"Arad was a large town in the northern Negeb, about 17 miles . . . south of Hebron."179
"Atharim"means "the spies"(v. 1). Evidently this is the route the Israelite spies had taken into Canaan.
The Canaanites of Arad took the offensive against Israel. Perhaps they did so because 38 years earlier the Israelites had suffered defeat at Hormah (which means "destruction"). Hormah lay very near Arad. The Israelites had experienced this defeat when they sought to enter the land after God had sentenced them to wander in the wilderness for 38 more years (14:45).180
"As being at Kadesh forms a framework for the wilderness wanderings, so does being at Hormah. After this victory at Hormah, where there had once been defeat, the Israelites are victorious regularly (21:21-35)."181
This was the Israelites' first victory over the Canaanites, and it was undoubtedly a great confidence builder. It came after the Israelites vowed to obey God completely by exterminating these Canaanites if He would give them victory as He had promised. In this vow the Israelites simply promised to obey God. The conquest of Canaan must have seemed more certain to the Israelites now than ever before.
This narrative is similar to the one that described Israel's previous victory over the Amalekites (Exod. 17). An account of the people's murmuring due to lack of water introduces both stories (Exod. 17:1-7; Num. 20:1-13). In both cases an enemy attacked the Israelites, but Israel proceeded to defeat each one with the Lord's help brought down by prayer (Exod. 17:8-13; Num. 21:1-3). Perhaps the writer intended us to learn from this that it was common for unbelieving nations to be hostile toward God's people. They opposed them at the beginning and toward the end of their sojourn in the wilderness (cf. vv. 10-20). Nevertheless God enabled them to be victorious in answer to prayer despite their unworthiness.
The Israelites next traveled to the southeast around the southern border of Edom. They took "the way of the Red Sea"(v. 4), a road to the town of Elath that stood at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqabah.182
This route took them through the Arabah. The Arabah was a low-lying plain that runs from north of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee), through that Sea, the Jordan Valley, and the Dead Sea, south to the Gulf of Aqabah. Steep mountain walls border the Arabah to the south of the Dead Sea.
It is, ". . . a horrible desert, with a loose sandy soil, and drifts of granite and other stones, where terrible sandstorms sometimes arise from the neighborhood of the Red Sea . . . ."183
It is easy to understand why the Israelites grumbled again (vv. 4-5), though this is the last mention of their complaining during the march to the Promised Land.
The serpents that the Lord sent to discipline the people were "fiery"probably because their bite caused intense burning.184However poisonous snakes with red spots on their bodies still afflict the Bedouins in this desert.185
God's discipline moved the Israelites to confess their sin and to request Moses' intercession (v. 7; cf. 11:2). As usual, this proved effective (v. 8).
The serpent that God told Moses to make was probably copper to resemble the color of the real snakes.
It was not a real snake but an image, ". . . in which the fiery serpent was stiffened, as it were, into dead brass, as a sign that the deadly poison of the fiery serpents was overcome in this brazen serpent."186
"I suggest that the clue to the symbolism should be sought in the general principles underlying the sacrifices and purificatory rites in the Old Testament. Animals are killed, so that sinful men who deserve to die may live. Blood which pollutes when it is spilled can be used to sanctify and purify men and articles. The ashes of a dead heifer cleanse those who suffer from the impurity caused by death. In all these rituals there is an inversion: normally polluting substances or actions may in a ritual context have the opposite effect and serve to purify. In the case of the copper serpent similar principles operate. Those inflamed and dying through the bite of living snakes were restored to life by a dead reddish-coloured snake. It may be that copper was chosen not only because its hue matched the inflammation caused by the bites, but because red is the colour that symbolizes atonement and purification."187
Rather than physically touching the substitute sacrifice, as God normally required, visual contact was all that was necessary in this case.
The Israelites preserved this copper serpent and later in their history offered incense to it (2 Kings 18:4). King Hezekiah finally had it broken up and destroyed since the Israelites were venerating it as a holy relic.
