Numbers 21:10-35
From Mount Hor to Moab
10 Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Ije Abarim, in the wilderness which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered. 13 From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:
“Waheb in Suphah,
The brooks of the Arnon,
15 And the slope of the brooks
That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,
And lies on the border of Moab.”
16 From there they went to Beer, which is 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!
All of you sing to it—
18 The well the leaders sank,
Dug by the nation’s nobles,
By the lawgiver, with their staves.”
And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.
King Sihon Defeated (Deuteronomy 2:26–37)
21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified. 25 So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say:
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built;
Let the city of Sihon be repaired.
28 “For fire went out from Heshbon,
A flame from the city of Sihon;
It consumed Ar of Moab,
The lords of the heights of the Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You have perished, O people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 “But we have shot at them;
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
Then we laid waste as far as Nophah,
Which reaches to Medeba.”
31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.
King Og Defeated
(Deut. 3:1–22)
33 And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.
This account of the journey of Israel towards the promised land, stopping between Moab and the land of the Amorites and then the well at Beer for water until they arrived in the land of Moab. There they asked per to pass through the land by way of the King’s Highway and promised not to dwell along the way or take food or water. Their simple request was vehemently denied by force but was answered by God using Israel to utterly defeat and destroy the ungodly and take their cities for the LORD. The people who worshipped the false Moabite god Chemosh perished before His wrath on their sins against Him at the hand of His army entering into the promised land to follow before them and then drove out the Amorites at Jazer afterwards. On the way from there to Bashan east of the Jordan that was known for its fertile ground, their king Og attacked God’s people. Moses was assured by God of their success in defeating them and so they wiped them out and took their land as well, eliminating more of the godless enemies of the LORD to give glory to His name and an end to more set against Him and His word and worship. These immoral idolaters worshipped a blood-thirsty deity and so were condemned by God for their human sacrifices and worship of false gods, and so were eliminated by God’s word to His people. They therefore left no survivors to perpetuate the idolatry and immorality of those people. God was not instructing genocide, but enacting judgment on the evil idolatry and immorality of the people who were on the land promised to Abram and his descendants that true worship and morality governed by the Law might take their place. One day we who are in Christ will similarly take possession of the world after it is burned clean in judgment (Psalm 9:8, Acts 17:31, Acts 10:42) and made new for eternal worship apart from the very presence of sin as the sinful unrepentant and unconverted idolaters will face final judgment (Jude 1:15) and be removed from the promised land of the heavenly country where God will come to inhabit the New Jerusalem as King among us beyond all time. His gospel will prevail and no ungodly will inhabit or inherit that promised land. He Himself will defeat the ungodly set against Him (2 Peter 2:9) and His word for He will establish His kingdom in righteousness on all the earth. We are therefore sojourning out of the freedom from our bondage to sin as Israel from Egypt through the way made through the true Red Sea as our baptism into Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-2) that we may find victory in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57) and be led into that promised land to dwell safely apart from the presence of sin with such idolatry and immorality at last. We are journeying victoriously to that promised heavenly land as Israel was as a foreshadowing so long ago!
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