Daily Devotion | Numbers 21:10–35 | 2026 May 27

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 21:10–35 | 2026 May 27

Scripture: Numbers 21:10–35 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 May 27

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Peace to all of you, dear brothers and sisters. We thank God for His grace. We have come to a new day to study Daily Devotion. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 21, from verse 10 all the way to verse 35. Let us pray. Now, Lord, we thank You. Thank You for letting us see, O Lord, that the battle belongs to the LORD. Lord, we also see, O Lord, that when we obey You, what kind of fighting strength we have. Lord, we ask You to help us, so that we may gain victory by relying on You, and overcome all the enemies in our lives. May we no longer follow the weakness of our own flesh, but come simply and solely to obey Your will. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

All right, let us look at this portion of Numbers chapter 21. Yesterday, in the previous section, we spoke about how they defeated the Canaanites. They also had the bronze serpent. A bronze serpent was made, and whoever looked at the bronze serpent would be saved. Now they continued on their journey, going north. They went around Edom. Above Edom, they now came to the place of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. This place originally belonged to the Moabites, but the king of the Amorites had driven the Moabites away, and so it became his territory. That is the situation. First, the passage records the route of their journey.

Verse 14 says, “Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD.” What is this Book of the Wars of the LORD? What exactly is this? We do not understand it very clearly. We do not really know whether this was perhaps a more ancient document, or something like that. This verse looks as though, when later people compiled or edited the text, it was added in. It is not very clear why such a verse suddenly appears here. But even if it was added in, this still does not deny that the great majority of the Pentateuch was written by Moses. Later there may have been some editing, some slight adjustments, but all of this was according to God’s good pleasure, all according to God’s will. Therefore it still has authority. We cannot say, just because some verses like this were added in, that obviously the Pentateuch went through editing, that there are clear editorial traces, and therefore Moses did not write it. That kind of argument does not really make sense. Moses wrote the vast majority of the Pentateuch. Later authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, edited some things. This is very normal. All of this is the work of the Holy Spirit. It does not affect the inerrancy of Scripture. It still has the inspiration of God within it.

Verse 16 says that they came to Beer, which means “well.” This is the well of which the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.” At that time Israel sang a song. So, in this part of chapter 21, the people receive water again. But this is a new pattern. Why? Because here there is no quarreling. The Israelites, right, they had always been crying out and arguing because they wanted water to drink. But here there is no quarreling. There is no intercession from Moses. There is not that whole series of stories we have seen before, where there is intercession, then striking, then something else happens. This story does not have that. God directly gives the water. So I think, although this passage appears very simple, in reality it shows the interaction between God and the Israelites. It shows a change in the relationship. What was it like before? The Israelites cried out for water; God commanded Moses; the Israelites complained again; Moses interceded again; finally God struck, disciplined, and also showed love. That whole pattern is no longer here.

In verse 16, it is very simple. The LORD commands Moses to gather the people to drink water. Does this change in pattern have significance? I believe it does. It means that, at this point, the people have learned not to complain anymore. They have begun to learn, on the wilderness journey, to look to God’s provision. Although the journey is difficult, they still do not complain. Then, when they do not complain, God actively gives them water to drink. It is like us as Christians. We know that we must bear the cross. It is very painful. We also know that in life we must continually discipline and train our lives. But when God sees that we have already been trained, God’s grace comes upon us. Because God’s purpose, His original intention, is not to give us suffering for its own sake. Rather, it is to make us learn, in suffering, to look to Him. And when we have learned this, God naturally removes the difficulty. So this is my understanding of this passage. Because this time the giving of water is very sudden. There is no so-called prelude. They do not make trouble. How did it happen? Suddenly there is water. Why is there suddenly water? So I think this precisely shows that the life of the Israelites has begun to mature. Moses also has begun to mature. Moses also does not do anything dramatic. Everyone is waiting. They are all silently walking in the wilderness. It is very hard, but they no longer argue, and they no longer make trouble. They simply walk. Whoever tells us to walk, we walk. Thanks and praise be to God. At this time, when their lives have truly been trained to this point, God says, all right, gather them together and give them water to drink. Therefore the Israelites sang, “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!”

Then it says, this was the well that the princes made, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and with their staffs. This obviously cannot be literal. We know that a scepter, the staff held in the hands of leaders and kings, is that kind of royal staff. Obviously, such a thing cannot be used to dig. That is impossible. So this place was probably also a miracle, giving them water to drink. Perhaps they touched a place with the staff and water came out, or something like that. In any case, this certainly was not dug out in an ordinary way. It was commanded by authority. But the specific details are not clear. God also does not need us to be clear about them. However, I think one point is very clear: this water came without quarreling and without disturbance. God actively gave it to Israel. Israel sang and praised, “Spring up, O well! Sing to it!” When they were helpless and thirsty in the wilderness, this time they did not complain. Thanks be to the Lord. They finally grew. Finally, in the matter of water, the Israelites grew. They stopped making trouble. When they learned to look to God and wait for Him, God naturally gave the water. I think this is an expression of the maturity of the life of the Israelites, especially the second generation of Israelites. Including later, their continuous victories also show that their spiritual life had already grown to the point where they could rely on the Lord’s grace, rely on God, and gain victory.