This narrative, as the previous one, also has a parallel earlier in the Pentateuch, namely, when Moses threw down his staff in Pharaoh's presence and it became a snake (Exod. 4:3, 30). The context of both incidents is the people's complaining.
"The purpose of such parallels is to underscore the basic themes of the book. In both narratives, the writer emphasizes the necessity of the people's response of faith in the sign. They must look to the sign in faith before they can be delivered."188
Jesus Christ identified the copper serpent as a type of Himself (John 3:14). Like Christ someone lifted this serpent up from the earth on a pole. Both Christ and this serpent were completely harmless as they hung on their poles. Furthermore if a fatally wounded person wanted deliverance, he or she had simply to look on the serpent or on Christ in faith relying on God's promise of salvation.189
"If ever there were a less expected pairing of types, this would be it. The manna was an altogether gracious gift of God, which the people turned against with stomach revulsion. The snakes were an instrument of God's judgment because of the peoples' ingratitude and rebellious spirits; yet it was a metal copy of just such a snake that became the means for their deliverance.
"The bread is a picture of Jesus; as the Bread of Heaven he is the proper nourisher of his people. The bronze snake is a picture of Jesus, who became sin for us as he hung on that awful tree. The manna had to be eaten. The snake had to be seen. The commands of Scripture are for doing. The manna was no good if left to rot. The metal snake would not avail if none looked at it. The manna and the snake are twin aspects of the grace of God."190
The list of stopping places Moses recorded here differs from the one in 33:41-49. Apparently neither list is complete but both are selective. Archaeologists have not yet identified most of the sites Moses mentioned here. The route of the Israelites was around Edom in a counter-clockwise direction until they came to the Wadi Zered (v. 12).191A wadi (Arabic, Heb. nahal) was a river or stream bed that was dry during most of the year but became a rushing torrent during the rainy season. The Israelites took the Way of the Wilderness, a route that ran generally parallel to but east of the King's Highway (20:17, 19).
The Zered flowed westward, in the rainy season, into the Arabah near the south end of the Dead Sea. It constituted the boundary between Edom and Moab.
Moving farther north, through Moab, the nation crossed the Arnon Wadi that feeds into the east side of the Dead Sea about at its mid-point north to south. This river was the border between the Moabites and the Amorites (v. 13). This crossing brought Israel to the threshold of the Promised Land.
The Amorites were, ". . . the mightiest of all the tribes of the Canaanites."192
Here the Israelites received direction from God to make war with Sihon, a king of the Amorites, and to possess his land. God promised them that they would be victorious (Deut. 2:24-25). This revelation filled the Israelites with joy and courage.
The "Book of the Wars of the Lord"(v. 14) was a collection of songs that commemorated God's glorious acts on behalf of the Israelites. Apparently Moses or one of his contemporaries wrote or edited it. The fragment of one of these songs that the writer included here (vv. 14-15) describes the Arnon. The fact that Moses inserted this strophe reflects the joy that the Israelites felt on this occasion.
At Beer (lit. Well) God provided water for the people by instructing them to dig wells (vv. 16-18). This proved to be another occasion of great rejoicing as God provided for His needy people.
Moses mentioned several other sites as camping places before the nation settled down on the tableland of the Pisgah range of mountains. This area lay east of the place where the Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea. The "wasteland"(Jeshimon) is the desert directly to the northeast of the Dead Sea.
This account fits chronologically after 21:13. It records two great victories that God gave His people over two of the mighty Amorite kings.
"The term Amorite has various meanings in the OT: Canaanites generally (e.g., Gen. 15:16), inhabitants of the land west of the Jordan (e.g., Josh. 5:1), inhabitants of the regions of Judah (e.g., Josh. 10:5-6), inhabitants of the Negeb and the region to the southeast of the Dead Sea (e.g., Gen. 14:7), and very often, as here, the inhabitants east of the Jordan under the rule of Sihon and Og . . ."193
Moses made his peaceful request for permission to pass through Sihon's territory and into the Promised Land (v. 22) realizing that Sihon would not allow this (cf. Deut. 2:24-26).194
". . . this was done simply to leave the decision of his fate in his own hand . . ."195
Sihon then attacked Israel (v. 23), but Israel defeated his army (v. 24).196This victory gave the Israelites possession of all of Sihon's territory. It extended south to the Arnon and north to the Jabbok that flows into the Jordan River from the east about halfway between the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) and the Dead Sea. It included Jazer, a town that the Israelites defeated (v. 32).
