Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 21:20
And from Bamoth [in] the valley, that [is] in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.
20. the valley that is in the region of Moab, [om. to ] the top of the Pisgah ] The two expressions are placed somewhat awkwardly in apposition; but they appear to mean: the valley which is in that part of the region of Moab known as the top of the Pisgah.
the valley ] was a glen ( gay’, distinct from naal, Num 21:14) which cut through the hills and emerged at the Jordan, perhaps the present Wdy ‘Ayn Msa (‘Moses’ springs’) which runs into the Jordan valley some four or five miles north of the northern end of the Dead Sea, the torrent then flowing with a south-westerly curve into the Sea.
the region of Moab ] denotes the region which properly belonged to Moab, but of which the Amorites were in possession at the moment.
the top of the Pisgah ] ‘The Pisgah’ seems to have been the name applied to the broken edge of the Moabite plateau where it falls steeply to the Dead Sea and the Jordan valley; and ‘the top, or head, of the Pisgah’ (Num 23:14, Deu 3:27; Deu 34:1) is a collective term for the projections or promontories slightly lower than the main plateau and standing out from the western slopes. The word is derived from a root which in Aram. and late Heb. signifies ‘to cleave’; and it may describe the appearance of the range as seen from the west, standing out in a series of separate peaks.
which looketh down upon the Jeshimon ] The name, which denotes ‘arid or desert land,’ is used of the deserts through which Israel passed in their journey from Egypt (Deu 32:10, Psa 68:7 &c.), and of the waste land on the east of Judah, north of the Dead Sea (1Sa 23:19; 1Sa 23:24; 1Sa 26:1; 1Sa 26:3 marg.). But here the verb ‘looketh down,’ which is chiefly used of men looking down from a window (Gen 26:8, 2Sa 24:20, Son 6:10), or of God looking down out of heaven (Psa 102:19), seems to point to a district more immediately below the Pisgah, which must be the barren tract north of the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan (see G. A. Smith, H. G. [Note: . G. Historical Geography of the Holy Land.] 564 note).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the country of Moab – Rather, in the field of Moab: the upland pastures, or flat downs, intersected by the ravine of Wady Waleh.
Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon – Or, toward the waste. See Num 33:47. Pisgah was a ridge of the Abarim mountains, westward from Heshbon. From the summit the Israelites gained their first view of the wastes of the Dead Sea and of the valley of the Jordan: and Moses again ascended it, to view, before his death, the land of promise. The interest attaching to the spot, and the need of a convenient name for it, has led Christians often to designate it as Nebo, rather than as the mountain of, or near to, Nebo; but the latter is the more correct: Nebo denoted the town Isa 15:2; Jer 48:1, Jer 48:22 on the western slope of the ridge.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the valley; or, the valley, which might be called Bamoth, not because it was a place naturally high, but from divers other reasons, which may be easily guessed. Or, to the valley, or to that valley, that famous or rather infamous valley, to wit, of Abel-shittim, Num 33:49, where they committed those foul abominations recorded Num 25
Pisgah was the top of these high hills of Abarim; of which see Deu 3:17,27; 32:49; 34:1,6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And from Bamoth, [in] the valley,…. Or rather “to the valley”, as the Targum of Onkelos, since Bamoth signifies high places; though, according to the Jerusalem Talmud o, Bamoth, Baal, which seems to be the same place, was in a plain:
that is in the country of Moab; the valley belonged to Moab, into which Israel came:
to the top of Pisgah; not that the valley reached to the top, nor did the children of Israel go to the top of it, only Moses, but rather to the bottom, which indeed is meant; for it intends the beginning of it, where Pisgah, which was an high mountain near the plains of Moab, began, and which was properly the foot of it:
which looketh towards Jeshimon; that is, Pisgah, as Jarchi rightly interprets it, which looked over a place called Jeshimon; and which signifies a wilderness, and is no other indeed than the wilderness of Kedemoth, De 2:26 for from thence the following messengers were sent.
o Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) And from Bamoth in the valley.Better, and from Bamoth to the valley that is . . . The country (or, rather, field) of Moab was a portion of the table-land which stretches from Rabbath Ammn to the Arnon. The valley in this table-land was upon the height of Pisgahi.e., the northern part of the mountains of Abarim.
