Bamidbar Chapter 21: Fragmentary Narratives at the Threshold

Introduction: The Third Section of Bamidbar

As I’ve mentioned, or I might have not mentioned, so I’ll give this preface to this chapter and many of the chapters or the stories in this part of the book. As we’ve said, this is sort of the third part of the narrative, the third part of the chronology if we say the first part is the first year, the establishment of the Mishkan and the camp around it. Second part would be the beginning of the travel through the Midbar and the complaints and stories that have to do with it. And the third part is the end of the travel through the Midbar and the wars and also complaints and tests and challenges that happened with that.

As we saw yesterday, we already had the deaths of two of the three main leaders of the people during this first generation, all the way from Mitzrayim, which are Miriam and Aharon. So we’re left only with Moshe, so to speak. And of course, Moshe’s death was already talked about in the previous chapter, Moshe is going to die in the desert, not going to take him into Eretz Israel because of the sin of Mei Meriva. So we’re very clearly at the turning point of the new generation. But we still have some parts to go through, some stories and even some conquests and some successes of Moshe at the threshold of the land of Canaan and the land of Israel. So we hear certain successes and certain not fully successes.

The Fragmentary Nature of These Narratives

And as we’ll see, I think one of the best way to look at all these stories is that many of them are fragmentary. We have very little information. Of course, like, for example, the beginning of the story, the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, the parashat Shemot is at length the story of Moshe overcoming the challenges of Mitzrayim and all the 10 Makkot and all of that, the whole story of the establishment of the Mishkan and the camps around it were told to us in great length. There’s no detail missing or even many details that we say are, we think are superfluous, they’re extra, there’s a huge amount of detail.

But when it comes to this, in particular, this part of the story, the last few wars that Moshe fought, the last few stories that happened, there’s something very, very fragmentary in the way that they’re told and the way that they’re recounted to us. We’re missing sort of most of the narrative. There’s even explicit references in this chapter and possibly in some other chapters to some books or some sources which apparently have more of these narratives and more full, but we don’t have those books or we don’t have those writings or those songs or those sources. So we’re kind of missing the main context, the main part of the narrative of the story. We have only like little parts, but this is what we’re going to read.

The War with the King of Arad (Pesukim 1-3)

The Initial Attack

So the first thing is we hear another war with the Canaanites, the king of Arad. Arad is somewhere to the south of Israel. Of course, the Negev are somewhere there. Not clear when this happened. This is something we saw something very similar already in the end of Parshat Shelach, when the Meraglim went and הכנעני יושב בנגב [the Canaanite dwelling in the Negev], and Arad is in the Negev, and they fought with the people of Israel that went up to the land after the Meraglim, after they decided that they will go. And this might be some repeat or some version of that same story or just another thing that happened again.

In any case, he hears that the Canaanite who lives in Negev, the king of Arad, this is the exact Canaanite that we discussed, hears that Israel came there to Atarim, so some way over there called Atarim. This is some way or some place where they went and he comes to fight with them and he captures some captives. So apparently he was successful, at least in his initial battle, he captured some captives from Israel. So there’s a problem.

Israel’s Neder (Vow)

And therefore, in response to this crisis, what they do is something that we see very many times, not so much in the Chumash, but many times in Tehillim and Tanakh, where one of the things someone does in a crisis is he makes a neder, he makes a promise. Of course, we’ve read in the stories of the Avot many times the concept of a neder, as I’ve told you then already, the main concept of a neder is when someone is in a crisis, someone is in a situation that is hard, he promises Hashem that if we’ll get better, if we’ll get out of this, he will bring a korban, he will do something for Hashem.

So Israel, in general, the collective makes a neder and they say, if you will give this people in my hands, this is a kind of korban we’ll see in Sefer Yehoshua, something similar to the concept of a cherem. In other words, I will not take it for myself, I will give it to you, I will give it like we learned earlier, כל חרם בישראל לך יהיה [kol cherem b’Yisrael lecha yihiyeh — all cherem in Israel shall be yours], it goes to the Kohanim, it goes to the Mikdash, and so on. That’s saying that’s going to be the fulfillment of their pledge of their neder too.