Thanks and praise be to God. So this experience of receiving water, from verse 16 to verse 18, may seem as though it is recorded here very abruptly. But this is an expression that the spiritual life of the second generation of Israelites had already matured. Thanks and praise be to the Lord. Finally, they no longer quarreled over water. Finally, they could wait for God’s blessing. So I truly hope that our brothers and sisters, in continual hardship and tribulation, in these struggles, will no longer complain, but learn to look to Him and learn to wait.

God’s grace will certainly come. Because God’s purpose and original intention are not to make things difficult for us. When our lives have been trained well, God will naturally come to help us. Just as God gave water to the Israelites in the wilderness, to the second generation of Israelites, it shows that when God sees that this testing has succeeded, God will naturally give it down. Because whether or not water is given is entirely according to God’s will and God’s great power.

All right, then they continued moving forward and came to the place where they came to Sihon king of the Amorites. “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of any well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” We know that they also said this to the Edomites, right? Because their destination was not the east side of the Jordan, but the land of Canaan on the west side of the Jordan. That was the promised land. They were going to enter the promised land, so they asked to pass through.

As for Sihon, of course, we have said before that in ancient warfare, this matter of borrowing a road, of asking to pass through, was not something to be taken lightly. So Sihon came out to attack Israel, and he fought against Israel at Jahaz. But verse 24 is very simple. Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land. With just one sentence, the matter is resolved. So dealing with Sihon king of the Amorites and dealing with the Edomites were completely different. As for the Edomites, they thought it was as though they could stop the Israelites. But it was only because God considered the affection of brotherhood, and Israel also considered the affection of brotherhood, that they did not destroy Edom, but went around by another way.

But very clearly, Sihon was not that fortunate. Sihon, in this place, was an Amorite. He had come here and occupied whose land? He occupied the land of the Moabites. This land originally belonged to the former king of Moab. Here, Moab and Ammon appear in this chapter. Everyone remember, where did Moab and Ammon come from? You remember, right? They were the two sons of Lot. Although they were born through incest, they were still Lot’s two sons. So Moab and Ammon still had some kinship relationship with the Israelites. Therefore at this time, very clearly, the Israelites had no hesitation at all. They took down the king of the Amorites. They took him down. They went as far as the border of the Ammonites, and when they reached the Ammonite territory, they did not attack. They took some additional cities, Heshbon and some of Heshbon’s villages. Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, a great city. This land was what he had taken from the hand of the king of Moab. This also helps us understand, when we come to tomorrow’s passage, why the king of Moab was so nervous, because this king Sihon of the Amorites had very strong fighting power.

What we see here is all contained in one sentence in verse 24: Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land. But in the Scripture here, Moses specifically quotes a poem to show that Sihon of Heshbon was not a small figure. This quoted poem is quite long, from verse 27 all the way to verse 30. Here, through the form of poetry, it describes how Sihon king of the Amorites was once mighty throughout the east side of the Jordan, and how he gained this land in that region. “Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be established. For fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon.” So here, although in the Prophets we often see this kind of language, when this language is used to describe a king, it shows that this king was very firmly established, very powerful. When his kingdom arose, this kind of language was often used to express it: fire came out from there, and flame also came out. Wherever he went, he devoured. So this king Sihon was a very formidable king. He burned up Ar of Moab and the lords of the heights of the Arnon; he burned them up.

And because Sihon rose up, what happened? “Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh!” Chemosh was the god worshiped by the Moabites. Chemosh was the name of the deity of Moab. The men fled, and the women were taken captive. They all became subjects under the hand of Sihon. “We have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. We laid waste as far as Nophah; fire spread as far as Medeba.” Now in this later verse, verse 30, “We have shot at them”—who exactly is this “we”? Is this “we” referring to the Israelites? Or is it referring to how, in the past, Sihon of the Amorites attacked Moab? Placed here, this is not especially clear. Is it “we,” or is it “they”? The destruction of Heshbon—what exactly is this referring to? Is it referring to the former destruction of Heshbon, or to the present destruction of Heshbon? So I think both interpretations are possible. We can understand verses 28 to 29 as describing how mighty King Sihon and his people were, how powerful they were. Then when we come to verse 30, it shows how the Israelites destroyed Heshbon and took their land. So in this way, Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.