This victory over one of the most powerful of the Canaanite city-states, Heshbon, inspired poets in Israel who wrote proverbs (v. 27) to compose songs commemorating God's deliverance (vv. 27-30).
"The summons to come to Heshbon and build this ruined city again [v. 27], was not addressed to the Israelites, but to the conquered Amorites, and is to be interpreted as ironical . . ."197
Chemosh (v. 29) was the chief Moabite and Ammonite deity and was similar to the Canaanite god Baal.198
Heshbon was a city, but Bashan was a territory. Bashan lay north of the Yarmuk Wadi. Evidently at the time of Israel's conquest Og controlled the territory south of the Yarmuk as far as the Jabbok, the area known as Gilead.199Og's domain lay north of the Jabbok Wadi and extended north as far as Mt. Hermon, about 60 miles north of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee). The town of Edrei (v. 33) stood near the border of Bashan.200
The Israelites moved their camp from Mt. Pisgah (21:20) farther west and a little north to the plains of Moab (v. 1) between Beth-jeshimoth and Abel-shittim (33:49). This site was closer to the Jordan River and opposite Jericho, which stood about five miles west of the Jordan. The people stayed at this location until they crossed the Jordan under Joshua's leadership (Josh. 3:1). The remaining events Moses recorded in Numbers and all those he penned in Deuteronomy took place here.
These victories gave the Israelites possession of all the land east of the Jordan River, west of the border of the Ammonites, north to Mt. Hermon, and south to the Arnon. The Israelites defeated the Amorites that occupied this area. They did not fight the Edomites, Moabites, or Ammonites, however, by the command of God because these people were their relatives. They were not Canaanites. This great victory over Og assured the Israelites further that God would give them victory on the other side of the Jordan (v. 34).
This chapter contains one of the great failures of Israel that followed one of its great blessings.238As God was preparing to bless His people they were preparing to disobey Him.
"So now we come to the ultimate rebellion of Israel in the desert. The time is the end of the forty-year period of their desert experience. The place is the staging area for the conquest of the land of Canaan. The issue is that of apostasy from the Lord by participation in the debased, sexually centered Canaanite religious rites of Baal worship--that which would become the bane of Israel's experience in the land. This chapter is an end and a beginning. It marks the end of the first generation; it also points to the beginning of a whole new series of wicked acts that will finally lead to Israel's punishment . . . . But this chapter is unique in the record of the experience of Israel in their move from Sinai to Moab--it describes their involvement in the worship of another deity [cf. Exod. 32]."239
"The chapter is placed between the Balaam oracles and the second census account for theological and literary reasons. In relation to the Balaam oracles it shows that, even while God was blessing Israel through Balaam on the heights of Peor, below on the plains of Moab Israel was showing its weak and sinful character. The parallel between this incident and that of the Torah at Sinai and the golden calf (Exod. 20-32) is obvious."240
25:1-5 The Moabites and Midianites were partners in the spiritual and sexual seduction of the Israelites. Ironically the Midianites, among whom Moses had found refuge from Pharaoh and from whom he had taken his wife, became one of the instigators of Israel's major religious apostasy since she left Sinai. The plan to curse Israel had failed, so now these enemies undertook a second approach that proved successful.241In chapters 22-24 the Moabites took the lead in overthrowing Israel and Midian played a minor role, but in this chapter the Midianites take the lead with the Moabites supporting them. The Moabites seduced the Israelites to idolatry. Balaam had counseled them to intermarry with the Israelites (31:16). The princes of these people led this plot. Cozbi (v. 15) was the daughter of a Midianite prince. The worship of Moab's gods involved sacred prostitution and eating sacrifices offered to the dead (Ps. 106:28).
