(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 21:10–20, “And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ijeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of Moab. And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah: And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon.”
Many of these places have changed names since the time that this account was written. After Israel took possession of the Promised Land they changed some of the place names. Much later the Assyrians, then the Babylonians took possession of many of these place and exiled the original inhabitants. The Greeks came after them and then the Romans. The Romans forced the Jews to leave Israel after Hadrian attacked and defeated Jerusalem and then the Arab armies conquered the Lands as well. There was some fighting between the Arab armies and Christian armies from Europe and the Arabs finally drove them out. The Land under discussion was part of the Turkish Empire until the middle of the last century when it was divided into a number of sovereign states. However, when Moses wrote this record of Israel’s travels the people knew exactly what he was talking about. We can believe that this is a true record of actual historical events. People trying to reconstruct them many thousands of years later might easily associate the wrong place with the wrong name.
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