The Heshbon War Song Names Sihons Conquest from Heshbon to Dibon and Nophah

Numbers 21:26-30 cites the ancient Heshbon war song to vindicate Israel's legitimate occupation of the Amorite territory: "For 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 unto Arnon. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared... We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba." The narrator's legal argument: Israel took the land from Sihon by right of war, not from Moab — so Moab's later complaints are theologically void.

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