THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES,CALLED
NUMBERS
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THE ARGUMENT
This Book giveth us a history of almost forty years travel of the children of Israel through the wilderness, where we have an account of their journeys, and what happened to them therein, with their government, and how they were managed thereby; called Numbers by reason of the several numberings of the people, as at the offerings of the princes, and at their several journeys, etc. But especially two: one, Chapter 1, out of which the priests and Levites were excepted, but numbered by themselves, viz. in the second year after they were come out of Egypt, in the first month whereof the passover was instituted; with the order about the tabernacle, both of the Levites and people, and their several marches, encampings, and manner of pitching their tents, the priests’ maintenance and establishment, by the miraculous budding of Aaron’s rod, with the several impediments in their marches, both among themselves by several murmurings, seditions, and conspiracies; and from their enemies, viz. the Edomites, Canaanites, over whom having obtained a victory, and afterwards murmuring, they were stung with fiery serpents, and cured by the brazen one; Amorites, whose kings, Sihon and Og, they overcame and slew; and Moabites, where by the allurements of Balaam, who was hired by Balak to curse Israel, they joined themselves to Baalpeor, and are plagued for it; that openly opposed them. The other chief numbering is in Chapter 26, where they are found almost as many as at the first, though among them were none of the first numbering, (according to what God had threatened, Chapter 14,) save Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, by reason of their desire to return back into Egypt upon the discouraging report often of those twelve that Moses sent to spy out the land; whereupon they were forced to wander above thirty-eight years in the wilderness; where he gave them several laws, civil, ecclesiastical, and military; as also particular directions about women’s inheriting, occasioned by the case of Zelophehad’s daughters, and concerning vows; and then brings them back to the borders of Canaan, where, after divers victories obtained against their enemies, they were directed how the land of Canaan was to be divided among the tribes, and what portion the Levites were to have among them, together with six cities of refuge set apart for the manslayer. At length Aaron being dead, and Eleazar placed in his stead, and Moses also having received the sentence of death, doth, by God’s appointment, deliver up the people unto the charge and conduct of Joshua.
NUMBERS 1
Num 1:1-3: God commands Moses and Aaron to number the people that were fit for war.
Num 1:4-16: Twelve captains chose, of every tribe one; their names; the number of each tribe,
Num 1:47-54: The Levites exempt; to take care of the tabernacle; the other tribes camping round it.
Num 1:1. They now had been in the wilderness a full year, or near it, as may be gathered by comparing this place with Exod 19:1; Exod 40:17, and other places. In the tabernacle; from the mercy seat.
Num 1:2. This is not the same muster with that Exod 38:26, as plainly appears, because that was before the building of the tabernacle, which was built and set up on the first day of the first month, Exod 40:2; but this was after it, to wit, on the first day of the second month, as is said Num 1:1. And they were for differing ends; that was to tax them for the charges of the tabernacle, but this was for other ends; partly, that the great number of the people might be known to the praise of God’s faithfulness, in making good his promises of multiplying them, and to their own comfort and encouragement; partly, for the better ordering of their camp and march, for they were now beginning their journey; and partly, that this account might be compared with the other in the close of the book, where we read that not one of all this vast number, except Caleb and Joshua, were left alive; which was an evident discovery of the mischievous nature of sin, by which so vast a company were destroyed, and a fair warning to all future generations to take heed of rebelling against the Lord, for which their ancestors had been so dreadfully plagued even to extirpation. It is true, the sums and numbers agree in this and that computation, which is not strange, because there was not much time between the two numberings, and no eminent sin among the people in that interval whereby God was provoked to diminish their numbers. Some conceive, that in that number, Exod 30; Exod 38, the Levites were included, which are here excepted, Num 1:47, and that in that interval of time there were grown up as many more men of those years as there were Levites of the same age. Of the children of Israel; so the stranger mixed with them were not numbered. The people were divided into twelve tribes, the tribes into great families, Num 26:5; these great families into lesser families, called the houses of their fathers, because they were distinguished one from another by their fathers.
Num 1:3-4. To inspect the work, that it might be faithfully and impartially done.
Num 1:5. With you, to wit, with Moses and Aaron, who were the chief managers of the work. The tribes are here numbered according to the order or quality of their birth, first the children of Leah, then of Rachel, and then of the handmaids.
Num 1:6-14. Called Reuel, Num 2:14, the Hebrew letters daleth and resh being very like, and oft changed.
Num 1:15-16. The renowned, Heb. the named or called, to wit, by Moses and by God’s appointment, to manage this affair, and others as there was occasion. Compare Num 16:2; Num 26:9. Heads of thousands. See Exod 18:21; Num 10:4.
Num 1:17-20. By their generations, Heb. to wit, their generations, i.e. the persons begotten of Reuben’s immediate children, who are here subdivided into families, and they into houses, and they into particular persons.
Num 1:21-27. Far more than any other tribe, in accomplishing of Jacob’s prophecy, Gen 49.
Num 1:28-33. Above eight thousand more than Manasseh, towards the accomplishment of that promise, Gen 48:20, which the devil in vain attempted to defeat by stirring up the men of Gath against them, 1 Chron 7:21-22
Num 1:34-37. The smallest number, except one, though Benjamin had more immediate children than any of his brethren, Gen 46:21; whereas Dan had but one immediate son, Gen 46:23, yet now his number is the biggest but one of all the tribes, and is almost double to that of Benjamin. Such great and strange changes God easily can, and frequently doth, make in families, 1 Sam 2:5. And therefore let none boast or please themselves too much in their numerous offspring.
Num 1:38-49. Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, Num 1:3,20,45 but were to attend upon the service or the tabernacle, and therefore are reserved to another distinct muster, Num 3:15; Num 4:2, etc. And lost this should be thought to, be designed and done through Moses’s ambition to give his own tribe the preeminence, he assures them it was done by God’s express command.
Num 1:50. The tabernacle of testimony; so called here, and Exod 38:21 because it was made chiefly for the sake of the ark of the testimony, 2 Sam 7:2, which is oft called the testimony, as hath been observed before.
Num 1:51. The stranger elsewhere is one of another nation, here one of another tribe, one no Levite. That cometh nigh, so as to do the offices mentioned Num 1:50.
Num 1:52-53. No wrath, to wit, from God, who is very tender of his worship, and will not suffer the profaners of it to go unpunished; whose wrath is called simply wrath by way of eminency, as the most terrible kind of wrath. Shall keep the charge, i.e. shall suffer no stranger to approach through curiosity, or any other motive.
NUMBERS 2
Num 2:1-2: Order for the marches and camping of the tribes.
Num 2:3-9: Judah on the east side, with Issachar and Zebulun, who led the van.
Num 2:10-17: Reuben on the south side, with Simeon and Gad; then the tabernacle was to follow, the Levites camping round it.
Num 2:18-24: Ephraim on the west side, with Manasseh and Benjamin.
Num 2:25-31: Dan on the north quarter, with Asher and Naphtali.
Num 2:1-2. By his own standard, or ensign, by that to which he is allotted by the following order. It is manifest that there were four great standards or ensigns, which here follow, distinguished by their colours or figures, or otherwise; also that there were other particular ensigns belonging to each of their father’s houses or families, as is here said. Far off; partly out of reverence to God and his worship, and the portion allotted to it, and partly for caution, lest their vicinity to it might tempt them to make too near approaches to it. It is supposed they were at two thousand cubits distance from it, which was the space between the people and the ark, Josh 3:4, and it is not improbable, because the Levites encamped round about it between them and the tabernacle.
Num 2:3-5. Issachar and Zebulun were Leah’s two youngest sons, and therefore would more contentedly submit to Judah.
Num 2:6-9. This was the most numerous camp, because they marched first, as being placed on the east and going towards the east, and because they guarded the sanctuary.
Num 2:10. Reuben being the firstborn, was the leader of the second camp.
Num 2:11-14. Called Deuel, Num 1:14, the Hebrew letters daleth and resh being very like, and oft changed, as appears by comparing Gen 10:3, with 1 Chron 1:6; Gen 36:26,38, with 1 Chron 1:41,50.
Num 2:15-17. In the midst of the camp, which is not to be understood strictly or exactly, but largely; for in their march they were divided, and part of that tribe marched next after Judah, Num 10:17, and the other part exactly in the midst of the camp.
Num 2:18. Ephraim is here preferred before his brother, according to the prophecy, Gen 48:19-20.
Num 1:19-31. The strongest camp next after Judah, and therefore he comes in the rear, as Judah marched in the front, that the tabernacle might be best guarded where there was most danger.
Num 1:32-33. Because their warfare was of another kind.
Num 1:34. By their standards, i.e. each of them under his principal standard.
NUMBERS 3
Num 3:1-4: The genealogy of Moses, Aaron, and his sons, Nadab and Abihu.
Num 3:5-10: The Levites are joined with them in the administration of the tabernacle,
Num 3:11-13: instead of all the firstborn.
Num 3:14-39: The three families of the Levites numbered.
Num 3:40-43: The firstborn numbered.
Num 3:41-51: Being more than the Levites, some of them are redeemed, and the money given to Aaron and his sons.
Num 3:1. These which follow in this chapter are the generations, i.e. either, 1. The things done by them; as the word generation is sometimes used, as Gen 6:9; Gen 25:19; Gen 37:2. Or rather, 2. The kindred or family, for that is the subject of this chapter, and not their events or actions. Objection. Aaron’s family indeed is here mentioned, but not Moses’s family. Answer. Moses’s family and children are here included under the general name of the Amramites, Num 3:27, which includes all the children and grandchildren of Amram, the persons only of Aaron and Moses being excepted. And the generations of Moses are thus obscurely mentioned, because they were but common Levites, the priesthood being given solely to Aaron’s posterity, whence Aaron is here put before Moses, who elsewhere is commonly named after him. In the day that the Lord spake with Moses in Mount Sinai: this seems to be added, because Nadab and Abihu, mentioned Num 3:2, were then alive, though dead at the time of taking this account.
Num 3:2-4. In the time of Aaron’s life, as this phrase is taken, Num 3:4; see also Ps 72:5,17; and under their father’s inspection and direction, and as their father’s servants or ministers in the priest’s office; for servants are oft described by this phrase of being, or standing, or serving in the sight or presence of their master.
Num 3:5-6. Present them; offer them to the lord for his special service. This was promised to them before, and now actually conferred upon them.
Num 3:7. His charge, i.e. Aaron’s charge, or those things which are committed principally to Aaron’s care and oversight, and under him and his direction to the Levites. Of the whole congregation, i.e. of all the sacrifices and services which are due to the Lord from all the people, and because all the people could not and might not perform them, or at least divers of them, in their own persons, therefore they were to be performed by some particular persons in their name and stead; formerly by the firstborn, Num 8:16, and now by the Levites. See Num 1:53; Num 16:9. Before the tabernacle, emphatically; not within the tabernacle, for the care of these things within the holy place was appropriated to the priests, as the care of the most holy place was peculiar to the high priest.
Num 3:8. The charge of the children of Israel; those things which all the children of Israel are in their several places and stations obliged to take care of, though not in their persons, yet by others in their stead.
Num 3:9. Given unto him, to attend upon him and observe his orders, and ease him of part of his burden in things hereafter mentioned.
Num 3:10. They shall wait, in their own persons, not by the Levites. The stranger, i.e. every one who is of another family than Aaron’s, yea, though he be a Levite. See Num 1:53; Num 16:40. That cometh nigh, to wit, to execute any part of the priest’s office.
Num 3:11-12. Instead of all the firstborn, who were God’s propriety by right of redemption, Exod 13:12, and to whom the administration of holy things was formerly committed, which now was taken away from them, either because they had forfeited this privilege by joining with the rest of their brethren in the idolatrous worship of the calf, or because they were to be mainly concerned in the distribution and management of the inheritances which now they were going to possess, and therefore could not be at leisure to attend upon the service of the sanctuary; which made it fit that this work should be committed to other hands. And God would not commit it to some other persons in each tribe, which might be an occasion of idolatry, confusion, division, and contempt of sacred things, but to one distinct tribe, which might be entirely devoted to that service, and particularly to the tribe of Levi; partly, out of his respect to Moses and Aaron, branches of this tribe; partly, as a recompence of their zeal for God and against idolaters; see Exod 32:26,29; Deut 33:9; and partly, because it was the smallest of the tribes, and therefore most likely to find both employment in and maintenance for the work.
Num 3:13. Who may appoint whom I please for my service.
Num 3:14-15. From a month old, because at that time the firstborn, in whose stead the Levites came, Num 8:16, were offered to God, Luke 2:22, and to be redeemed, Num 18:16. And from that time the Levites were consecrated to God, and were as soon as they were capable,’ to be instructed in their work. Elsewhere they are numbered from twenty-five years old, when they were entered as novices to part of their work, Num 8:24; and from thirty years old, when they were completely admitted to their whole office.
Num 3:16-25. The tabernacle; not the boards, which belonged to Merari, Num 3:36, but the ten curtains mentioned Exod 26:1. The tent, to wit, the curtains of goats’ hair. The covering thereof, i.e. the coverings of rams’ skins and badgers’ skins. See Num 4:25.
Num 3:26. The cords, by which the tabernacle was fastened to the pins, and stretched out, Exod 35:18.
Num 3:27. This family had many privileges above the others; of that were Moses and Aaron, and all the priests; they had the chief place about the tabernacle, and the care of the most holy things here below, Num 3:31; and in the land of Canaan they had twenty-three cities, which were almost as many as both their brethren received. See Josh 21.
Num 3:28. Keeping, or keepers, etc., i.e. appointed for that work, as soon as they were capable of it. Of the sanctuary, i.e. of those holy things contained in or nearly belonging to the sanctuary, expressed Num 3:31.
Num 3:29-31. The hanging, which covered the most holy place, for all other hangings belonged to the Gershonites. All the service thereof, i.e. all the other furniture belonging to it, of which see Num 4:7,9,14.
Num 3:32. Eleazar shall be chief, next under the high priest; whence he is called the second priest, 2 Kings 25:18; and in case of the high priest’s absence by sickness or other necessary occasions, he was to perform his work, 1 Kings 4:4; and he had a superiority over all the rest of the priests and Levites. Over the chief of the Levites, i.e. over those three persons, who were each the chief of their several families; of whom see here, Num 3:24,31,35.
Num 3:33-37. Therefore these were for another use than those mentioned Num 3:26.
Num 3:38. For the charge of the children of Israel; either in their stead, that charge which they were obliged to keep either by themselves, or by others appointed by them, if God had not committed it to those; or for their good, and service, and benefit; for their preservation, as the word may be rendered.
Num 3:39. Objection. But if the particular numbers, mentioned Num 3:22,28,34, be put together, they make exactly 22,300. Answer. The odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the Holy Scripture, which in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or because they were the firstborn of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other firstborn. See Lev 27:26. If this number of firstborn seem very small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such firstborn are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes from twenty years old, Num 1, with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their firstborn be less than in other tribes. Although if the other tribes had been computed from a month old, as this was, their number of 600,000 had probably been double or treble to that; and consequently the number of their firstborn being 22,273 Num 3:43, would have been as unproportionable to their whole sum, as this of 300 firstborn Levites seems to their whole number. And some add, that only those firstborn are numbered, both in this and in the other tribes, which were born since they came out of Egypt, when God challenged all the firstborn to be his.
Num 3:40. That they may be compared with the number of the Levites for the reason here following.
Num 3:41. Instead of all the firstborn, to wit, such are now alive of them, but those which should be born of them hereafter are otherwise disposed. The cattle of the Levites; not that they were to be taken from the Levites, or to be sacrificed to God, any more than the Levites themselves were, but that they together with the Levites were to be presented before the Lord by way of acknowledgment, that the Levites might be set apart for God’s service, and their cattle for themselves as God’s ministers, and for their support in God’s work.
Num 3:42-45. Take the Levites, to wit, the 22,000 reckoned up Num 3:39, of which see the notes there.
Num 3:46-47. Five shekels apiece was the price to be paid for the redemption of a firstborn a month old, Num 18:15-16; but this money, though paid for these 273 persons, was probably paid out of the common stock of all, except lots were cast who should pay, which is not probable in so small a concern accompanied with so much trouble.
Num 3:48. To whom all the Levites were given, and therefore the money which came in their stead.
NUMBERS 4
Num 4:1-16: God commands the Levites to be numbered from thirty till fifty years, fit for the service of the tabernacle; their charge.
Num 4:17-20: Of the Kohathites.
Num 4:21-28: Of the Gershonites.
Num 4:29-33: Of the sons of Merari.
Num 4:34-45: The number of each.
Num 4:46-49: Of all in general.
Num 4:1-3. From thirty years old: this age was prescribed, as the age of full strength of body, and therefore most proper for their present laborious work of carrying the parts and vessels of the tabernacle; and of maturity of judgment, which is necessary for the right management of holy services; whence even John and Christ entered not upon their ministry till that age. And it may still seem to be the fittest season for men’s undertaking the ministry of the gospel, except in case of extraordinary abilities, or the church’s pressing necessity. Objection. They might enter upon this work at their twenty-fifth year, Num 8:24, and in David’s time and afterward at their twentieth year. Answer 1. Their first entrance upon their work was at their twenty-fifth year, when they began as learners, and acted only under the inspection and direction of their brethren; but in their thirtieth year they were completely admitted to a full discharge of their whole office. 2. David, being a prophet, and particularly directed by God in the affairs of the temple, might and did make a change in this matter, which he might the better do, both because it was but a change in a circumstance, and because the magnificence of the temple, and the great multitude of sacred utensils and sacrifices, required a greater number of attendants than formerly was necessary. Until fifty years old, when they were exempted from the toilsome work of carrying burdens, but not discharged from the honourable and easy work done within the tabernacle, Num 8:26. All that enter, i.e. that do and may enter, having no defect, Lev 21:17, nor other impediment. The society of sacred ministers he calls a host, because of that excellent order which was among them, as to persons, place, time, the matter and manner of their services.
Num 4:4. Hereafter mentioned, as the ark, table, altar, etc. Compare Num 3:31.
Num 4:5. For upon this necessary occasion the inferior priests are allowed to come into the holy of holies, which otherwise was peculiar to the high priest, Heb 9:7. The covering veil; the second veil; of which see Exod 26:31, etc. Lev 4:6; Heb 9:3; where, with the ark was covered while the tabernacle stood, Exod 40:3. And cover the ark; because the Levites, who were to carry the ark, might neither see nor immediately touch it.
Num 4:6. By the covering of badgers’ skins the ark was secured from the injuries of the weather.
Objection. How could these staves be put in, when they were never to be taken out, Exod 25:15, compared with 1 Kings 8:8. Answer 1. These places may speak of the staves while the ark and tabernacle stood, but when they were to be removed the posture of all things was altered. 2. The Hebrew verb doth not signify putting in, but barely putting, or placing, or disposing, and may be understood not of putting the staves into the rings, wherein they constantly remained, but of the putting of them either upon their shoulders to try and fit them for carriage, or into the holes or receptacles which probably were made in these coverings for the receiving and covering of these gilded staves, to keep them both from the touch of the Levites, and from the inconveniences of bad weather.
Num 4:7. Of shewbread, Heb. of faces or presence, for of the bread of faces or presence, i.e. of the bread which was continually standing in the presence of the Lord. The dishes, upon which the shewbread was put. The continual bread, i.e. shewbread; so called because it was continually to be there, even in the wilderness; where though they had only manna for themselves, yet they reserved corn for the weekly making of these loaves, which they might with no great difficulty procure from some of the people bordering upon the wilderness in the innermost parts whereof they were.
Num 4:8-10. So contrived that this cloth containing the candlestick etc., might be either laid upon it, or some other way fastened to it.
Num 4:11. The golden altar; all covered with plates of gold.
Num 4:12. The instruments of ministry; the sacred garments used by the priests in their holy ministrations. See Exod 31:10.
Num 4:13. From the altar of burnt-offerings; whereby it may seem probable, though it be denied by most, that they did offer some sacrifices in the wilderness, though it may not be so frequently nor orderly as afterwards they did. Whence else were these ashes? And there are some undeniable instances of their sacrificing there, as Exod 18:12; Exod 24:4; Num 7, etc.; from which it seems rational to conclude that they did offer sacrifices at other times, though not so constantly and diligently as they did in Canaan. And for the argument against it from Amos 5:25, that may be easily dissolved, as we shall there see, if the Lord please. Moreover the taking away of the ashes only doth sufficiently imply that the fire was preserved, which as it came down from heaven, Lev 9, so it was by God’s command to be continually fed and kept burning, and therefore doubtless was put into some vessel, which might be either fastened to the altar and put within this covering, or carried by some person appointed thereunto.
Num 4:14. Amongst all these vessels here and above named there is no mention of the brazen laver though that be elsewhere reckoned among the holy things, as Exod 35:16; Exod 38:8; Exod 39:39; Exod 40:30, whereof possibly the reason may be because it was not covered, as not being capable of much hurt by the weather; though some ancient translations of the Bible do here add these words, They shall take a purple covering, and cover the laver, etc.