Victory and the Name Chormah

And Hashem listens, וישמע ה’ [vayishma Hashem — and Hashem listened], because Israel is a very nice request. We have a lot of times we listen to the voice of Hashem, but Hashem listens to the voice of the people and He gives ויתן את הכנעני [vayiten et haKena’ani — and He gave the Canaanite], in other words, it’s implied, they win the battle and they make a cherem for the Canaanite, for their cities, and that’s why this place is called Chormah.

The interesting thing is, of course, that Chormah was the exact name of the place where the Canaanite fought the battle and won against the Ma’apilim, the name of the place is mentioned in other places also, so there’s some complication with this word Chormah, there might be more than one place called Chormah, named after the same idea of like Chormah being the place where a cherem was made. It’s giving this name a reason, that it was called Chormah, because this place was called cherem, because it was a neder that the people made.

So that’s one very fragmentary report, it’s not clear what this war is about, I mean obviously later they’re going to go into Eretz HaKena’an and Sefer Yehoshua and conquer also this Canaanite, it’s explicitly mentioned if I remember, Melech Arad or Melech Chormah. So there’s something interesting about this story, there’s Midrashim that tried to deal with what’s going on here and fill in some of the background and tell us what’s happening, but that’s what the report that we have here.

The Complaint, the Serpents, and the Copper Snake (Pesukim 4-9)

A New Model of Response

Now we have one more story of a problem, of a complaint, and a very interesting response. So we’ve discussed several models of the complaints and the response that the Hashem has or Moshe has to the complaints. What we have here is a new kind of model, or maybe the most similar to what happened after Parshat Korach when there was a Maggeifah, and Moshe had a, we could call something like a segulah, some kind of technique to solve the problem, and here also we’re going to have a solution. Hashem is upset and therefore causes a problem and Moshe doesn’t just do teshuvah or doesn’t just beg Hashem to relent, he has a certain solution, a technical solution to the problem and of course everyone knows the Mishnah that discusses what kind of solution this might be to reinterpret it in the moral terms, but that’s what happened.

The People’s Complaint

So what happens is, they go back from Hor HaHar, so remember they were in Hor HaHar, that’s where Aharon died, and they have to go back to go around Edom because Edom doesn’t let them go through. ותקצר נפש העם [vatiktzar nefesh ha’am — and the soul of the people became short], in other words, they become tired, they become maybe thirsty and hungry, but they become tired from the way, they don’t have any more patience to go through, the way is getting longer and longer here, they’ve faced many obstacles and setbacks.

And therefore they speak about Elokim and Hashem and Moshe, their leaders, so they’re complaining against them and they have their regular complaint that they always have, why did they bring us out of Mitzrayim, we’re going to die in the desert, there’s no bread, there’s no food, yes we have some here, they admit that they have some food, apparently the mahn, but similar to what they complained about the mahn in Parashat Beha’alotcha, ונפשנו קצה בלחם הקלוקל [venafshenu katzah ballechem hakelokeil — our souls are fed up with this worthless bread], with this not good bread, with this spoiled bread or not good bread.

The Punishment: Venomous Serpents

And Hashem in response sends נחשים שרפים [nechashim serafim — venomous serpents], so strong snakes, Serafim many times, over here means a snake, it’s a snake that burns, something like a poisonous snake, something like venomous snakes, and they bite the people and many die from these snakes. Of course, we’re going to see in Sefer Devarim, this is one of the very clear attributes of the desert, that there’s venomous snakes in it, נחש שרף [nachash saraf], that’s the kind of animal that you find in the desert, but obviously this was in response to their complaints that the desert is a bad place, so they got from the dangers of the desert.

Confession and Prayer

Now the people come to Moshe and they admit their sin, they say חטאנו [chatanu — we have sinned], they say Vidui, we spoke about Hashem, so this is not b’einei Moshe or b’einei Hashem, he didn’t hear, the people come to Moshe and say, and sort of apologize to him, they say we’ve spoken against you, against Hashem, please pray to Hashem and He takes away the snakes and Moshe prays, but that prayer is not enough.

