GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
NUMBERS 21:1-3
Arad Destroyed
21 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. He fought against Israel and captured some of them. 2 Israel made this vow to the LORD: “If you will indeed give these people into our hands, then we will totally destroy their cities.” 3 The LORD listened to Israel’s voice and gave the Canaanites into their hands. The Israelites totally destroyed them and their cities. They named the place Hormah.
The land between Mount Hor and Canaan to the northeast was not empty. It was known as the land of Arad at this time (Arad rhymes with “a rod”). The road called “the road to Atharim” is not otherwise known, and Atharim is not the name of any city mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, in the Apocrypha, or any other literature, although some good commentaries make this assumption. Because of its similarity to the word ha-tharim, “the spies” (Numbers 14:6), it’s possible or even likely that this is simply “the road the spies took” when they entered Canaan.
When the king of this region heard that the Israelites were on the way, he attacked a portion of the group, perhaps the north or left wing of the community while they were camped, and taking prisoners from one of those tribes: Dan, Asher, or Naphtali (Numbers 2:25-31). After this, Israel vowed to place all of Arad under the ban, that is, to completely wipe out all of its cities and towns, people, animals, and possessions.
There is a question as to whether this attack on Arad happened then and there, which many people read in to the text, or later, which they could have accomplished under Joshua and which is mentioned in Joshua 12:14.
Part of this question lies in the following verse. Whether or not the battle was fought against Arad at this time, the next stage in their journey was halted once again by the Edomites, so that they had to travel south. But we don’t need to make a judgment about the battle with Arad. Why not? Here is the way I would describe the issues:
Question: Did Israel fight against Arad at this time, or later under Joshua?
1, If they fought now, then another battle was fought under Joshua since he lists Arad and Hormah among his victories in Joshua 12:14. This would have been an important battle and victory for the morale of the people, since it was here, on “the road of the spies,” that they had been defeated by the Canaanites forty years earlier when they rebelled against the report of Caleb and Joshua: “The Amalekites and the Canaanites, who lived in that hill country, came down, attacked them, and beat them down all the way to Hormah” (Numbers 14:45).
One detail that would be more clear to us is the identification of Mount Hor, since the mountain currently associated with Aaron’s death (Jebel Harun) is favored partly because of an assumption that this battle happened in the vicinity of the mountain.
2, If they saved the fight for later, it would still be listed among Joshua’s conquests since he was the leader of Israel’s army. Also, the list in Joshua 12:14 is somewhat based on geography rather than timing.
The text does not really favor one conclusion over the other. What we know is that the battle did indeed take place, Arad was destroyed and the king of Arad was put to death along with his army, his people, his animals, and the cities were burned or destroyed. The city on or near the sight of the city of Arad was named or renamed Hormah. The vow was fulfilled.
The doctrine of the vow is one we might take up briefly at this point. Vows are covered by the Second Commandment, “Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God (do not take his name ‘in vain’).” Luther explained this commandment simply: “We should fear and love God that we do not use his name to curse, swear, lie, or deceive, or use witchcraft, but call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”
Swearing, which is taking an oath in the name of God, is sinful when we use God’s name to lie (1 Kings 21:8-14; Leviticus 19:12), or when the oath is unnecessary (Matthew 5:33-37), or when we don’t know what we are promising to do (Mark 6:21-28; Judges 11:30-31). But some oaths are taken that are acceptable when considered with faith: An oath of office, an oath in court, an oath at one’s marriage, an oath for a pastor or a called teacher, or an oath for military service can all be made by a Christian without violating the commandment, and there might be others besides these. But Solomon warned: “It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:5). And David praises the man “who keeps his oath even when it hurts” (Psalm 15:4).
Arad had to be destroyed because their pagan idolatry would have led God’s people away from him, and it was God’s own design to allow such people to occupy the land and use it until his people arrived to claim it. Their time of grace, the time allotted to them to hear the word of God, to be filled with fear because of God’s people and to turn to Israel for true preaching and teaching and so be saved through the gospel, had come to an end. God’s judgment had fallen. Praise God and bless his holy name that for you, the time of grace has been filled with the message of Christ and the forgiveness of sins! What a gracious God we have, who would love us, who would send messengers to us and who would unclog our ears and fill us with his grace, his Holy Spirit, and the words of salvation. “Lord, you have the words of everlasting life” (John 6:68).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Numbers 21:1-3 Arad and the Second Commandment