SIHON sī’ hŏn (סִיחֹ֥ן, סִיחֹֽון). Name of the Amorite king the Israelites defeated on their way to Canaan.

1. A Trans-Jordan king Moses defeated (Num 21:21-30). Sihon was the king of the Amorites to whom Moses sent messengers, hoping to obtain permission to lead the Israelites through his land. He refused to grant this permission; rather he went out against Israel with his army, was defeated and slain. Israel then claimed his land as its first conquered area. Heshbon had been his capital city; his southern boundary was the Arnon; and his northern boundary was the Jabbok (Num 21:24). Further, his land was a land of many villages and cities (21:25). His land became a part of the Trans-Jordan claimed and settled by Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh.

2. Defeat of Sihon remembered and retold. Moses’ defeat of Sihon was a great event remembered centuries later, because of Israel’s phenomenal historical memory. Ballad singers made a poetic account of Sihon’s downfall a part of their repertoire (Num 21:27-30). Moses used it as a meaningful reference to the past when he spoke to Israel “beyond the Jordan” and endeavored “to explain the law” (Deut 1:5). He retold the great victory over Sihon (2:24-37) in order to recall how it had been a rallying point in going against Og of Bashan (3:1-11), and to inspire confidence in God with respect to nations still before them across the Jordan (29:7; 31:4). It is of interest to observe that other peoples told about Sihon’s defeat and spread the news, causing dread among the inhabitants on the W side of the Jordan (Josh 2:10; 9:10).

Joshua used Sihon’s defeat as a significant point of reference in Israel’s past as he recounted great victories and apportioned the conquered land to certain tribes (12:2, 5; 13:10, 21, 27). Historians included occasional references to it: Jephthah confronted by the belligerent Ammonites related to them how Sihon dared to engage Israel in battle and how he had been defeated (Judg 11:12-28, esp. vv. 19 and 20); the territory assigned by Solomon to Geber in Trans-Jordan was known as Gilead and also as “the country of Sihon king of the Amorites” (1 Kings 4:19). Ezra, addressing his people in a public confession of sin, spoke about great events of Israel’s past, including the defeat of Sihon (Neh 9:22). Psalmists reviewing and retelling past events wrote and sang about the way God gave victory over Sihon (Pss 135:11; 136:19). Jeremiah in an oracle against Moab declared that destructive fire shall come forth from the “house of Sihon” to bring about the collapse of Moab (Jer 48:45).

Bibliography R. F. Johnson, “Sihon,” IDB, R-Z (1962), 351.