“Then they turned and went up along the road to Bashan; and ‘Og, the king of Bashan, marched out against them, he with all his people, to fight at Edre‘i. Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Don’t be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with all his people and his land. You will treat him just as you did Sichon, king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.’ So they struck him down, with his sons and all his people, until there was no one left alive; and then they took control of his land.”-Numbers 21:33-35
After Israel’s battle with the King Sihon of the Amorites, Israel next moves on to an area called BASHAN.
It’s deja vu all over again.
The king of BASHAN marches out against Israel.
Moses consults with God and is given the reassuring directive to go ahead and attack BASHAN as victory is already assured.
Geographically speaking, the territory of BASHAN can be explained as follows.
To the NORTH, it stretched all the way to Mount Hermon.
To the EAST, it stretched all the way to a point near the King’s Highway.
To the WEST, it stretched all the way to the hills on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.
And…
…to the SOUTH, it stretched to the line a bit below the Jabok River.
You may recall that Jabok was the place were Jacob reunited with his twin brother Esau about five centuries earlier.
Interesting that in spite of this apparent “reconciliation“, Israel is still experiencing conflict with the descendants of Esau.
So there you have it.
The latter half of Numbers Chapter 21 is all about how came to be in control of a large area of land on the east side of the Jordan River BEFORE they even entered the Promised Land.
Again, know that this area is now known as the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and unlike the hostility that the Amorites and BASHAN showed towards Israel, they are trying to make peace with Israel.
It is a wise decision.
Because as we have just read from Scripture, the Hebrews occupied this area way before the Ishmaelite Arabs ever occupied it.
And although this may seem to contradict what I said earlier, later on we’re going to find in the Book of Ezekiel that the area of real estate God actually promised to Abraham also included some territory in the Trans-Jordan.
Last August I actually visited this area.
Here’s thing.
If you stand at the crossroads near Jericho extending down from Jerusalem (the point where the road to Qumran and Masada intersects), look towards the northern end of the Dead Sea and you can actually see the territory on the east side of the Jordan that Israel took control of from the Amorites.
It is generally believed that this is precisely the area Israel would cross over to get into the Promised Land.
We’re going to finish Numbers Chapter 21 today but not without trying to squeeze a nice and practical spiritual takeaway from what we’ve learned here.
The biggest takeaway I get from this latter half of Numbers 21 is that when you go forth and boldly claim the promises God has for your life in spite of very trying and difficult circumstances, you’ll get MORE than He originally promised you.
I’m talking about blessings ON TOP OF BLESSINGS!!!
As we learned, it was not Israel’s intention to get into a vicious conflict with King Sihon of the Amorites.
But he (King Sihon) pushed the issue.
Israel could have cowered and backed away when threatened but the Promised Land was near in sight, hence the Israelites felt emboldened and were like HEEEEELLLLLLLLL NO!
With faith in HASHEM, they went forth boldly to attack their enemy and what was the result?
More territory than God had originally planned for them.
Oh, there’s another really important lesson I glean from all this.
Here’s what it is.
Sometimes you do have to FIGHT to gain PEACE.
Yes, in order to gain peace, sometimes vicious and merciless war and God-ordained violence is absolutely necessary.
In fact, the whole taking of the Promised Land will not be achieved minus Israel going to war to conquer the inhabitants of the land.
I’m talking about a HOLY war.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN NUMBERS CHAPTER 22
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