Chapter 21 reads like a bunch of stuff that the ancient editors were like, “Yeah, that should go in.”
- A Canaanite king attacks Israelites and so God destroys his cities, boom! Num. 21:1-3
- Israelites get bitchy again, so God sends poisonous snakes, but then tells them about this trick where you put a snake on a pole, and then everyone bitten by a poisonous snake lives. Num. 21:4-9
- The Israelites kick a little Amorite ass Num. 21:21-31
- The Israelites beat another king Num. 21:32-33
Then Chapter 22 gets into the cool story of Balaam and his ass. Balaam seems to be a prophet of God. Which is weird because he is not Israelite as near as I can tell. Reminds me of Melchilzedek, Gen 14:18, also not Hebrew but evidently a priest of the Most High God.
Here‘s a link to the super weird story about an angel of the Lord standing by to kill Balaam, but luckily his donkey stops him from getting killed, then eventually speaks and tells him as much. (P.S. the whole “only say what I tell you bit,” was provided by God Godself right before crazy-donkey story.