Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1937

Two Kings Who Fought Israel Numbers 21:17-35¹⁷Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: ¹⁸The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: ¹⁹And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: ²⁰And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon. ²¹And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ²²Let 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 way, until we be past thy borders. ²³And 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 Israel. ²⁴And 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 the children of Ammon was strong. ²⁵And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. ²⁶For 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 Arnon. ²⁷Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared: ²⁸For 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. ²⁹Woe to thee, Moab! 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. ³⁰We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. ³¹Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³²And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. ³³And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. ³⁴And 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 Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. ³⁵So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land. (Numbers 21:17‑35)

AFTER the people of Israel left the dreadful desert, we do not read of more complaints, but of a song. The princes opened some wells with their rods, and the people sang. Perhaps these had been filled with sand, or grass, so could be opened easily when the men were willing to help the people as Moses showed them.

As the camp moved on they came to the lands east of the Dead Sea where many people lived. And those people did not want the big company of Israel to pass near them, although they sent to ask, and promised not to touch the fields of grain or fruit, nor use their water, which was much valued in that warm land.

One king with a strong army came to fight against them, but. God gave the victory to the men of Israel.

Then another king, whose name was Og, came with his army. He was a giant, so large, his bed was 9 cubits (about 13 feet) long, and made of iron. His sons and people were no doubt, very strong, and he was king over sixty cities which had high walls, gates, and bars, besides smaller cities.

But God told Moses to “Fear not”, and He gave the men of Israel the victory over them, and gave Israel their cities and land (Read Deut. 3:1-12¹Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ²And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. ³So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. ⁴And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. ⁷But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. ⁸And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; ⁹(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) ¹⁰All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. ¹²And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. (Deuteronomy 3:1‑12)).

These kings and their people had known that God in heaven was Creator of all the earth, but they had chosen rather to worship idols, and lived in great wickedness. They had heard also how God vas leading Israel by the cloud by day, and by the pillar of fire by night, and they should have feared to fight against them God’s time had come for them to be punished (Exodus 23:23, 24²³For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. ²⁴Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. (Exodus 23:23‑24); Numbers 14:14¹⁴And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. (Numbers 14:14)).

God’s people are told in the New Testament not to fight against their enemies, but to pray for them, because now God is waiting for people to repent of their sins.

“If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt, heap coals of fire on his head.” Romans 12:20²⁰Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (Romans 12:20).

“The Lord.... is longsuffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9).

ML 10/31/1937

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