Num 4:15. The sons of Kohath shall bear it, to wit upon their shoulders, not upon carts or waggons, as appears from Num 7:9, the neglect of which order did provoke the Lord, 2 Sam 6:6-7; 1 Chron 13:7; 1 Chron 15:12, etc. Afterward the priests themselves, being multiplied, carried these things, as appears from Deut 31:9; Josh 3:6; Josh 8:33; 1 Sam 4:4, though the Levites also were not excluded, 2 Chron 5:5. They shall not to any holy thing; immediately, or before they be covered. Lest they die, as some did for that sin. See 1 Sam 6:19; 2 Sam 6:6-7.
Num 4:16. i.e. He himself is to carry these things, and not to commit them to the sons of Kohath. The daily meat-offering of fine flour, which was to be offered every morning and evening with the daily burnt-offering. See Exod 29:38-39. The oversight of all the tabernacle, i.e. the care that all the things above mentioned be carried by the persons and in the manner expressed.
Num 4:17-18. i.e. Do not by your neglect provoke God to cut them off for touching the holy things.
Num 4:19. To his service; to that which is peculiarly allotted to him, the services and burdens being equally distributed among them.
Num 4:20-25. The curtains of the tabernacle, i.e. the curtains or covering of goats’ hair. The tabernacle of the congregation, i.e. the ten curious curtains which covered the boards of the tabernacle; for the boards themselves were carried by the Merarites. His covering, i.e. the covering of rams’ skins which was put next over those ten curtains.
Num 4:26. The gate of the court, i.e. which court compassed both the tabernacle and the altar, Exod 27:16.
Num 4:27-28. Under his conduct and direction. Thus the hand of Hege, Esther 2:3, is his care and custody.
Num 4:29-31. Which were as the feet upon which the pillars stood; of which see Exod 38:27.
Num 4:32. Every part and parcel therefore shall be put in an inventory; which is required here rather than in the foregoing particulars, partly, because these were much more numerous than the former; partly, because being meaner things, and such as might easily be supplied, they might otherwise have been neglected; and partly, to teach us that God esteems nothing small in his worship and service, and that he expects his will should be observed in the minutest circumstances.
Num 4:33-44. Here appears the wisdom of Divine Providence, that whereas in the Kohathites and Gershonites, whose burdens were fewer and easier, there were but about a third part of them which were fit for service, the Merarites, whose burdens were more and heavier, had above one half of them fit for this work.
Num 4:45-48. Which number was much inferior to any other tribe, for the reasons mentioned on Num 3:39.
NUMBERS 5
Num 5:1-4: God commands to put away all unclean persons from the camp; it is executed.
Num 5:5-10: Restitution commanded, and an offering, especially of hallowed things, which belong to the priest.
Num 5:11-31: Laws in case of jealousy, bitter water ordained.
Num 5:1-2. Out of the camp, in which the people dwelt; as afterward out of the cities and towns, that they might not converse with others, and infect them. An issue, to wit, of genital seed in men, or of blood in women in their seasons. By the dead, i.e. by the touch of the dead. See Lev 21:1; Num 6:6.
Num 5:3. By which caution God would intimate the possibility and danger of men’s being made guilty by other men’s sins, and the necessary duty of avoiding intimate converse with wicked men. In the midst whereof I dwell, by my special and gracious presence; and therefore the permission of such impurities is the greater injury and provocation to me, as being done in my sight, and reflecting dishonour upon my name.
Num 5:4-6. Any sin that men commit, Heb. any sins of men, i.e. either, 1. Of common infirmity, or such sins as men commit through human frailty; for if this were done knowingly and willingly, a greater punishment was appointed. See Lev 6:5-6. Or rather, 2. Sins against men, or belonging to men, to wit, deceits or wrongs, whereby other men are injured, of which he manifestly speaks, as appears from Num 5:7-8; so this is a genitive case of the object, as Matt 12:31, blasphemy of the Spirit (for so it is in the Greek) is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, as it is called Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10; and power of all flesh, John 17:2, is power over all flesh; and power of spirits, Matt 10:1, is power over or against spirits, Luke 9:1; and prayer of God, Luke 6:12, is prayer directed unto God; and the spoil of the poor, Isa 3:14, is the spoil taken from the poor; and violence of the children of Judah, Joel 3:19, is violence against them, as we translate it. To do a trespass against the Lord; which words may be added, either, 1. To express a new sin, of prevaricating or dealing falsely with God, either by a false oath, which is a special injury to God, or by a lie or simple denial that he hath taken any thing of his neighbour’s, which also God takes as a sin especially concerning himself, who in such cases is the only judge of what is falsely said or sworn. See Acts 5:3-4. Or, 2. To aggravate the former sin, and to show that such injuries done to men are also sins against God, who hath commended justice to men as well as religion to himself. But the former is more probable, both because here is a ram of atonement to be offered to God for the special injury done to him, as well as satisfaction is to be made to the man whom he injured; and especially by comparing this with the parallel place, Lev 6:2, etc. And that person be guilty, i.e. shall be sensible of his guilt, or be convicted in his conscience of his sin; for otherwise this might seem a mere tautology, if it were only meant of being really guilty of sin, which was expressed before in those words, when one shall commit any sin, i.e. be guilty of any sin.
Num 5:7. They shall not continue in the denial of the fact, as such persons oft do, but shall give glory to God, and take shame to themselves, by acknowledging their sin with grief and remorse. See Lev 5:5; Lev 6:4. With the principal thereof; i.e. the thing he took away, or what is equivalent to it. The fifth part thereof is added both as a compensation to the injured person for the want of his goods so long, and for his trouble for the supposed utter loss of them, and as a penalty upon the injurious dealer to discourage others from such attempts. Question. How doth this agree with that law, Exod 22:1? Answer. That law was made against notorious and obstinate thieves, who were legally convicted of their crime, and this against more modest thieves, whose necessities might induce them to steal, and whose consciences are affected with their sin.
Num 5:8. If the man have no kinsman, which might be the case commonly with proselytes, if not with Israelites. This also supposeth the person injured to be dead or gone away into some unknown place, and the person injured to be known to the injurer.
God appointed the priest as his deputy to receive his dues, and take them to his own use, that so he might more cheerfully and entirely devote himself to the ministration of holy things. This is au additional explication to that law, Lev 6:2, and for the sake thereof it seems here to be repeated.
Num 5:9. Heb. every heave offering, the heave-offering being here taken largely, so as to comprehend also the wave-offering for both of these were Aaron’s portion. See Exod 29:26-28. Unto the priest to wit, to offer unto the Lord by his hands. Shall be his, i.e. the priest’s. See Lev 6:16.
Num 5:10. Every man’s hallowed things; understand this not of the sacrifices, no, not of such of them as were voluntary or vowed, as most understand it, because these were not the priest’s peculiar, but a good part of them was offered to God, and the remainder was eaten by the offerer as well as by the priest, as is manifest; but of such other things as were devoted to God, and were such as could not be offered in sacrifice; as suppose a man consecrated a house, or rent of it, to the Lord, this was to be the priest’s. And this restriction may be easily collected from the nature of the thing, because he speaketh in this and the other branches here of such things as were appropriated to the priest as his portion, which none of the sacrifices were.
Num 5:11-12. This law was given partly to deter wives from adulterous practices, and partly to secure wives against the rage of their hardhearted husbands, who otherwise might upon mere suspicions destroy them, or at least put them away. Question. Why was there not the same law for the trial of the husband, when the wife was jealous of him? Answer. This might be either, 1. Because the woman’s sin is greater, because there is not only filthiness and falseness in it, which is also in the man’s sin, but also peculiar unrighteousness in dishonouring his name and family, and transferring his estate to strangers and other men’s children. Or, 2. Because there was not like fear of inconveniences to the husband from the jealousy of the wife, who had not that authority, and power, and opportunity for the putting away or killing of the husband as the husband had over the wife. Or, 3. Because being the inferior and the weaker sex, and more subject to jealousies and groundless suspicions, it was not thought expedient to trust them with such a power or privilege. Go aside, from the way of religion and justice, or from her faith given to her husband, or to the bypaths of falsehood and filthiness, and that either in truth, or in appearance, and in her husband’s opinion.
Num 5:13. She utterly denying it, Prov 30:20, and none being able and willing to discover it; for if it was witnessed, she was to die for it, Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22.
Num 5:14. The spirit of jealousy, i.e. a strong opinion or suggestion or inward motion of that kind, whether from a good or evil spirit. Thus we read of the spirit of wisdom, Isa 11:2, of perverseness, Isa 19:14, of fornication, Hos 4:12, of fear, 2 Tim 1:7, of slumber, Rom 11:8.
Num 5:15. Then, she persisting in her denial, and her husband requiring her submission to this way of trial. Her offering was partly because none were to appear before God empty, Exod 23:15; partly, by way of solemn appeal to God, whom hereby she desired to judge between her and her husband; and partly, by way of atonement to appease God, who had for her sins stirred up her husband against her, and sent an evil spirit between them. See 1 Sam 26:19. No oil nor frankincense, both because it was a kind of sin-offering, from which these were excluded, Lev 5:11, and to testify, her sorrowful sense of the hand of God, and of her husband’s displeasure, and because she came thither as a delinquent, or one suspected of delinquency, and under an ill fame, and unpleasing both to God and men; as one that wanted that grace and amiableness and joy which oil signified, and that acceptance with God which frankincense designed, Ps 141:2. Bringing iniquity to remembrance; both to God, before whom she appeared as a sinner, and to her own conscience, if she were guilty, and, if she were not guilty of this, yet it reminded her of her other sins, for which this might be a punishment.
Num 5:16. i.e. the woman; but of her he speaks, Num 5:18; or it, i.e. the offering, which is last spoken of, so the feminine gender is put for the masculine or the neuter, of both which we have instances. Before the Lord, i.e. before the sanctuary where the ark was.
Num 5:17. Holy water; either water out of the holy laver, Exod 30:18, or rather the water of purification appointed for such kind of uses, Num 19:9. This was used, that if she were guilty, she might be afraid to add profaneness and the pollution of holy things to her other crime. In an earthen vessel; either to signify that frailty and vileness of which she stood accused, or express her sorrowful and shameful condition, or because, after this use, it was to be broken in pieces, that the remembrance of it might be blotted out as far as possible. Compare Lev 6:28; Lev 11:33; Lev 15:12. And of the dust; all emblem of vileness and misery, as appears from Job 2:12; Ps 22:15; Lam 3:29; and the serpent’s food, Gen 3:14; very proper for her who had been seduced to folly by the serpent’s instigation. In the floor of the tabernacle; which made it holy dust, and struck the greater terror into the woman, if she were guilty. Put it into the water, to make it more unpleasant and bitter, which was suitable to one in that sorrowful state.
Num 5:18. Before the Lord; before the tabernacle, with her face towards the ark. Uncover the woman’s head; partly, that she might be made sensible how manifest she and all her ways were to God, and that she might be more visible to the congregation, that her shame might be greater if she were guilty; partly, in token of her sorrow either for her sin, or at least for any cause of suspicion which she had given; partly, as a sign that she was after a sort deprived of the help and protection of her husband, which the covering of the woman’s head signified, 1 Cor 11:5-7,10, and that she was neither virgin nor loyal with, for the heads of both these used to be covered. In her hands, that she herself might offer it, and therefore call God to be witness of her innocency. Bitter; so called either from the bitter taste which the dust gave it, or from the bitter effects of it upon her if she were guilty. Compare Exod 32:20. That causeth the curse; not by any natural power, but by a supernatural efficacy ordained and wrought by God for her punishment, and for the terror and caution of others.
Num 5:19. Charge her by an oath, to answer truly to his question, or to declare by oath whether she be guilty or no, and after such oath shall say as follows. If no man, to wit, except thy husband, as is manifest from the whole context; or no other man, the word another being understood here, as it is thought to be also Gen 14:1; Gen 36:6; Exod 22:20. With another, or, with him, i.e. the man now mentioned. So it is an ellipsis easily supplied out of the text.
Num 5:20-21. An oath, i.e. a form of cursing or imprecatory oaths, that when they would curse a person, they may wish that they may be as cursed and miserable as thou wast upon this occasion. See the phrase Isa 65:15; Jer 29:22 and compare Gen 48:20; Ruth 4:11-12. Thy thigh; a modest signification of the genital parts, used both in Scripture, as Gen 46:26; Exod 1:5, and other authors, that the sin might be evident in the punishment. To rot, Heb. to fall, i.e. to die or waste away, as the word is used, 1 Chron 21:14, compared with 2 Sam 24:15. To swell, suddenly and violently till it burst, which the Jews note was frequent in this and like cases, as Exod 32:20. And it was a clear evidence of the truth of their religion.
Num 5:22. i.e. So let it be if I be guilty. The word is doubled by her as an evidence of her innocency, and ardent desire that God would deal with her according to her desert.
Num 5:23. These curses, wherewith she cursed herself, to which peradventure her name was added. In a book, i.e. in a scroll of parchment, which the Hebrews commonly call a book, as Deut 24:1; 2 Sam 11:11; Isa 39:1. Blot them out with the bitter water, or, rase or scourge them out, and cast then into the bitter water. Whereby it was signified, that if she was innocent, the curses should be blotted out and come to nothing, and if she were guilty, she should find in her the effects of this water which she drunk, after the words of this curse; had been scraped and put in.
Num 5:24. To drink, to wit, after the jealousy-offering was offered, as is affirmed, Num 5:26.
Num 5:25-26. The memorial thereof, of which see Lev 2:2.
Num 5:27-28. She shall be free, to wit, from these bitter curses and miseries. Shall conceive seed, i.e. shall bring forth children, as the Jews say, in case of her innocency, infallibly she did, yea, though she was barren before; or shall be as capable of bearing children as other women.
Num 5:31. Guiltless from iniquity; which he should not have been, if he had either dissembled or indulged her in so great a wickedness, and not endeavoured to bring her either to repentance or punishment; see Matt 1:19; or cherished suspicions in his breast, and thereupon proceeded to hate her or cast her off. Whereas now, whatsoever the consequent is, the husband shall not be blamed or censured, either for bringing such curses and mischiefs upon her, or for defaming her, if she appear to be innocent. Her iniquity, i.e. the punishment of her iniquity, whether she was false to her husband, or by any light and foolish carriage gave him occasion to suspect her to be so.
NUMBERS 6
Num 6:1-12: The law of the Nazarites; from what they should abstain; how, becoming unclean, they were to be purified.
Num 6:13-21: The vow of separation being fulfilled, the ceremonies to be observed.
Num 6:22-27: The form of blessing to be used by the priest in the congregation.
Num 6:1-2. Either man or woman; for both sexes might make this vow, if they were free and at their own dispose, for otherwise their parents or husbands could disannul the vow, Num 30:5, and in that case they sinned in taking God’s name in vain, and vowing what they could not perform. A vow of a Nazarite; whereby they did sequester themselves in a great part from worldly employments and enjoyments, that they might entirely consecrate themselves to God’s service; and this either for their whole lifetime, of which see Judg 13:5; Judg 16:17; 1 Sam 1:11; Luke 1:15; or for a less and limited space of time, of which in this chapter.
Num 6:3. Lest they should either inflame or dispose him to luxury, and consequently to the breaking of his vow; or cloud his reason, and thereby occasion some mistake or miscarriage in the rules to which he had bound himself. Compare Lev 10:9. Nor eat moist grapes, or dried; which was forbidden him for greater caution to keep him at the further distance from wine.
Num 6:4. The days were sometimes more, sometimes fewer, as he thought fit to appoint.
Num 6:5. No razor, nor scissors, or other instrument to cut off any part of his hair. This was appointed, partly, as a sign of his mortification to worldly delights, and vain affectation of outward beauty, which is promoted by the polling or cutting off the hair; partly, as a testimony of that purity which hereby he professed, because the cutting off the hair was a sign of uncleanness, as appears from Num 6:9, and Lev 14:8-9; partly, that by the notorious length of his hair he might be constantly minded of his vow, and the exquisite holiness it required, and that others might thereby be admonished and stirred up to the imitation of his holy example; and partly, that he might reserve his hair entirely for God, to whom it was to be offered, Num 6:18. He shall be holy, i.e. wholly consecrated to God and his service, whereby he shows that inward and substantial holiness was the great thing which God required and valued in these, and consequently in other rites and ceremonies.
Num 6:6-7. For his father, or for his mother; wherein he was equal to the high priest, Lev 21:11, being, in some sort, as sacred a person, and as eminent a type of Christ, Heb 7:26, and therefore justly required to prefer the service of God, to which he had so fully and peculiarly given himself, before the expressions of his affections to his dearest and nearest relations. The consecration, i.e. the token of his consecration, to wit, his long hair. Of his God, i.e. whereby he hath devoted himself to his God in an eminent manner. The genitive case of the object.
Num 6:8-9. He shall shave his head, because his whole body, and especially his hair, was defiled by such an accident, which he ought to impute either to his own heedlessness, or at least to God’s providence, so ordering the matter possibly for the punishment of his other sins, or for the quickening of him to more caution and purity, and detestation of all dead works whereby he would be defiled. On the seventh day, to be reckoned from the time of his pollution; for uncleanness contracted by the dead continued for seven days, and the seventh day was the day of cleansing for it, Lev 15:13; Num 19:11-12.
Num 6:10. As in the case of him that had a running issue, Lev 15:14.
Num 6:11. Shall offer, Heb. make, which is oft put for sacrificing or offering, as Exod 29:36; 1 Chron 21:23, compared with 2 Sam 24:22. For a sin-offering, because such a pollution was, though not his sin, yet the chastisement of his sin, and had an appearance of sin, to wit, of negligence in not standing sufficiently upon his guard, which in such persons was in a manner equivalent to a sin. For that he sinned, i.e. contracted a ceremonial uncleanness, which is called sinning, because it was a type of sin, and a violation of a law, though through ignorance and inadvertency, as many other sins were. Shall hallow; begin again to hallow or consecrate it.
Num 6:12. The days of his separation; as many days as he had before separated or vowed unto God. Lost, i.e. not reckoned or imputed to him. Heb. full, to wit, to the ground, i.e. be void or of none effect.
Num 6:13. By the priest’s appointment and direction.
Num 6:14. For a sin-offering, whereby he confessed and bewailed his frailties and miscarriages, notwithstanding the strictness of his vow and all the diligence and care which he could use, and consequently acknowledged his need of the grace of God in Christ Jesus the true Nazarite. For peace-offerings; for thankfulness to God, who had given him grace to make and in some measure to keep such a vow. So he offered all the three sorts of offerings, that he might so far fulfil all righteousness, and profess his obligation to observe the will of God in all things.
Num 6:15. Such as did generally accompany the sacrifices; of which see Lev 2:1; Num 28.
Num 6:16-18. Of his separation; or, of his Nazariteship, i.e. in which the chief of his Nazariteship or separation to God consisted. At the door of the tabernacle; publicly, that it might be known that his vow was ended; and therefore he was at liberty as to those things from which he had restrained himself for a season, otherwise some might have been scandalized at his use of his liberty. See Acts 21:26. In the fire; either, 1. The fire of the altar. But why then is this restrained to the peace-offerings, seeing it was common to the burnt-offerings and to the sin-offerings? Or rather, 2. To the fire of the kitchen, upon which the flesh of the peace-offerings was boiled.
Num 6:19. The sodden shoulder; the left shoulder, as it appears from Num 6:20, where this is joined with the heave-shoulder, which was the right shoulder, and which was the priest’s due in all sacrifices, Lev 7:32, and in this also. But here the other shoulder was added to it, as a special token of thankfulness from the Nazarites for God’s singular favours vouchsafed into them. Upon the hands of the Nazarite, that he may give them to the priest, as his peculiar gift.
Num 6:20. And return to his former freedom and manner of living; he is discharged from his vow. Of the wave-offering and heave-offering, see Lev 7:30,32.
Num 6:21. Besides that that his hand shall get, i.e. besides what he shall voluntarily promise and give according to his ability.
Num 6:22-23. On this wise, Heb. Thus, in this manner, or in these words; yet so as that they were not tied to these very words, because after this we have examples of Moses and David and Solomon and others blessing the people in other words. Ye shall bless the children of Israel, to wit, in the public assembly.
Num 6:24. Bless thee, i.e. bestow upon you all manner of blessings, temporal and spiritual. Compare Gen 12:2. Keep thee, i.e. continue his blessings to thee, and preserve thee in and to the use of them; keep thee from sin and its bitter effects.
Num 6:25. i.e. Smile upon thee: this is opposed to the hiding of his face, and to the covering himself or his face with a cloud; and it is explained by the following words, be gracious unto thee. Others expound it of illumination or direction, and the revelation of himself and of his will to them.
Num 6:26. i.e. Look upon thee with a cheerful and pleasant countenance, as one that is reconciled to thee, and well pleased with thee and thy offerings and services. See of this phrase Ps 4:6; Prov 16:15. To this is opposed the falling and the casting down of the countenance, of which see Gen 4:5-6; Job 29:24. Or, regard, protect, and help thee. Compare Ps 33:18.
