conjecture that Oboth lay on the eastern border of Edom as Ije-Abarim was upon the frontiers of Moab. In the list of stations, chap. xxxiii., they went from Hor to Zulmonah, from there to Punon, and then to Oboth. One of these stations may well have been the undetermined place of the fiery serpents. The record here is so closely connected with the list of stations in chap. xxxiii. that they must be considered together, and we defer the full investigation until that point in the narrative is reached. We confine ourselves here to that which comes in direct connection with the text. [LANGE holds the identity of Hor and Hor-hagidgad; of Oboth and Ezion Geber; of Jotbath and Zalmonah, both suggesting the idea of a shaded, well-watered oasis; that Ebronah designates, with tolerable certainty, a crossing place, in which sense it corresponds with Punon (derived from to turn); and that near Ezion-Geber or Oboth they left the plain Et Tih and crossed the Arabah. His theory is constructed on the supposition that they did not march down the Arabah from Hor or Moserah, KEIL thinks that Punon is doubtless the same the Perean highlands in the mountain range of Abarim, which extends through the land of the Amorites, of Moab and of Edom. This mountain region terminates on the west in abrupt lofty masses, while on the east it slopes off into the first desert table land. This again is bordered by a loftier mountain chain, standing out as high mountains on the west, but falling off eastward into the wide desert plateau towards inner Arabia. This range belongs to the great encircling wall which girts around the larger part of Arabia. The highland of Abarim, however, like the lower regions toward the Ghor, is crossed from east to west by great wadys, which at last break down into mountain gorges. The name Abarim may be regarded as signifying that the heights of these mountains stretch away from and beyond all these ravines and torrent gorges. The Israelites appear to have encamped passed along the eastern edge of the inhabited. often by the fords of these streams, as they vides the land of the Amorites from that of Farther on they came to the Arnon, which diMoab, and encamped beyond the wady. Since the Arnon is formed by several smaller streams, and in its lower course passes through deep of an armed host, it has been justly inferred that gorges, which would not admit of the passage the mountain region, to avoid, as far as possible, the peopled regions of Moab and Edom. Thus they first encamped at Ije Abarim, i. e., probably the with Phinon, a tribe seat of the Elomitish Phy-(in its lower stretches called El Kereky) over ruins of the mountains rent by the Wady El Ahsy larch, a village between Zoar and Petra, from against the city Ar in Moab. They then pitched which, according to JEROME, copper was dug by in the valley of Zared. We much prefer to condemned criminals. He is compelled however to place Punon to the east of the lines from Petra leave the Wady Zared undetermined, than to reto Zoar. The localities cannot be certainly iden- gard it as Wady Kerek "in the midst of the land of Moab," or even the Wady Kerek "in the uptified at present. We may hope for that in the ["It is to be identified future progress of geographical discoveries. But per part of its course. the general direction is now well-nigh beyond with the Wady Franjy, the main upper branch of Wady Kerek, The word Zared signifies question. They descended the Arabah to the "osier;" and, remarkably enough, the Wady mouth of the Wady El Ithm, which opens a few hours north of the Akaba or Ezion Geber, and Safsaf, Willow Brook, still clings to the tributary gives easy access to the eastern plain. They which unites with Wady Franjy below Kerek. BIBLE COM.-A. G.] then skirted the elevated plateau of Idumea, and began to turn to the north, following essentially the same route taken by the caravans of the present day. The character of the country prevented the Edomites from contesting their passage in this direction. BIBLE COM. regards the name Oboth as identical with the present pilgrim halting-place, El Ahsa. "The name Oboth, denoting holes dug in the ground," being the plu- course, and where the affluents still flowed apart. passage was effected in the upper part of its ral of . The term hasy, of which Ahsa is the [RITTER quoted by KEIL: "It is utterly inconplural, has the same meaning, and thus the moceivable that a whole people, travelling with all dern station corresponds to the ancient both in their possessions, as well as with their flocks, name and place." All that seems certain, how should have been exposed without necessity to ever, is that the place must be sought in the des- the dangers and enormous difficulties that would ert on the eastern skirts of Edom or Idumea.