Numbers 21:23-30: a reflection

23Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel. 24Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was fortified. 25Israel took all these cities. Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon. 27Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established; 28for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, The lords of the high places of the Arnon. 29Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. 30We have shot at them. Heshbon has perished even to Dibon. We have laid waste even to Nophah, Which reaches to Medeba.”

Israel asks Sihon, king of the Amorites, for peaceful passage through his land, promising not to harm his fields or vineyards. Sihon refuses, and instead gathers his army and comes out to attack Israel in the wilderness. But his aggression does not succeed; Israel defeats him, and ends up possessing the very land Sihon had refused to let them cross. The hostility he chose recoiled on him, and the opposition he raised became the occasion of Israel's inheritance.

Notice the turn. Sihon was under no obligation to grant passage, but he did not merely refuse; he chose to attack, to meet a peaceful request with hostility. And that choice was his undoing. What he intended as opposition to God's people became, in God's hand, the means by which they gained more than they had even asked for. The belligerence meant to stop them ended up serving their advance.

There is a quiet pattern here that recurs in Scripture: the opposition raised against God's purposes can become, in his hand, the very means of their fulfillment. What was meant to block often ends up serving the plan. That does not glorify the violence of these ancient wars, but it does witness to a God who is not thwarted by hostility, who can turn even the opposition raised against his people into their provision. When hostility rises against you as you follow God, remember that God is able to turn even that into the means of his purpose. The opposition Sihon raised became Israel's inheritance.

Lord, Sihon met a request for peace with hostility, and his aggression recoiled, becoming the means of Israel's inheritance. When opposition rises against me as I follow you, remind me that you are not thwarted by hostility, and that you can turn even what is meant to block your purposes into their fulfillment. Help me trust you when hostility rises, and see your hand even in the opposition.