<\/p>\n
\nNum 21:1<\/b>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.\u00a0And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, \u201cIf you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.\u201d\u00a0And the LORD heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 44:3-4<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.\u00a0\u00a0You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 10:17<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The date of this occurrence is uncertain. The district of Arad appears to have extended to the southern frontier of Canaan. (Comp.\u00a0Numbers 33:40<\/span><\/a>;\u00a0Joshua 12:14<\/span><\/a>;\u00a0Judges 1:16-17<\/span><\/a>.) The attack probably took place either in the interval between the departure of the messengers to Edom and their return, or at the time at which the Israelites broke up from Kadesh, and before the direction of their march had been ascertained. (Ellicott)<\/p>\n
He fought against Israel – This attack (compare\u00a0Numbers 20:1<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and note), can hardly have taken place after the death of Aaron. It was most probably made just when the camp broke up from Kadesh, and the ultimate direction of the march was not as yet pronounced. The order of the narrative in these chapters, as occasionally elsewhere in this book (compare\u00a0Numbers 9:1<\/span><\/a>, etc.), is not that of time, but of subject matter; and the war against Arad is introduced here as the first of the series of victories gained under Moses, which the historian now takes in hand to narrate. (Barnes)<\/p>\n
The description of\u00a0the king of Arad<\/b>\u00a0presents a challenge with geography and chronology. The site recognized as Tel Arad is\u00a0west\u00a0of the Dead Sea, about halfway between Beer Sheva and the Dead Sea, and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Hebron. This is much further north than we would expect Israel to be, putting them in the southern part of Canaan. We would not expect Israel to be in this part of Canaan until well into the book of Joshua. Also, the archeological evidence from Tel Arad is from an earlier period. The most likely explanation is that\u00a0the king of Arad\u00a0<\/b>was, at this time, the leader of a nomadic group that roamed the area south of Tel Arad (who dwelt in the South<\/b>). When he\u00a0fought against Israel<\/b>\u00a0he traveled still further south, to where Israel camped.<\/p>\n
This was the beginning of Israel\u2019s wars of conquest and God\u2019s judgment against the Canaanites. Most of these battles are found in the book of Joshua. These were not only battles to take the land that God promised to Israel, but they were also part of a unique war of judgment against the Canaanites. They were a particularly sinful and depraved people, whom God literally gave hundreds of years to repent. Just as God sometimes used other nations to bring judgment against His people, in this period the LORD used His people to bring judgment against the Canaanites. \u00a0Because this was a war of judgment, they were to receive no spoil from the battles \u2013 nothing at all. They were to\u00a0utterly destroy\u00a0<\/b>everything. There were a few reasons for this, but one of the most important was that God did not want His people to profit, to gain, to be enriched by a war of judgment. Such wars are the holy expression of God\u2019s sorrow at the necessity of judgment, and He did not want His people to gain or to be happy about it. Therefore, Israel was strictly commanded that when they conquered a Canaanite city, none of the spoil could go to them. It didn\u2019t go to the tabernacle, to the priests, or to Moses. It was all to be destroyed, dedicated to God alone by making no use of it for anyone else. (Guzik)<\/p>\n
The Canaanites were given over to Israel to perform God’s judgment upon them. Do you ever wonder what the culture of their cities and towns was like? Do you ever wonder what it was they were doing as a society that provoked God? Whatever it was they were content in doing it without regard for God and things of God day after day and year after year. Just because God’s judgment has not occurred does not mean what is being done by a culture\/society\/nation is without guilt or blame. To think that something wrong is right because there is no Godly judgment taking place at the time is foolish.<\/p>\n
I worry about our country\/nation\/cities\/towns. How much further can we walk apart from God? How much perversion and foolishness around LGBTQ…. Pornography….. Abortion….. Divorce…… Greed….. Pride……. Hate…. Anger….. will God allow before judgment? Just because there is no apparent judgment does not mean it has a thimble’s worth of being right in the sight of God. How much of this foolishness has filtered into people who profess their trust in God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Num 21:1\u00a0\u00a0When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.\u00a0And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, \u201cIf you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I … Continue reading “47.t. “Wilderness” – 11.z. “I will devote their cities to destruction.\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17316,16168,4280,3322,17321,316,8829,17318,17317,17229,2971,4936,796,16011,533,2970,1104,17320,17319],"class_list":["post-176057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-arad","tag-canaanite","tag-captive","tag-delighted","tag-desire-of-the-afflicted","tag-destruction","tag-devoted-to-destruction","tag-gave-ove","tag-heeded-their-voice","tag-hormah","tag-incline-your-ear","tag-israel","tag-lord","tag-negeb","tag-salvation","tag-strengthen-their-heart","tag-vowed","tag-you-are-my-kind","tag-you-right-hand"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176124,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176057\/revisions\/176124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}