-attend the crossing of so dreadfully wild and so A. G.]. From Oboth they came to Ije-abari, deep a valley, and that merely with the purpose in the wilderness which is before, east of of forcing an entrance into an enemy's country." Moab. KEIL translates "ruins of the crossings,' -A. G.] We come now to a very obscure pasand thinks the place must be sought for north of sage, vers. 14, 15. The Sept. renders the pasthe Wady El Ahsy, which divides Idumea from sage singularly, but yet with a correct appreMoab. GES., while he renders Dy ruins, trans-hension of the fundamental thought: Tv Zwoß lates the phrase, tops ofthe mountain-chain Abarim. We must take a view of this eastern country or we shall fail to have any clear notion amid the confusion of conjectures. The land of Canaan itself is a region of alternate lowlands and highlands. The low-lying coast region is suc- | ceeded by the highland of the western mountain plateau; the valley of the Jordan by the Perean highlands. This type appears of a more decided character as we approach Arabia. The Jordan valley is prolonged in the Ghor and the Arabah, ἐφλόγισε καὶ τους χειμάρρους Αρνῶν, καὶ τοὺς χειμάρρους κατέστησε κατοικήσαι Αρ, καὶ πρόσκειται roiç opinię Moá3. The Vulgate, in doubt as to the phoyire of the Septuagint, translates: Sicut fecit in mari rubro, sic faciet in torrentibus Arnon. Scopuli torrentium inclinati sunt ut requiescerent in Ar, et recumberent in finibus Moabitarum. Since it is plainly the passage of the Arnon which is celebrated, it is difficult to see why LUTHER with others should cut the knot as he does and render Vaheb in Supha and the brooka of Arnon. And it is still harder to understand | imagine a more suitable time for the commencewhy KNOBEL also should read Vaheb in Supha, and add a senseless supplement. [KNOBEL supposes the verb to be supplied, and refers to the Amorites, viz.: they possessed Vaheb in Supha as their southern limit.-A. G.] KEIL explains the passage by referring to the capture of the region by storm, although there has been thus far no allusion to a warlike attack. [So also BIBLE COM., KURTZ, HENGSTENBERG.-A. G.] We offer the following translation: And onward unto the Red Sea ( or 3) and (unto) the brooks of Arnon, and unto the upper current of the brook which reaches unto the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab. The passage will then stand connected with the crossing of the Arnon. It compares the passage of the separated streams of the upper Arnon with the passage of the Red Sea. It sees in both events something alike, a heroic deed, corresponding to the divine summons or call. The 7, come on, appears here in 27 or 2 TT ment of such a work. To the cavil that the wars of the Lord had scarcely begun when Moses died, and hence they could not have been referred to in any work written by him, HENGSTENBERG replies: When Moses wrote the Amalekites, the king of Arad, the king of Sihon, and Og king of Bashan, were all conquered. But the idea of the wars of the Lord in the usage of the Pentateuch is much wider than this (comp. Ex. xii. 41, 51; xiv. 14, 25; xv. 3; Num. xxxiii. 1). All the signs and wonders in Egypt were regarded as a contest of Jehovah against Egypt and its gods; the march through the desert is the march of an armed host of whom Jehovah is the leader, so that there was the richest material for a book. And the very object of the book is to glorify the their way." So also STANLEY, History of the leading of Jehovah as He brings His people on Jewish Church, vol. I., p. 207.—Á. G.]. And from thence they went to Beerwell or place of wells. The encampment is and marked by a longed-for well in which the pro- of direction as the suffix of the noun What motive could there be for the celebration in a heroic song of a mere geographical notice in and for itself? The Sept. ɛphóуioɛ may mean He glorified, made to shine the Red Sea and the brooks of Arnon, viz., through His leading and power. The Vulg. gives us a peculiar idea of the passage: as He did in the Red Sea, so He will do in the brooks of Arnon. The rocks of the torrents were carried down, so that they first rested in Ar, then lay on the borders of Moab. For the distinction between the Arnon referred to and the modern Ar in Moab, see KEIL [also HENGSTENBERG's Gesch. Bileams, BIBLE COм., KEIL. The Ar here referred to is the city of Moab on the border of Arnon, which is at the end of the Moabitish territory (chap. xxii. 36). It was called Areopolis by the Greeks, and probably stood at the confluence of the Lejum and Mojeb in the fine green pasture land in the midst of which there is a hill with some ruins. This Ar is not to be identified with the modern Areopolis in Rabbah, which stood six hours south of the Lejum.