THE LAST MARCH AND THE
FIRST CAMPAIGN
Numbers 21
IT has been suggested in a previous chapter that the repulse of
the Israelites by the King of Arad took place on the occasion when,
after the return of the spies, a portion of the army endeavoured to
force its way into Canaan. If that explanation of the passage with
which chapter 21 opens cannot be accepted, then the movements of the
tribes after they were driven back from Edom must have been
singularly vacillating. Instead of turning southward along the
Arabah they appear to have moved northward from Mount Hor and made
an attempt to enter Canaan at the southern end of the Dead Sea. Arad
was in the Negeb or South Country, and the Canaanites there, keeping
guard, must have descended from the hills and inflicted a defeat
which finally closed that way.
From the time of the departure from Kadesh onward no mention is made
of the pillar of cloud. It may have still moved as the standard of
the host; yet the unsuccessful attempt to pass through Edom,
followed possibly by a northward march, and then by a southward
journey to the Elanitic Gulf when they "compassed Mount Seir many
days," {Deu 2:1} would appear to prove that the authoritative
guidance had in some way failed. It is a suggestion, which, however,
can only be advanced with diffidence, that after the day at Kadesh
when the words fell from Moses’ lips, "Hear now, ye rebels," his
power as a leader declined, and that the guidance of the march fell
mainly into the hands of Joshua, -a brave soldier indeed, but no
acknowledged representative of Jehovah. It is at all events clear
that attempts had now to be made in one direction and another to
find a feasible route. Moses may have retired from the command,
partly on account of age, but even more because he felt that he had
in part lost his authority. Israel, moreover, had to become a
military nation: and Moses, though nominally the head of the tribes,
had to stand aside to a great extent that the new development might
proceed. In a short time Joshua would be sole leader; already he
appears to hold the military command.
The journey from Mount Hor to the borders of Moab by way of the Red
Sea, or Yam-Suph, is very briefly noticed in the narrative. Oboth,
Iyeabarim, Zared, are the only three names mentioned in chapter 21
before the border of Moab is reached. Chapter 33 gives Zal-monah,
Punon, Oboth, and lastly Iye-abarim, which is said to be in the
border of Moab. The mention of these names suggests nothing as to
the extremely trying nature of the journey; that is only indicated
by the statement, "the soul of the people was much discouraged
because of the way." The truth is, that of all the stages of the
wandering, these along the Arabah, and from the Elanitic Gulf
eastward and northward to the valley of Zared, were perhaps the most
difficult and perilous. The Wady Arabah is "an expanse of shifting
sands, broken by innumerable undulations, and countersected by a
hundred watercourses." Along this plain the route lay for fifty
miles, in the track of the furious sirocco and amidst terrible
desolation. Turning eastward from the palm-groves of Elath and the
beautiful shores of the Gulf, the way next entered a tract of the
Arabian wilderness outside the border of Edom. Oboth lay, perhaps,
east from Maan, still an inhabited city, and the point of departure
for one who journeys from Palestine into central Arabia. Out from
Maan this desert lies, and is thus described: -"Before and around us
extended a wide and level plain, blackened over with countless
pebbles of basalt and flint, except when the moonbeams gleamed white
on little intervening patches of clear sand, or on yellowish streaks
of withered grass, the scanty produce of the winter rains, and now
dried into hay. Over all a deep silence which even our Arab
companions seemed fearful of breaking; when they spoke it was in a
half whisper and in few words, while the noiseless tread of our
camels sped stealthily but rapidly through the gloom without
disturbing its stillness." For one hundred miles the route for
Israel lay through this wilderness: and it is hardly possible to
escape the conviction that although little is said of the
experiences of the way the tribes must have suffered enormously and
been greatly reduced in number. As for cattle, we must conclude that
hardly any survived. Where camels sustain themselves with the
greatest difficulty, oxen and sheep would certainly perish. There
had come the necessity for a rapid advance, to be made at whatever
hazard. All that would retard the progress of the people had to be
sacrificed. There is indeed some ground for the supposition that
part of the tribes remained near Kadesh while the main body made the
long and perilous detour. The army entering Canaan by way of Jericho
would as soon as possible open communication with those who had been
left behind.
The only recorded episode belonging to the period of this march is
that of the fiery serpents. In the Arabah and the whole North
Arabian region the cobra, or naja hale, is common, and is
superstitiously dreaded. Other serpents are so innocuous by
comparison that this chiefly receives the attention of travellers.
