Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter Twenty-one
The Hebrews smite King Arad. Secondly, verse 4, the people murmur, and therefore God sends fiery serpents among them, by whose bites they are healed by looking upon the brazen serpent. Thirdly, verse 16, God shows the thirsty Hebrews a well. Fourthly, verse 21, the Hebrews overthrow the kings Sehon and Og.
1. And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt toward the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and being conqueror, carried off a prey from them. 2. But Israel binding himself by a vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities. 3. And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and Israel cut him off, and destroyed his cities: and called the name of that place Horma, that is, anathema. 4. And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be wearied of their journey and labour: 5. And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food. 6. Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, by whose bites and death of very many, 7. they came to Moses, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people, 8. And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. 9. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed. 10. And the children of Israel setting forward, encamped in Oboth. 11. And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness which looketh towards Moab, on the east side. 12. And removing from thence they came to the torrent Zared. 13. Which they leaving, pitched their tents over against Arnon, which is in the desert, and projecteth in the borders of the Amorrhites. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites. 14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon. 15. The rocks of the torrents are bowed down, to rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites. 16. From that place appeared the well, concerning which the Lord said to Moses: Gather together the people, and I will give them water. 17. Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung: 18. The well which the princes dug, and the leaders of the multitude prepared by the lawgiver, and in their staves. From the wilderness they came to Matthana. 19. From Matthana to Nahaliel; from Nahaliel to Bamoth. 20. From Bamoth is a valley in the country of Moab, in the top of Phasga, which looketh towards the desert. 21. And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying: 22. I beseech thee that I may pass through thy land: we will not turn aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king’s highway, till we pass beyond thy borders. 23. And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering his army went out to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa, and fought against them. 24. And he was slain by Israel with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from Arnon unto Jeboc, and the children of Ammon: because the borders of the Ammonites were held with a strong garrison. 25. Israel therefore took all the cities of him, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, in Hesebon, to wit, and in the villages thereof. 26. The city of Hesebon was the city of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab, and took all the land that had been of his dominion, even unto Arnon. 27. Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up. 28. A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29. Woe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons for flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon king of the Amorrhites. 30. Their yoke hath perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, the weary are come to Nophe, and unto Medaba. 31. So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite. 32. And Moses sent some to view Jazer, the towns whereof they took, and possessed the inhabitants. 33. And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came to meet them with all his people, to fight in Edrai. 34. And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon. 35. So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, to utter destruction, and possessed his land.
1. ARAD THE CHANAANITE KING DWELT TOWARD THE SOUTH—of the land of Chanaan. For Scripture is wont to mark the situations and quarters of the world by reference to Chanaan.
TO WIT, THAT ISRAEL WAS COME BY THE WAY OF THE SPIES—so also the Chaldee, Vatablus and others commonly; as if to say: When Arad understood that the Hebrews had come by that way by which formerly, in the second year after the departure from Egypt, their spies had passed into the land of Chanaan, Numbers 13, he then gathered from it, and was fully persuaded, that they were tending through his dominion into Chanaan: for he saw them now entering on the same way. The Septuagint translate, by the way of Atharim: for they retain the Hebrew name as if it were proper to the place.
2. BUT ISRAEL BINDING HIMSELF BY A VOW TO THE LORD, SAID: IF THOU WILT DELIVER THIS PEOPLE INTO MY HAND, I WILL UTTERLY DESTROY THEIR CITIES.—In Hebrew it is, I will cut them off and make them anathema. For this vow was a cherem (of which I spoke on Leviticus, last chapter, verse 20), by which they devoted to God hostile cities and those that were enemies of God. Hence the name of the place was called Cherem and Chorma; or, as our version and others pronounce it, Herem and Horma, that is, anathema.
Abulensis notes, Question 4, that the Hebrews had a threefold horma, or anathema: the first, by which both men and cattle, and all that was in the hostile city, were consumed, and nothing went to the use either of the people or of the temple. And such an anathema God commanded to be made of the cities of the Hebrews apostatizing from God to idols, namely that, all men and cattle being slain, all the furniture of the city should be gathered into the square and there wholly burnt, Deuteronomy 13:15, and such seems to have been the one here. The second, in which men and cattle perished with the furniture, the gold, silver, iron and brass being reserved, however, for the uses of the Sanctuary: such was the horma of Jericho, Josue 6:24; for there it was a crime for the Hebrews to take anything for themselves.
The third, in which only men were slain, but the cattle and furniture fell to the victorious Hebrews: such was the horma of the city of Hai, Josue chapter 8:27.
4. AND THE PEOPLE BEGAN TO BE WEARIED OF THEIR JOURNEY.—In Hebrew, and the people was shortened in soul, that is, being wearied, they began to lose heart, to languish and to be disgusted. This is a new murmuring of the people, because of so long a pilgrimage of so many years, namely forty, they longing for rest and a settled seat and home. For otherwise, as I said above, God lessened the labour of the journey, so that they scarcely felt fatigue.
5. OUR SOUL NOW LOATHETH THIS VERY LIGHT FOOD—the manna. Rabbi Solomon relates that manna was a very light food, which did not weigh down the stomach, nor sent anything to the privy: whence the Hebrews feared that it would putrefy within their bowels, and so they should die, and for that cause they murmured. But these are his usual dreams. For there is no food which has not something impure, which nature does not convert into its substance, but rejects and sends to the privy: therefore the same must be said of manna. So Abulensis. The cause of the murmuring about the manna was therefore different from what I gave on Numbers 11:6.
6. WHEREFORE THE LORD SENT AMONG THE PEOPLE FIERY SERPENTS.—The Lord here was both God the Father and God the Son, namely Christ, as the Apostle teaches, 1 Corinthians 10:9. Whence it is plain against the Arians and Servetians that Christ is true God and Lord of all.