GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
NUMBERS 21:26-31
With barely any details about the battle, we have learned that the Lord led Israel to defeat the Amorite king Sihon, and the fall of his capital city, Heshbon. Now Moses relates a song the poets were singing. Sihon, we are told, had seized this land from the Moabites. He did not leave the little kingdom to any sons, however, because the Israelites destroyed his army and captured the cities and towns he had occupied.
26 Because Heshbon had been the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon, 27 therefore the poets say,
Come to Heshbon.
Let the city of Sihon be built and established,
28 for a fire has gone out of Heshbon,
a flame from the town of Sihon.
It has consumed Ar of Moab
and engulfed the heights of the Arnon.
The source of this song is a matter that isn’t settled, but we will talk about that further below. Verse 28 is imitated and mocked by the prophet Jeremiah, deep in his book (Jer. 48:45-46), as a song of victory to the Lord. I will set the lines together (Moses above, Jeremiah below) for comparison:
Num: A fire has gone out from Heshbon
Jer: A fire has gone out from Heshbon
Num: A flame from the town of Sihon
Jer: and a flame from the midst of Sihon
In these first lines, there is no difference, which makes the comparison clear. Jeremiah (writing after the fall of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC) was making a parody of this song recorded by Moses at the end of the 15th century.
Num: It has consumed Ar of Moab
Jer: It has burned the foreheads of Moab,
Num: and engulfed the heights of the Arnon
Jer: and the tops of the heads of those who boast.
In these two lines, Jeremiah’s comedy and mockery takes effect. For Ar “city” of Moab, Jeremiah says peat “border” of Moab, except that peat more usually means the edge of the face, either the forehead or the edge of one’s beard. For bamoth “heights,” Jeremiah says qadqod, an almost comical term for the skull or the cap of a hill. Since he follows the word with a term for a person, skull or “top of the head” is meant. In the final word of the last line, Jeremiah turns to a new phenomenon in Hebrew poetry, unknown in early times but employed (very rarely) by Isaiah and Jeremiah. It is rhyme. Jeremiah rhymes “Heshbon” from the first line and/or “Sihon” from the second line with sha’on, “those who boast.”
Let’s return to the song as recorded by Moses:
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as refugees,
and his daughters go into captivity
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We overthrew them.
Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon.
We have laid waste as far as Nophah.
Fire reaches as far as Medeba.
The last line of verse 29 begins, in our translation, with “to.” However, the same Hebrew preposition can also express possession (or even authorship, as in “A psalm of David” Psalm 21:1, title). So we may ask, is it the sons and daughters of Chemosh (Moab) who have gone into captivity, or the sons and daughters of Sihon who have gone away? The poetry seems stretched to take this as a reference to Sihon’s children, especially since there is no mention of the Israelites taking captives at this time. Therefore, I think that this is a song written by an Amorite about Sihon’s recent victory over the Moabites, which the people of Israel now listen to in mockery. The Amorites may have been singing, but their song was over.
Verse 30 might be part of the slightly older Amorite song, or those lines might have been added by the Israelites as a taunt and as an assertion of their victory. To proclaim the victory after a battle is not sinful, but is simply communication: This is what has been accomplished! Even Christ did this when he descended into hell to proclaim the victory over Satan. “He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” Why? “He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (1 Peter 3:9; Colossians 2:15). It is important for the army or group that has lost to be told that they have lost (partly to end the fighting), but it is also important for the people who are victorious to recognize their achievement and celebrate, for morale and to honor the victor. Pray that we always remember to give glory to God for our victories and achievements, and pray as Job did that our children do the same, and that they keep away from temptations even when they are celebrating (Job 1:5).
31 So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
The Apocryphal account of Judith recalls this story briefly: “They drove out all the people of the desert, and took up residence in the land of the Amorites, and by their might destroyed all the inhabitants of Heshbon” (Judith 5:14). A year or so after this, the tribes of Gad and Reuben would ask permission to settle in this area, and they were given “all the towns on the plateau and the entire realm of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon” (Joshua 13:21). Reuben was specifically given Jahaz, the town where the battle took place (Joshua 13:18), and Gad received Heshbon, although a dispute over whether Heshbon should be in Reuben or Gad may have been the reason that Joshua caused it to be assigned as a city for the Levites (Joshua 21:39).
Let’s listen to an Israelite voice (David’s) giving praise to God for his victories, a voice that always gives glory and praise to God, and let’s imitate that voice when God works a victory through our hands, as well. Whether a victory is about a military win, a mere athletic achievement, or about surviving an assault (physical, emotional, or both) and learning to live with and overcome the trauma, God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
He is the God who subdues nations under me,
who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.
Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord.
I will sing praises in your name. (Psalm 18:47-49)
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. Search “Invisible Church Video” in YouTube, or go to splnewulm.org, click on “Watch Worship Live” and scroll to the bottom of the page for archives of sermons, audio Bible studies and video Bible studies.
Additional archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2021
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Numbers 21:26-31 A victory song