Numbers 21:1-3

When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.¹ Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.”²

The Lord listened to the voice of Israel,³ and handed over the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their towns;⁴ so the place was called Hormah.

1 Israel seems to have lost their first battle with Arad.

2 The fact that Israel assumes that God will be pleased by Arad's destruction sounds horrifying to our ears. But in their context, they are saying, “Lord, if you give us victory by your hand, not by our own strength, then we will be obedient to you and will not mix with the people of foreign gods.

3 The prayer of the people is agreeable to God.

4 Israelite win not by their might, but by God. Contrasts their loss in the same area in Numbers 14:45.


Take-home: Israel finds victory in war by vowing obedience to God. They win not by their own military strength, but by trust in God.