One incident is recorded thus by Mr. Stuart Glennie: -"Two cobras
have been caught, and one, which has been dexterously pinned by the
neck in the slit end of a stick, its captor comes up triumphantly to
exhibit After a time the fellow let it go, refusing to kill it, and
permitting it to glide away unharmed. This I understood to be from
fear-fear of the vengeance after death of what, in life, had been
incapable of defending itself. At Petra the snakes which Hamilton, a
fearless hunter of them, killed, the Arabs would not allow to lie
within the encampment, asserting that we should thus bring the whole
snake-tribe to which the individual belonged to avenge the death of
their kinsman." Whether all the serpents that attacked the
Israelites were cobras is doubtful; but the description "fiery"
seems to point to the effects of the cobra-poison, which produces an
intense burning sensation in the whole body. Another explanation of
the adjective is found in the metallic sparkle of the reptiles.
"Much people of Israel died" of the bites of these serpents, which,
disturbed by the travellers as they went sullenly and carelessly
along, issued from crevices of the ground and from the low shrubs in
which they lurked, and at once fastened on feet and hands. The
peculiar character of the new enemy caused universal alarm. As one
and another fell writhing to the ground, and after a few convulsive
movements died in agony, a feeling of terrified revulsion spread
through the ranks. Pestilence was natural, familiar, as compared
with this new punishment which their murmuring about the light food
and the thirst of the desert had brought on them. The serpent, lithe
and subtle, scarcely seen in the twilight, creeping into the tents
at night, quick at any moment, without provocation, to use its
poisoned fangs, has appeared the hereditary enemy of man. As the
instrument of the Tempter it was connected with the origin of human
misery; it appeared the embodied evil which from the very dust
sprang forth to seek the evil-doer. Many ways had Jehovah of
reaching men who showed distrust and resented His will. This was in
a sense the most dreadful.
The serpents that lurked in the Israelites’ way and darted suddenly
upon them are always felt to be analogues of the subtle sins that
spring on man and poison his life. What traveller knows the moment
when he may feel in his soul the sharp sting of evil desire that
will burn in him to a deadly fever? Men who have been wounded can,
for a time, hide from fellow-travellers their mortal hurt. They keep
on the march and make shift to look like others. Then the madness
reveals itself. Words are spoken, deeds are done, that show the vile
inoculation taking effect. By-and-by there is another moral death.
Humanity may well fear the power of evil thoughts, of lusts, of
envious feelings, that serpent-like attack and madden the soul; may
well look up and cry aloud to God for a sufficient remedy. No herb
nor balm to be found in the gardens or fields of earth is an
antidote to this poison; nor can the surgeon excise the tainted
flesh, or destroy the virus by any brand of penance.
Resuming his generous part as intercessor for the people, Moses
sought and found the means to help them. He was to make a serpent of
brass, an image of the foe, and erect it on a standard full in sight
of the camp, and to it the eyes of the stricken people were to be
turned. If they realised the Divine purpose of grace and trusted
Jehovah While they looked, the power of the poison would be
destroyed. The serpent of brass was nothing in itself, was, as long
afterwards Hezekiah declared it to be, nehushtan; but as a symbol of
the help and salvation of God it served the end. The stricken
revived: the camp, almost in a panic through superstitious fear, was
calmed. Once more it was known that He who smote the sinful, in
wrath remembered mercy. It must be assumed that there was repentance
and faith on the part of those who looked. The serpents appear as
the means of punishment, and the poison loses its effect with the
growth of the new spirit of submission. It has rightly been pointed
out that the heathen view of the serpent as a healing power has no
countenance here. That singular belief must have had its origin in
the worship of the serpent which arose from dread of it as an
embodiment of demoniacal energy. Our passage treats it as a creature
of God, ready, like the lightning and the pestilence, or like the
frogs and insects of the Egyptian plagues, to be used as an
instrument in bringing home to men their sins.
And when our Lord recalled the episode of the healing of Israel by
means of the brazen serpent, He certainly did not mean that the
image in itself was in any sense a type or even symbol of Him. It
was lifted up; He was to be lifted up: it was to be looked upon with
the gaze of repentance and faith; He is to be regarded, as He hangs
on the cross, with the contrite, believing look: it signified the
gracious interposition of God, who was Himself the True Healer;
Christ is lifted up and gives Himself on the cross in accordance
with the Father’s will, to reveal and convey His love-these are the
points of similarity. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The uplifting,
the healing, are symbolic. The serpent-image fades out of sight.