Peace with God, and with thy own conscience, and with all men, and all prosperity, which is comprehended under this word.
Num 6:27. i.e. Shall call them by my name, shall recommend them to me as my own people, and bless them and pray unto me for them as such; which is a powerful argument to prevail with God for them, and therefore hath been oft used by the prophets interceding for them, as Jer 14:9; Dan 9:18-19: compare 1 Sam 12:22. I will bless them; I will ratify their blessings, and give those blessings to the people which the priests pray for.
NUMBERS 7
Num 7:1-11: The tabernacle being fully finished, the twelve princes offer gifts; which are delivered to the Gershonites and the Merarites.
Num 7:12-83: What they offered in particular of silver, gold, vessels, and beasts.
Num 7:84-88: The sum thereof.
Num 7:89: God spake to Moses from the mercyseat.
Num 7:1. On the day; either, 1. Precisely; and so this history, as many others, is put out of its proper place, and this chapter, and the 8th-11th, should follow next after Exod 40 and this day is the same on which the tabernacle was erected, which was the first day of the first month of the second year, Exod 40:17-18. Or, 2. Largely, day being put for time, and on the day for about the time, or, a little after the time. And thus it seems to be taken here, because all the princes did not offer these things upon one and the same day, but on several days, as here it follows. And so there is no disorder in the history, and this chapter comes in its proper place, and those things were done in the second month of the second year after the tabernacle, and altar, and all other instruments thereof were anointed, as is here expressed; and after the Levites were separated to the service of the tabernacle, and appointed to their several works, as is manifest from Num 7:5-9, which was done about a month after the tabernacle was erected, etc.; and after the numbering of the people, Num 1, when the princes here employed in the offerings were first constituted; and after the disposal of the tribes about the tabernacle, the order of which is here observed in the time of their offerings. Anointed it, Lev 8:10.
Num 7:2. To wit, in the manner and days hereafter mentioned.
Num 7:3. Covered wagons, for the more convenient and safe carriage of such things as were most cumbersome.
Num 7:4-5. i.e. More or fewer of them, as the nature of their service and of the things to be carried required.
Num 7:6-8. i.e. Under his care and inspection. See Gen 39:22. And it must be noted that these words belong both to the Merarites here, and to the Gershonites, Num 7:7, because both of them were under his hands, as is affirmed, Num 4:28,33.
Num 7:9. Because of the greater worth and holiness of the things which they carried. See Num 4:6,8,10,12,14; 2 Sam 6:6,13.
Num 7:10. The altar, to wit, of burnt-offerings, and incense too, as appears from the matter of their offerings. The singular number for the plural. Not for the first dedication of them, for it is apparent they were dedicated or consecrated before this time by Moses and Aaron for divers days together, Lev 8-9; but for a further dedication of them, these being the first offerings that were made for any particular persons or tribes. In the day, i.e. about the time, as soon as it was anointed. See on Num 7:1.
Num 7:11. As well for the greater solemnity and splendour of the work, as for the prevention of confusion. And in this offering they follow the order of their camp, and not of their birth.
Num 7:12. In whose name and behalf this offering was made, and so in the rest.
Num 7:13. One silver charger, a large dish or platter; of which see Exod 25:29, to be employed about the altar of burnt-offering, or in the court, not in the sanctuary, for all its vessels were of gold.
Num 7:14. Ten shekels of gold, and therefore belonging to the altar of incense.
Num 7:15-17. Peace-offerings are more numerous, because the princes and priests, and some of the people, did make a feast before the Lord out of them, and celebrated it with great rejoicing.
Num 7:18-84. When it was anointed: this is again repeated, to show why it is called the dedication of the altar, because it was the first offering made by any particular persons or tribes.
Num 7:85-87. The meat-offering was not mentioned before, because it was sufficiently understood from the law which required it, Num 15:3-5, but for greater assurance is here expressed.
Num 7:88. Which words are very conveniently added to explain in what sense he had so oft said that this was done in the day when it was anointed, to wit, not exactly, but in a latitude, to wit, a little after that it was anointed, as is here said.
Num 7:89. Into the tabernacle of the congregation; into which Moses, though no priest, was permitted to enter by God’s special license. To speak with him, i.e. to consult God upon occasion. From off the mercyseat, which Moses standing without the veil could easily hear. And this seems to be added in this place, to show that when men had done their part in the dedication of the tabernacle, altars, etc., God was not wanting in the performance of his part, and promise made, Exod 25:22.
NUMBERS 8
Num 8:1-4: How the lamps are to be lighted.
Num 8:5-15: God commands the Levites to be cleansed;
Num 8:16-22: that they may serve with Aaron and his sons instead of the firstborn.
Num 8:23-26: Their age and service.
Num 8:1-2. i.e. Either, 1. On every side of the candlestick. So the candlestick is here put for the bulk or shaft of the candlestick, as Exod 25:31,35, and the lamps, when they were lighted, were put into the branches of the candlestick, and take it out upon occasion. Thus the meaning is, that all the lamps were to be lighted on that part which was towards the middle, looking that way whence they had their light; for the middle lamp was lighted with the fire of the altar, and from that the other lamps received light. But against this sense it is objected, that the lamps could not be otherwise ordered, but that they must give light round about the candlestick, and therefore that sense seems to make this direction idle and frivolous. Or, 2. On that part which is before the candlestick, Heb. over against the face of the candlestick, i.e. in that place towards which the candlestick looked, or where the candlestick stood in full view, i.e. upon the north side, where the table of shewbread stood, as appears from hence, because the candlestick stood close to the boards of the sanctuary on the south side, Exod 26:35. And thus the lights were on both sides of the sanctuary, which was fit and necessary, because it was wholly dark in itself, and had no window in it.
Num 8:3-4. Beaten gold, not hollow, but solid and massive gold, beaten out of one piece, and not of several pieces joined or soldered together. See Exod 25:18,31; Exod 37:17.
Num 8:5-6. Or, wash or purify them, which was also done with the priests and others when they were to approach to God and his service. See Exod 19:10,14; Lev 14:9.
Num 8:7. Of purifying, Heb. of sin, i.e. for the expiation of sin. This water was mixed with the ashes of a red heifer, Num 19:9, which therefore may seem to have been prescribed before, though it be mentioned after; such kind of transplacings of passages being frequent in Scripture. Shave all their flesh; which external rite signified the cutting off their inordinate concupiscences of earthly things, and that singular purity of heart and life which is required in the ministers of God. See Isa 52:11; 2 Tim 2:21.
Num 8:8. The same sacrifice which was offered for a sin-offering for the whole congregation, Lev 4, because the Levites came in the stead of all the firstborn, which did in a manner represent the whole congregation.
Num 8:9-10. The children of Israel; not all of them, which was impossible, but some in the name and stead, and by the appointment of all, to wit, either the firstborn, or rather the princes or chiefs of each tribe, who used to transact things in the name of their tribes. Put their hands upon the Levites; whereby they signified their transferring of that right of ministering to God from the firstborn, in whose hands it formerly was, unto the Levites, and their renouncing of their interest in the Levites, from whom they might otherwise have expected help by their persons or purses, as they did from other tribes, in their common concernments, and their entire resignation and dedication of them to God’s service; as the person offering, by laying his hand upon the head of his sacrifice, Lev 1:4, signified his translation of his guilt upon the beast, and his dedication of it unto God.
Num 8:11. For an offering, Heb. for a wave-offering. Of which see Exod 29:24. Not that Aaron did so wave them, which he could not do, but that he caused or commanded them to imitate that motion, and to wave themselves towards the several parts of the world; whereby they might signify their readiness to serve God according to their capacity wheresoever they should be; though the word may be taken more generally for any offering made to God, as Exod 35:22.
Num 8:12. Upon the heads of the bullocks; to signify, that they were offered by them and for them. See Exod 29:15,19; Lev 1:4; Lev 3:2; Lev 4:4.
Num 8:13. Before Aaron and his sons, i.e. put them into the power of Aaron and his sons, to employ them in holy ministrations; for so that phrase is sometimes used, as Gen 13:9, the land is before thee, i.e. in thy power, to use or enjoy it. Or setting the Levites before them did signify the giving the Levites to them, or to their service. For an offering unto to the Lord; for to him they were first properly offered, and by him given to the priests in order to his service.
Num 8:14-15. The Levites go in, to wit, into the court, where they were to wait upon the priests at the altar of burnt-offering; and, at present, into the tabernacle, to take it down and set it up.
Num 8:16. They are given unto me by the people’s consent, as well as taken (as it follows) by my choice and command. See Num 3:9.
Num 8:17-19. The service of the children of Israel, i.e. to serve God in their stead and behalf, to do what otherwise they had been obliged to do in their own persons. In the tabernacle: how in it, see on Num 8:15. To make an atonement for the children of Israel; not by offering sacrifices, which the priests alone might do, but by assisting the priests in that expiatory work, and by a diligent performance of all the parts of their office, whereby God was pleased both with them and with the people. That there be no plague: this is added as a reason why God appointed them to serve in or about the tabernacle, that they might watch and guard it, and not suffer any of the people to come near it, or meddle with holy things, which if they did, it would certainly bring a plague upon them.
Num 8:20-21. The Levites were purified by washing and sprinkling and sacrifices. See Lev 15:13-15; Num 19:11, etc.
Num 8:22. Before Aaron and his sons; in their presence, and by their direction and appointment.
Num 8:23-24. From twenty and five years old. See on Num 4:3.
Num 8:25. i.e. Upon the difficult and cumbersome part of their work.
Num 8:26. With their brethren, by way of advice, and assistance in lesser and easier works.
NUMBERS 9
Num 9:1-5: The passover kept in the wilderness on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Num 9:6-12: By those who were then unclean or journeying, the fourteenth day of the second month.
Num 9:13: They who otherwise neglect it to be put to death.
Num 9:14: Proselytes are to observe the same.
Num 9:15-23: God manifests himself to Israel in a cloud by day, and fire by night, by which they knew when and where to camp.
Num 9:1. In the first month; and therefore before the numbering of the people, which was not till the second month, Num 1:1-2. But it is placed after it, because of a special case relating to the passover, which happened after it, and which is here related, upon occasion whereof he mentions the command of God for the keeping of the passover in the wilderness, which was done but once, and without this command they had not been obliged to keep it at all till they came to the land of Canaan. See Exod 12:25.
Num 9:2-3. So far as concerned the lamb and the unleavened bread, etc., for there were some things peculiar to the first passover in Egypt, as that they were to eat it in haste, with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand, which were not properly rites or ceremonies of the passover, but circumstances of their present condition being the travellers and ready to depart, etc. Question. Whence had they meal to make unleavened bread Answer. They were not now in haste, and so had time enough to procure it out of the land of Midian by the help of Moses’s father-in-law, who lived there, which land was not far from Horeb or Sinai, as appears from Exod 3:1.
Num 9:4-6. By the dead body of a man; by the touch of a dead body, or something belonging to it; (see Num 19:11;) because unclean persons were prohibited to eat of holy things. See Lev 8:20; Lev 22:3. They came before Moses, for resolution of their difficulty.
Num 9:7. Which if we neglect, we must be cut off; and if we keep it in these circumstances, we must also be cut off. What shall we do? The passover is called an offering of the Lord, because it was both killed and eaten in obedience to God’s command, and to God’s honour, and as a thank-offering to God for his great mercies.
Num 9:8. God having promised to answer and direct him upon his address to him in difficult cases.
Num 9:9-10. Under these two instances the Hebrews think that other hinderances of like nature are comprehended; as if one be hindered by a disease, or by any other such kind of uncleanness; which may seem probable both from the nature of the thing, and the reason of the law, which is the same in other cases, and from the application of this rule to other cases, 2 Chron 30. Afar off; in some remote country, whence he can not return sooner.
Num 9:11-12. Leave none of it unto the morning, but either eat or burn it before that time.
Num 9:13. The man that forbeareth to keep the passover, through contempt or neglect, without these or any other just impediments, as before.
Num 9:14. A stranger, to wit, a proselyte.
Num 9:15. Of the cloud, see Exod 13:21. The tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony, or, the tabernacle towards or above the tent of the testimony, i.e. that part of the tabernacle in which was the testimony, or the ark of the testimony; for there the cloudy pillar stood, Lev 16:2. This was an evident token of God’s special presence with and providence over them. See Exod 14:20,24; Ps 105:39. And this cloud was easily distinguished from other clouds, both by its peculiar figure and by its constant residence in that place. The appearance of fire; that they might better discern it, and direct themselves and their journeys or stations by it.
Num 9:16-17. Was taken up, or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp.
Num 9:18. The motion or stay of the cloud is fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God’s will and their duty, which a command properly is.
Num 9:19. The charge of the Lord, i.e. the command of God mentioned before, that they should stay as long as the cloud staid, as the same phrase is manifestly taken below, Num 9:23. And this, saith he, they did, though it were long in one place, which was tedious to them, who desired to change places, and to make haste to Canaan, yet they obeyed God herein against their own inclinations; which because it was remarkable in so obstinate a people, it is so largely and particularly mentioned here, as an instance of their obedience, and as an aggravation of the many following instances of their apostacy and disobedience.
NUMBERS 10
Num 10:1-10: Two trumpets of silver commanded to be made; with a direction to what end, when, how, by whom, and with what success they should be used.
Num 10:11-28: The Israelites remove to Paran: the order in which they go.
Num 10:29-32: Moses endeavours to get Hobab his father-in-law along with him.
Num 10:33-36: Moses’s prayer and blessing when the ark was removed and set down again.
Num 10:1-2. Two trumpets, for Aaron’s two sons; though afterwards the number of trumpets was much increased, as the number of the priests also was. See 2 Chron 5:12 These trumpets were ordained, both for signification of the great duty of ministers, to wit, to preach the word; and for use, as here follows. Silver is a metal pure and precious, and giving a clear sound. A whole piece. See Exod 25:31; Num 8:4.
Num 10:3. When they, i.e. the priests, by comparing this with Num 10:8, shall blow with them, i.e. with both of them, by comparing this with the next verse.
Num 10:4-5. To wit, when ye blow once, as appears from Num 10:6.
Num 10:6. As a sign for them to march forward, and consequently for the rest to follow them, which is easily understood out of these words.
Num 10:7-8. The sons of Aaron shall blow, to oblige them to the greater regard and observance, as if God himself had called them.
Num 10:9. Which was practised accordingly. See Num 31:6; 2 Chron 13:12. Ye shall be saved from your enemies, if you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependence upon God for help, which condition is necessarily to be understood from divers others scriptures, where it is expressed.
Num 10:10. Days of your gladness, i.e. days appointed for rejoicing and thanksgiving to God, either for former mercies, or for succeeding deliverances, as Esther 9:18, etc. Compare Hos 2:11. Your solemn days; your stated and constant festivals. The beginnings of months, of which see Ps 81:3. A memorial before your God; that God may remember you for good to accept and bless you; as that phrase oft signifies.
Num 10:11-12. From which they travelled to other places, and then returned into it again, Num 12:16.
Num 10:13-21. The other, i.e. the Gershonites and Merarites, as is evident both from their work and office, which was to take down and set up the tabernacle, Num 3:25-26; Num 4:22-33; and from Num 10:17, who therefore marched after the first camp, a good distance kern and before the Kohathites, that they might prepare the tabernacle for the reception of its utensils, which the Kohathites brought some time after them.
Num 10:22-28. Thus, i.e. in this manner and order they marched.
Num 10:29. Raguel, called also Reuel, Exod 2:18, who seems to be the same who is called Jethro, Exod 3:1, it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit for travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exod 18:27; but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company. Moses’s father-in-law; which words are ambiguous, but seem to belong to Raguel, or Reuel, not to Hobab, though others are of another mind.
Num 10:30. So he might truly and sincerely say, though after this speech he was overcome by the entreaties and persuasions of Moses. Or he did go and settle his affairs, and afterwards return; for we find his posterity settled among the Israelites. See Judg 1:16; Judg 4:11,18, etc.
Num 10:31. To direct and guide us; for though the cloud determined them to a general place, yet many particulars might be uncertain and unknown to Moses, wherein Hobab, having long lived in those parts, might be able to advise him, as concerning the conveniences of water for their cattle, concerning the safety or danger of the several parts by reason of serpents or wild beasts, or enemies, in the parts adjoining to them, that so they might guard themselves better against them. Or this to be understood of his directing them not so much in their way, as about great and difficult matters, wherein the counsel he had from God did not exclude the advice of men, as we see in Hobab’s father Jethro, Exod 18. And it is probable this was the wise son of a wise father.
Num 10:32-33. Three days’ journey, with continued journeys, only it seems most probable that the cloud made little pauses, that they might have time for sleep and necessary refreshments, which their natures required. And thus all writers, when they relate the continued journeys of persons for many days together, are to be understood with this exception. Before them; not so much in place, say some, for so it went in the midst, or at least after the first camp, as may seem from Num 10:21, as in office and authority, as a general who is said to go before or lead his army, though he do not go in the very first place. But others more probably think that the ark, which indeed is not mentioned Num 10:21, albeit in their stations it was in the middle, where also the cloud was, yet in their marches it went before them, as also the cloud did, and so the cloud was constantly over the ark, whether it stood or went; and therefore the ark is said to go before and direct them, not as if the ark could be seen of all the camps, which being carried only upon men’s shoulders was impossible, but because the cloud, which always attended upon the ark, and did together with the ark constitute in a manner one sign of God’s presence, did lead and direct them. To search out a restingplace, where they might safely and commodiously rest. But this is a metaphorical expression for discovering to them; for otherwise the ark could not search, and God, who knew all places and things, needed not to search.
Num 10:34. And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of Scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.
Num 10:35-36. Or, give rest, i.e. a safe and quiet place, from enemies and dangers.
NUMBERS 11
Num 11:1: The murmuring of the people, for which the fire breaketh in upon them.
Num 11:2: Moses prayeth to God; the fire is quenched.
Num 11:3: The name of the place, and why called.
Num 11:4-6: The people murmur again, and lust after flesh.
Num 11:7-9: Manna described.
Num 11:10-15: Moses’s complaint and prayer.
Num 11:16-17: God commandeth him to gather seventy of the elders of Israel to help him;
Num 11:18-20: promising them flesh to eat.
Num 11:21-22: Moses’ unbelief.
Num 11:23: God is angry with him.
Num 11:24: Moses having gathered seventy of the elders of Israel together, rehearseth the words of the Lord to them.
Num 11:25: God coming down in a cloud, taketh of Moses’s spirit and giveth to the seventy; the effects thereof.
Num 11:26-29: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.
Num 11:30-32: God giveth them quails to eat;
Num 11:33-34: and smiteth the people with a very great plague.
Num 11:1. Complained, or, murmured; the occasion whereof seems to be their last three days’ journey in a vast howling wilderness, without any benefit; and thereupon the remembrance of their long abode in the wilderness, and the prospect and fear of many other tedious, and fruitless, and dangerous journeys, whereby they were like to be long delayed from coming to that rest, that land of milk and honey, which God had promised them, and which they thirsted after. The fire of the Lord, i.e. a fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, possibly from the pillar of cloud and fire, or from heaven, as 2 Kings 1:12. In the uttermost parts of the camp; either because the sin began there among the mixt multitude, who probably had their place there; or amongst those who were feeble and weary with their last journey, and therefore hindmost in the march; or in mercy to the people, whom he would rather awaken to repentance than utterly destroy, and therefore he sent it into the skirts, and not the heart and midst of the camp.
Num 11:2. The people, the murmurers being penitent, or others for fear. Unto Moses, whom they knew to be very prevalent with God.
Num 11:3. Taberah, from this fire; as it was called Kibrothhattaavah from another occasion, Num 11:34-35; Num 33:16; as it is no new thing in Scripture for persons and places to have two names. Both these names were imposed as monuments of the people’s sin, and of God’s just judgment. See Deut 9:7,22,24.
Num 11:4. The mixt multitude, consisting of Egyptians or other people, which being affected with God’s miraculous works in Egypt, and thereupon believing the promise of God to carry them to a land of milk and honey, for their own advantage joined themselves to the Israelites, Exod 12:38, an now, finding themselves sadly disappointed, they discover their evil minds. The children of Israel, whose special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from such carriages. Wept again: this word relates either to their former murmuring upon this occasion a twelvemonth before, Exod 16:2, or rather to their complaining mentioned Num 11:1, to note the aggravation of their sin, that having just now sinned in the same kind, and sorely smarted for their sin, and being but newly delivered from their fears and dangers caused thereby, they forthwith return to their vomit and murmur again, and that more passionately than before, expressing themselves in tears and bitter words. Flesh: this word is here taken generally, so as to include fish, as the next words show, and as it is used 1 Cor 15:39. They had indeed flesh and cattle which they brought with them out of Egypt, but these were reserved for breed to be carried into Canaan, and were so few that they would scarce have served them for a month, as may be gathered from Num 11:20-22.
