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The brook or Wady Zared (Numbers 21:12) here forms the boundary between Edom
and Moab.But as Israel had been also commanded not to fight against Moab,
(Deuteronomy 2:9) they left theirterritory equally untouched, and, continuing straight
northwards, passed through the wilderness ofMoab, until they reached the river
Arnon, the modern Wady Moab, which formed the boundarybetween the Moabites
and the Amorites. The territory of the Amorites stretched from the Arnon tothe
Jabbok. It had originally belonged to the Moabites; (Numbers 21:26) but they had
been drivensouthwards by the Amorites. No command of God prevented Israel from
warring against theAmorites, and when Sihon, their king, refused to give them a free
passage through his territory, theywere Divinely directed to that attack which issued in
the destruction of Sihon, and the possession ofhis land by Israel.
At the brook Zared - on the southern boundary of Moab - the Israelites had already
been in a linewith the Dead Sea, leaving it, of course, far on their left. The river Arnon
also, which formed theboundary between Moab and the Amorites, flows into the Dead
Sea almost opposite toHazazon-tamar, or En-gedi. This tract, which now bears the
name of el-Belkah, is known to thereader of the Old Testament as the land Gilead,
while in New Testament times it formed theprovince of Perea. Lastly, the district
north of the Jabbok and east of the Jordan was the ancientBashan, or the modern
Hauran. The fact that the country north of the Arnon had, before itspossession by the
Amorites, been so long held by Moab explains the name "Fields of Moab"(rendered in
the Authorized Version "country of Moab," Numbers 21:20)as applied to the
uplandhills of Gilead, just as the western side of Jordan similarly bore the name of
"the plains of Moab," orrather "the lowlands of Moab." (Numbers 22:1) The children
of Israel were still camped on the southside of the Arnon when they sent the embassy
to Sihon, demanding a passage through his territory.Canon Tristram has given a most
vivid description of the rift through which the Arnon flows. Itswidth is calculated at
about three miles from crest to crest, and its depth at 2,150 feet from the topof the
southern, and at 1,950 from that of the northern bank. Of course, the army of Israel
could nothave passed the river here, but higher up, to the east, "in the wilderness."
(Numbers 21:13) Theyprobably waited until the messengers returned from Sihon.
How high their courage and confidence inGod had risen, when tidings arrived that
Sihon with all his army was coming to meet them, appearseven from those extracts of
poetic pieces which form so marked a peculiarity of the Book ofNumbers, and which
read like stanzas of war-songs by the camp-fires. From the banks of theArnon the
route of Israel was no doubt northward till they reached Bamoth or Bamolh Baal,
"theheights of Baal," (Numbers 21:19) one of the stations afterwards taken up by
Balak and Balaam.(Numbers 22:41) "And from Bamoth (they marched) to the valley,
which is in the fields of Moab (onthe plateau of Moab), on the height of Pisgah, and
looks over to the face of the wilderness," thatis, over the tract of land which extends
to the north-eastern shore of the Dead Sea. (Numbers21:20)
(^)