-A. G.] The book of the wars of the Lord.-Some have regarded it as an Amoritish book of the conflicts of Baal; others attribute to it a late origin in the time of Jehoshaphat; but it clearly belongs to the Israelitish epic, and from its marks of extreme simplicity may be regarded as the first new awakening of inspired song in the rejuvenated Israel. The book is named only here, but the new poesy bloomed in other productions-especially in the song of the well. [The reference to this book has been seized upon by the negative critics as a grave objection to the Mosaic authorship of Numbers. "They have thought it incredible that such a work should have been extant at the time of Moses. But there is nothing more natural, or which occurs more constantly in the progress of humanity under like circumstances, than a body of song bursting out irrepressibly with the new fresh life of a people and commemorating the great events in its early history. As BAUMGARTEN Well observes that such a book should arise in the days of Moses, is so far from being a surprising fact, that we can scarcely must have included a number of places, some of which may appear in one record, and others in another, while both are strictly accurate. But it is more important to observe the diversity in the character of the different records. Chapter xxxiii. is purely statistical. The author there enumerates only those stations, i. e., regular encampments, where Israel made a considerable stay, and hence not only constructed an organized camp, but set up the tabernacle. Here his interest is not statistical, but historical, and only those places which were of historical importance are mentioned. Hence the names of the stations between mount Hor and Ije-abarim, are omitted in this record, for they were of no historical moment, while we have a larger number between Ije-abarim and the plains of Moab because they were historically memorable, although they may not have been regular encampments.-A. G.]. We content ourselves here with a mere outline of their march through the eastern desert. Going up Wady El Ithm, and crossing the border of Edom, they were free to wander through the | worthless common domain of the desert until they reached Beer-probably Beer-Elim-the well which the princes dug with their staves, i. e., presumably acquired as military leaders. Then they moved to Mattanah, i. e., gift, because it was the first camping place in the dominion of the Amorite king Sihon. They must now have passed the field of conflict with Sihon, for (ver. 23) Sihon went out against Israel into the wilderness. The Israelites moreover could not have settled peaceably in the Amoritish country without some victory like this. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel, "Rivers of God." name corresponds to the description: Abarim before Nebo. We are ever coming back to the mountain chain Abarim. Nebo, without being definitely determined, may be regarded as forming one of the peaks of Pisgah lying over against Jericho. In this region where several wadys empty into the Jordan, and where the longwished for Jordan valley first appeared in sight, they may well have said Nahaliel, "rivers of God." KNOBEL. [KEIL, KURTZ, BIBLE COM.], identify this place with Encheileh, which now lay far behind the Israelites. [KEIL: Encheileh is the name given to the Lejum until its junction with the Saide. The Israelites then went from Beer northwesterly to Mattanah or Tedun, and thence westerly to the northern bank of Encheileh. -A. G.]. And from Nahaliel to Bamoth. We can scarcely regard Bamoth (heights), with KEIL and others. as identical with Bamoth-Baal, since Israel had before this encamped at Nebo, and certainly had passed the place where Balaam was first solicited to curse Israel. The people were at first busy in taking possession of Heshbon, at the same time capturing Jaazer on the extreme eastern border toward the land of the Ammonites. Then their course lay northwards towards Bashan, and Og. king of Bashan, came out to meet them at Edrei. But as Edrei is found far to the north in Bashan, it is not to be supposed that the armed host should have left the people behind them defenceless in the plains of Moab, where Balak might easily have destroyed them. We therefore accept fully the conclusion that Bamoth, which is here mentioned, The 66 was the basis of their warlike operations against Bashan in upper Gilead. Places bearing this name" heights are common all over the world. After the conquest of Bashan they returned nearly to their former position in the plains of Moab. [The top of Pisgah which looketh