Num 11:5. Freely; either without price, for fish was very plentiful, and fishing was there free; or with a very small price; for nothing is sometimes put for a little, as John 18:20; Acts 27:33; and none for few, as Jer 8:6; 1 Cor 2:8. And this is the more probable, because the Egyptians might not taste of fish, nor of the leeks and onions, which they worshipped for gods, and therefore the Israelites, who speak these words, might have them there upon cheaper terms.
Num 11:6. Our soul; either, 1. Our life, as the soul signifies, Gen 9:5; Ps 33:19; Job 36:14; or, 2. Our body, which is oft signified by the soul, as Ps 16:10; Ps 35:12; Ps 105:18. So Lev 19:28; Lev 21:1; Num 5:2. Is dried away; is withered, and pines away; which possibly might be true through envy and discontent, and inordinate appetite, as 2 Sam 13:4; Prov 14:30. Before our eyes; Heb. our eyes see or look to nothing but this manna. They speak as if the manna were only useful to please their eyes with its fine colour and shape, but not to satisfy their appetites, or sustain their natures.
Num 11:7. As coriander seed; not for colour, for that is black, but for shape and figure. Bdellium is either, 1. The gum of a tree, of a white and bright colour; or rather, 2. A gem or precious stone, as the Hebrew doctors take it; and particularly a pearl, as some render it, wherewith the manna doth manifestly agree both in its colour, which is white, Exod 16:14, and in its figure, which is round. See more on Gen 2:12.
Num 11:8. Or, of the most excellent oil; or, of the flour of oil; or, as others, of cakes or paste made with the best oil, the word cakes being easily supplied out of the foregoing member of the verse; or, which is not much differing, like wafers made with honey, as it is said Exod 16:31. The nature and use of manna is here thus particularly described to show the greatness of their sin in despising such excellent food as this was.
Num 11:9. And then the dew fell again upon it and covered it, as we see Exod 16:13-14; so the manna lay hid as it were between two beds of dew. Hence the phrase of hidden manna Rev 2:17.
Num 11:10. In the door of his tent; to note, that they were not ashamed of their sin. Moses was displeased; partly, for their great unthankfulness; partly, foreseeing the dreadful judgments coming upon them, and partly, for his own burden expressed in the following verses.
Num 11:11. Why didst thou not hear my prayer, when I desired thou wouldst excuse me, and commit the care and government of this unruly people to some other person? See Exod 3:11; Exod 4:10.
Num 11:12. Have I begotten them; are they my children, that I should be obliged to provide food and all things for their necessity and desire? As a nursing-father beareth the sucking-child; which expression shows the tender care and affection that governors by the command of God ought to have towards their people.
Num 11:13-14. All this people, i.e. the burden of providing for and satisfying of them. Objection. How was he alone, when there were others added to help him, Exod 18:21,24? Answer. Those were only assistant to him in civil causes and smaller matters, but the harder and greater affairs, such as this unquestionably was, were brought to Moses and determined by him alone, Exod 18:22.
Num 11:15. Heb. my evil, i.e. my intolerable anguish and torment, arising from the insuperable difficulty of my office and work of ruling this people, and from the dread of their utter extirpation which they will bring upon themselves, and the dishonour which thence will accrue to God and to religion; as if not I only, but God also, were an impostor. Seeing is here put for feeling, as to see death, Ps 89:48; Luke 2:26, is to suffer it; and to see the salvation of God, Ps 50:23; Ps 91:16, is to enjoy it.
Num 11:16. Of whom see Exod 3:16; Exod 5:6; Lev 4:15; Deut 16:18. Whom thou knowest to be the elders; whom thou by experience discernest to be elders not only in years, and name, and place, but also in wisdom, and gravity, and authority with the people.
Num 11:17. I will come down, not by local motion, but by my powerful presence and operation. See Gen 11:5; Exod 34:5. Will put it upon them, i.e. I will give the same Spirit to them which I have given to thee. But as the Spirit was not conveyed to them from or through Moses, but immediately from God, so the Spirit or its gifts were not by this means impaired in Moses. The Spirit is here put for the gifts of the Spirit, as it is Num 27:18; Joel 2:28; John 7:39; Acts 19:2,6; 1 Cor 14:12,32; and particularly for the Spirit of prophecy, Num 11:25, whereby they were enabled, as Moses had been and still was, to discern hidden and future things, and resolve doubtful and difficult cases, which made them fit for government. It is observable, that God would not, and therefore men should not, call any persons to any office for which they were not sufficiently fit and qualified.
Num 11:18. Sanctify yourselves, i.e. prepare yourselves, either to receive the miraculous blessings of God, the flesh you desire; or rather, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, in the way of his judgments, and to receive the punishment which God will inflict upon you; for it is evident, from Num 18:20, that God answered them with a curse instead of a blessing. Prepare yourselves by true repentance, that you may either obtain some mitigation of the plague, or, whilst your bodies are destroyed by the flesh you desire and eat, Num 11:33-34, your souls may be saved from the wrath of God. Sanctifying is oft used for preparing, as Jer 6:4; Jer 12:3; Jer 51:28. In the ears of the Lord; not secretly in your closets, but openly and impudently in the doors of your tents, Num 11:10, calling heaven and earth to witness your cries and complaints.
Num 11:19-20. Till it come out at your nostrils; which meat loathed and violently vomited up frequently doth; and it be loathsome unto you, being glutted with the abundance of it. Thus God destroys them by granting their desires, and turns even their blessings into curses; whilst he deals much more favourably with Moses, though he also fell into the same sin with the people, i.e. impatience and murmuring. But God will make a great difference between persons and persons, and between Moses’s sins of infirmity and the people’s presumptuous and oft-repeated provocations. Ye have despised the Lord, i.e. you have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings in manna and other things, and have preferred the leeks, onions, etc. of Egypt before them all; you have slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large experience of it. Which is among you; who is present and resident with you to observe all your carriages, and to punish your offences. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin in the presence of the Judge. Why came we forth out of Egypt? Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly follow and obey him in coming forth?
Num 11:21. Six hundred thousand footmen, fit for war, Exod 12:37, besides women, children, etc. That Moses speaks this as doubting or distrusting God’s words is evident enough from Num 11:22-23. And that Moses was not remarkably punished for this as he was afterward for the same sin, Num 20 next to God’s good pleasure may be imputed to the different circumstances of this and that sin: this was the first great offence of this kind, and therefore more easily passed by; that was after warning, and against more light and experience. This seems to have been spoken secretly in Moses’s breast; that openly and publicly before the people, and to their scandal, and therefore it was fit to be openly and severely punished to prevent the contagion of that example.
Num 11:22. Will they be sufficient for them? or where shall they have more?
Num 11:23. Waxed short, i.e. less able to work such great and glorious miracles as I have done.
Num 11:24. Moses went out of the tabernacle, into which he entered to receive God’s answers from the mercyseat, Num 7:89. The seventy men, either they are called seventy from the stated number, though two of them were lacking, Num 11:26, as the apostles are called the twelve, Matt 26:20, when one of that number was absent; or he is said to have gathered them, when he gave command to gather them. Round about the tabernacle; partly, that the awe of God might be imprinted upon their hearts, that they might more seriously undertake and more faithfully manage their high employment; partly, to gain them the more authority and respect from the people; and principally, because that was the place where God manifested himself, and gave his blessings, and therefore there he would bestow his Spirit upon them.
Num 11:25. Rested upon them, i.e. not only moved them for a time, but took up his settled abode with them, because the use and end of this gift was not temporary, but perpetual; they prophesied, i.e. discoursed of the word and works of God in a singular and marvellous manner, as the prophets did. So this word is used 1 Sam 10:5-6; Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17; 1 Cor 14:3. Yet were they not hereby constituted prophets or teachers, but civil magistrates and rulers, who together with the Spirit of government, which is here sufficiently implied, received also the Spirit of prophecy, as a sign and seal, both to themselves and to the people, that God had called them to that employment, and would be with them in it, as it was with Saul upon the same occasion, 1 Sam 10:10. Did not cease, either for that day; they continued in that exercise all that day, and, it may be, all the night too, as it is said of Saul, 1 Sam 19:24; or afterwards also, to note that this was a continued gift conferred upon them, to enable them the better to discharge their magistracy; which was more expedient for them than for the rulers of other people, because the Jews were under a theocracy, or the government of God, and even their civil controversies were decided out of that word of God which the prophets expounded; and in their wilderness condition they had frequent occasions of seeking counsel from God, which was the work of prophets, and they were to determine all things agreeably to the mind and will of God, which therefore they were obliged to study. Others translate the words, and they added not; so the sense is, They prophesied only this day for an assurance of vocation to and due qualification for their work, but afterwards they prophesied no more; the gift of prophecy ceased in them, and only the Spirit of government rested upon them.
Num 11:26. In the camp; not going to the tabernacle, as the rest did; either modestly declining that high employment from a tremble sense of their own insufficiency, as Saul did, 1 Sam 10:22; or not having sufficient or seasonable notice to repair thither; or, being detained in the camp and in their dwellings, whether by uncleanness, or sickness, or some urgent occasion, not without God’s special providence, that so the miracle might be more evident, and their call and authority more unquestionable, to all the people. Were written, to wit, in a book or paper, by Moses, who by God’s direction nominated the fittest and worthiest persons.
Num 11:27. Fearing lest his authority should be diminished by their prophesying; and thereby, as by the signal given at this time, taking authority to themselves without his knowledge and consent.
Num 11:28. One of his young men, or one of his choice ministers, a chosen or excellent person; which may be emphatically added, to note that even great and good men may mistake and misjudge about the works of God. Or, from his youth, as the words will bear, and the Chaldee, Syriac, etc. render it. So it may be added as a reason why Joshua above others were concerned for Moses’s honour and authority. He feared either schism or sedition, or that by their usurpation of authority independently upon Moses, and separately from him, his power and esteem might be lessened, as the next words show.
Num 11:29. Enviest thou; art thou grieved because the gifts and graces of God are imparted to others besides me? Compare John 3:26. He saith prophets, not rulers, for that he knew was absurd and impossible.
Num 11:30. Among the people, to exercise the gifts and authority now or formerly received.
Num 11:31. A wind from the Lord, i.e. an extraordinary and miraculous wind, both for its vehemency and for its effectsQuails; a delicious and very nourishing food, which, considering their greedy appetite, and the newness and plenty of it, disposed them to surfeits and other distemper of body, and prepared the way for the following plague. God gave them quails once before, Exod 16:13, but neither in the same quantity, nor with the same design and effect as now. From the sea; principally from the Red Sea, and both sides of it; where, by the report of ancient heathen writers, they were then in great numbers, and, no doubt, were wonderfully increased by God’s special providence for this very occasion. Two cubits high; not as if the quails did cover all the ground two cubits high for a day’s journey on each side of the camp, for then there had been no place left where they could spread them all abroad round about the camp, as it is said they did, Num 11:32; but the meaning is, that the quails came and fell down round about the camp for a whole day’s journey on each side of it, and that in all that space they lay here and there in great heaps, which were ofttimes two cubits high.
Num 11:32. Stood up, or rather rose up, which word is oft used for attempting or beginning to do any business. All night; some at one time, and some at the other, and some, through their greediness or diffidence, at both times. Ten homers, i.e. ten ass loads; which if it seem incredible, you must consider, 1. That the gatherers here were not all the people, which could not be without great confusion and other inconveniences; but some on the behalf of all, possibly one for each family, or the like, while the rest were exercised about other necessary things. So the meaning is not that every Israelite had so much for his share, but that every collector gathered so much for the family or others by whom he was intrusted. 2. That the people did not gather for their present use only, but for a good while to come, as we shall see; and being greedy and distrustful of God’s goodness, it is not strange if they gathered much more than they needed. 3. That the word rendered homers may signify heaps, as it doth Exod 8:14; Judg 15:16; Hab 3:15, and ten is oft put for many; and so the sense is, that every one gathered several heaps. If yet the number seems incredible, it must be further known, 4. That heathen and other authors affirm, that in those eastern and southern countries quails are innumerable, so that in one part of Italy, within the compass of five miles, there were taken about a hundred thousand of them every day for a month together; and that sometimes they fly so thick over the sea, that being weary they fall into ships, sometimes in such numbers that they sink them with their weight, as Varro and Solinus affirm. And Athenćus relates, that in Egypt, a country prodigiously populous, as all agree, they were in such plenty, that all those vast numbers of people could not consume them, but were forced to salt and keep them for their future use. So that there is no need at all that God should create innumerable quails for this purpose; which yet if it were affirmed he did, atheists and antiscripturists have no occasion of triumph, since they must either own the creation of the world, which is a far greater miracle, or ascribe the production of the world to a casual jumble of atoms, which is more senseless and ridiculous than all the fables of the poets. Spread them all abroad, that so they may dry them, and salt them, and preserve them for their future use, according to what they had seen and learned in Egypt.
Num 11:33. Chewed, Heb. cut off, to wit, from their mouths, which is here understood, and expressed Joel 1:5, i.e. ere it was taken away, as the flocks are said to be cut off from the fold, Hab 3:17, when they are lost and perished. The sense is, before they had done eating their quails, which lasted for a month, as appears from Num 11:20. A very great plague; whether it was leanness sent into them, Ps 106:15, whereby the food was deprived of its nourishing power, which it hath only from God’s blessing; or surfeit, a punishment most suitable to their sin, and most likely to follow their intemperate desire and use of this food; or the pestilence; it is not much material: but a great and sore plague unquestionably it was. Question. Why did God so sorely punish the people’s murmuring and complaining for lack of flesh here, when he spared them after the same sin, Exod 16? Answer. Because this sin was a far greater sin than that, and aggravated with worse circumstances; as proceeding not from necessity, as that did, when as yet they had no food, but from mere lust and wantonness, when they had manna constantly given them; as committed after large experience of God’s care and kindness, after God had pardoned their former sins, and after God had in a solemn and terrible manner made known his laws and duty to them.
Num 11:34. Kibrothhattaavah, Heb. The graves of lust, i.e. of the men that lusted, as it here follows. The abstract for the concrete, which is frequent; as poverty, 2 Kings 24:14, pride, Ps 36:11, deceit, sins, Prov 13:6, etc., dreams, Jer 27:9, are put for men who are poor, or proud, or deceitful, or sinful, or dreamers. And it notes that this plague did not seize upon all that did eat of the quails, for then all had been destroyed, but only upon those who were inordinate both in the desire and use of them.
Num 11:35. Of which place see on Num 33:17; Deut 1:1.
NUMBERS 12
Num 12:1-3: Miriam and Aaron murmur against Moses.
Num 12:4-5: God commandeth him, Aaron, and Miriam to come to the tabernacle, which they did.
Num 12:6-9: God rebuketh Aaron and Miriam.
Num 12:10: Miriam becometh leprous.
Num 12:11-12: Aaron humbling himself before Moses;
Num 12:13: he intercedeth for him.
Num 12:14-15: Miriam remains without the camp seven days.
Num 12:1. God permitted Miriam and Aaron to murmur against their brother, partly to exercise and discover his admirable meekness and patience for the instruction of after-ages; and partly, that by this shaking Moses’s authority might take the deeper root, and the people might be deterred from all sedition and rebellion against him by this example. Miriam seems to be first named, because she was the chief instigator or first mover of the sedition; wherefore she also is more eminently punished. The Ethiopian woman was either 1. Zipporah, who is here called an Ethiopian, in the Hebrew a Cushite, because she was a Midianite; the word Cush being generally used in Scripture, not for Ethiopia properly so called below Egypt, but for Arabia, as some late learned men have evidently proved from 2 Kings 19:9; 2 Chron 21:16; Ezek 29:10; Ezek 30:8-9; Hab 3:7, and other places. If she be meant, as it is commonly conceived, I suppose they did not quarrel with him for marrying her, because that was done long since, but for indulging her too much, and being swayed by her and her relations, by whom they might think he was persuaded to make this innovation, and to choose seventy rulers, as he had been formerly, Exod 18; by which co-partnership in government they thought their authority and reputation much diminished, especially when no notice was taken nor use made of them in the choice, but all was done by the direction of Moses, and for his assistance in the government. And because they durst not accuse God, who was the chief Agent in it, they charge Moses, his instrument, as the manner of men is. Or, 2. Some other woman, though not named in Scripture, whom he married either whilst Zipporah lived, or rather because she was now dead, though that, as really other things, be not recorded. For as the quarrel seems to be about his marrying a stranger, so it is probable it was a late and fresh occasion about which they contended, and not a thing done forty years ago. And it was lawful for him as well as any other to marry an Ethiopian or Arabian woman, provided she were, as doubtless this woman was, a sincere proselyte, which were by the law of God admitted to the same privileges with the Israelites, Exod 12:48; so there might be many reasons why Moses might choose to marry such a person rather than an Israelite, or why God so ordered it by his providence, either because she was a person of eminent worth and virtue, or because God intended that the government should not be continued in the hands of Moses’s children, and therefore would have some political blemish to be upon the family, as being strangers by one parent. And this they here urge as a blemish to Moses also.
Num 12:2. Are not we prophets as well as he? so Aaron was made, Exod 4:15-16, and so Miriam is called, Exod 15:20. See also Mic 6:4. And Moses hath debased and mixed the holy seed, which we have not done. Why then should he take all power to himself, and make rulers as he pleaseth, without consulting us in the case? The Lord heard it, i.e. observed their words and carriage to Moses.
Num 12:3. This is added as the reason why Moses took no notice of their reproach, but was one that heard it not, and why God did so speedily and severely plead Moses’s cause, because he did not avenge himself. Question 1. Did it become Moses thus to commend himself? Answer 1. The holy penmen of Scripture are not to be measured or censured by other profane writers, because they are guided by special instinct in every thing they write; and as they ofttimes publish their own and their near relations’ greatest faults, where it may be useful to the honour of God, and the edification of the church in after-ages; so it is not strange if for the same reasons sometimes they commend themselves, especially when they are forced to it by the insolence and contempt of their adversaries, which was Moses’s case here, in which case St. Paul also commends himself, 2 Cor 11:5, etc. 2 Cor 12:11-12; which they might the better do, because all their writings and carriage made it evident to all men that they did not this out of vainglory, and that they were exalted above the affectation of men’s praises, and the dread of men’s reproaches. 2. This might be added, as some other clauses were, by some succeeding prophet, which was no disparagement to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, seeing it is all written by one hand, though divers pens be used by it. Question 2: How was Moses so meek, when we oft times read of his anger, as Exod 11:8; Exod 16:20; Exod 32:19; Lev 10:16; Num 16:15; Num 20:10-11, compared with Ps 106:32-33? Answer 1. The meekest men upon earth are provoked sometimes, yea, oftener than Moses was. 2. True meekness doth not exclude all anger, but only such as is unjust, or immoderate, or implacable. Moses was and ought to be angry where God was offended and dishonoured, as he was in almost all the places alleged.
Num 12:4. Suddenly; partly to show his great respect unto Moses, and unto the grace of meekness; and partly to stifle the beginnings of the sedition, that this example might not spread amongst the people, who had too much of that leaven among them. Come out, to wit, out of your private dwellings, and from amongst the people, both that you may not infect them by such scandalous words, and partly that you may know my pleasure and your own doom.
Num 12:5. In the door of the tabernacle, where they stood without, not being admitted into the tabernacle, as Aaron used to be; which is noted as a sign of God’s displeasure.
Num 12:6. If you be prophets, as you pretend, yet know there is a difference among prophets, nor do I put equal authority and honour upon all of them. By a vision God represents things to the mind of a prophet when he is awake, as Gen 15:1; Gen 46:2; Dan 8:18; Dan 10:8. By a dream God manifests his mind to them when asleep, as Gen 20:3; Gen 28:12.
Num 12:7. i.e. Whom I have set over all my house, i.e. my church and people, and therefore over you, and who hath discharged his office faithfully, and not partially and self-seekingly, as you falsely accuse him.
Num 12:8. Mouth to mouth, i.e. distinctly, by an articulate voice; immediately, not by an interpreter, nor by shadows and representations in his fancy, as it is in visions and dreams; and familiarly. This is called speaking face to face, 2 John 12; 3 John 14. Apparently; plainly and certainly. Not in dark speeches; not in parables, similitudes, riddles, dark resemblances; as by showing a boiling pot, an almond tree, etc. to Jeremiah, a chariot with wheels, etc. to Ezekiel. The similitude of the Lord; not the face or essence of God, which no man can see and live, Exod 33:20; it being invisible, Col 1:15, and never seen by man, John 1:18; but some singular manifestation of his glorious presence, as Exod 33:11,20, etc.; Exod 34:5, etc.; Deut 34:10. Yea, the Son of God appeared to him in a human shape, which he took up for a time, that he might give him a foretaste of his future incarnation. My servant; who is so in such an eminent and extraordinary manner.
Num 12:9. From the door of the tabernacle, in token of his great displeasure, not waiting for their answer, and judging them unworthy of any further discourse.
