SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:14
Por tanto se dice en el libro de las batallas del SEÑOR: Lo que hizo en el mar Bermejo, y a los arroyos de Arnón;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:14
Verse 14. The book of the wars of the Lord] There are endless conjectures about this book, both among ancients and moderns. Dr. Lightfoot's opinion is the most simple, and to me bears the greatest appearance of being the true one. "This book seems to have been some book of remembrances and directions, written by Moses for Joshua's private instruction for the management of the wars after him. See Exod. xvii. 14-16. It may be that this was the same book which is called the book of Jasher, i. e., the book of the upright, or a directory for Joshua, from Moses, what to do and what to expect in his wars; and in this book it seems as if Moses directed the setting up of archery, see 2 Sam. i. 18, and warrants Joshua to command the sun, and expect its obedience, Joshua x. 13." What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon] This clause is impenetrably obscure. All the versions, all the translators, and all the commentators, have been puzzled with it. Scarcely any two agree. The original is hpwsb bhw ta eth vaheb besuphah, which our translators render, what he did in the Red Sea, following here the Chaldee Targum; but not satisfied with this version, they have put the most difficult words in English letters in the margin, Vaheb in Suphah. Calmet's conjecture here is ingenious, and is adopted by Houbigant; instead of bhw vaheb, he reads drz zared. Now a z zain may be easily mistaken for a w vau, and vice versa; and a h he for a r , resh, if the left limb happened to be a little obliterated, which frequently occurs, not only in MSS., but in printed books; the b beth also might be mistaken for a d daleth, if the ruled line on which it stood happened in that place to be a little thicker or blacker than usual. Thus then bhw vaheb might be easily formed out of drz zared, mentioned ver. 12; the whole might then be read, They encamped at the brook Zared, and they came to Suphah, and thence to the brook Arnon. Take the passage as we may, it is evidently defective. As I judge the whole clause to have been a common proverb in those days, and Vaheb to be a proper name, I therefore propose the following translation, which I believe to be the best: From Vaheb unto Suph, and unto the streams of Arnon. If we allow it to have been a proverbial expression, used to point out extensive distance, then it was similar to that well known phrase, From Dan even unto Beersheba.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord , etc.] A history of wars in former times, which the Lord had suffered to be in the world; and which, as Aben Ezra thinks, reached from the times of Abraham and so might begin with the battle of the kings in his time, and take in others in later times, and particularly those of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and his conquests of some parts of Moab; and to this book, which might be written by some one of those nations, Moses refers in proof of what he here says: what he did in the Red sea ; that is, what Sihon king of the Amorites did, or the Lord by him, “at Vaheb in Suphah”, as the words may be rendered; either against a king, or rather city, of Moab, whose name was Vaheb, in the borders of the land of Moab, or how he destroyed that city Vaheb with a storm or terrible assault f320 : and in the brooks of Arnon : some places situated on the streams of that river, which were taken by the Amorites from the Moabites, as the book quoted plainly testified.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-20 - We have here the removes of the children of Israel, till they came to the plains of Moab, from whence they passed over Jordan into Canaan The end of their pilgrimage was near. "They set forward." It were wel if we did thus; and the nearer we come to heaven, were so much the mor active and abundant in the work of the Lord. The wonderful success God granted to his people, is here spoken of, and, among the rest, their actions on the river Arnon, at Vaheb in Suphah, and other places of that river. In every stage of our lives, nay, in every step, we shoul notice what God has wrought for us; what he did at such a time, an what in such a place, ought to be distinctly remembered. God blesse his people with a supply of water. When we come to heaven, we shal remove to the well of life, the fountain of living waters. The received it with joy and thankfulness, which made the mercy doubl sweet. With joy must we draw water out of the wells of salvation, Is 12:3. As the brazen serpent was a figure of Christ, who is lifted u for our cure, so is this well a figure of the Spirit, who is poure forth for our comfort, and from whom flow to us rivers of livin waters, Joh 7:38, 39. Does this well spring up in our souls? If so, we should take the comfort to ourselves, and give the glory to God. God promised to give water, but they must open the ground. God's favour must be expected in the use of such means as are within our power, but still the power is only of God.
Original Hebrew
על 5921 כן 3651 יאמר 559 בספר 5612 מלחמת 4421 יהוה 3068 את 853 והב 2052 בסופה 5492 ואת 853 הנחלים 5158 ארנון׃ 769
