Discovery BoxNumbers 21:23-30
Context21:23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he 1 gathered all his forces 2 together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When 3 he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel. 21:24 But the Israelites 4 defeated him in battle 5 and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended. 21:25 So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 6 21:26 For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all of his land from his control, 7 as far as the Arnon. 21:27 That is why those who speak in proverbs 8 say,
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built.
Let the city of Sihon be established! 9
21:28 For fire went out from Heshbon,
a flame from the city of Sihon.
It has consumed Ar of Moab
and the lords 10 of the high places of Arnon.
21:29 Woe to you, Moab.
You are ruined, O people of Chemosh! 11
He has made his sons fugitives,
and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites.
21:30 We have overpowered them; 12
Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.
We have shattered them as far as Nophah,
which 13 reaches to Medeba.”
Jude 1:20-23
Context1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 14 1:21 maintain 15 yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating 16 the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. 17 1:22 And have mercy on those who waver; 1:23 save 18 others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy 19 on others, coupled with a fear of God, 20 hating even the clothes stained 21 by the flesh. 22
Nehemiah 9:22
Context9:22 “You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and you allocated them to every corner of the land. 23 They inherited the land of King Sihon of Heshbon 24 and the land of King Og of Bashan.
Psalms 120:7
Context120:7 I am committed to peace, 25
but when I speak, they want to make war. 26
Psalms 135:11
Context135:11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
Psalms 136:19
Context136:19 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his loyal love endures,
[21:23] 3 tn The clause begins with a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, but may be subordinated to the next preterite as a temporal clause.
[21:24] 4 tn The Hebrew text has “Israel,” but the verb is plural.
[21:24] 5 tn Heb “with the edge of the sword.”
[21:25] 6 tn Heb “its daughters.”
[21:26] 7 sn There is a justice, always, in the divine plan for the conquest of the land. Modern students of the Bible often think that the conquest passages are crude and unjust. But an understanding of the ancient Near East is critical here. This Sihon was not a part of the original population of the land. He himself invaded the territory and destroyed the population of Moab that was indigenous there and established his own kingdom. The ancient history is filled with such events; it is the way of life they chose – conquer or be conquered. For Israel to defeat them was in part a turning of their own devices back on their heads – “those that live by the sword will die by the sword.” Sihon knew this, and he did not wait, but took the war to Israel. Israel wanted to pass through, not fight. But now they would either fight or be pushed into the gorge. So God used Israel to defeat Sihon, who had no claim to the land, as part of divine judgment.
[21:27] 8 sn Proverbs of antiquity could include pithy sayings or longer songs, riddles, or poems composed to catch the significance or the irony of an event. This is a brief poem to remember the event, like an Egyptian victory song. It may have originated as an Amorite war taunt song; it was sung to commemorate this victory. It was cited later by Jeremiah (48:45-46). The composer invites his victorious people to rebuild the conquered city as a new capital for Sihon. He then turns to address the other cities which his God(s) has/have given to him. See P. D. Hanson, “The Song of Heshbon and David’s Nir,” HTR 61 (1968): 301.
[21:27] 9 tn Meaning, “rebuilt and restored.”
[21:28] 10 tc Some scholars emend to בָּלְעָה (bal’ah), reading “and devoured,” instead of בַּעֲלֵי (ba’aley, “its lords”); cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV. This emendation is closer to the Greek and makes a better parallelism, but the MT makes good sense as it stands.
[21:29] 11 sn The note of holy war emerges here as the victory is a victory over the local gods as well as over the people.
[21:30] 12 tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).
[21:30] 13 tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).
[1:20] 14 tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.
[1:21] 16 tn Or “waiting for.”
[1:21] 17 tn Grk “unto eternal life.”
[1:23] 19 tn Grk “and have mercy.”
[1:23] 20 tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.
[1:23] 21 sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.
[1:23] 22 tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.
[9:22] 23 tn The words “of the land” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:22] 24 tc Most Hebrew
