After the Israelites moved away from the camp where the fiery serpents had bitten them, they came to a wilderness near the land of Moab. Although they found no water in this wilderness, they did not murmur, because now they were willing to trust in God. And God told Moses to gather them together into one place and he would give them water.
When the people came together, Moses told the chief men of the tribes to dig a well in the sand. And while these men dug down to find springs all the people sang cheerful songs. They believed God would fill the well with good water even before they saw it bubble up from the deep springs. They pleased God by believing thus in him, and they enjoyed drinking from this wilderness well.
Near by was the country where the Amorite people lived. “These were wicked people, who worshiped idols. Because their country lay between the Israelites’ camp and Canaan, Moses sent a message to Sihon, their king, asking him to let the Israelites pass through his land. But Sihon did not want them even to come near. He took his army and went out to fight against the Israelites. He thought he would drive them away, back into the wilderness.
But God helped the Israelites and gave them a great victory. They killed the wicked king and all of his soldiers, and afterwards they marched into his country and took it for their own land. They drove out all the Amorites who were living in the villages, and they even went into the cities where Sihon and his soldiers had lived.
Soon after this the Israelites marched on into the land of Bashan. They did not even ask Og, the king of Bashan, to let them pass through his country. He, too, was a wicked king like Sihon had been, and his people also bowed down to worship idols. When Og heard that the Israelites were coming, he went out with his army to meet them and to fight against them. The Lord told Moses not to be afraid of this king nor of his army, for He would help the Israelites again. And when they fought, the Israelites killed the whole army of Bashan and took their country just as they had taken the land of the Amorites. Now the long journey of forty years through the wilderness had come to an end. All of the old men except Moses and Caleb and Joshua had died in the wilderness. The Israelites had come again to the border of Canaan. Only the River Jordan separated them from the green hills and beautiful valleys of that promised land. They could look across the River and see the rich country, which God had promised to give to them for their own.