Read Numbers 21:21–35
Questions from the Scripture text: Who sent messengers to whom (Numbers 21:21)? What did they ask/offer (Numbers 21:22, cf. Numbers 20:16–17)? How did Sihon respond (Numbers 21:23)? With what result (Numbers 21:24-25)? Why was this so impressive (Numbers 21:26)? How had this been memorialized (Numbers 21:27-29)? But what new occurrence has surpassed Sihon’s impressiveness (Numbers 21:30)? And what additional progress did this enable (Numbers 21:31-32)? Then where did they approach (Numbers 21:33)? Who came out against them? Where? Who spoke to whom in Numbers 21:34? What did He tell Moses not to do? What did He tell Moses that He had done? What was another occasion on which they had done that? What did Israel do (Numbers 21:35)? How completely? With what result?
What is the story of the conquest? Numbers 21:21–35 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these fifteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the big story of the conquest of the land is the character of God.
The Lord’s faithfulness. Now that the forty years are over, God is beginning to give Israel bits of the promised land. Arad had been completely destroyed (Numbers 21:3), but now Israel takes all of the cities from the Arnon to the Jabbok (Numbers 21:24a), Heshbon and all its villages (verse 24b), Jazer and all its villages (Numbers 21:32), and all the land of Bashan (Numbers 21:35). God keeps His promises, even to sinners like you are, because He Who has promised is faithful!
The Lord’s power. Sihon and Heshbon seemed undefeatable, as memorialized in Amorite parables/poetry (Numbers 21:27-29), but they end up being put to shame in Israelite parables/poetry instead (Numbers 21:30). When Israel comes up against Og, the last of the giants (cf. Deuteronomy 3:11), the Lord reassures them that they will dispatch him in the same way that they had dispatched Sihon (by God’s own delivering him up, Numbers 21:34). God’s power, which has always accomplished all His holy will for His people, is not going to suddenly run out in your case, dear Christian.
The Lord’s mercy. There are a couple ways that the Lord’s mercy appears here: one subtle and one strange to us. The subtle mercy is the command in Numbers 21:34, “Do not fear.” The Lord could have just given Og over, but He offers His people not only victory but also comfort by His Word. God offers you comfort by His Word; receive that Word with a soft heart, and enjoy the comfort that He gives by it! The strange mercy is the completeness of the destruction in Numbers 21:35. This mercy seems “strange” to us, because we don’t value God’s holiness enough to understand either how offensive and wrath-demanding our sin is (cf. Numbers 21:2-3), or how dangerous it is for us to be affected by other sinners (cf. Deuteronomy 20:18). Even with respect to our own selves, it is the Lord’s mercy to us that commands that we ruthlessly exterminate everything from within us that is opposed to Him.
What promises are you tempted to worry won’t come true? What do you face that seems too big to overcome? To which exhortations to be comforted do you need to be more softhearted? What sin do you need to love yourself more like God loves you, in order to mortify it?
Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You for how Your faithfulness, power, and mercy express themselves in Your saving, sanctifying, and glorifying Your people. Give us to live by faith in You, we ask through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” or TPH216 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
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