seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 21:21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27 That is why the poets say:
“Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
let Sihon’s city be restored.
28 “Fire went out from Heshbon,
a blaze from the city of Sihon.
It consumed Ar of Moab,
the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29 Woe to you, Moab!
You are destroyed, people of Chemosh!
He has given up his sons as fugitives
and his daughters as captives
to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 “But we have overthrown them;
Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon.
We have demolished them as far as Nophah,
which extends to Medeba.”
31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34 The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.”
35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.
Here's the link to the commentary I use.I left out the verses where Moses and company wandered around in the Wilderness and wound up right outside of Moab.
The Amorites must have known Moses and his refugees were headed right at them. Even without television and social media, it's pretty hard to hide at least a million humans with all their livestock.
Notice... Verse 22 says, they asked permission to travel through the lands on the Kings Highway. They claimed they would not linger. They claimed they would not use any of the water or food supply, and if they did, they would pay for anything they used.
In other words, Moses would send word that he's bringing his people and his herds right through the center of town. I saw this plot on a Rawhide episode once. There was no way around the town, but they could go through the town with minimal damage. Of course, the towns didn't want a bunch of cowhands in their peaceful town, let alone all those herds of sheep and other livestock. On the show, Rawhide, they never wiped out all the people in the town. They would shoot only if shot at.
It was civil of Moses to send word and ask permission. It appears, most of the time. The people just let Moses and his million go right through. It appears, at times, if there was a detour around town, Moses would take it... as long as no one picked up a weapon.
But when someone picked up their weapons and threatened Israel... Israel wiped them out.
Apparently, the Israelites were getting good at fighting.
When King Og gathered up his army and marched out to threaten Moses.... that was his death sentence.
King Og called out to his army to stop the refugees.
Poor King Og, there were no survivors.