Num 12:10. From off the tabernacle; not from the whole tabernacle, for then they must have removed, but from that part of the tabernacle whither it was come, to that part which was directly over the mercyseat, where it constantly abode. Miriam became leprous; she, and not Aaron, either because she was first or chief in the transgression, or because God would not have his worship either interrupted or dishonoured, which it must have been if Aaron had been leprous. White as snow: this kind of leprosy was the most virulent and incurable of all. See Exod 4:6; 2 Kings 5:27. It is true, when the leprosy began in a particular part, and thence spread itself over all the flesh by degrees, and at last made it all white, that was an evidence of the cure of the leprosy, Lev 13:12-13; but it was otherwise when one was suddenly and extraordinarily smitten with this universal whiteness, which showed the great corruption of the whole mass of blood, as it was here.
Num 12:11. Let not the guilt and punishment of this sin rest upon us, upon her in this kind, upon me in any other kind, but pray to God for the pardon and removal of it.
Num 12:12. As one dead; either naturally, because part of her flesh was putrefied and dead, and not to be restored but by the mighty power of God; or morally, because she was cut off from all converse with others, Lev 13:46. When he cometh out of his mother’s womb; like an untimely birth, without due shape and proportion, or like a stillborn child that hath been for some time dead in the womb, which when it comes forth is white and putrefied, and part of it consumed.
Num 12:13-14. Spit in her face, i.e. expressed some eminent token of indignation and contempt, which this was, Job 30:10; Isa 1:6. Should she not be ashamed, and withdraw herself from her father’s presence? as Jonathan did upon a like occasion, 1 Sam 20:34. So though God healed her according to Moses’s request, yet he would have her publicly bear the shame of her sin, and be a warning to others to keep them firm the same transgression. Seven days, the time appointed for cleansing the unclean. See Num 6:9; Num 31:19.
Num 12:15. Which was a testimony of respect to her both from God and from the people, God so ordering it, partly lest she should be overwhelmed by such a public rebuke from God, and partly lest, she being a prophetess, together with her person, the gift of prophecy should come into contempt.
Num 12:16. Hazeroth, where they abode, as is said, Num 11:35, for Miriam’s sake. In the wilderness of Paran, i.e. in another part of the same wilderness, as may be gathered from Num 10:12: see also Deut 33:2. It is possible they might have removed out of one part of that wilderness into another wilderness, and then returned again into another part of it, as we know the Israelites had many strange windings and turnings in their wilderness travels. And this part was more especially called Rithmah, Num 33:18, and Kadeshbarnea, Num 13:26; Deut 1:19, which were two noted places in that part, both which seem to be comprehended within their camp, or near adjoining to it.
NUMBERS 13
Num 13:1-3: God commandeth Moses to send spies to search out the land of Canaan.
Num 13:4-16: Their names.
Num 13:17-20: Moses’s commandment where to go, and what to do.
Num 13:23-29: Their return with the fruits of the land, and their report.
Num 13:30: They are encouraged by Caleb;
Num 13:31-33: but ten others dishearten them by their false report.
Num 13:1. In answer to the people’s petition about it, as is evident from Deut 1:22. And it is probable from the following story, that the people desired it out of diffidence of God’s promise and providence, though Moses liked of it as a prudent course to learn where or how to make the first invasion. And God granted their desire for their trial and punishment, as well knowing from what root it came.
Num 13:2. Do as the people press thee to do. Of every tribe of their fathers, i.e. which comes from their several parents or patriarchs. A ruler; a person of wisdom and authority, which might make his witness more considerable with the people.
Num 13:3-8. Called also Joshua, Num 13:16.
Num 13:9-11. i.e. Of that part of the tribe of Joseph which is peculiarly called the tribe of Manasseh, as the other part of it was called the tribe of Ephraim, Num 13:8. The name of Joseph is elsewhere appropriated to Ephraim, as Ezek 37:16,19; Rev 7:8; here to Manasseh; possibly to aggravate the sin of the ruler of this tribe, who did so basely degenerate from his noble ancestor, Joseph.
Num 13:12-16. Oshea notes a desire of salvation, signifying, Save, we pray thee, but Jehoshua, or Joshua, includes a promise of salvation, that he should save, or that God by his hands should save the people. So this was a prophecy of his succession to Moses in the government, and of the success of his arms.
Num 13:17. Southward, i.e. into the southern part of Canaan, which was the nearest part, and the worst too, being dry and desert, Josh 15:1,3; Judg 1:15; Ps 126:4, and therefore fittest for them to enter and pass through with less observation. Into the mountain, i.e. into the mountainous country, and thence into the valleys, and so take an exact survey of the whole land.
Num 13:18. What it is, both for largeness, and for nature and quality; as is more particularly expressed, Num 13:19-20.
Num 13:19. Good or bad, healthful or unwholesome, fruitful or barren. In tents, as the Arabians did; or in unwalled villages, which, like tents, are exposed to an enemy.
Num 13:20. Fat; rich and fertile. Be ye of good courage; doubt not but God will preserve you in this dangerous journey, and be not dismayed nor discouraged if you find the people numerous, potent, and well fortified.
Num 13:21. The wilderness of Zin, in the south of Canaan, Num 34:3; Josh 15:3; differing from the wilderness of Sin, which was nigh unto Egypt, Exod 16:1. To Hamath; i.e. from the south they passed through the whole land even to the northern parts of it, Rehob, a city in the northwest part, Josh 19:28; Judg 1:31; and Hamath, a city in the northeast part, Josh 19:35; Ezek 47:17. And that they might more expeditiously and securely perform this office, it is probable that they divided themselves into several shall parties, and informed themselves not only by their eye, but also by their ear, and the information of persons, of whom they inquired about the nature and condition of their land.
Num 13:22. Here Moses having generally described their process and course from south to north, now returns more particularly to relate some memorable places and passages, as that having entered the land in the southern parts, they travelled then till they came to Hebron. Came, Heb. he came, to wit, Caleb, as appears from Josh 14:9,12,14; for, as was now intimated, the spies distributed their work among them, and went either severally, or by pairs: and, it seems, the survey of this part was left to Caleb. Anak; a famous giant so called, whose children these are called, either more generally, as all giants sometimes were, or rather more specially, because Arba, from whom Hebron was called Kirjatharba, was the father of Anak, Josh 15:13. And this circumstance is mentioned as an evidence of the goodness of that land and soil, because the giants chose it for their habitation. Before Zoan in Egypt: this seems to be noted to confront the Egyptians, who vainly boasted of the antiquity of their city Zoan above all places.
Num 13:23. Upon a staff; either for the weight of it, considering the length of the way they were to carry it, or for the preservation of it whole and entire. In those eastern and southern countries there are vines and grapes of an extraordinary bigness, as Strabo and Pliny affirm.
Num 13:24-26. Kadesh; so called by way of abbreviation, which is frequent in Hebrew names, for Kadeshbarnea, Deut 1:19, which some rashly confound with Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Num 33:36; into which they came not till the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt, as appears from Num 33:37-38 whereas they were in this Kadesh in the second year, and before they received the sentence of their forty years’ abode in the wilderness.
Num 13:27. They told him in the audience of the people, as appears from Num 13:30. They craftily begin their relation with commendations, that their following slanders might be more easily believed.
Num 13:28. Strong; potent for the strength of their body, and the valour of their minds.
Num 13:29. The south, where we are to enter the land; and they who were so eager and fierce against us that they came into the wilderness to fight with us, will without doubt oppose us when we come close by their land, and are about to settle in their neighbourhood, the rather, to revenge themselves for their former loss and shame received by us. Therefore they mention them, though they were no Canaanites. In the mountains, i.e. in the mountainous country in the southeast part of the land; so that you cannot enter there without great difficulty, both because of the noted strength and valour of those people, and because of the advantage they have from the mountains. By the sea; not the midland sea, which is commonly understood by that expression, but the Salt or Dead Sea, as appears, 1. Because it is that sea which is next to Jordan, as here follows. 2. Because the Canaanites dwelt principally in those parts, and not near the midland sea. So these guard the entrance on the east side, as the others do on the south.
Num 13:30. Caleb, together with Joshua, as is manifest from Num 14:6-7,30; but Caleb alone is here mentioned, possibly because he spake first and most, which he might better do, because he might be presumed to be more impartial than Joshua, who being Moses’s minister might be thought to speak only what he knew his master would like. Stilled the people; which implies either that they had began to murmur, or that by their looks and carriages they discovered that grief and anger which boiled in their breasts. Before Moses, or toward Moses, against whom they were incensed, as the man who had brought them into such sad circumstances. We are well able; partly in moral probability, because we are one people united under one head, whereas they are divided into several nations, and governments of differing counsels, and interests, and inclinations; and principally because of the assistance of the Almighty God.
Num 13:31. The men that went up with him; all of them, Joshua excepted. They are stronger than we, both in stature of body and numbers of people. Thus they wickedly question the power, and truth, and goodness of God, of all which they had such ample testimonies.
Num 13:32. They brought up, Heb. brought forth, to wit, out of their mouths; they uttered a reproach, or reproachful words. Of the land i.e. against it, or concerning the land. It is the genitive case of the object, as Matt 10:1; Matt 14:1. Eateth up the inhabitants; not so much by civil wars, as most think, for that was likely to make their conquest more easy; nor by the barrenness of the soil, which consumed the people with the excessive pains it required to make it fruitful, as others think, for they confessed the excellency of the land, Num 13:27; but rather by the unwholesomeness of the air and place, which they guessed from the many funerals which, as some Hebrew writers, not without probability, affirm, they observed in their travels through it; though that came to pass from another cause, even from the singular providence of God, which, to facilitate the Israelites’ conquest, cut off vast numbers of the Canaanites, either by a plague, or by the hornet sent before them, as is expressed Josh 24:12, or some other way.
Num 13:33. i.e. Small and contemptible.
NUMBERS 14
Num 14:1-4: The children of Israel murmur against Moses and Aaron.
Num 14:5-9: Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua go to appease the people;
Num 14:10: wherefore the people would have stoned them.
Num 14:11-12: The Lord threateneth them with the pestilence.
Num 14:13-19: Moses entreateth the Lord for the people.
Num 14:20-21: The Lord heareth Moses;
Num 14:22-23: yet promiseth that the murmurers shall never enter into the land of Canaan.
Num 14:26-35: Judgments on the murmurers.
Num 14:36-37: They that brought an evil report on the land die of the plague.
Num 14:40-45: They who would take possession of the land contrary to God’s command are smitten.
Num 14:1. Except Caleb and Joshua, and some few others. A synecdochial expression, the whole for the greatest part.
Num 14:2. Against Moses and against Aaron, as the instruments and occasions of their present calamity. That we had died in the wilderness: it was not long before they had their desire, and did die in the wilderness.
Num 14:3. From the instruments they rise higher, and strike at God the chief cause and author of their journey; by which we see the prodigious growth and progress of sin when it is not resisted. Should be a prey to the Canaanites, whose land we were made to believe we should possess.
Num 14:4. A captain, instead of Moses, one who will be more faithful to our interest than he. This was but a purpose or desire, and yet it is imputed to them as if they had done it, Neh 9:16-17, they appointed a captain, etc., even as Abraham’s purpose to offer up Isaac is reckoned for the deed, Heb 11:17. Let us return into Egypt. Stupendous madness! Whence should they have protection against the many hazards, and provision against all the wants of the wilderness? Could they expect either God’s cloud to cover and guide them, or manna from Heaven to lead them? Who should conduct them over the Red Sea? or, if they went another way, who should defend them against those nations whose borders they were to pass? What entertainment could they expect if the Egyptians, whom they had deserted and brought to so much ruin?
Num 14:5. As humble and earnest suppliants, either to the people, to entreat them to desist from their wicked and pernicious enterprise; or rather, to God, by comparing this with Num 16:4; Num 20:6, the only refuge to which Moses resorted in all such straits, and who alone was able to still and govern this tumultuous and stiffnecked people. Before all the assembly, that they might be awaked to apprehend their sin and danger, when they saw Moses at his prayers, whom God never used to deny, and never failed to defend, even with the destruction of his enemies.
Num 14:6. To testify their hearty grief for the people’s blasphemy against God and sedition against Moses, and that dreadful judgment which they easily foresaw this must bring upon the congregation and people of God.
Num 14:7-8. If by our rebellion and ingratitude we do not provoke God to loathe and forsake us.
Num 14:9. They are bread for us; we shall destroy them as easily as we do our bread or common food. Compare Num 24:8; Ps 14:4. Their defence, i.e. their counsel, conduct, and courage, and especially God, who was pleased to afford them his protection till their iniquities were full, Gen 15:16, is utterly departed from them, and hath given them up as a prey to us. The Lord is with us, by his special grace and almighty power, to save us from them; and from all our enemies.
Num 14:10. Now in the extremity of danger, to rescue his faithful servants, and to stop the rage of the people. In the tabernacle, i.e. upon or above the tabernacle, where the cloud usually resided, in which the glory of God did appear upon occasion, and now in a more illustrious manner, as the state of things required.
Num 14:11-12. This was not an absolute determination, as the event showed, but only a condition, like that of Nineveh’s destruction within forty days, with a condition implied, except there be speedy repentance, or powerful intercession.
Num 14:13. Then, i.e. in case thou dost utterly destroy them. Thou broughtest up this people, whereby thou didst get great honour to thyself, which now thou wilt certainly lose.
Num 14:14. To the inhabitants of this land, for there was much intercourse between these two nations.
Num 14:15. As one man, i.e. altogether, or to a man; and suddenly as it were by one blow, as if all had but one neck.
Num 14:16. His power was quite spent in bringing them out of Egypt, and could not finish the work he had begun and had sworn to do.
Num 14:17. Be great, i.e. appear to be great, discover its greatness; a real verb put for a declarative, or the thing for the manifestation of the thing. And this may be understood either, 1. Of God’s power in preserving the people, and carrying them on into Canaan, which sense may seem to be favoured by the foregoing verse, where the Egyptians deny that God had power to do so. And according to that sense he adds the following words, not as an explication of this power, but as an argument to move him to show forth his power for his people notwithstanding their sins, according as, or rather because, (as the Hebrew word is oft rendered,) he had spoken, saying, etc., and so he should maintain the honour and the truth of his own name, or of those titles which he had ascribed to himself. Or, 2. The power of his grace and mercy, or the greatness of his mercy, as he calls it, Num 14:19, in pardoning of this and their other sins; for to this the following words manifestly restrain it, according as thou hast spoken, etc., where the pardon of their sins is the only instance of this power both described in God’s titles, Num 14:18, and prayed for by Moses, Num 14:19, pardon, I beseech thee, etc., and granted by God in answer to him, Num 14:20, I have pardoned, etc. Nor is it strange that the pardon of sin, especially of such great sins, be spoken of as an act of power in God, because undoubtedly it is an act of omnipotent and infinite goodness; whence despairing sinners sometimes cry out that their sins are greater than God can pardon, as some translate Cain’s words, Gen 4:13. And since power is applied to God’s wrath in punishing sin, Rom 9:22, why may it not as well be attributed to God’s mercy in forgiving it? especially if it be considered that even in men revenge is an act of impotency, and consequently it must needs be an act of power to conquer their passions and inclinations to revenge, and to pardon those enemies whom they could destroy.
Num 14:18. These words may seem to be very improperly mentioned, as being a powerful argument to move God to destroy this wicked people, and not to pardon them. It may be answered, that Moses useth these words together with the rest, partly because he would not sever what God had put together, and partly to show that he did not desire a fulfil and absolute pardon, (but was willing that God should execute his vengeance upon the principal authors of this rebellion, and leave some character of his displeasure upon all the people, as God did,) but only that God would not disinherit them, Num 14:12, nor kill all the people as one man, Num 14:15, nor destroy them both root and branch, because he, had promised not to extend his wrath against them in punishing their sins beyond the third and fourth generation. But the truer answer seems to be, that these words are to be translated otherwise, and in destroying he will not utterly destroy, though he visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation. Of which see on Exod 34:7, where all this verse is explained.
Num 14:19. After many and great provocations; show thyself still to be the same sin-pardoning God.
Num 14:20. So far as not utterly to destroy them, as I threatened, Num 14:12, and thou didst fear, and beg the prevention of it, Num 14:15.
Num 14:21. i.e. With the report of the glorious and righteous acts of God in punishing this rebellious people in manner following. That this is the true sense, appears both from the particle of opposition, and the solemn introduction of them. But truly as I live, and from the following verses, because all these men, etc., which come in without any note of opposition, and have a manifest relation to and connexion with this verse.
Num 14:22. My glory, i.e. my glorious appearances in the cloud, and in the tabernacle. Ten times, i.e. many times. A certain number for an uncertain, as Gen 31:7; Lev 26:8; Job 19:3. Though some reckon ten times precisely, wherein they did eminently provoke God.
Num 14:24. Joshua is not here named, because he was not now among the people, but a constant attendant upon Moses; nor was he to be reckoned as one of them, any more than Moses and Aaron were, because he was to be their chief commander. Another spirit with him, i.e. was a man of another temper and carriage, faithful and courageous, not acted by that evil spirit of cowardice, unbelief, unthankfulness, disobedience, which ruled in his brethren, but by the Spirit of God. Fully, i.e. universally and constantly, in and through difficulties and dangers, which made his partners halt. The land whereinto he went; in general, Canaan, and particularly Hebron, and the adjacent parts, Josh 14:9. Shall possess it, or, shall expel it, i.e. its inhabitants, the land being oft put for the people of it. Compare Josh 8:7; Josh 14:12.
Num 14:25. In the valley; beyond the mountain at the foot whereof they now were, Num 14:40. And this clause is added, either, 1. As an aggravation of Israel’s misery and punishment, that being now ready to enter and take possession of the land, they are forced to go back into the wilderness; or, 2. As an argument to oblige them more willingly to obey the following command of returning into the wilderness, because their enemies were very near them, and severed from them only by that Idumean mountain, and if they did not speedily depart, their enemies would hear of them and fall upon them, and so the evil which before they causelessly feared would come upon them; they, their wives, and their children would become a prey to the Amalekites and Canaanites, because God had forsaken them, and would not assist nor defend them. The verse may be rendered thus, And, or But, for the present, the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley; therefore (which particle is here understood, as it is in other places) tomorrow turn ye, etc. Though some knit these words to the former, and read the place thus, Caleb—and his seed shall possess it, to wit, the land near Hebron, and also the land of the Amalekites and of the Canaanites that dwell in the valley. Question. But how are the Canaanites said to dwell in the valley here, when they dwelt in the hill, Num 14:45, and by the seacoasts, Num 21:1? Answer 1. Part of them dwelt in one place, and part in other places. 2. The word Canaanite may here be understood more generally of all the inhabitants of Canaan. By the way of the Red Sea, i.e. that leadeth to the Red Sea, and to Egypt, the place whither you desire to return, Num 14:3-4.
Num 14:26-27. Bear with, or pardon, as Num 14:19-20, or spare; which words are necessarily and easily understood. It is a short and imperfect speech, which is frequent in case of anger, as Exod 32:32; Ps 6:3; Ps 90:13.
Num 14:28. As you wickedly wished you might have died in the wilderness, Num 14:2, I will bring your imprecations upon your heads.
Num 14:29-30. To make you, i.e. your nation; for God did not swear to do so to these particular persons.
Num 14:31-33. Wander, like sheep, feeding in the deserts; or shall be shepherds, i.e. shall live like the shepherds of Arabia, in tents, and removing from place to place, having no certain dwelling. Forty years, i.e. so long as to make up the time of your dwelling in the wilderness forty years, as appears from Num 33:8; Deut 1:3; Deut 2:14. Compare Amos 5:25. It is manifest that one whole year and part of another were past before this sin or judgment. Your whoredoms, i.e. the punishment of your whoredoms, to wit, of your apostacy from, and perfidiousness against, your Lord, who was your Husband, and had married you to himself. See Jer 3:14. Whence idolatry is called whoredom.
Num 14:34. Each day for a year; so there should have been forty years to come, but God was pleased mercifully to accept of the time past as a part of that time. My breach of promise, that as you have first broken the covenant between you and me, by breaking the terms or conditions of it, so I will make it void on my part, by denying you the blessings promised in that covenant, and to be given to you in case of your obedience. So you shall see that the breach of promise wherewith you charged me, Num 14:3, lies at your door, and was forced from me by your perfidiousness. Or, my breach; either passively, i.e. your breaking off from me, as such pronouns are oft used, as Gen 1:4; Isa 53:11; Isa 56:7; or actively, i.e. my breaking off or departing from you, and stopping the current of my blessings towards you; you shall feel by experience how sad your condition is when I withdraw my grace and favour from you.
Num 14:35-37. Either by the pestilence threatened Num 14:12, or by some other sudden and extraordinary judgment, sent from the cloud in which God dwelt, and from whence he spake to Moses, and wherein his glory at this time appeared before all the people, Num 14:10, who therefore were all, and these spies among the rest, before the Lord.
Num 14:38-40. Gat them up, i.e. designed, or attempted, or prepared themselves to go up; for that they were not yet actually gone up, plainly appears from Num 14:42,44, and from Deut 1:41. Things designed or endeavoured in Scripture phrase are oft said to be done. See on Gen 37:21-22; Exod 8:18.