toward Jeshimon: across the desert. KEIL: The field of Moab was a portion of the tableland which stretches from Rabbath Ammon, to the Arnon, and which extends to the desert of Arabia towards the east, and slopes off to the Jordan and the Dead Sea towards the west. The valley in this table land was upon the height of Pisgah, i. e., the northern part of the mountains of Abarim, and looked across the desert Jeshimon. Jeshimon, the desert, is the plain of Ghor El Belka, i. e., the valley of desolation on the north-eastern border of the Dead Sea. The valley in which the Israelites were encamped is to be sought for to the west of Heshbon, on the mountain range of Abarim, which slopes off into the Ghor El Belka." KURTZ holds the same view and identifies this position with the field of Zophim, chap. xxiii. 14. BIBLE COM.: 66 Pisgah was a ridge of the Abarim mountain westward from Heshbon, and Nebo a town on or near that ridge, and apparently lying on its western slope." See also GROVE's Art. Moab, SMITH's Bib. Dict., PALMER, The Desert and the Exodus, Vol. II., p. | 472 et seq.-A. G.]. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. they know not, but leads them safely and well. 2. [The doctrine of God's providence, and the duty of an implicit trust in it; of a hearty and cheerful compliance with it; and the safety and welfare of those who so yield to it are clearly seen in this narrative.—A. G.]. HOMILETICAL HINTS. The The march as it overcomes all obstacles. passage over the river of Arnon, a reminiscence of the passage through the Red Sea, and a pledge of the passage over the Jordan. [HENRY, ver. 10. "It were well if we would thus do in our way to heaven, vers. 14, 15, what God has wrought for us, what He did at such a time, and in such a place ought to be distinctly remembered, ver. 18. God promised to give them water, but they must open the ground to receive it. God's favors are to be expected in the use of such means as lie within our power." The wells-"fountains "-along the way. WORDSWORTH refers upon the wells of the Bible to Gen. xxi. 19, 31; xxiv. 13; xxvi. 15; xxix. 10; Ex. ii, 15; iii. 1; John iv. 6. Moses gathers the people. God gives the water. This is a work which God is ever doing in His church. He gives the waters in His holy word, in His blessed Son of whom Moses wrote, and in the living waters of the Holy Spirit whom Christ sent.-A. G.]. SECOND SECTION. C.-Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan. CHAP. XXI. 21-XXII, 1. DEUT. II. 26-III, 22. 21, 22 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king's high 23 way, until we be past thy borders. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against 24 Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of 25 the children of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the 'villages thereof. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto 27 Arnon. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, 28 29 30 Come unto Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and prepared : For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon; It hath consumed Ar of Moab, And the lords of the high places of Arnon. Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: He hath given his sons that escaped, And his daughters, into captivity Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished, even unto Dibon, And we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, 31, 32 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. 33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan 34 went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto 35 Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land. CHAP. XXII. AND the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. 1 Heb. daughters. TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. to make Ver. 27. BUNSEN, DE WETTE: the poets; ZUNZ, HIRSCH: the proverb speakers. [The Heb. ' like, very aptly designates Heb. poems in which one was made like, parallel, to another.-A. G.]. [Ver. 30. LANGE, we came upon them. BUNSEN, Fuerst, EWALD, we have burned. ZuNz, we have thrown them down. HIRSCH, we came and overthrew them. D formerly regarded as a noun, is now accepted as the first person plu. Imp. Kal. from with the suffix of the 3d person. HIRSCH makes a fut. Kal., and refers for suffix to Ex. xx. 30.-A. G.] TT N, and hence is rendered by DE WETTE and others, a fire, burns to Medeba. