The Conquest of the Amorites. This narrative presupposes the position reached in Numbers 21:13 (not in Numbers 21:20), for the embassy to Sihon would naturally be despatched before the Amorite border was crossed.
Numbers 21:23. Jahaz: the Jahzah of Jeremiah 48:21, probably not far from Dibon.
Numbers 21:24. Jabbck: the modern Nahr ez-Zerka. was strong: read (LXX) was Jazer (Numbers 21:32).
Numbers 21:25. all these cities: a list of cities seems to have been omitted by the compiler. Heshbon: the modern Hesbâ n, 18 miles E. of the Jordan.
Numbers 21:26. out of his hand: LXX has from Aroer (Joshua 13:25); but perhaps the correct reading is from Jabbok (Numbers 21:24).
Numbers 21:27. The poem here quoted is appealed to by the compiler as evidence that Heshbon had been taken by Sihon from the Moabites, and Numbers 21:29 at first sight confirms the supposition that it relates to an Amorite triumph over Moab. But the allusion to Sihon in Numbers 21:29 makes the verse too long, and it is omitted in Jeremiah 48:46, where the rest of the verse is cited; and since Numbers 21:28 celebrates the burning of the city of Sihon, it is probable that the poem really refers to a conquest of Moab subsequent to Sihon's time, achieved by Israel (cf. 2 Kings 3:4 and the inscription of Mesha). that speak in proverbs: better that recite ballads. the city of Sihon: Heshbon is so termed in consequence of having once been taken by Sihon from the Moabites, just as Jerusalem was called the city of David through having been wrested by David from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:9). be built: i.e. be rebuilt. The counsel is given in mockery.
Numbers 21:28. implies that Heshbon was the first town fired by the enemy, and that the conflagration extended to Ar, further S. The foe clearly came from the N. In the last line render (with LXX), It hath consumed the high places of Arnon.
Numbers 21:29. O people of Chemosh: Chemosh was the god of the Moabites (1 Kings 11:7), who were called his people, just as the Israelites were styled Yahweh's people (Judges 5:11). He hath given, etc.: Moab's disasters are attributed to Chemosh, as Israel's were ascribed to Yahweh (Judges 6:1). his sons. his daughters: a Semitic nation was regarded as being of the stock of the god whom it worshipped. Similarly the Israelites were termed the children of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 14:1). Read (for the fourth and fifth lines), And his daughters into captivity unto the king.
Numbers 21:30. Read (partly after LXX and Vulg.), Their offspring have perished from Heshbon even unto Dibon, and their women from Nophah unto Medeba. But if this emendation is thought too drastic, and the third line is retained, as in the text, the fourth is best altered (cf. mg.) to, With fire unto Medeba. Dibon is the modern Dhibâ n, 4 miles N. of the Arnon; Nophah is unknown; Medeba is Mâ deba, a few miles S. of Heshbon. Nophah and Medeba may perhaps mark the western and eastern limits of the devastation (as Heshbon and Dibon the northern and southern).
Numbers 21:32. Jazer: identified with Sar, 8 miles W. of Rabbath Ammon After the conquest it was included in Gad (Joshua 13:25).