Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 21:23
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
23. the wilderness ] See on Num 21:13.
Jahaz ] Deu 2:32, Isa 15:4, Jer 48:34. The form Jahzah is used in Jos 13:18; Jos 21:36, Jdg 11:20 (Heb.), Jer 48:21 , 1Ch 6:78. The site is unknown, but it evidently lay on the eastern boundary of Sihon’s territory, since he came thither to prevent Israel from crossing it. In agreement with this it is twice mentioned with Kedemoth (Jos 13:18; Jos 21:36 f.), which is the name of ‘the wilderness’ in Deu 2:26, and twice seems to be named as a limit of Moab, at some distance from Heshbon (Isa 15:4, Jer 48:34).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jahaz, a city, of which see Deu 2:32; Jer 48:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border,…. Because he could not trust them, and confide in the promises they made, and thought it not safe to let such a body of people into any part of his dominions, Jud 11:20 and chiefly because his heart was hardened by the Lord, that he might be delivered into the hands of Israel, as was determined, De 2:30:
but Sihon gathered all his people together; all that were able to bear arms out of his cities, and which made no doubt a very numerous and powerful army; but then these being defeated, as they were, it became more easy to the Israelites to take their cities, where there were none left but women and children:
and went out against Israel into the wilderness; the wilderness of Kedemoth; not content to reject a peaceable message, he went out in an hostile manner against Israel, even out of his own dominions; so that he was the aggressor and unprovoked, which made his ruin appear the more just, and the children of Israel to have a better claim to his country conquered by them:
and he came to Jahaz; a frontier town in the land of Moab, see
Isa 15:4 and which, according to Bunting p, was sixteen miles from Abarim:
and fought against Israel; at the above place, where they had a pitched battle.
p Travels of the Patriarchs, p. 83.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
23. Jahaz “A place trodden down.” See Jos 13:18, note.
Fought against Israel According to Josephus the Amorite army contained every man in the nation fit to bear arms. Being unable to fight when away from the shelter of their cities, and being galled by the slings and arrows of the Hebrews, in their intense thirst the Amorites rushed to the stream, and to the shelter of the ravine of the Arnon, and were slaughtered in vast numbers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Sihon Refuses and Faces Up to Israel ( Num 21:23 ).
Num 21:23
‘And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel.’
But Sihon was determined to prevent their passage. It may have been that he recognised that they were proceeding to an invasion on fellow-Amorites, or it may have been because he did not trust Israel and what they might do once they were in the midst of the land, or it may simply have been because he enjoyed fighting and saw the possibility of much booty. But whichever way it was he went out with his army to where Israel were ‘in the wilderness’, outside the fertile land, and coming to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.
Jahaz would shortly become a Reubenite city, and a levitical city (Jos 13:18; Jos 21:34; Jos 21:36), but it would later be in conflict with Mesha, king of Moab, who, according to the Moabite stone, would eventually seize it. It would still be in Moabite hands in the days of Isa 15:4 and Jer 48:21; Jer 48:34.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 21:23. He came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel Jahaz was a city either in the country of Moab, or near it, as appears from Isa 15:4. Jer 48:21. There the Amorites fell upon the Israelites when they had given them no provocation, and consequently were the first aggressors: so that the just ground of the war was, not their denying the Israelites a passage through the country, as Grotius thinks, (see on ch. Num 21:20-21.) but because they fell upon the Israelites unjustly, and were of the seven nations condemned by God to that destruction which now overwhelmed them, Deu 2:33-34.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Num 21:23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
Ver. 23. And Sihon would not. ] He durst not trust them: men muse as they use: God had also hardened his heart, that he might come forth to fetch his own destruction. Deu 2:30 Judgment need not go to find wicked men out; they run to meet their bane.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Sihon would: Deu 2:30-32, Deu 29:7, Deu 29:8
Jahaz: Jdg 11:20, Isa 15:4, Jer 48:34
Reciprocal: Exo 14:6 – people Num 32:33 – the kingdom Deu 2:18 – General Deu 2:32 – General Deu 3:2 – as thou didst Jos 12:2 – Sihon Jos 13:12 – these did Jos 13:18 – Jahaza Jos 21:36 – Jahazah Jdg 20:14 – General Psa 136:19 – General Hab 3:12 – didst march