Christ is seen giving Himself in generous love, showing us the way
of life when He dies, the just for the unjust. He is the power of
God unto salvation. With Him we die that He may live in us. He
judges us, condemns us as sinners, and at the same time turns our
judgment into acquittal, our condemnation into liberty. Israel’s
past and the grace of Jehovah to the stricken tribes are connected
by our Lord’s words with the redemption provided through His own
sacrifice. The Divine Healer of humanity is there and here; but here
in spiritual life, in quickening grace, not in an empirical symbol.
Christ on the cross is no mere sign of a higher energy; the very
energy is with Him, most potent when He dies.
Like the serpent poison, that of sin creates a burning fever, a
mortal disease. But into all the springs and channels of infected
life the renovating grace of God enters through the long deep look
of faith. We see the Man, our brother full of sympathy, the Son of
God our sin-bearer. The pity is profound as our need; the strong
spiritual might, sin-conquering, life-giving, is enough for each,
more than sufficient for all. We look-to wonder, to hope, to trust,
to love, to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. We see
our condemnation, the handwriting of ordinances that is against
us-and we see it cancelled through the sacrifice of our Divine
Redeemer. Is it the death that moves us first? Then we perceive love
stronger than death, love that can never die. Our souls go forth to
find that love, they are bound by it for ever to the Infinite Truth,
the Eternal Purity, the Immortal Life. We find ourselves at length
whole and strong, fit for the enterprises of God. The trumpet call
is heard; we respond with joy. We will fight the good fight of
faith, suffering and achieving all through Christ.
At Iye-abarim, the Heaps of the Outlands, "which is toward the
sunrising," the worst of the desert march was over. That the long
and dreary wilderness did not swallow up the host is, humanly
speaking, matter of astonishment. Yet singular light is thrown on
the journey by an incident recorded by Mr. Palmer. In the midst of
the broken country extending from the neighbourhood of the ancient
Kadesh to the Arabah, he and his companions encamped at the head of
the Wady Abu Taraimeh, which slopes to the south-east. Here in the
midst of the desolate mountains a quite young girl, small, solitary
traveller, was found. She was on her way to Abdeh, some twenty miles
behind, and had come from a place called Hesmeh, six days journey
beyond Akabah, a distance of some hundred and fifty miles. "She had
been without bread or water, and had only eaten a few herbs to
support herself by the way." The simple trust of the child could
achieve what strong men might have pronounced impossible. And the
Israelites, knowing little of the road, trusted and hoped and
pressed on till the green hills of Moab were at last in sight. The
march was eastward of the present highway, which keeps within the
border of Edom and passes through El Buseireh, the ancient Bozrah.
We may suppose that the Israelites followed a track afterwards
chosen for a Roman road and still traceable. The valley of Zared,
perhaps the modern Feranjy, would be reached about fifteen miles
east from the southern gulf of the Dead Sea. Thence, striking on a
watercourse and keeping to the desert side of Ar, the modern Rabba,
the Hebrews would have a march of about twenty miles to the Arnon,
which at that time formed the boundary between Moab and the
Amorites. At this point the history incorporates, why we cannot
tell, part of an old song from the "Book of the Wars of Jehovah."
"Vaheb in Suphah, And the valleys of Arnon, And the slope of.the
valleys That inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, And leaneth upon
the border of Moab."
The picturesque topography of this chant, the meaning of which as a
whole is obscured for us by the first line, may be the sole reason
of its quotation. If we read "Vaheb in storm" we have a word-picture
of the scene under impressive conditions; and if the storm is that
of war the relique may belong to the time of the contest described
in Num 21:26 when the Amorite chief, crossing Jordan, gained the
northern heights and drove the Moabites in confusion across the
Arnon toward the stronghold of Ai, some twelve or fifteen miles to
the south. Yet another ancient song is connected with a station
called Beer, or the Well, some spot in the wilderness north of the
Arnon valley. Moses points out the place where water may be found,
and as the digging goes on the chant is heard:
"Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The well which the princes
digged, Which the nobles of the.people delved, With the sceptre, and
with their staves."
The seeking of the precious water by rude art in a thirsty valley
kindles the mind of some poet of the people. And his song is
spirited, with ample recognition of the zeal of the princes who
themselves take part in the labour. While they dig he chants, and
the people join in the song till the words are fixed in their
memory, so as to become part of the traditions of Israel.
The finding of a spring, the discovery that by their own effort they
can reach the living water laid up for them beneath the sand, is an
event to the Israelites, worth preserving in a national ballad. What
does this imply? That the resources of nature and the means of
unlocking them were still only beginning to be understood? We are
almost compelled to think so, whatever conclusions this may involve.
