Sihon Refuses and Faces Up to Israel (Numbers 21:23).
‘And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel.'
But Sihon was determined to prevent their passage. It may have been that he recognised that they were proceeding to an invasion on fellow-Amorites, or it may have been because he did not trust Israel and what they might do once they were in the midst of the land, or it may simply have been because he enjoyed fighting and saw the possibility of much booty. But whichever way it was he went out with his army to where Israel were ‘in the wilderness', outside the fertile land, and coming to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.
Jahaz would shortly become a Reubenite city, and a levitical city (Joshua 13:18; Joshua 21:34; Joshua 21:36), but it would later be in conflict with Mesha, king of Moab, who, according to the Moabite stone, would eventually seize it. It would still be in Moabite hands in the days of Isaiah 15:4 and Jeremiah 48:21; Jeremiah 48:34.