_THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL MEDITATE A RETURN INTO EGYPT; GOD PRONOUNCES THAT ALL FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND UPWARDS SHALL DIE IN THE WILDERNESS: THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL REPENT; AND FIGHTING AGAINST THE AMALEKITES, CONTRARY TO THE WILL OF GOD, ARE DISCOMFITED._ _Before Christ 1490._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAID ONE TO ANOTHER, LET US MAKE A CAPTAIN— We learn from Nehemiah 9:17 that they actually appointed a captain in the height of this their mutiny, insolence, and ingratitude, not only against Moses and Aaron, but against the Lord himself, who, in so wonderful a manner, had delivered them from E... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES AND AARON FELL ON THEIR FACES BEFORE ALL THE ASSEMBLY— Either to beseech the people to desist from their rebellion, as Joseph's brethren fell upon their faces before him in order to make their peace with him, Genesis 33:6 or rather they did this to deprecate the divine displeasure, as in ch. N... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND WHICH WE PASSED THROUGH TO SEARCH IT, &C.— This account of the land of Canaan, given by Joshua and Caleb, is plainly in opposition to that given in the former chapter, Numbers 14:32. They first declare it to be an _exceeding good land, a land flowing with milk and honey;_ they then assert,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL THE CONGREGATION, &C.— This would be rendered more emphatically, _but all the congregation bade stone them with stones,_ when the glory of the Lord appeared upon _the tabernacle,_ &c. for by the awful and timely appearance of the glory of the Lord they were prevented from executing their ras... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SMITE THEM WITH THE PESTILENCE— See Exodus 9:15; Exodus 9:35 where a similar transaction is expressed in a similar manner. It appears from Numbers 14:15 that Moses understood this denunciation of the pestilence as importing a general destruction of the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WILL TELL IT, &C.— Houbigant, remarking justly the embarrassment of this verse, by a slight alteration of the text reads it thus: _and in truth, all the inhabitants of this land have heard that though,_ &c. which is agreeable to the LXX. for ואמרו, _vemru,_ they _will tell,_ he reads ואולם,... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE POWER OF MY LORD BE GREAT— That this _power_ of the Lord refers to what follows, is evident to every reader. I cannot, therefore, help greatly approving the following version of Houbigant: _Wherefore, I beseech thee, let that magnificence of my Lord appear, which thou didst discover when say... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD IS LONG SUFFERING, &C.— See Exodus 34:6. Moses urges the general benignity and mercy of God; and, upon the strength of this, intercedes for the people, though confessedly deserving that punishment which God had decreed for the guilty. His argument turns upon the consideration of the divine... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE PARDONED, &C.— That is, "At thy intercession I have spared their lives, and will not immediately destroy them; but, in testimony of my severe displeasure, this murmuring generation shall be excluded from the promised land." The next verse is so rendered as to seem to have no connection with t... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MY SERVANT CALEB— And Joshua, who, though omitted here, is mentioned Numbers 14:30 and chap. Numbers 32:12. Calmet observes from Origen, that it is most probable that the priests and Levites were not in the number of the murmurers; for they were not of those who were numbered from twenty years o... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE AMALEKITES— Instead of this awkward parenthesis, which strangely embarrasses the sense, the passage should be rendered as Houbigant and almost all the ancient versions render it, _But now, because the Amalekites and Canaanites dwell in the valley, turn you to-morrow, and get you,_ &c. _To-mo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES— This might be rendered better, _Moreover the Lord spake,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
I SWARE TO MAKE YOU DWELL THEREIN— The phrase is not, _I sware_ to you _to make you dwell therein,_ but _I sware,_ that is, _to Abraham,_ to make you, that is, _his seed,_ not _you_ as individuals but as a people; for had that settlement been promised to them as individuals, it had been inconsistent... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR CHILDREN SHALL WANDER, &C.— _Shall associate together like a flock,_ רעים _raim;_ which possibly alludes to the manner of the Arabian shepherds, who removed their tents from place to place that they might find pasture for their flocks. The forty years are to be reckoned from their first coming... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KNOW MY BREACH OF PROMISE— My vengeance, _Waterland._ There is nothing for _of promise_ in the original. Dr. Waterland follows many of the ancient versions. Houbigant renders it, _and ye shall know that I have broken my covenant with you:_ the Hebrew, says he, is literally, _my abrogation o... [ Continue Reading ]
DIED BY THE PLAGUE, &C.— Rather, _were struck dead before the Lord,_ who immediately gave them this terrible proof of his wrath, and pledge of the performance of what he had denounced and promised.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ROSE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING— The people, struck with a temporary concern, a transient fit of slavish fear, as the sequel too clearly proves; were now as forward to advance as they had been backward before; and, though dissuaded by Moses from their rash attempt, still prone to disobey, they ven... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY PRESUMED, &C.— _"They loftily presumed, or took on them,_ by violence, _with a lofty presumptuous mind._ The word עפל, whose primary signification is a _tower_ or _fort,_ signifieth also a _drawing-back_ from God by unbelief, Hebrews 10:36; Hebrews 10:39. So here, in this their presumptuous... [ Continue Reading ]