Num 14:41. The commandment of the Lord; either that command, Go not up, etc., which, though in this place mentioned after, yet may seem to have gone before their transgression, by comparing this place with Deut 1:42-43; or that command above, Num 14:25, Turn ye, and get ye into the wilderness, etc., which was a course directly contrary to that which they took.
Num 14:42-44. They presumed; guilty both of rashness and rebellion; thus running from one extreme to another.
Num 14:45. The Canaanite; largely so called, but strictly the Amorite, as appears from Deut 1:44. Which dwelt; so they were a part and branch of those that dwelt in the valley, Num 14:25. Or, sat, i.e. placed themselves, lay in ambush, expecting your coming. Hormah; a place so called afterwards Num 21:3, from the great slaughter or destruction of the Israelites at this time.
NUMBERS 15
Num 15:1-16: Of meat and drink offerings.
Num 15:17-21: The law of the first of the dough for a peace-offering.
Num 15:22-26: The sacrifice for sins of ignorance of the whole congregation;
Num 15:27-29: or when a single soul is guilty.
Num 15:30-31: Punishments for presumptuous sinners.
Num 15:32-36: Of the man that gathered sticks on the sabbath day, and his death.
Num 15:37-38: God commandeth them to wear fringes on their garments.
Num 15:39-41: The use thereof.
Num 15:1-2. i.e. Will certainly give you notwithstanding this great provocation, and my unchangeable commination. And for their better assurance hereof, he repeats and amplifies the laws of sacrifices, whereby through Christ he was or would be reconciled to them and theirs upon their repentance.
Num 15:3. A sacrifice, i.e. a peace-offering, as appears, 1. Because that word put by itself is oft so taken, as Exod 18:12; Lev 17:5,8; Lev 23:37; Deut 12:27. 2. Because the offerings for sins and trespasses had no meat-offerings and drink-offerings attending upon them, excepting only the case of the leper’s cleansing, Lev 14:10. 3. Because this is explained by and called peace-offerings, Num 15:8. 4. From the words here following, because peace-offerings were commonly offered either in performance of a vow, or freely, or by God’s command in their solemn feasts, all which are here expressed.
Num 15:4. A tenth deal, or tenth part, to wit, of an ephah, i.e. an omer, Exod 16:36. Mingled with oil; wherein it seems to differ from such meat-offerings as were solitary, and not accessories to other sacrifices.
Num 15:5-6. Two tenth deals; because this belonged to a better sacrifice than the former; and therefore in the next sacrifice of a bullock there are three tenth deals. So the accessory sacrifice grows proportionably with the principal.
Num 15:7-8. i.e. Or any other peace-offerings, to wit, such as were offered either freely or by command, which may be called peace-offerings or thank-offerings, by way of eminency, because such are offered purely by way of gratitude to God, and with single respect to his command and honour; whereas the peace-offerings made it performance of a vow were made and offered by way of contract, and with design of getting some advantage by them.
Num 15:9-12. i.e. As many cattle as ye sacrifice, so many meat and drink offerings ye shall offer.
Num 15:13-14. A stranger, to wit, proselyte, for such offerings were not accepted from others.
Num 15:15. i.e. As to the worship of God; his sacrifices shall be offered in the same manner, and accepted by God upon the same terms, as yours; which was a presage of the future calling of the Gentiles. And this is added by way of caution and distinction, to show that strangers were not upon this pretence to partake of their civil privileges.
Num 15:16-19. When ye eat, i.e. when you are about to eat it; for before they did eat it, they were to offer this offering to God. Of the bread, i.e. the bread-corn, as that word is used. Job 28:5; Ps 104:15; Isa 28:22. Unto the Lord, i.e. to the priest of the Lord, as appears from Ezek 44:30.
Num 15:20. i.e. Of the corn in the threshingfloor, as Deut 16:13, when you have gathered in your corn. So shall ye heave it, i.e. you shall offer this in the same proportion, to the same persons, i.e. the priests, and with the same rites.
Num 15:21-22. To wit, those now spoken of, those which concern the outward worship and service of God, or the rites or ceremonies belonging to it. And herein principally this law may seem to differ from that Lev 14:13, which speaks of some positive miscarriage, or doing that which ought not to have been done about the holy things of God, whereas this speaks only of an omission of something which ought to have been done about holy ceremonies. But besides this, that law, Lev 4:13, concerns the whole congregation of Israel, as it is there expressed, but this concerns only the congregation, or a congregation, as it is here expressed, Num 15:24, i.e. any particular congregation of Israelites, whether of a whole tribe meeting together by their representatives, or a lesser congregation, such as there were to be many in Canaan; and the words rendered all the congregation may be, and are by some here, rendered every congregation. And by virtue of this law, as some suppose, the Israelites newly after their return from the captivity offered twelve bullocks, one for each tribe, Ezra 8:35.
Num 15:23-24. In Lev 4 the bullock is for a sin-offering, here it is for a burnt-offering, either because they are different laws, as hath been said; or because here is added a new penalty, to breed the greater caution and diligence in the Israelites, who had given many instances, and now a fresh and eminent instance, of their heedlessness in observing the commands of God; and so, besides that bullock for a sin-offering, which he leaves to be gathered out of Lev 4:11, he now requires another bullock for a burnt-offering.
Num 15:25-30. Ought; understand such things as ought not to be done and things relating to the worship of God; presumptuously, Heb. with a high or lifted hand i.e. knowingly willfully, boldly, resolvedly, deliberately, designedly. So this phrase is elsewhere used. See Exod 14:8; Lev 26:21; Num 33:3; Job 15:26; Ps 19:13. Reproacheth the Lord, i.e. he sets God at defiance, and exposeth him to contempt, as if he were unworthy of any regard, and unable to punish transgressors.
Num 15:31. i.e. The punishment shall be confined to himself, and not fall upon the congregation, as it will do, if they neglect to cut him off.
Num 15:32. This seems to be added as an example of a presumptuous sin; for as the law of the sabbath was plain and positive, so this transgression of it must needs be a known and wilful sin.
Num 15:33. i.e. To the rulers of the congregation, who, as they represented and governed the congregation, are called by the name of the congregation.
Num 15:34. i.e. Moses and Aaron, and the seventy rulers last mentioned. What should be done to him, i.e. in what manner he was to be cut off, or by what kind of death he was to die, which therefore God here particularly determines; otherwise it was known in general that sabbath-breakers were to be put to death, from Exod 31:14; Exod 35:2.
Num 15:35-38. Fringes were certain threads or ends of their garments, standing out a little further than the rest of their garments, left there for this use. In the borders, i.e. in the four borders or quarters, as it is Deut 22:12. Heb. wings, which is oft used for borders or ends, as Ruth 3:9; 1 Sam 15:27; 1 Sam 24:5, etc. Of their garments, i.e. of their upper garment, or that wherewith they covered themselves, as is expressed Deut 22:12. This was practised by the Pharisees in Christ’s time, who are noted for making their borders larger than ordinary, Matt 23:5; and by Christ himself, as may gathered from Luke 8:44. A ribband, to make it more obvious to the sight, and consequently more serviceable to the use here mentioned. Of blue, or, of a purple colour, as the Jewish writers agree, whose opinion is the more considerable, because it was matter of constant practice among them.
Num 15:39. It, i.e. the ribband, shall be unto you, i.e. shall serve you for the fringe, to wit, to render it more visible and notorious by its certain, and remarkable, and distinct colour, whereas the fringe without this was of the same piece and colour with the garment, and therefore less observable. Or, it, i.e. the ribband, shall be in your fringes, or, put to your fringes, fastened to them, that by looking upon it you may remember, that your eye may affect your mind and heart. That ye seek not, or, inquire not, for other rules or ways of serving me than I have prescribed you. After your own heart, and your own eyes, i.e. neither after the devices and inventions of your own minds or hearts, as Nadab and Abihu did when they offered strange fire, and as you now did, when you pretended to serve and please me by going up the hill and towards Canaan without and against my command; nor after the examples or inventions of others which your eyes see, as you did when you were set upon worshipping a calf after the manner of Egypt. To go a whoring, i.e. to depart from me, and to prefer your own fancies before my commands, and to live only by present sight or sense, and not at all by faith in my promises.
Num 15:40-41. Though I am justly displeased with you, for your frequent and horrid rebellions, for which also I will keep you forty years in the wilderness, yet I will not utterly cast you off, but will continue to be your God, to preserve and provide for you there, and after that time to bring you into Canaan.
NUMBERS 16
Num 16:1-3: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram raise sedition against Moses and Aaron.
Num 16:4-11: Moses reproving them,
Num 16:12-14: sends for Dathan and Abiram; their refusal and answer.
Num 16:15-35: The manner of their punishment.
Num 16:36-40: Their perfuming censers are kept for a memorial and warning.
Num 16:41-50: The people murmur against Moses and Aaron, for which they are consumed by the plague, which Aaron by Moses’s order stays.
Num 16:1. Korah, the first and chief author of this rebellion, Num 16:11; Jude 11. Izhar was Amram’s brother, Exod 6:18, therefore Moses and he were cousin-germans. Moreover Izhar was the second son of Kohath, whereas Elizaphan, whom Moses had preferred before him, and made prince or ruler of the Kohathites, Num 3:30, was the son of Uzziel, the fourth son of Kohath. This, the Jewish writers say, made him malcontent, which at last broke forth into sedition. Sons of Reuben: these are drawn into confederacy with Korah, partly because they were his next neighbours, both being encamped on the south side, and therefore could easily communicate counsels; partly in hopes to recover their rights of primogeniture, in which the priesthood was comprehended, which was given away from their father. Took men, to wit, those two hundred and fifty mentioned Num 16:2. In the Hebrew there is nothing but took, and the Hebrew words are placed and may well be rendered thus, Now Korah—took both Dathan and Abiram, etc., or took Dathan, etc., the particle vau being here superfluous, as it is Gen 8:6, and elsewhere.
Num 16:2. They, i.e. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, last mentioned. Rose up, i.e. conspired together, and put their seditious design in execution. Before Moses; not privily and obscurely, but openly and boldly, not fearing nor regarding the presence of Moses, who was an eyewitness of their conspiracy. Famous, for place and birth.
Num 16:3. They, i.e. either Korah, and the two hundred and fifty princes, which may seem probable by comparing this with Num 16:12,25,27, where we find Dathan and Abiram in another place, even in their tents, whither it is likely they were gone by consent to form and strengthen their party there, while Korah and the rest went to Moses. Or, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and the rest, who were all together when Moses spake those words, Num 16:5-7; but after that Dathan and Abiram retired to their tents, and then Moses sent for Korah and the Levites, who had more special and more colourable pretences to the priesthood, and treats with them apart, and speaks what is mentioned Num 16:8-11; and then having dispatched them, he sends for Dathan and Abiram, Num 16:12, that he might reason the case with them also apart.
Against Aaron, to whom the priesthood was confined, and against Moses, both because this was done by his order, and because before Aaron’s consecration Moses appropriated it to himself. For whatever they intended, they seem not now directly to strike at Moses for his supreme civil government, but only for his interest and influence in the disposal of the priesthood, as may appear by the whole context, and particularly by Num 16:5,10,15, etc. Ye take too much upon you, by perpetuating the priesthood in yourselves and family, with the exclusion of all others from it. Are holy; a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, as they are called Exod 19:6; a people separated to the service of God, and therefore no less fit to present themselves before God, and to offer sacrifice and incense for themselves, than you are. The Lord is among them, by his tabernacle and cloud, the tokens of his special and gracious presence, and therefore ready to receive all their sacrifices and services from their own hands. Wherefore lift ye up yourselves; thou, Moses, by prescribing what laws thou pleasest about the priesthood, and confining it to thy brother; and thou, Aaron, by usurping it as thy peculiar privilege?
Num 16:4. Humbly begging that God would direct him, and defend and vindicate him from this false and odious imputation. See Num 14:5. Accordingly God answers his prayers, and inspires him with this following answer to Korah, and strengthens him with new courage, and confidence of good success.
Num 16:5. Tomorrow, Heb. in the morning, the time appointed by men for administering justice, Ps 101:8; Jer 21:12; and chosen by God for that work, Ps 73:14; Isa 47:11; Zeph 3:5. Some time is allowed, partly that Korah and his company might prepare themselves and their censers; and partly to give them space for consideration and repentance. And will cause him, or, and whom he will cause. To come near unto him, i.e. he will by some evident and miraculous token declare his approbation of him and his ministry.
Num 16:6. Since ye will be priests, take your censers, and act as priests, at your peril.
Num 16:7. Doth choose, i.e. declare his choice and appointment of them for that work.
Num 16:8. Consider what I say before it be too late, and repent of your great wickedness.
Num 16:9. Near to himself; nearer than the other tribes, though not so near as the priests. Unto them, i.e. in their stead and for their good. So they were the servants both of God and of the church, which was a high dignity, though not sufficient for their ambitious minds.
Num 16:10. There being at this time but very few priests, and the profits and privileges belonging to them being many and great, they thought it but fit and reasonable that they, or some of the chief of them, should be admitted to share in their work and advantages.
Num 16:11. Against the Lord, whoso minister and chosen servant Aaron is. You strike at God through Aaron’s sides. Compare 1 Sam 8:7; Luke 10:16; John 13:20.
Num 16:12. Moses sent, to treat with them, and give them, as he had done Korah and his company, a timely admonition. Which said unto the messengers sent to them by Moses, We will not come up, to Moses’s tabernacle, whither the people used to go up for judgment. Men are said in Scripture phrase to go up to places of judgment. See Deut 25:7; Ruth 4:1; Ezra 10:7-8. But because they would not now go up, therefore they went down quick into the pit, Num 16:33.
Num 16:13. i.e. Out of Egypt, a place indeed of great plenty, but to them a place of torment and intolerable slavery. They invidiously and scoffingly use the same words wherewith God by Moses commended the land of Canaan.
Num 16:14. Of these men, i.e. of those who are confederate with us, and of all the people who are of our mind. Wilt thou make them blind, or persuade them that they are blind, and that they do not see what is visible to all that have eyes, to wit, that thou hast deceived them, and broken thy faith and promise given to them? or wilt thou lead them about like blind men whither thou pleasest, one time towards Canaan, another time towards Egypt again? We will not come up; we will not obey thy summons, nor own thy authority.
Num 16:15. Moses was very wroth, not so much for his own sake, for he had learnt to bear indignities, Num 12, as for God’s sake, who was highly dishonoured, blasphemed, and provoked by these speeches and carriages, in which case he ought to be angry, as Christ was, Mark 3:5. Respect not thou their offering, i.e. accept not their incense which they are now going to offer, but show some eminent dislike of it. He calls it their offering, though it was offered by Korah and his companions, because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspirators, for the decision of the present controversy between them and Moses. Not one ass, i.e. not any thing of the smallest value, as an ass was; see 1 Sam 12:3 neither have I injured them, nor used my power to defraud or oppress them, as I might have done; but, which is here implied, I have done them many good offices, but no hurt; therefore their crime is inexcusable, because without any cause or provocation on my part.
Num 16:16. Not in the tabernacle, which was not capable of so many persons severally offering incense, but at the door of the tabernacle, Num 16:18, which place is oft said to be before the Lord, as Exod 29:42; Lev 1:11, etc.; where they might now lawfully offer it by Moses’s direction upon this extraordinary occasion and necessity, because this work could not be done in that place, which alone was allowed for the offering up of incense, not only from its smallness, but also because none but priests might enter to do this work. Here also the people, who were to be instructed by this experiment, might see the proof and success of it.
Num 16:17-18. They could easily make censers in a slight manner, which would suffice for the present purpose. The fire was taken from the altar which stood in that place, Lev 1:3,5, for Aaron might not use other fire, Lev 10:1. And it is likely the remembrance of the death of Nadab and Abihu deterred them from offering any strange fire.
Num 16:19. Korah gathered the congregation, that they might be witnesses of the event, and, upon their success, which they doubted not of, might fall upon Moses and Aaron with popular rage, and destroy them. And it seems by this that the people were generally incensed against Moses, and inclined to Korah’s side. The glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, which then shone with greater brightness and majesty, as a token of God’s approach and presence. See Exod 16:7,10; Lev 9:6,23; Num 20:6.
Num 16:20-21. To wit, Korah and his two hundred and fifty men, and the people whom he gathered against Moses and Aaron, Num 16:19.
Num 16:22. Of the spirits, i.e. of souls, as the word spirit in Scripture is oft used, as Ps 31:5; Ps 77:3; Prov 17:22; Eccles 12:7; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59. And this is no empty title here, but very emphatical and argumentative, thus, Thou art the Maker of spirits, Zech 12:1, destroy not thy own workmanship, Isa 64:8. O thou who art the preserver of men, and of their spirits; the Lord of spirits, Job 12:10; who as thou mayst justly destroy this people, so thou canst preserve whom thou pleasest: the Father of spirits, Heb 12:9; O deal mercifully with thy own children: the Searcher of spirits, thou canst distinguish between those who have maliciously raised this tumult, and those whose ignorance and simple credulity hath made them a prey to crafty seducers. Of all flesh, i.e. of all mankind: the word flesh is put for men, as Gen 6:13; Job 12:10; Isa 40:5-6; Ezek 20:48; Ezek 21:4-5. One man, to wit, Korah, the ringleader of this sedition.
Num 16:23-24. Speak unto the congregation, whom for your sakes I will spare upon the condition here following. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and On too, who is mentioned Num 16:1, though some think he desisted and repented, and therefore is not now mentioned.
Num 16:25. Because they refused to come to him, he goes to them to their cost. The elders of Israel; the seventy rulers, whom he carried with him for the greater solemnity of the action, and for his own better vindication, because he lay under such calumnies, and to encourage them in their work, notwithstanding the obstinate and intractable nature of the people they were to govern.
Num 16:26. Show your dislike of them and their wicked ways by a speedy removal of your persons and tents from about them. Touch nothing of theirs; because they and all that was theirs was under a curse, and therefore not to be touched. See Deut 13:16-17. In all their sins; lest, being guilty of their sins, you perish together with them.
Num 16:27. Their tents were not far asunder, being both on the south side of the tabernacle, as appears from Num 2:10; Num 3:29. Stood in the door of their tents; an argument of their foolish confidence, pride, and impudence, obstinacy, and impenitency, whereby they declared that they neither feared God nor reverenced man, and made themselves ripe for the approaching judgment.
Num 16:28. All these works, to wit, which I have done, and for which I am traduced by these and such like wicked men, as the bringing of the people out of Egypt; the conducting of them through, and the keeping of them so long in, the wilderness; the exercising of power and authority among and over them; giving of laws to them, as about other things, so concerning the priesthood, which is the ground of the present quarrel; and, that which vexeth them most, that when they were upon the borders of Canaan, and ready to enter in, I should cause them to go back into this vast howling wilderness, and fix them there for forty years. Of mine own mind; by pretending or usurping an authority which God gave me not; by feigning words or messages from God to establish my own inventions, and to comply with my own will or lust or interest, as I am now accused to have done. For this phrase, see Num 24:13; Ezek 13:2.
Num 16:29. i.e. If these men die by a natural death, or by plague, or sword, or some usual judgment, I am content that you take me for an impostor, falsely pretending to be sent of God. This he might well say, because he was inspired by God to say this, and infallibly assured by God that this should be done.
Num 16:30. Make a new thing, i.e. do such a work as was never heard before. Into the pit, i.e. into the grave which God thereby makes. The Hebrew word scheol sometimes signifies hell, and sometimes the grave, as Gen 37:35; Ps 55:15. Have provoked the Lord by making his words and works to be nothing but my devices and artifices.
Num 16:31-32. i.e. All his family which were there, women, children, and servants; but his sons, who were spared Num 26:11,58; 1 Chron 6:22,37 were absent, either upon some service of the tabernacle, or upon some other occasion; God so ordering it by his providence, either because they disliked their father’s act, or upon Moses’s intercession for them, or for some other reason. This expression may seem to intimate that Korah himself was not here, but that he continued with his two hundred and fifty men before the Lord Num 16:18-19, where they were waiting for God’s decision of the controversy; nor is it probable that their chief captain would desert them, and leave them standing there without a head, especially when Aaron, his great adversary, abode there still, and did not go with Moses to Dathan, etc., Num 16:25. And Korah may seem to have been consumed with those two hundred and fifty, Num 16:35, though he be not mentioned there, but is easily understood by comparing that verse with Num 16:16-18, and from the nature of the thing itself, there being no cause of doubt but that destruction which befell the accessaries did much more involve the principal. And so much is intimated Num 16:40, that no stranger come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah, and as his company, i.e. destroyed, as they were, by fire from the Lord. And when the psalmist relates this history, Ps 106, the earth’s swallowing them up is confined to Dathan and Abiram, Num 16:17; and for all the rest of that conspiracy, it is added, Num 16:18, and a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burnt up the wicked. As for Num 26:10, which seems to oppose this opinion, we shall see more on that place, if God permit.
