CHAPTER IX _The Israelites are reminded of the law that required them to_ _keep the passover at its proper time, and with all its rites_, 1-3. _They kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first_ _month_, 4, 5. _The case of the men who, being unclean through touching a dead_ _body, cou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:3. _ACCORDING TO ALL THE RITES OF IT_] See all those rites and ceremonies largely explained in Clarke's notes on Exodus 12:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:7. _WE_ ARE _DEFILED BY THE DEAD BODY OF A MAN_] It is probable that the defilement mentioned here was occasioned by assisting at the burial of some person - a work both of necessity and mercy. This circumstance however gave rise to the ordinance delivered in Numbers 9:10-4, so that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:15. _THE CLOUD COVERED THE TABERNACLE_] See the whole account of this supernatural cloud largely explained, Exodus 23:21; and Exodus 40:34-2. Calmet observes that the _15_th verse, beginning a new subject, should begin a new chapter, as it has no connection with what goes before; an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:21. _WHETHER - BY DAY OR BY NIGHT_] As the heat of the day is very severe in that same desert, the _night season_ is sometimes chosen for the performance of a journey; though it is very likely that in the case of the Israelites this was seldom resorted to.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:22. _TWO DAYS - A MONTH - A YEAR_] It was by the Divine counsel alone that they were directed in all their peregrinations: and from the above words we see that their _times of tarrying_ at different stations were very unequal.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 9:23. _KEPT THE CHARGE OF THE LORD_] When we consider the strong disposition which this people ever testified to follow their own will in all things, we may be well surprised to find them, in these journeyings, so implicitly following the directions of God. There could be no trick or i... [ Continue Reading ]