Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 19-21.

I want to touch on a couple things from today’s passage.  I find it interesting that when Miriam died, the passage records where she was buried, but no such record was noted for Aaron.   When Aaron was about to die, Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s son Eleazar went up Mount Hor and left Aaron’s body there when he died.  While the place where Aaron’s body was left is as closely documented here as where Miriam’s body was buried, all of the Israelites at the time knew where Miriam’s body was, but only Moses and Eleazar knew where Aaron’s body was left.   I am convinced that God had them do it this way so that the Israelites would not make a shrine out of Aaron’s grave.  I am not sure why a similar precaution was not thought necessary for Miriam’s grave.

I also like thinking about the differences between the kings the Israelites encountered in today’s passage.  First, when the Israelites approached Edom, they requested permission to pass through Edom’s lands and the king of Edom (who is unidentified) refused them permission and mustered his army to repel them.  However the king of Edom did not attack the Israelites.  Then the king of Arad (also unidentified) attacked the Israelites and took some of them captive (probably as slaves).  The Israelites destroyed the cities and towns of Arad, but did not occupy the territory, although they would do so after the conquest under Joshua.  Finally, we have the kings, Sihon and Og.  These last two attacked the Israelites to prevent their passage through their lands.  The Israelites defeated them and settled in their lands.  I have always wondered what would have happened if Sihon and Og had reacted the same way that the king of Edom had.  The Israelites sent a request to Sihon similar to the one they sent to the king of Edom.  Rather than reply with a “No”, Sihon chose to attack the Israelites.  When Sihon was defeated and the Israelites started to move towards the land which Og controlled, Og attacked them without waiting for them to send him a message.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.