Num 16:33. Into the pit, i.e. into the earth, which first opened itself to receive them, and then shut itself to destroy them, and transmit them to further punishment.
Num 16:34-35. From the Lord; i.e. from the cloud, wherein the glory of the Lord appeared, Num 16:19, to give sentence in this cause.
Num 16:36-37. Unto Eleazar, rather than to Aaron, partly because the troublesome part of the work was more proper for him, and partly lest Aaron should be polluted by going amongst those dead carcasses; for it is probable this fire consumed them, as lightning sometimes doth others, by taking away their lives, and leaving their bodies dead upon the place. Out of the burning, i.e. from among the dead bodies of those men who were burnt. Burning put for those who are burnt, as captivity for the captives, Num 21:1, and poverty for the poor, 2 Kings 24:14. The fire, i.e. the cinders or ashes which are left in or near their censers. Yonder, i.e. far from the altar and sanctuary, into an unclean place, where the ashes were wont to be cast; by which God shows his rejection of their services. They are hallowed; either, 1. By God’s appointment, because they were presented before the Lord by his express order, Num 16:16-17. Or, 2. By God’s just judgment, because they, together with the persons that used them, were accursed and devoted by God, and therefore were the Lord’s, and not to be employed in any profane or common use, as appears from Lev 27:28. But the first reason is the chief, and is rendered by God himself, Num 16:38.
Num 16:38. Against their own souls, i.e. their own lives; who were the authors of their own death and destruction. Compare 1 Kings 2:23; Prov 20:2. This he saith for the vindication of God’s justice and his own ministry in this severe dispensation. The altar, to wit, of burnt-offerings, which was made of wood, but covered with brass before this time, Exod 27:1-2, to which this other covering was added for further ornament and security against the fire, which was continually burning upon it. A sign; a monument or warning to all strangers to take heed of invading the priesthood, as it follows, Num 16:40.
Num 16:39-40. As Korah, and as his company, i.e. that he do not imitate them in their sin, and therefore bring upon himself the same plague. To him, i.e. to Eleazar. These words belong to Num 16:38; the meaning is, that Eleazar did as God bade him.
Num 16:41. Prodigious wickedness and madness, so soon to forget such a terrible instance of Divine vengeance! Ye have killed; you, who should have preserved them, and interceded for them, have pulled down God’s wrath upon them, for the maintenance of your own authority and interest. The people of the Lord; so they call those wicked wretches, and rebels against God; which shows the power of passion and prejudice to corrupt men’s judgment.
Num 16:42. They looked, i.e. Moses and Aaron, who in all their distresses made God their refuge.
Num 16:43. To hear what God, who now appeared, would say to him.
Num 16:44-45. To beg pardon and mercy for the people, as they oft did; thus rendering good to them for evil, which the people requited with evil for their kindness.
Num 16:46. Put on incense; which was a sign of intercession, Ps 141:2, and was to be accompanied with it, Luke 1:9-10. Go quickly unto the congregation, with the incense, to stir up the people to repentance and prayer to prevent their utter ruin. This he might do upon this extraordinary occasion, having God’s command for his warrant, though ordinarily incense was to be offered only in the tabernacle. The plague is begun, in cutting off the people by a sudden and miraculous stroke.
Num 16:47. Ran into the midst of the congregation; hazarding his own life to obey God, and to do this wicked people good.
Num 16:48. Whereby it may seem that this plague, like that fire, Num 11:1, began in the uttermost parts of the congregation, and proceeded, destroying one after another in an orderly manner, which gave Aaron occasion and direction so to place himself as a mediator to God on their behalf.
NUMBERS 17
Num 17:1-9: God confirming Aaron’s calling by the budding and the blossoming of his rod,
Num 17:10: commandeth it to be laid up for a memorial and terror to rebels.
Num 11-13: The people being terrified thereby, seek to Moses for succour.
Num 17:1-2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that I may fully and finally satisfy all their scruples, and take away all pretence and cause of murmuring. Of every one of them; not of every person, but of every tribe, as it follows. A rod; either an ordinary walking staff; or rather, that staff or rod which the princes carried in their hand as tokens of their dignity and authority, as may be gathered from Num 21:18, compared with Ps 110:2; Jer 48:16-17. According to the house of their fathers, i.e. according to each family proceeding from the patriarch or father of that tribe. Every man’s name, i.e. every prince’s; for they being the firstborn, and the chief of their tribes, might above all others pretend to the priesthood, if it was communicable to any of their tribes, and besides each prince represented and acted for all his tribe; so that this was a full decision of the whole question. And this place seems to confirm what was before observed, that not only Korah and the Levites, but also those of other tribes, contested with Moses and Aaron about the priesthood, as that which belonged to all the congregation, they being all holy, as they said, Num 16:3.
Num 17:3. Aaron’s rather than Levi’s name, for that would have left the controversy undecided between Aaron and the other Levites, whereas this would justify the appropriation of the priesthood to Aaron’s family. For the head of the house of their fathers; i.e. there shall be in this, as there is in all the other tribes, only one rod, and that for the head of their tribe, who is Aaron in this tribe; whereas it might have been expected that there should have been two rods, one for Aaron, and another for his competitors of the same tribe. But Aaron’s name was sufficient to determine both the tribe, and that branch or family of the tribe, to whom this dignity should be affixed.
Num 17:4. Before the testimony, i.e. before the ark of the testimony; either mediately, close by the veil behind which the ark stood; or rather immediately, within the veil in the most holy place, close by the ark, as may be gathered by comparing this place with Num 17:10, and with Heb 9:4. I will meet with you, and manifest my mind to you for the ending of this dispute.
Num 17:5-6. i.e. Was laid up with the rest, being either one of the twelve, as the Hebrews affirm, or the thirteenth, as others think.
Num 17:7-8. Into the tabernacle of witness; into the most holy place, which he might safely do under the protection of God’s command, though otherwise none but the high priest might enter there, and that once in a year. Yielded almonds; this being, as Josephus with great probability affirms, a staff of an almond tree, as the rest also were.
Num 17:9-10. For if after all these warnings and prohibitions, backed with such miracles and judgments, they shall usurp the priesthood, they shall assuredly die for it.
Num 17:12. Words of consternation arising, partly, from the remembrance of these severe and repeated judgments; partly, from the threatening of death upon ally succeeding murmurings; partly, from the sense of their own guilt and weakness, which made them fear lest they should relapse into the same miscarriages, and thereby bring the vengeance of God upon themselves.
Num 17:13. Any thing near, i.e. nearer than he should do; an error which we may easily commit. Shall we be consumed? will God proceed with us in these severe courses, according to his strict justice? will he show us no mercy nor pity, till all the people be cut off and destroyed with dying one after another.
NUMBERS 18
Num 18:1-7: God showing to Aaron, his sons, and the Levites their office;
Num 18:8-20: appointeth to Aaron and his sons their maintenance;
Num 18:21-24: and also to the Levites.
Num 18:25-32: He commandeth them by Moses to give tenths of their tenths to the chief priests.
Num 18:1. The iniquity of the sanctuary, i.e. shall suffer the punishment of all the usurpations or pollutions of the sanctuary, or the holy things, by the Levites or any of the people, because you have authority and power from me to keep them all within their bounds, and I expect you use it to that cud. Thus the people are in good measure secured against their fears expressed Num 17:12-13. Also they are informed that Aaron’s high dignity was attended with great burdens, having not only his own, but the people’s sins to answer for; and therefore they had no such reason to envy him as they might think, if the benefits and encumbrances and dangers were equally considered. Of your priesthood, i.e. of all the errors committed by yourselves, or by you permitted in others in things belonging to your priesthood.
Num 18:2. Minister unto thee, about sacrifices and offerings and other things, according to the rules and limits I have prescribed them. The Levites are said to minister to Aaron here, to the church, Num 16:9, and to God, Deut 10:8. They shall not contend with thee for superiority, as they have done, but they shall be subordinate and servants to thee. Thou and thy sons with thee, or, both to thee, and to thy sons with thee; which translation may seem to be favoured by the following words, before the tabernacle, which was the proper place where the Levites ministered, whereas the priests did minister to God both before and in the tabernacle. Besides, both the foregoing words, and the two following verses, do entirely speak of the ministry of the Levites, and the ministry of the priests is distinctly spoken of Num 18:5.
Num 18:3. Thy charge, i.e. that which thou shalt command them and commit unto them. Of all the tabernacle, i.e. of the boards and hangings and utensils of the tabernacle, to take them down, and carry them, and set them up again. The vessels, which therefore were to be covered by the priests before the Levites might meddle with them. They, nor ye, they for presuming to touch them, and you for your negligence in not covering them well, or not looking to them.
Num 18:4-5. Of the sanctuary, i.e. of the holy, and of the most holy, place. Upon the children of Israel, for coming too near the holy place, or for usurping any part of your sacred function, or for any other miscarriage which they may be guilty of through your carelessness or remissness, in which case they shall perish for their error, but their blood will I require at your hands, who should have advised them better, or overruled them.
Num 18:6. For the Lord, i.e. for the service of the Lord, to assist you therein, in the servile and troublesome parts of it.
Num 18:7. The altar, to wit, of burnt-offering, as appears from the following words. Within the veil. This phrase elsewhere signifies the inward or second veil, but here it signifies either the outward veil only, or rather both the veils, the singular number being put for the plural, as when the altar is put for both the altars, as hath been noted; and so this phrase comprehends both the holy and the most holy place. As a service of gift; as a gift which I have freely conferred upon you, and upon you alone; and therefore let no man henceforth dare either to charge you with arrogance and usurpation in appropriating this to yourselves, or to invade your office.
Num 18:8. Unto thee have I given them; not only the charge of them, but the use of them for thyself and family, in such manner as I have elsewhere expressed. The anointing, to wit, to the priestly office, i.e. because thou art priest, and art to devote thyself wholly to my service; which, that thou mayst perform more diligently and cheerfully, I give thee this recompence. from the holy things, see on Lev 6:17. Reserved from the fire, i.e. such sacrifices or such parts of sacrifices as were not burnt in the fire. Every oblation; which may be understood either, 1. Of the wave-loaves, Lev 23:17, and the shewbread, which were most holy things, Lev 23:20; Lev 24:9, and which did belong to the priest; nor was there any other such oblation besides what is here particularly expressed; for the peace-offerings were not most holy, and the burnt-offerings were not the priest’s. Or, 2. Of oblations in general; and so the following particulars are mentioned by way of explication and restriction of that general word, to show what oblations are here meant, and to exclude peace-offerings and burnt-offerings. Which they shalt render unto me, by way of compensation for a trespass committed against me, in which case a ram was to be offered, Lev 6:2,6, which was a most holy thing, and may be particularly designed here. Shall be most holy; thou shalt esteem it a most holy thing, and shalt use it accordingly, in manner following. Or, these are most holy, and therefore shall be for thee, and for thy sons, to wit, exclusively, none else may eat them.
Num 18:10. In the most holy place, to wit, in the court of the priests, where there were places for this use; see Lev 6:16-17,26; Lev 7:6; Lev 8:31; Lev 14:13; Neh 13:5,9; Ezek 42:13; which is called the most holy place, not simply and absolutely, as the place within the veil was, but in respect of the thing he speaks of, because this was the most holy of all the places appointed for caring of holy things, whereof some might be catch in any clean place in the camp, Lev 10:14, or in their own houses. And as the most holy place is sometimes called simply holy, so it is not strange if a holy place be called most holy, especially this place which was near to the altar of burnt-offerings, which is called most holy, and made all that touched it holy, Exod 29:37. And God would have these things eaten by them in a holy place, as in God’s presence, that they might be obliged to the greater caution, and not to abuse God’s good creatures, and especially holy things, to intemperance; and that they might learn to eat this and their other food with thankfulness to God the giver of it, and with respect to his service and glory, which was afterward prescribed to Christians, 1 Cor 10:31; 1 Tim 4:3. Every male, and they only; whereas of peace-offerings the females might eat their share, Deut 12:18.
Num 18:11. The heave-offering, i.e. the right shoulder, which was the priest’s. Of their gift, to wit, of their peace-offerings, as may appear, because here is an enumeration of all that belonged to the priest in the several oblations, and therefore it is not likely that he would omit the peace-offerings, wherein the priest had a share, and the very share here spoken of and called a heave-offering, which was the right shoulder, Lev 7:32, which also might be eaten by the daughters, Lev 7:34; Lev 10:14, as is here said. See Num 6:17, etc. The wave-offerings, to wit, the breasts of the peace-offerings, which were waved Lev 7:30-31,34. With thee, i.e. who are with thee in thy house; for if they were married to strangers, they might not eat of them, Lev 22:12-13. In thy house, to wit, as fixed members of thy house, though they be bondslaves; for strangers and hired servants were excepted, Lev 22:10-11.
Num 18:12. The best, Heb. the fat for the best: the fat of wheat is the best of it, Deut 32:14; Ps 81:16; Ps 147:14. The firstfruits of them; as well those which were offered in the name and behalf of the body of the people at the solemn feasts, Lev 23:10,17, as those which were required of particular persons, Exod 22:29; Exod 23:19; whereof the precise quantity is not determined, but left free to the giver, as an exercise for his piety and charity, only they are enjoined to give the first and the best of them.
Num 18:13. i.e. Not only the firstfruits of the oil, and wine, and wheat now mentioned, but all other firstfruits of all other grains, and all fruit-trees, etc. Every one that is clean; and none else, because these were first offered to God, and by consequent given to the priests; but for those which were directly and immediately given to the priests, the clean and unclean might eat of them.
Num 18:14. Dedicated to God by vow or otherwise, provided it be such a thing as might be catch or consumed by use; for the vessels or treasures of gold and silver which were devoted or dedicated by Joshua, David, or others, were not the priests’ but were appropriated to the uses of the temple.
Num 18:15. Whether it be of men, which were offered to God in his temple, Exod 13:12; Luke 2:22, and to his service and disposal.
Num 18:16. Those that are to be redeemed, to wit, of men only, not of unclean beasts last mentioned, as is manifest from the time and price of redemption here mentioned, both which agree to men; the time, Num 18:16; the price, Num 3:46-47; but neither agree to unclean beasts, which were to be redeemed with a sheep, Exod 13:13, and that after it was eight days old. According to thine estimation: this belongs either, 1. To the foregoing clause, to this purpose, that whereas women newly delivered of a child continued in their uncleanness either a longer or shorter time, according to the quality of the birth, as it was male or female, Lev 12:4-5, and the temper of the mother, the priest was to take that time when he judged the mother to be clean, that so the mother might be purified and the child redeemed at the same time. Or rather, 2. To the following clause, to wit, the price which was to be paid, as appears by comparing this place with Lev 27:2-3. And both there and here it is said to be done according to the priest’s estimation, though a certain rule be added to guide his estimation, and a certain price set, because the priest was to apply that general rule to each person, and to put that price upon him.
Num 18:17. They are holy, to wit, in a peculiar manner, and higher degree than other beasts, consecrated to a holy use, even to be sacrificed unto God, and not to be redeemed nor alienated to any other use. Compare Deut 15:19.
Num 18:18. The flesh; all the flesh of them, and not only some parts, as in other sacrifices.
Num 18:19. A covenant of salt, i.e. a durable and perpetual covenant; so called here and 2 Chron 13:5, either because salt is a sign of incorruption, as being of singular use to preserve things from corruption; or because it is confirmed and ratified on their part by salt, which is therefore called the salt of the covenant, for which the priests were obliged to take care that it should never be lacking from any meat-offering, Lev 2:13. And this promise or privilege conferred upon the priests is called a covenant because it is given them conditionally, upon condition of their service, and care about the worship of God, and sacrifices, which were commonly accompanied with meat-offerings, and therefore with salt.
Num 18:20. In their land, i.e. in the land of the children of Israel, mentioned Num 18:13. You shall not have a distinct and separate portion of land, as the other tribes shall. The reason of this law was, partly, because God would have them wholly devoted to and employed in his service, and therefore; free from worldly encumbrances and businesses; partly, because God had abundantly provided for them otherwise by tithes and firstfruits and oblations of all sorts; partly, because God would have their worldly comfort and happiness depend singly upon him and his service, and so would; oblige them to use more zeal and diligence in the advancement of piety, even for their own interest, which was either better or worse as true religion flourished or decayed; see Judg 17:9-10; Judg 19:18; 2 Chron 13:9; 2 Chron 30:22; 2 Chron 31:4; partly, that this might be a firm bond of hearty love and affection between the people and their teachers, the Levites, who, as they performed religious services for the people, so they received their subsistence from them; and partly, that by this means being dispersed among the several tribes, they might have the better opportunity for teaching and watching over the people, which was their duty, Deut 33:10; 2 Chron 30:22; Mal 2:4-7. I am thy part, i.e. I have appointed thee a liberal maintenance out of my oblations.
Num 18:21. For the tithes were all given to the Levites, and out of their tithes the tenth was given to the priests, here Num 18:26, etc., and Neh 10:37-38.
Num 18:22. i.e. So nigh as to do any act proper to the priests or Levites.
Num 18:23. Their iniquity, i.e. the punishment due not only for their own, but also for the people’s miscarriage, if it be committed through their connivance or negligence. And this was the reason why the priests withstood king Uzziah, when he would have burnt incense to the Lord, 2 Chron 26:17-18.
Num 18:24. As an heave-offering unto the Lord, i.e. as a rent charge or an acknowledgment that they have and hold all their lands, and the fruits of it, from God’s bounty. Note that the word heave-offering, which is for the most part understood of a particular kind of offerings heaved or lifted up to the Lord, is here used for any offering in general, as before, Num 18:8.
Num 18:25-27. It shall be accepted of you as much as if you offered it out of your own lands and labours.
Num 18:28. And to his children, which were one with him, and were all to have their share herein.
Num 18:29. Out of all your gifts; not only out of your tithes, but out of the other gifts which you receive from the people, and out of those fields which shall belong to your cities. Ye shall offer, to wit, to the priest. Every heave-offering, i.e. as many gifts, so many heave-offerings; you shall reserve a part out of each of them for the priest. The hallowed part thereof: this may describe either, 1. The nature and proportion of this offering, and so peradventure he means the tenth part, which was the part or proportion that God hallowed or sanctified to himself as his proper portion, both here and elsewhere; or, 2. The reason or ground of this offering, because it is a thing hallowed or appropriated by God to himself, and given by him to the priest, and because the payment of this due doth hallow all the rest, so as they may use it with comfort and good conscience, as it follows, Num 18:31-32.
Num 18:30-31. In every place, i.e. in every clean place, and not in the holy place only.
Num 18:32. The best of it; implying, that if they neglected this duty, they sinned in the use of such unhallowed food. Neither shall ye pollute the holy things, as you will do, if you abuse their holy offerings, by reserving that entirely to yourselves which they offer to God to be disposed as he hath appointed, to wit, part to you, and part to the priests.
NUMBERS 19
Num 19:1-10: The manner of making the water of separation, and of what.
Num 19:11-13: The use of it, wherewith the unclean are to be purged.
Num 19:14-22: Laws concerning despisers of cleansing.
Num 19:1-2. The ordinance of the law, or, the constitution of the law, i.e. that which God hath ordained or established by law. That they bring thee, at their common charge, because it was for the common good. Red; a fit colour to shadow forth both the bloody nature and complexion of sin, Isa 1:8, and the human nature, and especially the blood, of Christ, from which this water and all other rites had their purifying virtue. Wherein is no blemish; a fit type of Christ, who was such, Heb 7:26; 1 Pet 1:19. Upon which never came yoke; whereby may be signified, either that Christ in himself was free from all the yoke or obligation of God’s command, till for our sakes he took up our yoke, and put himself under the law; or that Christ was not drawn or forced to undertake our burden and cross, but that lie did voluntarily choose it. See John 10:17-18.
Num 19:3. Unto Eleazar, who was the second priest, and, in some cases, the vicegerent or deputy of the high priest. To him, not to Aaron, because this service made him unclean for a season, Num 19:7, and consequently unfit for holy ministrations; whereas the high priest was, as far as possibly he could, to be preserved from all sorts of defilement, and constantly fit for his high and holy work. Without the camp; partly because it was reputed an unclean and accursed thing, being ceremoniously laden with the sins of all the people; and partly to signify that Christ should suffer without the camp, as he did, Heb 13:12, in the place where malefactors suffered, Lev 24:14. One; a person appointed by Eleazar for this work.
Num 19:4. Directly before the tabernacle, or, towards or over against the tabernacle; either, 1. Near to it; and so we must suppose that he took some of the blood in a basin, and carried it from without the camp to the tabernacle, and then returned to this place again; which might be done, though it be not here expressed. And this seems to agree best with other places, where this sprinkling seven times was performed in or near the tabernacle, as Lev 4:17. Or, 2. Standing at a good distance from it, even without the camp, yet turning and looking towards it. For here is no intimation that he went into the camp before this work was done, but rather the contrary is implied, Num 19:7. And because being defiled by this work he could not come near to the tabernacle, it was sufficient for him to turn and took towards it. Either way this posture signified his presenting of this blood before the Lord by way of atonement and satisfaction for his and the people’s sins, and his expectation of acceptance and pardon only from God, and from his mercyseat in the tabernacle.