"It was the assumption of the [Baal Peor] cult that the fertility of people, cattle, and crops depended on the sexual linkage of a god and goddess. By imitating this union of the gods, men and women would seek to induce the gods to grant a greater measure of fertility. Such cultic practices were common in all of the nations surrounding the Israelites."242
This violation of the heart of the Mosaic Covenant, which demanded total and exclusive allegiance to Yahweh, resulted in a plague that killed 24,000 people (v. 9; cf. Exod. 32:35). To stop the plague God ordered the making of atonement by sacrificing the leaders within Israel. Since the whole nation had sinned God executed punishment on its leaders who stood for the people and should have restrained their apostasy. Israel's judges carried out this order (v. 5).
"As the animals and birds had been cut in half in the covenant ceremony at the beginnings of Israel's history (Gen 15:10), so the bodies of these rebels were to be dismembered and displayed in an awful symbol of divine judgment.
"Chapter 25 is the nadir of the Book of Numbers. It is worse even than the sins of chapters 12-14. Here is the great sin at the end of the road."243
25:6-9 The situation took a turn for the worse when Zimri brought Cozbi into the camp. Until now, the sinning had taken place in the Moabite and Midianite camps. Evidently Zimri had contempt for the covenant, the tabernacle, Moses, the priests, and God's judgment on the leaders of Israel including his father (v. 14). He took Cozbi into the tabernacle and had intercourse with her there before Moses. They did this according to the custom of Baal worship. We should view Phinehas' act, therefore, as divine judgment on this attitude and action, not as murder. He slew them in the act of intercourse by driving his spear through both their bodies (lit. bellies). Thus Phinehas (an Egyptian name meaning "the dark-skinned one"), the son of the high priest, atoned for this sin (v. 13).
"The point was that in joining the sexual frenzies of the sacrificial feasts of Baal, the man and his priestess-partner now act to transform the worship of the Lord into the type of sexual rites that were the mode of Canaan. Had this outrage not been stopped, there could never have been true worship in the Holy Place again. They were making the place of entrance into a bordello, the entrance of the meeting of God and man into a trysting spot.
"We may observe that while priests were always male in Israel, priests could be women in the pagan religions that surrounded Israel. In fact, the sexually centered religions of Canaan would have catered to women in their priesthood. Women priests were so very closely tied to the sexual outrages of Baal and Asherah worship that the very notion of a women [sic] priest conjured up images of sexual worship. Perhaps this is the principal reason that Israel had no women priests."244
"Amid the time of apostasy, the writer points to . . . the need for new forms of leadership. . . . In this narrative, Moses is remarkably ineffective in the face of a blatant transgression (v. 6). The day was saved, however, by the decisive action of one from the next generation of priests, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron."245
25:10-13 The priests were to represent God to the people. This is exactly what Phinehas did on this occasion. He executed God's wrath against sin and punished the sinners. In so doing he atoned for the sin by representing Israel before God, and he restored the covenant. God rewarded him by promising that his descendants would enjoy peace and would occupy the office of the high priest forever (cf. Ps. 106:30-31). This they did (cf. Judg. 20:18) with the exception of a short interruption in Eli's days. The Romans finally broke up the Israelite priesthood.
This everlasting covenant of peace guaranteed a privileged position of service to God to Phinehas and his descendants. It will find final fulfillment when the descendants of Phinehas through Zadok's branch of Phinehas' family serve God in the millennial system of worship by offering memorial sacrifices in the temple.246
25:14-18 This incident, as the others in which Israel departed from God, shows the inveterate sinfulness of humans even when God blesses us greatly. It also demonstrates the holiness of God, the seriousness of sin in that it destroys fellowship with God, and the necessity of atonement by blood to restore sinners to fellowship with God.
"This chapter is a pivotal section in the theology of the Torah."247
