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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 21:10-20

We have here an account of the several stages and removals of the children of Israel, till they came into the plains of Moab, out of which they at length passed over Jordan into Canaan, as we read in the beginning of Joshua. Natural motions are quicker the nearer they are to their centre. The Israelites were now drawing near to the promised rest, and now they set forward, as the expression is, Num. 21:10. It were well if we would do thus in our way to heaven, rid ground in the latter end of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:10

And the children of Israel set forward ,.... From Zalmonah, and came to Punon, which, according to the above writer, was twenty miles from it; though here indeed, some think, the brazen serpent was set up, here being, as before observed, brass mines to furnish with that metal: and pitched in Oboth ; which was twenty four miles from Punon, as says the same writer: the word signifies bottles; perhaps here the Israelites got water and filled their bottles, or, as others think, they filled... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:11

And they journeyed from Oboth ,.... How long they stayed there is not certain: and pitched at Ijeabarim ; which, according to Bunting F11 Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c.; 83.) , was sixteen miles from Oboth; Jarchi says it was the way that passengers pass by Mount Nebo to the land of Canaan, and which divides between the land of Moab and the land of the Amorites: in the wilderness which is before Moab ; called the wilderness of Moab, Deuteronomy 2:8 . towards... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:12

From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zered. Or the brook Zered, as in Deuteronomy 13:14 that is near it: this seems to be the same station with Dibongad, Numbers 33:45 , and which, according to the above writer, was sixteen miles from Ijeabarim. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:13

From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon ,.... A river on the borders of Moab: which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites ; according to Jarchi, they went round the land of Moab, all to the south and east, and came not into the border of Moab, as Jephthah said, Judges 11:18 but before they came hither they had a station at Almondiblathaim, Numbers 33:46 . for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites ; a river... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:14

Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord ,.... A history of wars in former times, which the Lord had suffered to be in the world; and which, as Aben Ezra thinks, reached from the times of Abraham and so might begin with the battle of the kings in his time, and take in others in later times, and particularly those of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and his conquests of some parts of Moab; and to this book, which might be written by some one of those nations, Moses refers in proof... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:15

And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar ,.... All that part of the country which lay upon the stream, as far as the city of Ar, the metropolis of Moab, called Ar of Moab, Isaiah 15:1 , and lieth upon the border of Moab ; as that city did; so far goes the quotation out of the aforesaid book, as a proof of what was taken by the Amorites from the Moabites, and were not in their possession when Israel were upon their borders; and therefore, in taking them from... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:16

And from thence they went to Beer ,.... A place so called from a well which sprung up here, of which the following account is given: that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses ; promising him to give it to the children of Israel, without asking for it; which was a very singular favour, and for which they were thankful: saying to him: gather the people together, and I will give them water ; for as they were now gone from the river Arnon, and the streams and brooks of it, they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:17

Then Israel sang this song ,.... Being affected with the free favour and good will of God towards them: spring up, O well ; for the springing up of which they prayed in faith, believing in the promise of God, that it would spring up; and so encouraged one another not only to believe it, but even to sing on account of it before it actually did: sing ye unto it ; or on account of it praise the Lord for it; or "answer to it" F13 ענו לה "respondete ei", Montanus; "alternis canite... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:18

The princes digged the well ,.... The princes and heads of the several tribes: the nobles of the people digged it ; the seventy elders, according to the Targum of Jonathan: by the direction of the lawgiver ; either the Lord himself, the lawgiver of his people, who pointed out the spot, and directed the princes where to dig, that is, be did this by Moses; and who, as Jarchi thinks, is the lawgiver, and not amiss: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render the word by Scribes, in the... read more

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