N21-13: How Israel Conquering The Amorites Was Like Killing THREE BIRDS With One Stone!

“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.”-Numbers 21:26

In my last post I talked about how Israel went to battle and conquered Sihon king of the Amorites.

There are actually a couple of important things that occurred as a result of this battle you need to understand.

These points will especially increase in relevance as we progress out of the Torah into the other books of the Tanach.

Okay, so let’s get started.

The first point you need to understand is that the Amorites who the Israelites had just conquered were NOT indigenous to the Trans-Jordan.

The Amorites originally hailed from Mesopotamia.

In other words, the Trans-Jordan was an area the Amorites had conquered and were occupying BEFORE their fatal encounter with Israel.

So which people group was residing in the Trans-Jordan before the Amorites conquered that area?

The answer is the Moabites!

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

When Israel conquered King Sihon of the Amorites, they ALSO CONQUERED ALL THE OTHER LANDS AND PEOPLE GROUPS THAT WERE CONTROLLED BY THE AMORITES.

Since at this time Moab had a vassal/king relationship with the Amorites, Israel in conquering the Amorites inherited that relationship.

But that’s not all.

Before this encounter with Israel, the Amorites had also to a degree subjugated another people group known as the Ammonites.

There was a population of Ammonites residing in an area near to the Jordan River.

These folks had also been taken over by the Amorites.

So again, when Israel lay waste to the Amorites, they also took over that area of the Jordan River inhabited by the Ammonites.

This was just standard protocol in those days.

Whatever or whoever a nation controlled before being conquered was transferred over to their conquerers.

Conclusion: This little battle Israel had with the Amorites was like killing three birds with one stone.

They destroyed the Amorites, took control of Moab since Moab was under the Amorites’ control at this time and also to a lesser degree took control of the Ammonites.

Let me think of a good modern day analogy.

It’s kind of like when America defeated Japan in World War II, in one stroke, they also instantly freed all of the nations and territory Japan had under its control at that time.

All of this might sound like I’m getting too insanely detailed.

I’m not.

Pay attention because it’s understanding these political realities that will shed much light on Israel’s movements and interactions with their surrounding neighbors as we move forward.

I’m done.