Numbers 21:30 - Exposition

We have shot at them. וַגִּירָם . A poetical word of somewhat doubtful meaning. It is generally supposed to be a verbal form (first person plural imperf. Kal), from יָרָה , with an unusual suffix (cf. יִלְבָּשָׁם for יִלְבָּשֵׁם in Exodus 29:30 ). יָרָה has the primary meaning "to shoot at," the secondary, "to overthrow," as in Exodus 15:4 . Others, however, derive the word from ארה , a root supposed to mean "burn." Even unto Dibon. See on Numbers 32:34 . The site of Nophah, perhaps the Nobah of 8:11 , is unknown. Which reacheth unto Medeba. The reading is uncertain here as well as the meaning. The received text has hsilgnE:egaugnaL אַשֶׁר עַד־מַידבָא }, which gives no meaning, but the circle over the resh marks it as suspicious. The Septuagint ( πῦρ ἐπ ΄ωάβ ) and the Samaritan evidently read אֵשׁ , and this has been generally followed: "we have wasted even unto Nophah,—with fire unto Medeba." Medeba, of which the ruins are still known by the same name, lay five or six miles south-south-east of Heshbon. It was a fortress in the time of David ( 1 Chronicles 19:7 ) and of Omri, as appears from the Moabite stone.