And Israel, slowly finding out the Divine provision lying beneath
the surface of things, is a type of those who very gradually
discover the possibilities that are concealed beneath the seemingly
ordinary and unpromising. By the beaten tracks of life, in its arid
valleys, there are, for those who dig, wells of comfort, springs of
truth and salvation. Men are athirst for inspiration, for power.
They think of these as endowments for which they must wait. In point
of fact they have but to open the fountains of conscience and of
generous feeling in order to find what they desire. Multitudes faint
by the way because they will not seek for themselves the water of
Divine truth that would reinvigorate their being. When we trust to
wells opened by others we cannot obtain the supply suited to our
special need. Each for himself must discover Divine providence,
duty, conviction, the springs of repentance and of love. The many
wait, and never get beyond spiritual dependence. The few, some with
sceptre, some with staff, dig for themselves and for the rest wells
of new ardour and sustaining thought. The whole of human life, we
may say, has beneath its surface veins and rills of heavenly water.
In heart and conscience we can find the will of our Maker, the
springs of His promises, revelations of His power and love. More
than we know of the living water that flows through the world of
humanity like a river has its source in springs that have been dug
in waste places by those who reflected, who saw in man’s world and
man’s soul the work of the "faithful Creator."
From Beer in the wilderness the march skirted the green fields and
valleys of the country once held by the Moabites, now under Sihon
the Amorite. When they had gone but a few stages along this route
the leaders of the host found it necessary to enter into
negotiations. They were now some twenty miles only by road from the
fords of Jordan, but Heshbon, a strong fortress, confronted them.
The Amorites must be either conciliated or attacked. This time there
was no circuitous way that could be taken; a critical hour had come.
The presence of the Amorites on the eastern side of Jordan is
accounted for in a passage extending from Num 21:26-30. Moab had
apparently, as at a later time referred to by one of the prophets,
been at ease, resting securely behind her mountain rampart. Suddenly
the Amorite warriors, crossing the ford of Jordan and pressing up
the defile, had attacked and taken Heshbon; and with the loss of
that fortress Moab was practically defenceless. Field by field the
old in-habitants had been driven back, out into the desert,
southward beyond the Arnon. Even as far as Ar itself the victors had
carried fire and sword. Retiring, they left all south of the Arnon
to the Moabites, and themselves occupied the country from Arnon to
Jabbok, a stretch of sixty miles. The song of Num 21:27-30
commemorates this ancient war:
"Come ye to Heshbon, Let the city of Sihon be built and established;
For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, A flame from the city of Sihon:
It hath devoured Ar of Moab, The Lords of the High Places of Arnon.
Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh."
The chant rejoicing over the defeated goes on to tell how the sons
of Moab fled, and her daughters were taken captive; how the arms of
the Amorite were victorious from Heshbon to Dibon, over Nophah and
Medeba. The Israelites arriving soon after this sanguinary conflict,
found the conquered region immediately beyond the Arnon open to
their advance. The Amorites had not yet occupied the whole of the
land; their power was concentrated about Heshbon, which according to
the song had been rebuilt.
The request made of Sihon to allow the passage of a people on its
way to Jordan and the country beyond came possibly at a time when
the Amorites were scarcely prepared for resistance. They had been
successful, but their forces were insufficient for the large
district they had taken, larger considerably than that on the other
side of Jordan from which they had migrated. In the circumstances
Sihon would not grant the request. These Israelites were bent on
establishing themselves as rivals: the answer accordingly was a
refusal, and war began. Refreshed by the spoil of the fields of
Arnon, and now almost within sight of Canaan, the Hebrew fighting
men were full of ardour. The conflict was sharp and decisive.
Apparently in a single battle the power of Sihon was broken. Leaving
his fortress the Amorite chief had gone out against Israel "into the
wilderness"; and at Jahaz the fight went against him. From Arnon to
Jabbok his land lay open to the conquerors.
And having once tasted success the warriors of Israel did not
sheathe their swords. The fortress of Amman guarded the land of the
Ammonites so strongly that it seemed for the time perilous to strike
in that direction. Crossing the valley of the Jabbok, however, and
leaving the fierce Ammonites unattacked, the Israelites had Bashan
before them; a fertile region of innumerable streams, populous, and
with many strongholds and cities. There was hesitation for a time,
but the oracle of Jehovah reassured the army. Og the king of Bashan
waited the attack at Edrei in the north of his kingdom, about forty
miles east from the Sea of Galilee. Israel was again victorious. The
king of Bashan, his sons, and his army were cut to pieces.
