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Bible Dictionaries
Sihon
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or King of the Amorites. Shortly before Israel's approach he had dispossessed Moab of all their territory N. of Arnon. An Israelite poet celebrates Sihon's victory, glorifying Heshbon as the city from whence "a flame" went forth "consuming Ar of Moab," so that "Moab's sons their idol ("Chemosh") rendered fugitives, and yielded his daughters into captivity unto Sihon"! then by a sudden startling transition the poet introduces Israel's triumph in turn over Sihon. "We ("Israelites") have shot at them, Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, with fire even unto Medeba." Israel begged leave to pass peaceably through the Amorite land by the king's highway, but "Sihon gathered all his people" and came to Jahaz (between Dibon and Medeba) and fought against Israel and was defeated. Churlishness and unprovoked violence bring their own punishment (Proverbs 16:18; Proverbs 18:12; Numbers 21:21-31). So Israel gained all the Amorite territory, from the Arnon to the Jabbok. Josephus says that every man in the nation fit to bear arms fought in the Amorite army against Israel (Ant. 4:, section 2). The struggle was a desperate one; no mere human force enabled Israel, heretofore unused to warfare, to subdue so formidable a king and conqueror as Sihon. Pride of conquest was his snare.
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Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Sihon'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/s/sihon.html. 1949.