The Solution: The Copper Serpent

Hashem tells Moshe, take one serpent, in other words one snake, one sort of snake, put it on a stick, kind of a flag stick, flagpole, everyone who was bitten will see it and become back healthy, וחי [vechai — and live] meaning will be healthy, chai can mean live, but chai can mean also become healthy. So that’s what he does, נחש נחשת [nechash nechoshet — a copper serpent], Hashem didn’t tell him to make it out of copper, Hashem told him to make a snake, obviously means like an image of it, but made it out of copper, it’s a nice alliteration, nechash nechoshet, and he puts it on a stick, a nes, a flagpole, something that you hang something, here not a flag, like a statue or some image, and if any snake bites someone they look at it and they become healed.

And this is like I said something mysterious, what does this mean, what does this happen, why did Hashem give him this solution, something mysterious, and also as we can add all kinds of background to understand it, but this is part of the fragmentary nature of these reports, there’s something unclear here, something not very fully explained what’s going on.

Travel Report: Moving Toward the Destination

Now we have a short report, as I’ve given this title to it, it’s a report of firstly a travel report, so some fragments of something which we have the full version of in the end of Parashat Masei, in the end of this book, with all their stops, all their traveling in the desert, and it seems like this point of this is to get them from where they were, from Hor HaHar, they went to Atarim, all these places, all the way to the end, the end goal of this chapter so to speak, or this part really of the book.

The Mystery of the Copper Serpent (Continued)

The copper serpent — nachash nechoshet — placed on a nes (a flagpole or stick, something you hang something on) — not a flag but a statue or image. If any snake bites someone, they look at it and they become healed. This is, as I said, something mysterious. What does this mean? What does this happen? Why did Hashem give him this solution? Something mysterious. And also, as I said, we can add all kinds of background to understand it, but this is part of the fragmentary nature of these reports. There’s something unclear here, something not very fully explained what’s going on.

HaMasa’ot v’HaShirot — The Travel Reports and Songs

Now we have a short report, as I’ve given this title: *HaMasa’ot v’HaShirot* [The Travels and the Songs]. It’s a report of, firstly, a travel report — so some fragments of something which we have the full version of in the end of Parshat Masei and in the end of this book, with all their stops, all their traveling the desert. And it seems like the point of this is to get them from where they were — from Hor HaHar they went to Hasodim, all these places — all the way to the end. The end goal of this chapter, so to speak, of this part, really of the book, is they will arrive at a place called Aravot Moav [the plains of Moav]. That’s the last stop. That’s where the whole important last part of the story happens. Also Sefer Devarim — all is happening in Aravot Moav.

The Journey to Aravot Moav

So they go first to a place called Ovot. From Ovot they went to a place called Iyei HaAvarim, which is in the desert on the face of Moav from the east of Moav. And then they go to a place called Nachal Zered. Then come to a place called Ever Arnon, which is in the desert going out of the border of the Emori. Because Arnon is a river, a famous river in what’s called Transjordan — the other side of the Jordan — where Moav is. And that river was the border of Moav, between the Moav and the Emori. Emori is one of the seven nations of Canaan. So they went there, and apparently there’s something going on with these borders, right? Some of the people they have a good relationship with, some of them they don’t.

Sefer Milchamot Hashem — The Book of the Wars of Hashem

And over here there is a poem, or a fragment of a poem, quoted. It’ll be in Sefer Milchamot Hashem [the Book of the Wars of Hashem]. So now we get to this place called Arnon. There’s a fragment of a poem said, and then the poem is given a location. It said, “the Sefer from the Milchamot Hashem.” So apparently there was a book or a poem, maybe an oral poem, called *Sefer Milchamot Hashem*, and the *Sefer Milchamot Hashem* has some epic poetry about the wars, the conquests, and the challenges that people had on their way.

And it says like this — I think most literal translation — this is: these are names of places, the rivers Arnon. So these are apparently places, or maybe names for the same place, like the delta of the rivers which go to Arnon. All the *eshed* [delta] — they tend towards Ar. So Ar is famously one of the cities of Moav. Finish on the *givul* [border], even goes to the border of Moav.

Shirat HaBe’er — The Song of the Well

And there, there was also the be’er [well]. So here’s the first time we have this account of a well. Of course, one of the big problems of the desert is that there’s no water, and we had the stories twice, right? Over here last chapter and in Parshat Moshe, hitting a rock and making it into — sort of making it into a bar — but it’s not called a *be’er*. Here’s the first time where there’s a *be’er*. And of course, the most literal meaning would be something like: over there in that area they found some kind of well.