Toward Jeshimon.Or, across the waste (or, desert).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. In the valley Rather, to the valley, which is in the fields of Moab upon the top of Pisgah. The height of Pisgah is in grammatical apposition with the field of Moab, a portion of the perfectly treeless table-land stretching from Rabbath Ammon to the Arnon. Among biblical problems on the east of the Jordan the solution of none has enlisted deeper interest than the identification of long-lost Pisgah. The great mistake for ages was in the attempt to find some peak higher than the general level of the table-land of Moab, from which all the Land of Promise can be seen. But Dr. J.L. Porter, on the south bank of Wady Hesban, about seven miles west of Heshbon, recently noticed some projecting swells of the range, not higher than others, but shooting out farther west, so as to command the Jordan Valley, and suggested that one of these might be Nebo. Professor Paine, in the third statement of the Palestine Exploration Society, in 1873, in an elaborate monograph of nearly ninety pages, entitled, The Identification of Pisgah, cogently argues, after a month’s investigation of all the district, that a double peaked hill or swell called Jebel Siaghah is the true Pisgah. The view from the southwest peak, 2,360 feet above the sea, extending from Dan on the north to the far distant Negeb, fulfils every requisite of the view which Moses beheld from Pisgah, unless it be all Judah unto the Mediterranean Sea, for which there is no peak east of the Jordan high enough. See Bibliotheca Sacra, Jan., 1876. Dr. Ridgaway dissents from the conclusion of Professor Paine, and sides with Tristram and M. de Saulcy, in the identification of Jebel Neba as the true Pisgah, chiefly because this affords an eastward view, which Jebel Siaghah does not. See Deu 3:27. “My own impression is, that Abarim was the name of the whole cluster of hills immediately overlooking the Jordan in this region, as the term signifies ‘borders;’ that Nebo was the title of a particular mountain, with one or more peaks, and that Pisgah was the special summit of Nebo. I remember very clearly that its top looked, as we rode by, just like a hill, and seemed relatively so little elevated, as we approached from the east, that we hardly thought it worth while to go on to it. Taking the itinerary of Israel, as given in Num 33:46-48, nothing can seem more natural.” Ridgaway.
Jeshimon Literally, the wilderness. It is doubtful whether it is a proper or a common noun.
Edersheim says that it is the tract of land which extends to the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. Tristram identifies it with “the barren plain of the Ghor,” about the mouth of the Jordan. But Professor Paine, from every mention of the place, comes to the following conclusion: “So Jeshimon is the wilderness where a line drawn to the north from Maon (1Sa 23:24) intersects another drawn west from Pisgah, and just there is a region every way worthy of the name.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 21:20. To the top of Pisgah Houbigant renders this, Ras-pisgah, supposing the whole a proper name; which, says he, in so uncertain a matter, seems the safest: for, from the context, it sufficiently appears, that this was not the mountain Pisgah; nor can it be proper to render rosh, a mountain, or top, when the Israelites are said to come into a valley. Le Clerc renders it, under the top of Pisgah. Which looketh toward Jeshimon, is rendered more properly in the margin, toward the wilderness; namely, the wilderness of Kedemoth, a city on the borders of the country of the Amorites, from whence they sent messengers to Sihon. See Deu 32:10. Psa 68:7 in the original.
REFLECTIONS.We have here the journies of the people towards Canaan. When they were advanced from Oboth to Beer, in their want of water, God, of his own motion, promises to supply them abundantly. They seem now to have trusted without murmuring, and they find the blessing of doing to. Hereupon, 1. They celebrate with songs of praise the divine mercy; and in confidence of the promise, as if already fulfilled, pray to and praise the gracious giver. Note; (1.) Every promised mercy is as much our own, as if we actually possessed it. (2.) Christ, by his spirit in the believer’s heart, as a well of water, springeth up into eternal life. (3.) Praise is the grateful tribute we owe to God for his rich and undeserved mercies. 2. As the people sung, the princes digged, or digged in faith, and their staves, like Moses’s rod, brought streams out of the dry ground. When our contrivances seem at the lowest ebb, God can thus open pools in the wilderness; and whilst we, in dependance upon him, employ the staff of prayer, we need not fear but that he will lead us forth beside the waters of comfort.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
country = field.
Jeshimon = the wilderness.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
country: Heb. field, Num 22:1, Num 26:63, Num 33:49, Num 33:50, Deu 1:5
to the: Num 23:14, Deu 3:27, Deu 4:49, Deu 34:1
Pisgah: or the hill
Jeshimon: or, the wilderness, Num 23:28
Reciprocal: Num 22:2 – General Num 22:41 – high places Num 32:34 – Dibon Num 33:47 – the mountains Deu 11:29 – General Jos 12:3 – Ashdothpisgah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 21:20. Pisgah This was the top of those high hills of Abarim.