Arnon River

Biblical References

The Arnon appears chiefly in the account of Israel's journey through the wilderness to the region east of the Jordan and in prophecies concerning Moab.

• Numbers 21:13-15: Israel encamps on the other side of the Arnon. The text describes the Arnon as the border between Moab and the Amorites and cites a work called "the book of the wars of the LORD."
• Numbers 21:21-26; Deuteronomy 2:24-36: Israel defeats Sihon, king of the Amorites, and takes possession of the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok. Sihon had earlier seized this territory from a former king of Moab (Numbers 21:26).
• Numbers 22:36: Balak, king of Moab, goes out to meet Balaam at a city of Moab on the border of the Arnon.
• Deuteronomy 3:8-16; Joshua 12:1-2; 13:9, 16: The land east of the Jordan from the Arnon to Mount Hermon is allotted to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon gorge, serves as the southern reference point.
• Judges 11:12-27: Jephthah replies to the king of Ammon that Israel did not encroach on the land of Moab south of the Arnon.
• 2 Kings 10:32-33: Hazael, king of Aram, attacks Israelite territory, beginning from Aroer by the Arnon gorge.
• Isaiah 16:2; Jeremiah 48:20: The fords of Arnon and the banks of the Arnon are mentioned in oracles of judgment against Moab.

Geography and Background

The Arnon flows westward from the plateau east of the Dead Sea and empties into the Dead Sea along its eastern shore. Because it has cut a deep canyon into the plateau, Scripture often calls it "the valley of Arnon," and its rugged terrain made it a natural boundary. It is widely identified with the Wadi Mujib in present-day Jordan. The name is sometimes explained as derived from a word meaning "to shout" or "to resound," but this etymology is uncertain.

The Mesha Stele, attributed to Mesha, the king of Moab who appears in 2 Kings 3, reportedly bears an inscription stating that he built Aroer and made a road at the Arnon.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Arnon appears above all as a boundary. In Deuteronomy 2:9 and 2:19, God commands Israel not to contend with Moab and Ammon, because He had given their lands to the descendants of Lot; Israel accordingly leaves the land of Moab south of the Arnon untouched while taking the territory to its north from Sihon. The Arnon is thus read both as the point where the conquest of the Promised Land begins near the close of the forty years in the wilderness and as a place that illustrates Deuteronomy's view that God sets the boundaries of the nations' lands. The Arnon is not mentioned directly in the New Testament.

Interpretive Issues

• The "three hundred years" of Judges 11:26: The period Jephthah mentions is frequently cited in debates over the date of the Exodus. Proponents of an early date use it as a basis for chronological calculation, while proponents of a late date regard it as a round number or as diplomatic rhetoric.
• The book of the wars of the LORD: This work, cited in Numbers 21:14, has not survived. It is cited as an example of a biblical author drawing on other sources, but any description of its contents remains speculative.
• Shifting boundaries: The Arnon was not always a fixed border. In Isaiah 15, Dibon and Heshbon, north of the Arnon, appear as Moabite cities, and the Mesha Stele is likewise understood to reflect a period when Moab extended its power northward.