“אשר אמר ה’ למשה” [Asher amar Hashem l’Moshe — Where Hashem said to Moshe]: “Gather the people, now I’ll give them water.” This might mean the water, the well in the sense of became a well, but it was really what — the rock that Moshe made into a well? Or it just a well that Moshe somehow dug or discovered there? Remember, the stories of the digging of the wells in Sefer Bereishit — it’s a big deal when you find a well in the desert or in places that are close to the desert where it’s hard to find. So that’s part of the story.

And it quotes another song, and there’s all this “אז ישיר ישראל את השירה הזאת” [Az yashir Yisrael et hashira hazot — Then Israel sang this song]. So “את השירה הזאת” [et hashira hazot] — this is when they first sang this song, but of course we still sing it. It’s a song that’s repeated or sang later, and the same way there’s — was a song about the *be’er*.

The song goes: “עלי באר ענו לה” [Ali be’er, enu lah — Rise, well, and answer to her]. So they’re sort of singing to this well, or about this well, or about this great accomplishment that they found a well. And they said: “באר חפרוה שרים” [Be’er chafruha sarim — The well the princes dug it]. “נדיבי עם” [Nedivei am], which is another word for princes, have dug it. The lawgivers, or the people who are digging — “במחקק” [b’mechokek] can mean can mean someone who digs or makes a ditch or a kind of digging in the earth or in something — “במשענתם” [b’mishenotam — with their sticks].

So there’s some play on words with sticks. Of course we discussed where you have a *shevet* [staff], and I see someone who has a stick. But this stick can be also said as like the stick that sort of like a tool that digs in the earth and makes a well and finds water. So that’s the important thing: how they find water.

The Final Stages of Travel

And now we go back to — this also seems to be written poetically, but it’s also a description of more travels, more stops. They go from Midbar to Mattanah to Nachaliel to Bamot to the final stop, which is the valley in the fields of Moav, with the head of this mountain — Rosh HaPisgah — which from which you can see the entire valley and the entire — the plains over there. “Pnei HaYeshimon” [the face of the Yeshimon] — it might be also a proper name, or also just means the plains. And that’s, as I said, that’s the last place where they’re going to. That’s this poem is describing this, like, last few chapters, the last few stops where they get to there.

The Wars with Neighboring Nations

But we still have some — one, two — one, two more important short reports of wars in this chapter, and we have to talk about them quickly. So similarly to — so we’re reading here about three — this in the previous chapter — three important wars that Moshe led, wars or attempted wars that Moshe led with three different nations around Israel.

First War: Edom (Review)

The first was Edom, which they’ve sent a message and didn’t let them go through, so they passed by him.

Second War: Sichon King of the Emori

Then there was another one. The same thing: they sent messengers, and they sent — they sent messengers to Sichon, the king of Emori. So we’ve heard of Moav and Emori, right? Emori is the one on the other side of the Arnon. And they ask him the same thing: we’re going to go, we’re not going to drink your water, we’re not going to go into your fields, into your vineyards, we’ll go on the king’s highway.

And Sichon did not allow them pass by. Unlike Edom, which didn’t let them pass by and came — of course — across to them, came towards them with his army, and the people — the Bnei Yisrael — passed, sort of lost or retreated. For Sichon, they did not retreat. So Sichon, it comes to them, the place called Yahatz. He fights with them there, and they fight him back. They kill him by the sword, and they take his land. They conquer his land from the Arnon until the Yabok — these are two rivers or the two limits of Sichon’s land. Emori, all with — Bnei Ammon is on the other side, apparently, or maybe where the Yabok is, there’s the limit, the boundary, the border of Ammon. And that’s strongly defended; they couldn’t take that. But they took all of the land of Sichon, which is from Arnon to Yabok.

So they took all these cities and they sat in all these cities. Known as Cheshbon and all the daughter cities of Cheshbon — like the cities around it. Not cities and like suburbs — not suburbs in those days, was not suburbs — but they’re like other cities. Cheshbon was sort of the head city, and the other cities called their daughters. They were all taken by the people.

