Numbers
21:1 And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in
the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought
against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. 2 And Israel vowed a
vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my
hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up
the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called
the name of the place Hormah.
King
Arad [from an unused root meaning to sequester, or a wild ass] fights Israel
and takes prisoners. Israel’s word to “utterly destroy,” charam, is used 52 times in the Bible. It means to destroy completely, dedicate
for destruction, consecrate, etc. Think of it as ruining something and preventing anyone from using it again, thus presenting it as a sacrifice to
God. There are several other Hebrew words for “destroy.” Charam, however, has this rather specific intent. They charam-ed cities and people groups.
The
LORD responds to Israel and Israel does as they promised. The name Hormah comes
from [hmrx Chormah], “devotion.”
Remember
Numbers 14, when the Amalekites and Canaanites soundly whupped the Israelites? They beat them all the way to Hormah. There
may be more than one “Hormah,” but for the sake of argument, it is possible
that King Arad either knew the story, or was there when it happened. Possibly
the same Hormah was rebuilt, later to be destroyed again.
4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to
compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged
because of the way.
The
Online Bible says there were two Hors. This Hor is the one upon which Aaron
died; it is situated on the eastern side of the valley of Arabah, the highest
of the whole range of sandstone mountains in Edom.
The
nephesh of the people was [ruq qatsar]-ed. Nephesh occurs 753 times in the Bible. Nephesh, usually translated “soul,” is distinctly different from [xwr ruwach], the word used for “spirit.”
If you wish to delve into theology, the difference between nephesh and ruwach might
be a nicely cerebral place to start.
The
collective Israelite nephesh was much
discouraged because of the [Krd derek]. Perhaps the mountain range was difficult; perhaps they were
tired of all that sandstone. From this passage, we can’t infer that the
discouragement itself was sin. (I believe it can be argued either way.) What we
do know is in verse 7, the people conclude they have sinned in speaking against
the LORD and against Moses.
What
made them conclude they had sinned?
Snakes.
