Bible Discussion Thread

NUMBERS CHAPTER 21

Since the king of Edom would allow the Israelites to passthrough their region to enter the promised land, the Israelites had to backtrack to the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aqaba and traverse around the region Edom controlled to then draw near to the Jordan River. It seems that Edom possessed the land south of the Dead Sea and somewhat westward from that since the Israelites were at the border of Edom at Kadesh/Mt. Hor. While at Mt. Hor where Aaron died, the king of Arad, which was north of them in Canaan,, heard that the Israelites were coming the way that the spies had come 40 years earlier. These Aradites occupied the southern portion of the promised land. They came against the Israelites, taking some prisoners. The Israelites vowed to the LORD that they would utterly destroy these Aradites if the LORD would deliver them into their hands. And so it happened that God gave them the Aradites and this people were utterly destroyed by the Israelites along with the destruction of their cities. The Israelites name the place Hormah meaning destruction or broken rock.

From this area in the wilderness of Zin near Mt. Hor, the Israelites then set out by way of the Red sea, going around Edom to the East. This was a circuitous route and the Israelites soon became weary and began to grumble once again against Moses and the manna and wishing to have stayed in Egypt. All of their "go-to" complaints revived.

So, again, the LORD brings judgment upon them by way of sending fiery serpents who bit them and many died. It is unclear if these were truly natural poisonous snakes that inhabited that area or if these were seraphs since the word seraph translates to fiery serpent. Either way, the serpents were real and the bites real, and the deadliness was real. Sin is deadly! Soon after this serious punishment, the Israelites came to Moses and confessed that they had sinned with their grumbling against the LORD and Moses.