Historical Background: Sichon’s Conquest of Moav

And this doesn’t give some of the historical note: Cheshbon was this city of Sichon, although it was originally his land. Originally it belonged to the king of Moav, because this whole area is called Aravot Moav, the area of Moav, the plains of Moav. But Sichon has fought a war with the first king of Moav and took in his land, all the way to Arnon.

The Moshlim Poem About Sichon’s Victory

And it quotes another poem: “על כן יאמרו המושלים” [Al ken yomru hamoshlim — Therefore the poets say], or the people say proverbs. Have had a poem, and also this poem is very geographical, full of names of a series of places. And apparently this poem was about Sichon’s conquest of Moav. So the Torah is quoting some kind of Sichon poem, some kind of poem that Sichon was singing about. Or the *moshlim* — we’ll see next, in the next week, in the next chapter — is about Bilaam, who was one of the *moshlim*, one of the ancient poets or prophets that would say poems about the nations around them, around Israel.

So similarly, one of these poems was about Sichon’s great conquests of Moav. And as it says: “בואו חשבון” [Bo’u Cheshbon — Come to Cheshbon]. Cheshbon will be built up. A fire came out of Cheshbon, a fire — and there’s these doublings of as and as, as is common in biblical poetry — a flame from the city of Sichon. It ate the land, the city of Moav called Ar, “בעלי במות ארנון” [ba’alei bamot Arnon — the high places of Arnon], which is again the river that’s in Moav. And ate also the great, the high places of Arnon.

And this poem goes on to say: “אוי לך מואב” [Oy lecha Moav — Woe to you, Moav]. You’ve lost. “אבדת עם כמוש” [Avadta am Kemosh — You are lost, people of Kemosh]. Kemosh was the name of the god of Moav, their god. Their people, or *am Kemosh*, is another way of saying Moav, is lost. His children are fugitives, his daughters are captives. They’re all given to the king Sichon, king of Emori.

And they were also lost. “ונירם” [Vaniram] — they’re either a place called Vaniram, or it’s a word for their kingship — was lost from Cheshbon until Divon, or from Nashmal to Nofach, which is next to Medva. But these are all places and cities that Sichon took from Moav, and Israel now — Israel conquered from Sichon and therefore sat in all these places.

Third War: Yazer

So that’s one more war that we discussed. Now there’s even one more, very short report of a very short war: a place called Yazer. Doesn’t say who lived there — part of Emori, but maybe it also belongs to Sichon, but has a separate report of the war. So Moshe sent spies to Yazer and conquered it, and they say all the daughter cities of Yazer, and conquered it from the Emori who lived there.

Fourth War: Og King of Bashan

One more report, which is the next king. They’ve turned around, they went through Bashan. Bashan is somewhat higher, more north, so to speak, and also in the what is now Jordan, Syria, Golan, places like that. And Og, the king of Bashan, comes and fights with them. It doesn’t say that they asked to go through him. Apparently he just unprovoked — or they were planning to go through him anyways. It’s not clear why.

The War with Og, King of Bashan

This war with Og started, and here apparently Moshe was scared, because we have a report of Hashem telling Moshe, don’t be afraid because I’ve given you, I’ve given him and his people and his land in your hands, and do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of Cheshbon.

So in other words, Hashem is reminding Moshe: look, you’re powerful, you’re able to conquer Sihon, you’ll be able to conquer Og in the same way. And that’s what they do — they hit him, they destroyed him, his children, his nation, until there was nothing left from him, and they took his land.

Arrival at Arvos Moav — The Final Encampment

And that is really — the chapter finishes here. But I think we should do, like I said here, one more pasuk. From there they go to Arvos Moav [the plains of Moav], which is on the other side of the Yarden [Jordan River] opposite Jericho. In other words, from the perspective of the land of Israel, it’s on the other side — what we call Trans-Jordan, or the East Bank, the East Bank of the River Jordan. That’s their last stop, and there we’re going to have the rest of the story is going to play out there.

Concluding Observations on Chapters 20–21

So all of these last two chapters were really condensed and fragmentary reports of the second half, so to speak, of the journey of the people in the desert, and that’s the end of chapter 21.