Can you feel the excitement as Israel moves into position to enter Canaan? Almost there!
Listen. “From the wilderness they went to Mattanah, from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth, in the valley that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah” (Num 21:18-20). They aren’t spending much time sightseeing, are they? But when they get to Mount Pisgah, they stop for a look. Today the Arabs call it Phasga; it simply means “the summit.” The highest peak in the Nebo range, at about 2,330 feet (710 metres) above sea level, we read that, from this vantage point, they looked “down on the wasteland” (v 20). Anyone who has gazed westward from there knows what this means. At your feet is the Dead Sea, and beyond, the Wilderness of Judea. From here the Moabite king, Balak, will try unsuccessfully to persuade Balaam to curse Israel. At this point, Moses sent a delegation to the Amorites, asking for safe passage through their territory, promising, “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” (v 22). The King’s Highway was the old spice route that ran from Arabia up to Damascus. But Sihon, king of the Amorites, would have none of it. Marshalling his troops, he attacked Israel and was soundly defeated. Israel “took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok” (v 24), the first significant territory they won. Here we have recorded an old battle anthem sung by the Amorites when they took this land from the Moabites. But now the Amorites have lost it in turn to Israel. The tides of war ebb and flow, but some day, “The kingdoms of this world [will] have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev 11:15). I can hardly wait!