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cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../numbers/21-27.htm" title="Numbers 21:27">◄</a> Numbers 21:28 <a href="../numbers/21-29.htm" title="Numbers 21:29">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, <i>and</i> the lords of the high places of Arnon.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/numbers/21.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/numbers/21.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/numbers/21.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/numbers/21.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/numbers/21.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/numbers/21.htm" 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Heshbon — </span>That city which before was a refuge and defence to all the country, now is turned into a great annoyance. <span class="ital">It hath consumed Ar </span>—<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>This may be understood not of the city Ar, but of the people or the country subject or belonging to that great and royal city. <span class="ital">The lords of the high places — </span>The princes or governors of the strong holds, which were frequently in high places, especially in that mountainous country, and which were in divers parts all along the river Arnon. So the Amorites triumphed over the vanquished Moabites. But <span class="ital">the triumphing of the wicked is short!</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/numbers/21.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>21:21-35 Sihon went with his forces against Israel, out of his own borders, without provocation, and so ran upon his own ruin. The enemies of God's church often perish by the counsels they think most wisely taken. Og, king of Bashan, instead of being warned by the fate of his neighbours, to make peace with Israel, makes war with them, which proves in like manner his destruction. Wicked men do their utmost to secure themselves and their possessions against the judgments of God; but all in vain, when the day comes on which they must fall. God gave Israel success, while Moses was with them, that he might see the beginning of the glorious work, though he must not live to see it finished. This was, in comparison, but as the day of small things, yet it was an earnest of great things. We must prepare for fresh conflicts and enemies. We must make no peace or truce with the powers of darkness, nor even treat with them; nor should we expect any pause in our contest. But, trusting in God, and obeying his commands, we shall be more than conquerors over every enemy.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/numbers/21.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>They that speak in proverbs - The original word is almost equivalent to "the poets." The word supplies the title of the Book of Proverbs itself; and is used of the parable proper in <a href="/ezekiel/17-2.htm">Ezekiel 17:2</a>; of the prophecies of Balsam in <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-7.htm">Numbers 23:7-10</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/24-3.htm">Numbers 24:3-9</a>; etc.; and of a song of triumph over Babylon in <a href="/isaiah/14-4.htm">Isaiah 14:4</a>. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/numbers/21.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>27-30. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs—Here is given an extract from an Amorite song exultingly anticipating an extension of their conquests to Arnon. The quotation from the poem of the Amorite bard ends at Nu 21:28. The two following verses appear to be the strains in which the Israelites expose the impotence of the usurpers.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/numbers/21.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">A fire, </span> i.e. the fury of war, which is oft and fitly compared to fire here, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/isaiah/47-14.htm" title="Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.">Isaiah 47:14</a> <a href="/amos/1-7.htm" title="But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:">Amos 1:7</a>,10,12,14 2:2,5</span>; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Heshbon; </span> that city which before was a refuge and defence to all the country, now is turned into a great annoyance and a public mischief. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Ar of Moab.</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Quest.</span> How can this be, since Ar was yet in the hands of the Moabites, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/2-9.htm" title="And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give you of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.">Deu 2:9</a>,18,29</span>? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 1. This may be understood not of the city <span class="ital">Ar</span>, but of the people or the country subject or belonging to that great and royal city, as the Chaldee understands it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Possibly <span class="ital">Ar</span> was taken by Sihon of the Moabites, but afterwards was either recovered by the Moabites, or upon the Israelites’ approach quitted by Sihon, gathering all his forces together that he might fight with the Israelites, and so repossessed by the Moabites. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>3. This place may be thus rendered, <span class="ital">It shall consume Ar of Moab</span>, the past tense being put for the future, as is usual in prophetical passages; and so this may be the Amorites’ prediction or presage, that having taken Heshbon and its territories, they should now extend their victories to <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Ar of Moab, </span> though they fell short of that hope, as ordinarily men do. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">The lords of the high places; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. The princes or governors of the strong holds, which were frequently in high places, especially in that mountainous country, and which were in divers parts all along the river of Arnon; and having taken some of these, they promised to themselves that they should take all the rest, and so proceed further and further, till they had taken <span class="ital">Ar</span> itself. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. The priests and people that worshipped their god in their high places; which may seem more probable, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Because as the Israelites worshipped God, so the heathens worshipped Baal, in high places, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/22-41.htm" title="And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that there he might see the utmost part of the people.">Numbers 22:41</a></span>, and particularly the Moabites are noted for so doing, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/jeremiah/48-35.htm" title="Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, said the LORD, him that offers in the high places, and him that burns incense to his gods.">Jeremiah 48:35</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Because amongst the eminent places of Moab there is mention of Bamoth-baal, or, of <span class="ital">the high places of Baal</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/joshua/13-17.htm" title="Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamothbaal, and Bethbaalmeon,">Joshua 13:17</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/numbers/21.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon,.... Not before, but after Sihon had subdued it, as Jarchi observes; and is to be understood of his soldiers going out from thence, and making desolations in the adjacent parts, like a strong fire, and the fierce flames of it there is no resisting; and so the Jerusalem Targum,"for a people mighty, and burning like fire, are gone out of Heshbon:''see <a href="http://biblehub.com/amos/1-4.htm">Amos 1:4</a>, a flame from the city of Sihon: which is the same thing in other words, the city of Sihon being Heshbon, and a flame the same with fire; warriors, as both the Targums of Oakelos and Jerusalem interpret it; this seems to be what those composers undertook in their poetical way to foretell would be the case in future times; concluding, from the conquests already made, that they would be extended much further, and that no opposition could hinder: <p>it hath consumed Ar of Moab; the metropolis of the country of Moab, that is, they were as sure of it, and endeavoured to make the people by these their compositions as confident of it, that this city would fall into the hands of their armies, and be destroyed, as if it was already done; otherwise it does not appear that it ever was taken out of the hands of the Moabites, until taken by the Assyrians or Chaldeans; of this city See Gill on <a href="/isaiah/15-1.htm">Isaiah 15:1</a>. <p>and the lords of the high places of Arnon; who had the government of the high, strong, and fortified places all along the river Arnon; these it is suggested would be conquered by the Amorites; all the three Targums interpret it of the priests and worshippers in the temples, and at the altars of the idols in Arnon; and it may be rendered, "the Baals of the high places of Arnon", as if the gods of those places should fall into the victors' hands; and which seems to have some confirmation from what follows; and it may be observed, that in these parts there were some places called Bamoth Baal, or the high places of Baal, see <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/22-41.htm">Numbers 22:41</a>, and Beth Baal Meon, which has its name from its being the temple and habitation of Baal, <a href="/joshua/13-17.htm">Joshua 13:17</a>. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/numbers/21.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">For there is a <span class="cverse3">{l}</span> fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, <i>and</i> the lords of the high places of Arnon.</span><p>(l) Meaning, wane.</div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/numbers/21.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">28</span>. <span class="ital">For a fire</span> <span class="bld">went</span> <span class="ital">out</span> <span class="bld">from</span> <span class="ital">Heshbon … it</span> <span class="bld">devoured</span> &c.] The Amorites in the past gained possession of Heshbon, and from thence sent forth destruction upon the other towns of Moab. See <a href="/jeremiah/48-45.htm" title="They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.">Jeremiah 48:45</a> f. where the passage is quoted.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/numbers/21.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 28.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">There is a fire gone out of Heshbon.</span> This must refer to the war-fire which the Amorites kindled from Heshbon when they made it the capital of the new kingdom. Ar Moab and the (northern) heights of Arnon were the furthest points to which their victory extended. Numbers 21:28<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/numbers/21.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>The glorious conquest and destruction of the capital of the powerful king of the Amorites, in the might of the Lord their God, inspired certain composers of proverbs (משׁלים denom. from משׁל) to write songs in commemoration of the victory. Three strophes are given from a song of this kind, and introduced with the words "therefore,' sc., because Heshbon had fallen in this manner, "the composers of proverbs say." The first strophe (<a href="/numbers/21-27.htm">Numbers 21:27</a> and <a href="/numbers/21-28.htm">Numbers 21:28</a>) runs thus: "Come to Heshbon: Built and restored be the city of Sihon! For fire went out of Heshbon; flames from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar Moab, the lords of the heights of Arnon." The summons to come to Heshbon and build this ruined city up again, was not addressed to the Israelites, but to the conquered Amorites, and is to be interpreted as ironical (F. v. Meyer; Ewald, Gesch. ii. pp. 267, 268): "Come to Heshbon, ye victorious Amorites, and build your royal city up again, which we have laid in ruins! A fire has gone out of it, and burned up Ar Moab, and the lords of the heights of the Arnon." The reference is to the war-fire, which the victorious Amorites kindled from Heshbon in the land of Moab under the former king of Moab; that is to say, the war in which they subjugated Ar Moab and the possessors of the heights of Arnon. Ar Moab (see at <a href="/numbers/21-15.htm">Numbers 21:15</a>) appears to have been formerly the capital of all Moabitis, or at least of that portion of it which was situated upon the northern side of the Arnon; and the prominence given to it in <a href="http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/2-9.htm">Deuteronomy 2:9</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/2-18.htm">Deuteronomy 2:18</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/2-29.htm">Deuteronomy 2:29</a>, is in harmony with this. The heights of Arnon are mentioned as the limits to which Sihon had carried his victorious supremacy over Moab. 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