God’s Word for You
Numbers 21:14-15 The Book of the Wars of the LORD
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, November 2, 2021
14 For this reason it says in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:
Waheb in Suphah, the ravines of the Arnon,
15 the sloping ravines that bend toward the settlement of Ar
and lie on the border of Moab.
The “Book of the Wars of the LORD” is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. It is thought to be a collection of songs of victory from the time of Moses that may have fallen from favor or from fashion or entirely from use later on. Other books like this are quoted in the Old Testament. Some of these are:
2, The Book of Jashar (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18)
3, The Book of the Annals of King David (1 Chronicles 27:24)
4, The Book of the Annals of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41)
5, The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 14:19)
6, The Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 14:29, 15:7)
7, The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 25:26)
8, The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah (2 Chronicles 27:7)
9, The Records of Samuel the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
10, The Records of Gad the Seer (1 Chronicles 29:29)
11, The Records of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chronicles 9:29)
12, The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chronicles 9:29)
13, The Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29)
14, The Annotations of the Prophet Iddo (2 Chronicles 13:22)
15, The Records of Shemaiah the Prophet (2 Chronicles 12:15)
Some of these are quoted in the Bible, and the others are simply mentioned as documents to look at outside the Bible for more information about certain kings and their reigns, the way we would refer people to different books that discuss various wars or important periods of history.
Here the quote is a poem with no main subject or verb. The first line is “Waheb in Suphah.” Suphah is also a word for storm, as in Nahum 1:3, “His way is in the whirlwind and the storm.” This Waheb may have been a town high up the flow of the Arnon, or a wadi (gulch) that flowed into the larger river. This seems to fit with the rest of the poem, describing “the ravines… sloping ravines” of the Arnon River that Israel crossed at this point. Did they cross, as I have surmised, down along the Dead Sea coastline, or was it far upstream where the ravines are not so steep and the river not so difficult to cross? If this latter is the case, then the nation cut into Moabite territory at this time, along the border between Moab and Edom, and this, too, fits the quoted song as well as what we know about the history of the Israelites at this time. Whether or not Waheb was a fortress, a village, an oasis, or another stream, we cannot say, and we don’t need to be certain.
For an application of law and gospel here we turn to the First and Fourth Commandments. The Israelites were moving in this direction according to the leadership of Moses, and therefore their obedience to the Fourth Commandment (that is, under Moses) fit perfectly with their obedience to the First Commandment. A godly leader guides his people according to the will of the Lord. “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will” (John 9:31). Paul said: “Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). Following Moses was the benefit for their present life, leading the nation through the difficult and winding border between enemies. But following after God and living according to his will was priceless, keeping them on the path to eternal life between such enemies as the devil, the world, and our sinful human flesh. This was their life of faith, at a challenging time between the sloping ravines of the Arnon River and the border of Moab. Seeing how God blessed them is a blessing for us today, teaching us to say, “As then, so now!” Our God is with us (2 Chronicles 13:12; Isaiah 8:10), and we happily and humbly bow to his will. May God bless you today and always.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.