people are getting bitten and dying. However, for a second time the people show they are beginning to learn – and hasn’t it taken a long time! They confess their sin to Moses and ask for help. The Lord’s answer is for them to provide a bronze snake on a pole and if they were bitten they were to go to the pole as an act of faith. Thus God would then heal them. In Jn 3:14 Jesus used this as an analogy in respect of his own death on the Cross!

D. Application:

1. The first lesson is to seek God when you are in difficulty.
2. The second lesson is to seek God when you have sinned.

Passage: Numbers 21:10-35

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 towards 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 in Suphah and the ravines,
    the Arnon 15 and 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 sceptres 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.

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 towards 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.

A. Find Out:

1. What are we next told about? v.10-20
2. What did Moses ask of whom? v.21,22
3. What happened? v.23-26,31,32
4. Who next confronted them? v.33
5. What happened? v.34,35

B. Think:

1. What is happening in this passage? (You may need to use a map)
2. How did Israel deal with the two kings differently?
3. Why was that?

C. Comment:

     It’s perhaps easy with a passage like this to write it off as of little importance but two things need to be noted that ARE significant. First Israel are now making positive steps in the direction of the Promised Land. No longer are they just wandering in the wilderness. Now they are going in a set direction. It may be rather roundabout skirting around to the east, but that will ensure they take land to the east of the Jordan that the Lord wants included in their land.

      Second, they are learning to fight. There are distinct stages in their progress. First they had approached Edom very diplomatically and had been rebuffed (20:14 -21). Then with the Lord’s help they repelled and destroyed some marauding Canaanites (21:1-3). Then, having skirted round Edom they come to the land of the Amorites where again Moses acts very diplomatically but is rebuffed. However, with Edom to the south and the desert to the east, Moses has nowhere to go and so when he Amorites attack them they defend themselves and win.

     Ahead of them to the north is Bashan where they are confronted by the large army of the king of Bashan. Here the Lord encourages them and they defeat this people. Suddenly from a wandering purposeless mass of people, they have become a conquering army and the word goes out ahead of them, we’ll see. They sought to avoid fighting but it was forced upon them and gradually their confidence in God grew and they triumphed.

D. Application:

1. We may dislike them but spiritual battles DO come to us today.
2. We need to learn to lean on the Lord in such battles.