So, if we understand it in this way, then we can know that this poem was written by an Israelite poet. Fire had once come out from Heshbon. King Sihon seemed like a flame. But God would destroy them, and in the end He would bring them to complete destruction. After this, Israel occupied the land of the Amorites. Then the account turns back again, and they came to Bashan. Bashan was the same. At Edrei, Og came out with his people to fight against them. The LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land.” Then they struck down Og king of Bashan, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left, and they took possession of his land. So here what is being described is two victories. One is the victory over Sihon king of the Amorites, and the other is the victory over Og king of Bashan.

So here, from verse 10 until now, what we see is victory all along the way. One aspect is that, spiritually, they relied on God, and God caused water to spring up. Another aspect is that they destroyed the fire that came out from Heshbon. So these two poems are also quite interesting. One speaks about water, and the other speaks about fire. The water that sprang up here, the water that sprang up from the well, finally extinguished the fire of King Sihon that came out from Heshbon. It put Sihon out.

Of course, the connection does not seem to be that obvious. But I think, from the perspective of rhetoric, we can understand it this way: one is water, one is fire, and in the end what is being shown is the great power of God. So from this perspective, what do we see? We see that when the Israelites learned reverence and fear, they were able to fight and gain victory. Even later in Israel’s history, in the Prophets and in their historical books, these two people are mentioned repeatedly: Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. Why? Because these two people, on the east side of the Jordan, were at that time mighty and renowned. No one could defeat them. But according to this passage, the Israelites defeated them very easily. Israel struck them with the edge of the sword and took possession of their land. Verse 35 says, “So they killed him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.” So very easily, they took down these two demonic powers who had been reigning and dominating on the east side of the Jordan, bullying Moab and Ammon. These demon-like nations were destroyed. It seems very easy, and indeed it was so.

When they learned to rely on God, they fought and gained victory. Their water could extinguish all the flames that came from Satan. These so-called kings were not worth mentioning before the Israelites. So when this kind of passage is placed before us, I think it is victory all along the way. Thanks be to the Lord. Numbers finally begins slowly to move into victory. I think for us Christians, this is indeed a test. I think it is the same for us. When do we learn to obey? When do we learn to praise? In fact, at that time we will appear powerful in battle. Our enemies are naturally great, just like Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. The environment around us, right? Our bosses, our clients, the temptation of money in society, the power of the world, the power of political authority—all these are like Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, right? If you want to obey the law of God, and you are not relying on God, then you will simply feel that every step is full of danger. You will feel that you cannot obey God’s law at all. You will be afraid, just as the Israelites faced the king of the Amorites and the king of Bashan. But look at these kings before Israel now. It is like chopping melons and cutting vegetables. They just casually take them down. Because if God wants to take them down, He takes them down. The strength for battle belongs to the LORD.

So for our brothers and sisters, we also should not look at these difficulties and hardships in our lives as too great. In reality, all these things are in God’s hand. They amount to nothing. Look at ancient warfare. That was the greatest matter, right? Military conflict between two nations, military war—what a terrifying thing. But here the record is very simple. Yet I think the scene itself certainly was not that simple. You can imagine that warfare in the age of cold weapons must have been bloody and cruel. But the Bible intentionally downplays it. It intentionally passes over it with one stroke, so to speak, in order to show that this kind of warfare is very simple before God.

Here it does not even record Israel’s losses. How many Israelites died in battle? There is nothing about that at all. It simply says that they destroyed them. And we can believe that Israel suffered almost no loss, because God was going to preserve them. So I think the encouragement given to us here is this: brothers and sisters, when we rely on God, we possess endless strength. Any enemy before us amounts to nothing. The greatest enemy in the end is death, and it has already been defeated. So what are we still afraid of? That final great king, right? We have also played cards, right? The big joker and the small joker, right? The great king and the small king. The matter of death has already been destroyed by Jesus Christ. Then we simply keep walking forward all the way. What is there to be afraid of, right? These schemes of Satan, these things that use death to terrify us—work, clients, the world, right? We sell our lives for the world. We can even reach the point, right, where we work hard to the point of risking our lives. Actually, this is unnecessary. On the contrary, loving Jesus, loving Him to the point of giving our lives—that is what is right.

So may God lead us to think carefully in today’s passage. Where does the strength for battle of a country, a people, a church, or a person come from? It comes from the LORD. When we simply rely on the LORD, we possess endless fighting strength. We can truly fight and gain victory. Otherwise, even the greatest ability and strength are nothing more than a pile of decorations. I think this is the place where God wants to help us rely on Him. So here, God intentionally describes the battle in a simple way. He describes it simply in order to encourage the Israelites: come and rely on Me. Such a fierce Heshbon, such a Heshbon from which fire came out—such a place as this—when I want to destroy them, they become nothing. So may God lead us, in such a process, to learn to rely closely on the power of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that in our lives we may seriously obey God’s statutes and rules, without fear and without terror. May God lead us. All right, our sharing today will simply end here. Thank you, everyone.