Such was the rapid success the Israelites had in their first
campaign, amazing enough, though partly explained by the strifes and
wars which had reduced the strength of the peoples they attacked. We
must not suppose, however, that though the Amorites and the people
of Bashan were defeated, their lands were occupied or could be
occupied at once. What had been done was rather in the way of
defending the passage of the Jordan than providing a settlement for
any of the tribes. When the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites came
to dwell in those districts east of the Jordan, they had to make
good their ground against the old inhabitants who remained.
The army had passed into the north, but the main body of the people
descended from the neighbourhood of Heshbon by a pass leading to the
Jordan Valley. The return of the victorious troops after a few
months gave them the assurance that at last they could safely
prepare for the long expected entrance into the Land of Promise.
Suffering and the discipline of the wilderness had educated the
Israelites for the day of action. By what a long and tedious journey
they reached their success! Behind them, yet with them still, was
Sinai, whose lightnings and awful voices made them aware of the
power of Jehovah into covenant with whom they entered, whose law
they received. As a people bound solemnly to the unseen Almighty God
they left that mountain and journeyed towards Kadesh. But the
covenant had neither been thoroughly accepted nor thoroughly
understood. They began their march from the mountain of the Lord as
the people of Jehovah, yet expecting that He was to do all for them,
require little at their hands. The other side of privilege, the duty
they owed to God, had to be impressed by many a painful
chastisement, by the sorrows and disasters of the way. Wonderfully,
all things considered, had they sped, though their murmurings were
the sign of an ignorant rebellions temper which was incompatible
with any moral progress. By the long delay in the wilderness of
Kadesh that disposition had to be cured. In a region not fertile
like Canaan itself, yet capable of supporting the tribes, they had
to forget Egypt, realise that forward not backward was their only
way, that while desert after desert intervened now between them and
Goshen, they were within a day’s march of the Promised Land. But
even this was not enough. Perhaps they might have crept gradually
northward; shifting their headquarters a few miles at a time till
they had taken possession of the Negeb and made a settlement of some
kind in Canaan. But if they had done so, as a nation of shepherds,
advancing timorously, not boldly, they would have had no strength at
the opening of their career. And it was decreed that by another
door, in another spirit, they should enter. Edom refused them access
to the east country. They had again to gird up their loins for a
long journey. And that last terrible march was the discipline they
required. Resolutely kept to it by their leader, on through the
Arabah, across the desert, to the "Heaps of the Outlands towards the
sunrising" they went, with new need for courage, a new call to
endure hardness every day. Did they faint once, and turn murmurers
again? The serpents stung them in judgment, and the cure was
provided in grace. They learned once more that it was One they could
not elude with whom they had to do, One who could be severe and also
kind, who could strike and also save. Decimated, but knit together,
as they had never been, the tribes reached the Arnon. And then, the
first trial of their arms made, they knew themselves a conquering
people, a people with power, a people with a destiny.
It is so in the making of manhood, in the discipline of the soul,
and the awful declarations of duty and of the Divine claim there,
must enter into our life; it would be light, frivolous, and
incapable otherwise. But the revelation of power and righteousness
does not insure our submission to the power, our conformity to the
righteousness. Divine words have to be followed by Divine deeds; we
have to learn that in God’s kingdom there is to be no murmuring, no
shrinking even from death, no turning back. It is a lesson that
tries the generations. How many will not learn it! In society, in
the Church, the rebellious spirit is shown and has to be corrected.
At the "Graves of Lust," at the "Place of Burning," murmurers are
judged, those who refuse God’s way fall and are left behind. And
when the Land of Promise is in sight possession of it shall not be
easily obtained by those who are still half-wedded to the old life,
distrustful of the righteousness of God and His demand on the whole
love and service of the soul. There is indeed no heaven for those
who look back, who even if angels were to hurry them on would still
lament the losses of this life as irremediable; There must be the
courage of the daring soul that adventures all on faith, on the
Divine promise, on the eternity of the spiritual.
Wherefore, that the earthly temper may be taken out of us, we have
to cross desert after desert, to make long circuits through the hot
and thirsty wilderness even when we think our faith complete and our
hope nigh its fulfilment. It is as those who overcome we are to
enter the kingdom. Not as "the world’s poor routed leavings," not
obtaining permission from Edomites or Amorites to slip ingloriously
through their land, but as those who with the sword of the Spirit
can hew our own way through falsehoods and bring down the lusts of
the flesh and of the mind, as warriors of God we are to reach and
cross the border. How many survive, having gone through discipline
like this? How many overcome and have the right to pass through the
gate into the city?
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