What Does Numbers 21:15 Mean?
And at the stream that bends down toward the settlement of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moab.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab.THE KEY
The verse locates a moving watercourse by what it leans against: even a path of flow is shaped by its point of support.
THE MEANING
The watercourse descends toward a dwelling and is described by the border it rests against. Its movement and its edge together make the place recognizable.
THE ROOT
וְנִשְׁעַן
wenish'an
GROWS FROM
שׁען
sh-ʿ-n
To lean on, rest against, or rely upon.
“leans upon” in this verse is wenish'an. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of leaning or relying beneath the English phrase “lieth upon.” The same root names a staff that supports a person, so the verse pictures the landscape through what its course rests against.
ALSO GROWS
mish'enet: Staff; support
מִשְׁעֶנֶת
The staff is named for its supporting function, linking the landscape’s resting edge with something that bears a person’s weight.
yishsha'en: He will lean on or rely upon
יִשָּׁעֵן
This verb form appears in Isaiah’s phrase “stay upon his God,” showing the same root can describe trust resting on its support.
THE PATTERN
Leaning gives shape to a relation: a course meets a boundary, a person has a staff, and trust rests on God.
And at the stream that bends down toward the settlement of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moab.Even though I walk through the valley of deepest darkness, I do not fear harm, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.Who among you is in awe of the LORD, hears and responds to the voice of his servant, walks in darkness, and has no glow? Let him lean his full weight upon the nature of the LORD, and rest upon his God.THE THREAD
Even though I walk through the valley of deepest darkness, I do not fear harm, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.The Hebrew word for “staff” is מִשְׁעֶנֶת (mish’enet), from the same root as “lieth upon” in Numbers. One verse uses the root for a course resting against a border; the other names a staff by the support it gives.
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