41 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar,.... All that part of the country which lay upon the stream, as far as the city of Ar, the metropolis of Moab, called Ar of Moab, Isaiah 15:1, and lieth upon the border of Moab; as that city did; so far goes the quotation out of the aforesaid book, as a proof of what was taken...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And from thence they went to Beer,.... A place so called from a well which sprung up here, of which the following account is given: that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses; promising him to give it to the children of Israel, without asking for it; which was a very singular favour, and for which they were thankful: saying to him, gather...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Israel sang this song,.... Being affected with the free favour and good will of God towards them: spring up, O well; for the springing up of which they prayed in faith, believing in the promise of God, that it would spring up; and so encouraged one another not only to believe it, but even to sing on account of it before it actually did: sing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The princes digged the well,.... The princes and heads of the several tribes: the nobles of the people digged it; the seventy elders, according to the Targum of Jonathan: by the direction of the lawgiver; either the Lord himself, the lawgiver of his people, who pointed out the spot, and directed the princes where to dig, that is, be did this by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth. All the Targums interpret this, and the following verse, not of the journeying of the children of Israel, but of the motion of the well, that that, from the place from whence it was given them, descended with them into the valleys, and from thence to the high places, as these words...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites,.... Who were one of the nations of the Canaanites, and a principal and powerful one, and who were devoted to destruction, and their land designed for the people of Israel; see Genesis 15:16, at this time Sihon was their king, to whom Moses, in the name of Israel, sent a very peaceable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let me pass through thy land,.... Through some part of it, which would have been a shorter way to the river Jordan, over which Israel was to pass into the land of Canaan; the terms proposed, or things to be observed in their passage, which they would bind themselves strictly to, are the same that were made to the king of Edom. [See comments on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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, Judges 11:20 and chiefly because his heart was hardened by the Lord, that he might be delivered into the hands of Israel, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword,.... Slew him and his army, entirely routed them, and got a complete victory over them; God giving them up into their hands, who otherwise were a very strong, powerful, and warlike people; see Amos 2:9 and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok; two rivers, the one to the south, the other to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Israel took all these cities,.... Which lay between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; their particular names may be seen in Numbers 32:3, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites; being given to the Reubenites and Gadites, who inhabited them, as their possession and inheritance, Numbers 32:2: in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites,.... His royal city, where he kept his palace, where he had resided for some time, and perhaps some of his predecessors; and therefore being now in his possession when taken by the Israelites, they had a good right and title to keep it, and dwell in it: and indeed this is here given as a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say,.... The historical writers of those times, among the Amorites, who were usually poets, and wrote the history of the wars between the Moabites and Amorites in verse; as Homer among the Greeks wrote the wars of Troy; and the compositions of those ancient bards were short and compendious, and wrapped up in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon,.... Not before, but after Sihon had subdued it, as Jarchi observes; and is to be understood of his soldiers going out from thence, and making desolations in the adjacent parts, like a strong fire, and the fierce flames of it there is no resisting; and so the Jerusalem Targum, "for a people mighty, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone,.... The whole country ruined, or likely to be so: O people of Chemosh; which was the name of their idol, who is called the abomination of the Moabites, 1 Kings 11:7: he hath given his sons that escaped; that is, the idol Chemosh had given his sons, the men of the country that worshipped him, who escaped the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
We have shot at them,.... Either the Amorites at the Moabites, or else the Israelites at the Amorites; for, according to Aben Ezra, these are the words of Moses, though they, with Numbers 21:29, seem rather to be a continuation of the song of the old Amorite bards, describing the ruin of the country of Moab by them; and this clause may be rendered...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. Not the land of the Moabites; and by those means before mentioned; by conquering Sihon their king, they came into the possession of it, and took up their dwelling in it; this was the beginning of the conquest of the Canaanites, and an earnest and pledge of inheriting their land promised unto them; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer,.... Or Jazer, as it is called in Isaiah 16:9, another city that belonged to the Amorites, and which they had taken from the Moabites; and which came into the hands of the latter again, after the captivity of the ten tribes, as appears from the above places; according to Jerom (s), it was fifteen miles distant from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they turned,.... From Jaazer, after they had taken it, and came back a little way: and went up by the way of Bashan; which was a nearer way to Canaan, a fine country abounding with oxen and sheep, having rich pastures, and very famous for its oaks; it had its name from the mountain of Bashan in it, and has been since called Batanea; it was at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses, fear him not,.... Og being of a gigantic stature, and his forces numerous, might cause some fear in Moses, and in the people, and therefore the Lord encouraged them not to be afraid of him and his army: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; that is, he had determined to do it, and...