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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 21

1 When the Canaanite king of Arad who lived in the Negev heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner. 2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities.”⁠ 3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah.⁠ 4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became impatient along the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food.”⁠ 6 So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.⁠ 7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he would take away the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”⁠ 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.⁠ 10 The Israelites traveled on and camped in Oboth. 11 Then they traveled on from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that is before Moab on the eastern side. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the valley of Zered. 13 From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the regions of the Amorites, for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 This is why it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,⁠ “Waheb in Suphah and the wadis, the Arnon 15 and the slope of the valleys that extends to the dwelling of Ar, and falls off at the border of Moab.” 16 And from there they traveled to Beer; that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well, sing to it! 18 The well which the princes dug, which the leaders of the people opened with their scepters and their staffs.”⁠ And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;⁠ 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, near the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the wastelands. 21 Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, saying, 22 “Let us pass through your land; we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King’s Highway until we pass your borders.” 23 But Sihon did not permit Israel to pass through his border; he gathered all his forces together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel. 24 But the Israelites defeated him in battle and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended. 25 So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land from his control, as far as the Arnon. 27 That is why those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon, let it be built. Let the city of Sihon be established! 28 For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has consumed Ar of Moab and the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to you, Moab. You are ruined, O people of Chemosh!⁠ He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters the prisoners of King Sihon of the Amorites. 30 We have overpowered them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. We have shattered them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”⁠ 31 So the Israelites lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 Moses sent spies to reconnoiter Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up by the road to Bashan. And King Og of Bashan and all his forces marched out against them to do battle at Edrei. 34 And the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated Og, his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, and they possessed his land.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 16:31 and Numbers 21:5 and Psalm 78:24

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus 16, Numbers 21, and Psalm 78 refer to manna, yet with conflicting descriptions. While Exodus and Psalms describe it positively, comparing it to heavenly bread, Numbers says the people were weary of it, calling it worthless food.

Passages

Exodus 16:31

Hebrew Bible
29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Numbers 21:5

Hebrew Bible
4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became impatient along the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food.” 6 So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Psalm 78:24

Hebrew Bible
23 He gave a command to the clouds above and opened the doors in the sky. 24 He rained down manna for them to eat; he gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. He sent them more than enough to eat. 26 He brought the east wind through the sky and by his strength led forth the south wind.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... As for its taste, here too, the biblical evidence was mixed ... Understandably, some interpreters came to the conclusion that the Bible was describing not so much the taste of manna itself as the people's reaction to it; its taste thus must have changed depending on who was eating it ... but the Bible did not answer unequivocally even the most basic question about this substance - was it good to eat or wasn't it? 'Bread of angels' sounded pretty good, as did 'wafers made with honey.' ... On the other hand, the Israelites seem to have gotten tired of manna; they say 'Our throats are dry and there is nothing to eat, the only thing that we see is manna' (Numbers 11:5), and again, 'There is no bread and there is no water, and our throats are tired of this low-grade food'' (Numbers 21:5) ... Then it would seem that the manna really wasn't very tasty after all. How could these contradictions be resolved? Perhaps the most satisfactory explanation was that manna was really some kind of spiritual sustenance and not a food at all ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 360–361.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 16:31 and Numbers 21:5 and Psalm 78:24

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