How does Israel receive healing from the serpents and gain the lands of Sehon and Og?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

After the people confess their sin and Moses prays, God commands a bronze serpent as a sign; those bitten who look at it are healed. Later Israel defeats Sehon after his refusal and attack, and defeats Og after God tells Moses not to fear. The account records the lands they possess.

Chapter breakdown

King Arad the Chanaanite, who lives toward the south, hears that Israel has come by the way of the spies. He fights them, overcomes them and carries off their spoils. Israel vows to the Lord that, if he delivers this people into Israel’s hand, Israel will utterly destroy their cities. The Lord hears the prayers and delivers the Chanaanite. Israel cuts them off and destroys their cities, naming the place Horma, or Anathema.

Challoner explains Anathema as a thing devoted to utter destruction.

Israel marches from Mount Hor by the route toward the Red Sea to go around Edom. The people grow weary of the journey and labour. Speaking against God and Moses, they ask why he brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. They say there is no bread or water and that their souls loathe this very light food.

Challoner identifies the “very light food” as heavenly manna. He compares their response with worldly people who dislike heavenly things because they have no taste for them.

The Lord sends fiery serpents among the people. They bite and kill many of them.

Challoner explains the name “fiery serpents” by saying those bitten were burned with violent heat.

The people come to Moses and confess that they have sinned by speaking against the Lord and him. They ask him to pray for the serpents to be taken away. Moses prays for them. The Lord tells him to make a bronze serpent and set it up as a sign: anyone bitten who looks at it will live. Moses makes it and sets it up. Those bitten who look upon it are healed.

Challoner reads the bronze serpent as a figure of Christ crucified and of the power of living faith in him against the bites of the hellish serpent. He cites John 3:14.

Israel goes forward and camps at Oboth. From there they pitch their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness facing Moab toward the east. They move to the torrent Zared, leave it and camp opposite Arnon in the desert by the Amorrhite borders. Arnon separates Moab from the Amorrhites. The text cites the Book of the Wars of the Lord: as he did in the Red Sea, so he will do in the streams of Arnon.

Challoner identifies the Book of the Wars as an ancient book that has been lost, like several others quoted in Scripture.

The quoted passage says the rocks of the torrents were bowed down to rest in Ar and lie in the Moabite borders. After Israel goes from that place, the well appears of which the Lord told Moses to gather the people, promising water. Israel sings for the well to spring up and sings to it of the well the princes dug and the chiefs prepared under the lawgiver’s direction with their staves. They march from the wilderness to Mathana, from Mathana to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth. From Bamoth the route reaches a valley in Moab’s country and the top of Phasga looking toward the desert.

Israel sends messengers to Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, asking permission to pass through his land. They promise not to enter fields or vineyards or drink well water, but to keep to the king’s highway until beyond his borders. He refuses, gathers an army and comes into the desert to fight them at Jasa. Israel slays him with the sword and possesses his land from Arnon to Jeboc and to the borders of the children of Ammon, whose borders have a strong garrison. Israel takes all his cities and lives in the Amorrhite cities, including Hesebon and its villages. Hesebon had been Sehon’s city; he had fought Moab’s king and taken all the land of his dominion as far as Arnon.

The proverb calls people into Hesebon and calls for Sehon’s city to be built and established. It says fire has gone out from Hesebon and a flame from Sehon’s city, consuming Ar of the Moabites and the inhabitants of Arnon’s high places. It cries woe to Moab, saying the people of Chamos are undone: he has given his sons to flight and his daughters to captivity under Sehon, king of the Amorrhites. It says their yoke has perished from Hesebon to Dibon, and they came weary to Nophe and Medaba. The account then states that Israel lived in the Amorrhite land.

Moses sends men to inspect Jazer; they take its villages and conquer the inhabitants. Israel turns and goes by the route to Basan. Og, king of Basan, comes with all his people to fight at Edrai. The Lord tells Moses not to fear him, because he has delivered Og, his people and country into Moses’ hand. Moses is to do to him as he did to Sehon, the Amorrhite king who lived in Hesebon. Israel slays Og, his sons and all his people, lets no one escape, and possesses his land.

The story inside

The serpent episode gives a request, a commanded response and an observed result. The people ask Moses to pray that the serpents be removed. God’s recorded answer instead commands a sign and states that looking at it will bring life to the bitten. Moses follows the command, and the account reports healing. It does not explain why God chose that answer rather than the removal requested.

The later battles have their own recorded sequences. Sehon receives a passage request, refuses and attacks; Israel defeats him and occupies his cities. Before the battle with Og, God gives Moses an assurance and names Sehon’s defeat as the comparison. Both land possession and the intervening route, song and proverb are part of the chapter. Keeping the proverb’s Moabite history does not mean Israel returned Sehon’s land to Moab: the account says Israel lived there.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The answer to the prayer is recorded precisely. God commands the bronze sign and promises life to bitten people who look; the chapter reports their healing without explaining an additional physical mechanism.
2
The journey includes words as well as places. The well song and the proverb preserve the princes’ work and Moab’s losses, including Dibon, Nophe and Medaba. They should not disappear into a short summary of victories.
3
God’s assurance precedes the battle with Og. The command not to fear and the comparison with Sehon come before the reported defeat and possession. No giant description or lasting regional end-state needs to be added.

Test your recall

How does the people’s request about the serpents differ from God’s commanded response, and what result does the account report?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 16588–16604
Numbers Chapter 21 King Arad is overcome. The people murmur and are punished with fiery serpents: they are healed by the brazen serpent. They conquer the kings Sehon and Og. 21:1. And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils. 21:2. But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: If thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities. 21:3. And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.
Lines 16605–16606
Anathema.... That is, a thing devoted to utter destruction.
Lines 16607–16614
21:4. And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour: 21:5. And speaking against God and Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.
Lines 16615–16617
Very light food.... So they call the heavenly manna: thus worldlings loathe the things of heaven, for which they have no relish.
Lines 16618–16620
21:6. Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.
Lines 16621–16623
Fiery serpents.... They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.
Lines 16624–16633
21:7. Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 21:8. And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. 21:9. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.
Lines 16634–16637
A brazen serpent.... This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3.14.
Lines 16638–16651
21:10. And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth. 21:11. And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east. 21:12. And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared: 21:13. Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites. 21:14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Arnon.
Lines 16652–16654
The book of the wars, etc.... An ancient book, which, like several others quoted in scripture, has been lost.
Lines 16655–16673
21:15. The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites. 21:16. When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 21:17. Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto: 21:18. The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana. 21:19. From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth. 21:20. From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert.
Lines 16674–16697
21:21. And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying: 21:22. I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king’s highway, till we be past thy borders. 21:23. And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa and fought against them. 21:24. And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison. 21:25. So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof. 21:26. Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominion, as far as the Arnon.
Lines 16698–16713
21:27. Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up: 21:28. A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon. 21:29. Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites. 21:30. Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba. 21:31. So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite.
Lines 16714–16729
21:32. And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants. 21:33. And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai. 21:34. And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon. 21:35. So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.