Num 21:28, Deu 2:36, Isa 15:1 | JFB | STEP | 27-30. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs —Here is given an extract from an Amorite song exultingly anticipating an extension of their conquests to Arnon. The quotation from the poem of the Amorite bard ends at . The appear to be the strains in which the Israelites expose the impotence of the usurpers.

Numbers 21:28

27-30. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs—Here is given an extract from an Amorite song exultingly anticipating an extension of their conquests to Arnon. The quotation from the poem of the Amorite bard ends at Nu 21:28. The two following verses appear to be the strains in which the Israelites expose the impotence of the usurpers.

Deuteronomy 2:36

24-36. Rise ye up . . . and pass over the river Arnon—At its mouth, this stream is eighty-two feet wide and four deep. It flows in a channel banked by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone. At the date of the Israelitish migration to the east of the Jordan, the whole of the fine country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok including the mountainous tract of Gilead, had been seized by the Amorites, who, being one of the nations doomed to destruction (see De 7:2; 20:16), were utterly exterminated. Their country fell by right of conquest into the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, considering this doom as referring solely to the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, sent a pacific message to Sihon, requesting permission to go through his territories, which lay on the east of that river. It is always customary to send messengers before to prepare the way; but the rejection of Moses' request by Sihon and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites (Nu 21:23; Jud 11:26) drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom on the first pitched battlefield with the Canaanites. It secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but, what was of more importance to them, a free access to the Jordan on the east.

Isaiah 15:1

1. Because—rather, "Surely"; literally, "(I affirm) that" [MAURER].

night—the time best suited for a hostile incursion (Isa 21:4; Jer 39:4).

Ar—meaning in Hebrew, "the city"; the metropolis of Moab, on the south of the river Arnon.

Kir—literally, "a citadel"; not far from Ar, towards the south.

He—Moab personified.

Bajith—rather, "to the temple" [MAURER]; answering to the "sanctuary" (Isa 16:12), in a similar context.

to Dibon—Rather, as Dibon was in a plain north of the Arnon, "Dibon (is gone up) to the high places," the usual places of sacrifice in the East. Same town as Dimon (Isa 15:9).

to weep—at the sudden calamity.

over Nebo—rather "in Nebo"; not "on account of" Nebo (compare Isa 15:3) [MAURER]. The town Nebo was adjacent to the mountain, not far from the northern shore of the Dead Sea. There it was that Chemosh, the idol of Moab, was worshipped (compare De 34:1).

Medeba—south of Heshbon, on a hill east of Jordan.

baldness . . . beard cut off—The Orientals regarded the beard with peculiar veneration. To cut one's beard off is the greatest mark of sorrow and mortification (compare Jer 48:37).