Discovery BoxNumbers 6:12 
Context6:12 He must rededicate 1 to the Lord the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, 2 but the former days will not be counted 3 because his separation 4 was defiled.
Numbers 21:26
Context21:26 For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all of his land from his control, 5 as far as the Arnon.
1 tn The same idea is to be found now in the use of the word נָזַר (nazar), which refers to a recommitment after the vow was interrupted.
2 tn The necessity of bringing the reparation offering was due to the reinstatement into the vow that had been interrupted.
3 tn Heb “will fall”; KJV “shall be lost”; ASV, NASB, NRSV “shall be void.”
4 tc The similar expression in v. 9 includes the word “head” (i.e., “his consecrated head”). The LXX includes this word in v. 12 as well.
5 sn There is a justice, always, in the divine plan for the conquest of the land. Modern students of the Bible often think that the conquest passages are crude and unjust. But an understanding of the ancient Near East is critical here. This Sihon was not a part of the original population of the land. He himself invaded the territory and destroyed the population of Moab that was indigenous there and established his own kingdom. The ancient history is filled with such events; it is the way of life they chose – conquer or be conquered. For Israel to defeat them was in part a turning of their own devices back on their heads – “those that live by the sword will die by the sword.” Sihon knew this, and he did not wait, but took the war to Israel. Israel wanted to pass through, not fight. But now they would either fight or be pushed into the gorge. So God used Israel to defeat Sihon, who had no claim to the land, as part of divine judgment.
