Dangers On The Road to Victory.  (Numbers 21: 10-35)

Full Transcript.

On the road of life, we all experience success and failure, victory, and defeat. 

Sometimes, you get one victory right after the other. However, what we forget when things are going smoothly is that there are dangers embedded even in a life when it appears to be just one victory after the other.

So, what might happen when things are going well and you're not encountering any problems? Be careful because there might be dangers along that road.

This is what happened to the children of Israel. So welcome to TBPDP

To summarise where what we got up to yesterday.

The first half of this chapter is one of the most intriguing passages of the Old Testament. We saw here the narrative takes a symbolic turn, revealing important truths about human nature and our salvation.

The Israelites, despite experiencing military success find themselves once again grappling with doubt and discouragement. Despite recent victories and divine guidance, they falter. They complain bitterly, but their discontentment leads to dire consequences. Fiery serpents, sent by the Lord, strike the people, bringing death and despair. In their desperation, they turn to Moses, seeking deliverance from the deadly serpents.

Now, here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. Instead of simply removing the serpents, God instructs Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole. Those who are bitten need only to look upon this image to be saved from death.

It's a perplexing solution, isn't it? Yet, in its symbolism lies a profound lesson for us all. Just as the Israelites were saved by gazing upon the bronze serpent, we found out that we too, find our salvation by fixing our eyes on the cross of Christ.

The cross, much like the bronze serpent, becomes a focal point of salvation. It is where our sin and suffering meet divine grace and redemption. By looking upon the crucified Christ and believing in his sacrifice, we find deliverance from the sting of sin and the promise of eternal life.

But now, what happens next in this passage from verses 10 to verse 20 it gives us one stop after another on the next stage of their jouney. 

From Mount Hor to Moab

10 Now the children of Israel moved on and camped in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth and camped at [d]Ije Abarim, in the wilderness, which is east of Moab, toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved and camped in the Valley of Zered. 13 From there they moved and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord:

“Waheb in Suphah,

The brooks of the Arnon,

15 And the slope of the brooks

That reaches to the dwelling of Ar,

And lies on the border of Moab.”

16 From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well!

All of you sing to it—

18 The well the leaders sank,

Dug by the nation’s nobles,

By the lawgiver, with their staves.”

And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah which looks down on the wasteland.

(Numbers 21: 10-20)

There's just a whole bunch of names in this passage, and we don't even know where a lot of these places are today. This was a desert area so in some cases the names mentioned here probably represented no more than an Oasis, and that name faded away because there was no population to perpetuate it. 

But what I can tell you is this: they tried to go up through Edom, and the Edomites wouldn't let them. So, they're going to go through the outskirts of Edom between the Dead Sea and Edom.

So, they're moving in a counterclockwise motion, and they're going to the west of Edom and east of the king's highway. The king's highway was up the middle, and they skirted to the west of that. So, the king's highway is to the east of the Dead Sea, and Edom is to the west of it. And they're skirting up the land that way.

And this passage simply tells us that that's what they were doing. 

Now, apparently, this was a collection of songs that some suggest commemorated God's acts on their behalf and bible experts say verse 14 to 20 represents on of those songs. (Lost in translation)

Now, that's interesting. They're having this success, moving on, and they're singing. Instead of being discouraged they are rejoicing this time.

That's what you want to do when you're on a road that's successful and you're having one success after another—just rejoice, as the Scripture tells us to do so.

Someone pointed out the fact that Moses inserts this little song here, reflecting the joy that they felt as they were making this journey.

 Verse 16 says they dug a well ,and lo and behold, there in verse 17, it says they sang this song: "Spring up, you well! Sing to it!" 

They're talking about the fact that the leaders dug the well, and they drank., and they rejoiced.

So, verses 10 to 20, they're still making this journey, but they are singing along the way. So, rather than be dissatisfied, they sing a song. 

By the time you get to verse 20, they're in a place called "The Well," which looked down on the wasteland and this is really interesting because from this point until Joshua leads them into the land, they will stay right here. This is the spot where they will base themselves. 

So, for the rest of the Book of Numbers and all of the Book of Deuteronomy, this is where they are. 

They don't move from here. They've had a successful period in their journey.

The narrative continues.

King Sihon Defeated.

21 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into fields or vineyards; we will not drink water from wells. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel in the wilderness, and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 Then Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword, and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the people of Ammon; for the border of the people of Ammon was fortified. 25 So Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore those who speak in proverbs say:

“Come to Heshbon, let it be built;

Let the city of Sihon be repaired.

28 “For fire went out from Heshbon,

A flame from the city of Sihon;

It consumed Ar of Moab,

The lords of the heights of the Arnon.

29 Woe to you, Moab!

You have perished, O people of Chemosh!

He has given his sons as fugitives,

And his daughters into captivity,

To Sihon king of the Amorites.

30 “But we have shot at them;

Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.

Then we laid waste as far as Nophah,

Which reaches to Medeba.”

31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 Then Moses sent to spy out Jazer; and they took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

So, in verse 21, it says then the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, "Let us pass through your land. We will not turn stray into your fields or vineyards. We will drink water from wells. We will go by the king's highway only until we have passed through your territory." 