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. ever, that they had reached the Ghor to the west. They had thrust themselves by force between Moab to the right and the desert and the land of the Ammonites to the left. Moab must at this time have exercised dominion in the border-land to the Ghor, for otherwise the plains of Moab would not have been spoken of here. If the dominion of the plains of Moab had been now in the hands of the Amorites, Balak, the king of Moab, would only have rejoiced at their overthrow, and would have sought alliance with Israel. On the other side the Amorites had not been able to conquer the children of Ammon in their mountain-fastnesses, ver. 24. The Israelites were prevented by an express direction of Jehovah not to attempt an assault against these strong borders (Deut, ii. 37). The message of Israel to Sihon king of Heshbon, is like that sent to the king of Edom. We learn from Judg. xi. 17, that a similar message was sent to Moab; and we may infer, therefore, that besides a direct passage through Edom, they entertained a hope that they might press rapidly on between the end of the Dead Sea and the Edomitish territory, without seriously irritating the Edomites; as indeed they had later to cross the southern extremity of the land of Edom. Israel had originally only the promise of Canaan west of the Jordan. Even Persa was not included in the promise. This limitation was carefully regarded in the message to Sihon. But since the Amorites at Heshbon, were included in the Sihon had as yet no suspicion of the strength condemnation of the Canaanites, so the Israelites of the rejuvenated Israel, and went out against were not only at liberty to force their way him beyond his own bounds, as far as Jahaz. through their land, but were under obligation to But Israel smote him with the edge of the do so by the injunction of Jehovah. How Og sword, i. e. utterly destroyed him. He then king of Bashan, in the northern part of Gilead, took possession of his land, described as reachbecame involved in the conflict, is not explained; ing from Arnon unto Jabbok. The military a sufficient explanation may be found in the fact occupation is spoken of here; its political inthat the successful assertion of a religious and corporation in the land of Israel followed aftermoral dominion over Heshbon or lower Gilead, ward (see chap. xxxii. 33). They dwelt in was not possible without the conquest of Bashan. Heshbon and all her daughters, i. e. HeshThen we must bear in mind also that in Deut. iii. bon, the capital city, and its surrounding and 8, the two kings stand in close connection as dependent villages or cities. Wherefore they "kings of the Amorites." KNOBEL strives in a that speak proverbs. Why the proverbs? strange way to prove from Deut. iii. 10, that Why not wherefore says the song? The enigthere were two Edreis [Adraa; see for its loca- matical form is probably chosen by design, so tion and description, PORTER: Damascus, Vol. as to express the thought: now is Heshbon laid II., p. 271, and Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 94 sqq., waste, as it just before had laid waste the Moaband SMITH's Bib. Dict., art. Edrei.-A. G.]. Aite capital Ar; and thus the land falls to the southern to be distinguished from the northern. Israelites, who could not have held it as & He gives as the reason that "Og surely did not Moabitish territory. Therefore come unto allow the Israelites to reach the northern bound-Heshbon; build it up anew. The purpose ary of his kingdom before he went out to meet them." [So also KEIL, BIBLE COM.-A. G.]. The conjecture however is obvious that the terror which the victory over Sihon spread far and wide, may have led the people of Bashan to retreat, until they found it necessary to make a stand at Edrei, their second capital, and not far from their chief city Ashtaroth. [PORTER says, "The situation is most remarkable, and in selecting the site, everything seems to have been sacrificed to security and strength." There was an all-sufficient reason therefore why they should make their final stand here.-A. G.]. It is recorded here that the king of the Amorites had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Aruon; not, how and burden of the song is that Israel should restore the ruins, rebuild the city. We cannot agree with MEYER and EWALD [KEIL, KUrtz, BIBLE COM. in part also.-A. G.] that the appeal is to the Amorites and ironical. At first the fact is emphasized that this land has been wrested from Moab by right of war. The Amorites had taken it from Moab. Then the thought uttered is that the Israelites have wrested it in turn from the Amorites. [EWALD's interpreta. tion makes the song lifelike, beautiful and striking: "Come, come home to Heshbon-the city which no longer affords you a home or roof; rebuild, if you can, the city which now lies forever in ruins." Thus the victors cry to the vanquished. But in order to explain the guilt of the conquered, a second voice verifies the ear |