Who was Sihon, king of the Amorites?

King of the Amorites, who, after his victory over the Moabites, was defeated and slain, with his army, by the Israelites. His territory was on the east of the Jordan, from the Arnon to the Jabbok: it was possessed by the Israelites. The victory is commemorated in two of the Psalms. Num. 21:21-35; Num. 32:33; Deut. 1:4; Deut. 2:24-36; Deut. 3:2-6; Joshua 12:2; Judges 11:19-22; Ps. 135:11; Ps. 136:19; Jer. 48:45.

Sihon was an Ammorite. This race descended from Ham through Canaan (Gen.10:15-16). Moses sent messengers to Sihon with a peaceful intention, asking to pass through his land strictly by the highway, offering to pay for food and water (vs.26-27). They had done the same in regard to Edom, but this time the results were different. The Amorite was not their brother as was Esau.

In both cases they were refused permission to pass. In the case of Edom, Israel turned away from them and around that land. But God hardened the spirit of Sihon with the object of delivering him into Israel's hand (v.30). Sihon came out against Israel to battle and Israel soundly defeated him, destroying men, women and children and taking possession of his cities (v.34). They took their livestock and other spoil, but spared none of the people (v.35). But they did not touch the people of Ammon, for they descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham (v.37).

From Moab Moses sent messengers to Sihon, an Amorite king, to request passage through their land (vs.21-22). When Sihon refused, however, Israel did not turn away, as they did from Edom. Sihon came out with an army to fight against Israel. What is the character of the Amorites? Their name means "Sayer," which reminds us of the Lord's words as to the scribes and Pharisees, "they say, and do not do" (Mt.23:3). They are those who have a form of godliness, but only know how to use their tongue to get their own way. Psalm 12:3-4 tells us, "May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, 'With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?'"

Israel's offer to pass through the land of the Amorites on the king's highway, without drinking of the waters of the well, was refused by Sihon their king, who "gathered all his people together … and fought against Israel" (Num. 21:21-23). This was the undoing of Sihon and his people, for Israel utterly defeated them, taking possession of their land from "Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon" (Num. 21:24). Heshbon, the city of Sihon, once belonged to Moab, but Israel did not take it from Moab but from the Amorites. About three hundred years after this, Jephthah quoted this to the king of the children of Ammon, when he claimed, as belonging to Ammon, the land that Israel had taken from Sihon, king of the Amorites (Judges 11:12-27). Og, king of Bashan, like Sihon, king of the Amorites, was delivered into Israel's hand by Jehovah, and Israel took possession of his land.

Now the moral importance of this was immense, for if they were simply doing the will and word of God, who could stand in their way? The object of the king of Ammon was to put the children of Israel in the wrong. Jephthah proves in the most triumphant way that the right was all on their side. "And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place." They did not wish to quarrel with the king of Heshbon, Amorite as he was, unless he were actually in the holy land; but it was of God that these Amorites, to their own ruin, would not let them pass peaceably through. This again makes the case of Israel still more clear, because it might have been supposed that surely the Amorite must be put out of the way, seeing that that most wicked race was devoted expressly to destruction. But no — "Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And Jehovah God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even to Jabbok."

(1) The victory over Sihon, and the meaning of the whole history, so far as we could learn it, have been considered already. What is emphasized here, as suited to Moses' purpose, is, that God gave him into their hand, even the stubbornness which refused passage to the advancing host being of Him, the iniquity of the Amorites being now full, and so the ban upon them being dwelt on also, by which Israel became simply the executioners of the divine judgment. It was with them neither lust of possession nor passion for destroying which brought on Sihon and his people this merciless extirpation. The mercy was for the world, in rooting out of it a virulent evil. The indictment against them is given elsewhere; and the execution of God's sentence put into Israel's hand was well calculated to impress them with a sense of divine holiness which should not leave them.

Hence, then, Israel were not permitted to meddle with the possessions of any of these three nations, the Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites. But, in the very next sentence, we see another thing altogether in the case of the Amorites. "Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle."

We meet with people with whom we do not wish to have war, but they will not let us pass peaceably. Our warfare is with the possessors of our inheritance beyond Jordan. If we are attacked, we must defend ourselves; but we are not to be aggressors. Israel wishes to pass quietly through the land of the Amorites; but these will not allow it, and they suffer the consequences of the war they had sought against the people of God. Israel takes their cities, and begins already on this side Jordan to realise, as if beforehand, the possession of the promise.

But Israel is called to action. "Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace." Is not this very notable? What a difference between God's conduct of His people, and man's corruption of it! When we compare, for instance, the way in which Moses, under the direction of God, was to lead on the Israelites, and the way in which Mahomet perverted the word into a fable for ambitious ends, and allowance of human lusts and passions, who cannot see the difference? In the one case there was the thorough sifting and scrutiny of God — with whom most? With the enemies? Not at all, but His own people. In His dealings with them He applied a higher standard, and far more severity. There was incomparably greater strictness of judgment with the children of Israel than with all their enemies put together. Mark the very fact here set before us: not a single man of the congregation of Jehovah that left Egypt passed into the holy land save two individuals, who identified themselves by faith from the very first with the glory of Jehovah. Where else can be found such jealous care as this? It is granted that they did not all perish in the same way, but they all fell in the wilderness. Whatever then the blows which fell on Sihon, or on Og, or on any of the others; whatever the ways of God with Moab and Ammon afterwards, or even with Egypt, there never was seen such unsparing strictness as with Israel.

Arriving near the borders of Canaan, where they were now camping, they conquered Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, when these came to attack Israel. They took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manessah (v.28). All of this proved the faithfulness of God toward Israel, which was consistent and unfailing.