If you've heard that before, that is almost verbatim to what they said to  the king of Edom.

If you just let us go up the king's highway, which is going through their territory, we won't go into any fields. We won't even drink your water. Just let us go through. 

Now then it says they would not allow the Israelites to pass through and they came out against them and fought against them. They fought against Israel, in fact they declared war on Israel who fought back and defeated them and took possession of his land.

So, Israel took all these cities and the lived in the cities of the Amorites as well.

So, this is another victory that gave them possession of this landthey say that there was a proverb that was written which invited the people to come and rebuild and the irony is they summon the people to build the cities that they had just destroyed. 

The essence of these verses, without going into all the details because it's a little complicated—is this: "You Amorites have been defeated. You've been beaten by the Moabites. But we Israelites beat you." 

So that's what's going on. The Amorites were all proud because they beat up the Moabites, and the Israelites say to them, "For them, we beat you," and they were singing about it and celebrating their victory over the Moabites. 

Now, that was the same song sung by Israel for their victory over the Amorites. They sing, they celebrated, so what is suggested here is that when you are victorious again you should rejoice: rejoice in the Lord, and again, I say, rejoice. Rejoice! 

But they got another problem, though. Verse 33 says.

King Og Defeated.

33 And they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. So Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have [k]delivered him into your hand, with all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left him; and they took possession of his land.

They took possession of the land. So, once again, they were victorious. 

Now, like I started out saying, this chapter is about one victory right after the other but interwoven with the victories are little things that keep popping up. 

What's the little thing that keeps popping up in this victory? 

What's different? Look at verse 34: "The Lord says, 'Do not fear.'" And look, if you just had all of these victories, think about it over these last years.

Imean, think about this: the parting of the Red Sea, the supernatural feeding them with manna, the cities that they've conquered—and he gets to this one and he says, "Don't be afraid."

What does that tell you?  Answer, they were afraid. 

That's exactly right. So, he has to tell them not to fear, even though the children of Israel had had a number of victories, the Lord had to tell them not to fear.

Now we may have seen the Lord work in our lives. We've seen the Lord answer prayer repeatedly, and then, sure enough, just when we've been doing great, all of a sudden, a situation comes up and it scares us again.

That's why I started out saying you can have one success after another, and embodied in those successes are dangers.

So, I would sum this chapter up by saying all the way to the promised land, the Israelites experienced a number of victories and a defeat. But in the process, they should have learned a couple of things. Let's list what they should have learned.

Trust the Lord. Remember when they said at the very beginning of the chapter, "Lord, you help us, and we will completely destroy your enemies," and they did? So, one of the things we need to learn is that you gain victories by trusting the Lord.

Secondly when you get discouraged don’t blame God or other people So when you get discouraged or sin and remember being discouraged is showing a lack of faith in God. The simply confess it.

Then they had victories one after another. So, what do you do? Sing a song, wrote a worship son, so we too should celebrate.

And then the other thing is, don't fear. No matter how victorious you are, we'll probably never get to the place where something doesn't happen that doesn't scare you.

So, I think this is about what life is like, and just like this chapter  describes, life is like an interesting chapter. 

All that's in the book of Numbers, and in the whole Pentateuch, all it's trying to do is get us into the promised land. And they cover a lot of ups and downs in this one chapter. 

I think this passage describes our journey as we follow the Lord, there are victories along the way. But you never get to the place where you don't sin, and you won't get discouraged. 

So, I think we tend to look at some Christians and say, "They've got it all together. They don't ever have any problems. They've got it all sorted out." 

But if you feel in comparison you have failed, if you have sinned, if you have been discouraged, if you've been a little afraid of something, I have to tell you, you're normal.

So, do what they did: confessed the sin, keep pressing on and praising  to the Lord.

I was looking for some way to close this, and I came upon something that was written many years ago by a fellow who was simply trying to summarize this chapter. And in the process of doing it, I thought he did a good job of blending what happened to them and what happens to us. 

And he did a whole lot better job than I, so I thought I'd just read you what he wrote. It goes like this:

Can we not see in this picture of the weary and fearful Israelites our own silhouette in bold relief? Often, the way to heaven seems roundabout and long. In the wilderness of this world, we find dry, arid stretches, rough going, and many hostile foes. If we look back to the greatness of our salvation, and ahead to the vastness of the glory with which is our destiny, should we not be ashamed of our discouragement? Almost trifling afflictions here are light and but a moment when compared to the eternal weight of glory that awaits us at the end of the road (2 Corinthians 4:17). If God is leading our steps, then our steps are of His ordering. If our very hairs are numbered, and He's assured us that He will supply our need (Philippians 4:19), then we have no right to murmur or to be disheartened. Let us lift up our eyes and see the glory going on before. Let us trustingly move forward and be of good courage. In spite of the difficulties and roughness of the way, this is the right way home."[i]

(Ellicott's Old Testament Commentary for English Readers 1897)

[i] (Ellicott's Old Testament Commentary for English Readers 1897)