Num 19:5. To signify the sharp and grievous sufferings of Christ for our sins. Her blood; all of it but what was spent in sprinkling.
Num 19:6. All which are here burnt, and as it were offered to God, that they might be sanctified to this holy use for the future; for of these kinds of things was the sprinkle made wherewith the unclean were sprinkled, Lev 14:4.
Num 19:7. Partly to teach us the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, in which the priest himself was defiled by some parts of his work, and the absolute necessity of a better and holier priesthood; and partly to show that Christ himself, though he had no sin of his own, yet was reputed by men, and judged by God, as an unclean and sinful person, by reason of our sins which were laid upon him, Isa 53:12; 2 Cor 5:21.
Num 19:8-9. For the congregation of the children of Israel, i.e. for their use, and therefore in a fit place or places, whence any of them might easily procure it. For a water, or, to the water, i.e. to be put to the water, or mixed with it. Of separation, i.e. appointed for the cleansing of them that are in a state of separation, who for their uncleanness separated from the congregation. Either the heifer thus managed, or the water thus made and sprinkled, is a purification for sin, Heb. a sin, i.e. a kind of an offering for sin, or rather a mean for the expiation or cleansing of sin. The name of sin is sometimes given to the punishment of sin, and sometimes to the sacrifice or offering for sin.
Num 19:10. The stranger that sojourneth, to wit, a proselyte, not any stranger, as some understand it. For since it is confessed all the other ceremonial laws do not oblige them, and that where the name of stranger is put, as here it is, it generally speaks of a proselyte, it is more reasonable to take it so here, than without any reason or evidence to make this a particular exception from the general rule.
Num 19:11. Whereas the touch of a dead beast made a man unclean only till even, Lev 11:24.
Num 19:12. With it, i.e. with the water of separation. On the third day, to typify Christ’s resurrection on that day, by which we are cleansed or sanctified. On the seventh day he shall be clean, to teach us that our purification in this life is gradual, and not perfect till we come to that eternal sabbath, which the seventh day respected. He shall not be clean; but was first to purify himself, and four days after that to be clean.
Num 19:13. Whosoever toucheth, to wit, if this transgression be done presumptuously; for if it was done ignorantly, he was only to offer sacrifice, Lev 5:3,6,17. Defileth the tabernacle of the Lord, by approaching to it in his uncleanness; for holy things or places were ceremonially defiled with the touch of any unclean person or thing. See Lev 15:31; Lev 16:16; Hag 2:13. His uncleanness is yet upon him; he continues in his guilt and filth, not now to be washed away by this water, but to be punished by cutting off.
Num 19:14-15. Every open vessel, because it receives the air of the tent, by which it is ceremonially polluted. Compare Lev 11:32-33.
Num 19:16. With a sword, or by any other violent way.
Num 19:17. Running water, i.e., waters flowing from a spring or river which are the purest. These manifestly signify God’s Spirit, which is oft compared to water, John 7:38-39, and by which alone true purification is obtained. In a vessel, where they were to be mixed, and then the water was to be strained out and kept for this use.
Num 19:18. A clean person, to wit, a priest; for to such the work of cleansing was appropriated. See Lev 13. Upon all the vessels; even those which were in part purified by the fire. See Num 31:23.
Num 19:19-20. Shall not purify himself, i.e., shall contemptuously refuse to submit to this way of purification.
Num 19:21. Shall wash his clothes, because he is unclean, as it here follows. It is strange that the same water should cleanse one person, and defile another; but God would have it so, partly, to teach us that it did not cleanse by any virtue in itself, or in the work done, but only by virtue of God’s appointment; partly, to mind the Jews of the imperfection of their priesthood, and their ritual purifications and expiations, and consequently of the necessity of a better priest and sacrifice and way of purifying, which these outward rites did point at; and partly, to show that the efficacy of God’s ordinances doth not depend upon the person or quality of his ministers, because the same person who was polluted himself could and did cleanse others. He that toucheth the water of separation; either by sprinkling of it, or by being sprinkled with it; for even he that was cleansed by it, was not fully cleansed as soon as he was sprinkled, but only at the even of that day, as is said here and above, Num 19:19.
Num 19:22. The unclean person; not he who is so only by touching the water of separation, Num 19:21, but he who is so by the greater sort of uncleanness, which lasted seven days, of which Num 19:11,16, and which was not removed without the use of this water of purification, as is manifest from the context and other places of Scripture, and from the nature of the thing; for the lesser sort of uncleanness, mentioned in the foregoing verse, lasted only till even, and was cleansed by the sole washing of his clothes and flesh in water, Num 19:7, without any use of this water of purification, which, if it had been necessary, must have been used on the third and on the seventh day, according to the rule, Num 19:12,19, and so the uncleanness of one day had been made an uncleanness of seven days, which is a contradiction. Besides it is unreasonable, that he who immediately touched the defiling thing, should be no more and longer unclean than he who touched that person only; and it was contrary to other rules in like cases, as Lev 15, where the man or woman having an issue, are thereby made unclean for seven days, Lev 15:13,28, but he who toucheth them is made unclean only till even, Lev 15:7,27. And therefore this cannot be meant of him who was unclean by touching this water, who himself was unclean only till even, Num 19:21, as also he who toucheth him is in this place. Shall be unclean, to signify to us the very infectious nature of sin and of sinful company. Until even, because as his defilement was less, so it was fit the duration of it should be shorter.
NUMBERS 20
Num 20:2-5: The people journey in the wilderness of Zin; they murmur against Moses for want of water.
Num 20:7-8: God commandeth Moses to speak to the rock, that it might yield water.
Num 20:9-11: Moses striking the rock twice,
Num 20:12: displeaseth God.
Num 20:14-17: Moses desiring passage through Edom,
Num 20:18-21: is denied.
Num 20:21-28: Aaron by God’s command delivering up his office to Eleazar his son, dieth.
Num 20:29: All the congregation bemoan him.
Num 20:1. Then, to wit, after many other stations and long journeys here omitted, but particularly described Num 33. The desert of Zin; a place near the land of Edom, distinct and distant from that, Sin, Exod 16:1. In the first month, to wit, of the fortieth year, as is evident, because the next station to this was in Mount Hor, where Aaron died, Num 20:22-23, etc., who died in the fifth month of the fortieth year, Num 33:38. Moses doth not give us an exact journal of all their occurrences in the wilderness, but only of those which were most remarkable, and especially of those which happened in the first and second, and in the fortieth year. Kadesh; whether the same place called Kadeshbarnea, where they were long since, Num 13:26, and to which they now return after thirty-eight years’ tedious travels and wanderings in the desert, Deut 2:14, or another place more southerly, it is not material. Miriam died four months before Aaron, and but a few more before Moses.
Num 20:2. The water having followed them through all their former journeys, began now to fail them here, because they were now come near Canaan and other countries, where waters might be had by ordinary means, and therefore God would not use extraordinary, lest he should seem to prostitute the honour of miracles. This story, though like that Exod 17, is different from it, as appears by divers circumstances.
Num 20:3. i.e. Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering and painful death. Their sin was much greater than their parents’ in like case, because they should have taken warning by their miscarriages, and by the terrible effects of them, which their eyes had seen.
Num 20:4-6. Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly; partly to avoid the growing rage of the people, for God’s singular protection of them did not exclude the use of ordinary means; and partly to go to God for relief and redress.
Num 20:7-8. The rod; that rod which was laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle, as appears from Num 20:9. But whether it was Aaron’s rod, which was undoubtedly laid up there, Num 17:10, or Moses’s rod, by which he wrought so many miracles, it is not considerable; or whether it was not one and the same rod, which was commonly called Moses’s rod, as here, Num 20:11, and elsewhere, and sometimes Aaron’s rod, as Exod 7:12, which may seem most probable. For it is likely, though not related elsewhere in Scripture, that wonder-working rod, called the rod of God, Exod 4:20, was laid up in some part of the tabernacle, though not in or near the ark, where Aaron’s blossoming rod for a particular reason was put. Speak ye unto the rock, which will sooner hear and obey my commands than these sottish and stubborn people.
Num 20:9. i.e. Out of the tabernacle.
Num 20:10-11. To the men it was a sacrament, 1 Cor 10:3-4, but to the beasts it was no holy, but a common thing. So that the elements in the sacraments have no inherent and inseparable holiness, but only a relative holiness with respect to their use, out of which they are unholy and common.
Num 20:12. Ye believed me not, but showed your infidelity; which they did either by their looks and gestures, or rather by the matter and manner of their expressions and actions; either, 1. By smiting the rock, and that twice, which is emphatically noted, as if he doubted whether once smiting would have done it, whereas he was not commanded to smite so much as once, but only to speak to it; or, 2. By the doubtfulness of these words, Num 20:10, Must we fetch water out of the rock? which implies a suspicion of it, as the like words do, Gen 18:13, whereas they should have spoken positively and confidently to the rock to give forth waters. And yet they did not doubt of the power of God, but of his will, whether he would gratify these rebels with this further miracle, after so many of the like kind. And besides the words themselves, it is considerable, both with what mind they were spoken, which God saw to be distrustful, and in what manner they were delivered, which the people might discern to come from misbelief or doubt. And there might be divers other unbelieving words used by them at this time and place, though they be not here recorded, it being usual in Scripture to give only the sum or principal heads of discourses or events, leaving the rest to be gathered out of them. See Ps 106:32-33. To sanctify me, i.e. to give me glory of my power in doing this miracle, and of my truth in punctually fulfilling my promise so to do, and of my goodness in doing it notwithstanding the people’s perverseness. In the eyes of the children of Israel: this made their sin scandalous to the Israelites, who of themselves were too prone to infidelity, and little needed such an ill example; to prevent the contagion whereof God leaves a monument of his great displeasure upon them, and inflicts a punishment as public and manifest as their sin was.
Num 20:13. Meribah, called Meribah Kadesh, to distinguish it from another Meribah, Exod 17:7. Sanctified in them, or, among them, to wit, the children of Israel last mentioned, by the demonstration of his omnipotency, veracity, and clemency towards the Israelites, and of his impartial holiness and severity against sin even in his greatest friends and favourites, as Moses was.
Num 20:14. Moses sent messengers, by God’s direction, Deut 2:1-3 Thy brother; for was not Esau (who is Edom, Gen 36:1) Jacob’s brother? Mal 1:2. All the travel; all the wanderings and afflictions of our parents, and of us their children, which doubtless have come to thine ears.
Num 20:15-16. An angel, to wit, the Angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus, who first appeared to Moses in the bush, Exod 3:2, and afterward in the cloudy pillar, who conducted Moses and the people out of Egypt, and through the wilderness, as appears from Exod 14:19; Exod 23:20; Exod 33:14; 1 Cor 9:4. For though Moses may be called an angel or messenger, a title given to Phinehas, Judg 2:1; and to the prophets, 2 Chron 36:16; and to Haggai, Hag 1:13; yet it is not probable that he is meant, partly, because Moses was the person that sent this message; partly, because there was no reason why he should express himself by such a dark and doubtful title to them: and partly, because another Angel besides and above Moses did conduct them, and the mention hereof to the Edomites was likely to give more authority and efficacy to their present message. In Kadesh, i.e. near the city Kadesh, the particle in being oft so used, as we have showed.
Num 20:17. Wells, or pits, which any of you have digged for your private use, to wit, without paying for it, Num 20:19; Deut 2:6; but only of the waters of common rivers, which are free to all passengers, and will not be prejudicial to thee.
Num 20:18. i.e. Through my country, as thou desirest; I will not suffer time to do so: which was an act of common policy to secure themselves from so numerous a host.
Num 20:19. Children of Israel said unto him, i.e. their messengers replied unto them what here follows. I will pay for it; for water was a scarce commodity in those parts.
Num 20:20-21. Through his border, but permitted them to go by their border, Deut 2:4,8; Judg 11:18, and furnished them with victuals for their money, Deut 2:29. Israel turned away, according to God’s command, Deut 2:5.
Num 20:22. Whose inhabitants were then called Horims, Deut 2:12, and Esau the Horite, Gen 36:20.
Num 20:23-24. This was one, but not the only reason. God would not have Moses and Aaron to carry the people into Canaan, for this reason also, to signify the insufficiency of the Mosaical and Aaronical priesthood to make them happy, and the necessity of a better, and so to keep the Israelites from resting in them so as to be taken off from their expectation of Christ, and from the entertainment of him when he should come.
Num 20:25-26. Of his garments, to wit, of his priestly garments, Exod 28:2; Lev 8:7-9, in token of his resignation of his office. See the like Isa 22:15,19-21. Put them upon Eleazar, by way of admission and inauguration of him to his office.
Num 20:27. That their hearts might be more affected with their loss of so great a pillar, and that they all might be witnesses of the translation of the priesthood from Aaron to Eleazar, and therefore might give him the honour due to him.
Num 20:28. Aaron died there, to wit, in Mount Hor. Objection. He died in Mosera, Deut 10:6. Answer. Mosera was the general name of the place where that station was, and Mount Hor is a particular place in it, where he died, and was buried also, Deut 10:6.
Num 20:29. i.e. When the congregation understood by the relation of Moses and Eleazar, and by other signs. So seeing is used Gen 42:1; Acts 7:12. Thirty days; the time of public and solemn mourning for great persons. See Deut 34:8.
NUMBERS 21
Num 21:1: The Canaanites fight against Israel, and take some of them prisoners.
Num 21:2-3: Through God’s assistance they overcome them, and destroy their cities.
Num 21:4-5: The people murmur;
Num 21:6: are plagued with fiery serpents.
Num 21:7: They repent.
Num 21:8-9: A brazen serpent erected, to which they look, and are saved.
Num 21:10-16: They journey.
Num 21:17: Their hymn for water given at Beer.
Num 21:18-26: They sue for passage to the Amorites; are denied; fight them; overcome, and dwell in their cities.
Num 21:27-30: Proverbial sayings concerning it.
Num 21:33-35: Og king of Bashan, his sons, and all his people, are killed by the Israelites, and their land possessed by them.
Num 21:1. King Arad the Canaanite; or rather, the Canaanite king of Arad; for Arad is not the name of a man, but of a city or territory, as may seem from Josh 12:14; Judg 1:16, if at least this was the same place with that. And he seems to be called a Canaanite in a general sense, as the Amorites and others sometimes are. In the south, to wit, of Canaan, as appears from Num 33:40, towards the east, and near the Dead Sea. By the way of the spies; not of those spies which Moses sent to spy the land, Num 13:17, for that was done thirty-eight years before this, and they went so privately, that the Canaanites took no notice of them, nor knew which way they came or went; but of the spies which he himself sent out to observe the marches and motions of the Israelites. But the words may be otherwise rendered; either thus, in the manner of spies, so the sense is, when he heard that divers of the Israelites came into or towards his country in the nature of spies, to prepare the way for the rest; or thus, by the way of Atharim, a place so called, as the seventy interpreters here take it, and it seems not improbable. Took some of them prisoners; which God permitted for Israel’s humiliation and punishment, and to teach them not to expect the conquest of that land from their own wisdom or valour, but wholly from God’s favour and assistance. See Deut 9:4; Ps 44:3-4.
Num 21:2. Being sensible of their own weakness, they endeavour to engage God to help them in the war, which they intended to renew. I will utterly destroy their cities; I will reserve no person nor thing for my own use, but devote them all to total destruction, which was the consequent of such vows. See Lev 27:29; Deut 13:15
Num 21:3. They utterly destroyed them: when? Answer. Either, 1. Some time after this, under Joshua, who subdued, among others, the king of Arad, Josh 12:14. And so this is mentioned here by anticipation, that the vow being now made and mentioned, the effect or performance of it might be recorded, though out of its place; and so this verse must be supposed to be added by some of the prophets, and inserted into Moses’s history, as some other passages seem to be. Or, 2. At this time; and so this is not the same Arad with that, Josh 12:14, nor this the same Hormah with that there mentioned, but another of the same name, which is most frequent in persons and places in Scripture. And this is the more probable, because that Arad and Hormah, Josh 12:14, are two distinct places, and had divers kings, whereas here the same place is called both Arad and Hormah; and because that Arad seems to be at some good distance from this, and more within the country, and more northward, as may be gathered from the other places joined with it, Josh 12, whereas this Arad was near Edom, Num 21:4, and in the south, Num 21:1. Question 1. How could this be done in the land of Canaan, when Moses neither entered himself, nor led the people into that land? Answer. Neither Moses nor the whole body of the people did this exploit, but a select number sent out for this purpose to punish that king and people, who were so fierce and malicious that they came out of their own country to fight with the Israelites in the wilderness; and these, when they had done this work, returned to their brethren into the wilderness. Question 2. Why did they not all now go into Canaan, when some of them had once entered it, and pursue this victory? Answer. Because God would not permit it, there being several works yet to be done, other people must be conquered, the Israelites must be further humbled and tried and purged, Moses must die, and then they shall enter, and that in a more glorious manner, even over Jordan, which shall be miraculously dried up, and give them passage.
Num 21:4. By the way of the Red Sea, i.e. which leadeth to the Red Sea, as they must needs do to compass the land of Edom. Because of the way; by reason of this journey, which was long, and troublesome, and preposterous, (for they were now going towards Egypt,) and unexpected, either because they doubted not but their brethren the Edomites would grant them their reasonable request of passing through their land, which disappointment made it worse; or because the successful entrance and victorious progress which some of them had made in the borders of Canaan, made them think they might have speedily gone in and taken possession of it, and so have saved their tedious travels and further difficulties into which Moses had again brought them.
Num 21:5. Against God; against Christ, their chief Conductor, whom they tempted, 1 Cor 10:9. This light bread, i.e. of small substance and virtue. Thus contemptuously do they speak of manna, whereas it appears it yielded excellent nourishment, because in the strength of it they were able to go so many and such tedious journeys.
Num 21:6. Such there were many in this wilderness, Deut 8:15, which having been hitherto restrained by God, are now let loose and sent among them. They are called fiery from their effects, because their poison caused an intolerable heat, and burning, and thirst in the bodies of the Israelites, which was aggravated with this circumstance of the place, that here was no water, Num 21:5.
Num 21:8. A fiery serpent, i.e. the figure of a serpent in brass, which is of a fiery colour. This would require some time: God would not speedily take off the judgment, because he saw they were not thoroughly humbled. Set it on a pole, that the people might see it from all parts of the camp; and therefore the pole must be high, and the serpent large.
This method of cure was prescribed, partly that it might appear to be God’s own work, and not the effect of nature or art; and partly that it might be an eminent type of our salvation by Christ. See John 3:14-15. The serpent signified Christ, who was in the likeness of sinful flesh, Rom 8:3, though without sin, as this brazen serpent had the outward shape, but not the inward poison of the other serpents: the pole resembled the cross upon which Christ was lift up for our salvation; and looking up to it designed our believing in Christ.
Num 21:9. He was delivered from death, and cured of his disease.
Num 21:10. Not immediately, but after two other stations, mentioned Num 33.
Num 21:11. Moab is called the wilderness of Moab, Deut 2:8.
Num 21:12. Or rather, by the torrent or brook of Zared, as we render it, Deut 2:13; which ran into the Dead Sea, and from which the valley also might be so called.
Num 21:13. On the other side of Arnon, or rather, on this side of Arnon, for so it now was to the Israelites, who had not yet passed over it, as appears from Deut 2:24. But the same words, Judg 11:18, are to be rendered on the other side of Arnon, for so it was to Jephthah; and the same preposition signifieth on this side, or beyond, according to the circumstances of the place. Between Moab and the Amorite, i.e. though formerly it and the land beyond it belonged to Moab, yet afterwards it had been taken from them by Sihon, Num 21:26,28. This is added to reconcile two seemingly contrary commands of God, the one that of not meddling with the land of the. Moabites, Deut 2:9, the other that of going over Arnon and taking possession of the land beyond it, Deut 2:24, because, saith he, it is not now the land of the Moabites, but of the Amorites.
Num 21:14. The book of the wars of the Lord seems to have been some poem or narration of the wars and victories of the Lord, either by or relating to the Israelites; which may be asserted without any prejudice to the integrity of the Holy Scripture, because this book doth not appear to have been written by a prophet, or to be designed for a part of the canon, but by some other ingenious person, who intended only to write an historical relation of these matters, which yet Moses might quote, as St. Paul doth some of the heathen poets. And as St. Luke assures us that many did write a history of the things done and said by Christ, Luke 1:1, whose writings were never received as canonical, the like may be justly conceived concerning this and some few other books mentioned in the Old Testament; though the words may be thus rendered, Wherefore it shall be said in the relation, or narration (for so the Hebrew sepher is confessed to signify) of the wars of the Lord. In the Red Sea; or, at Vaheb in Suphah, or in the land of Suph. Vaheb seems to be the name not of a man, but of a city or place, and Suphah the name of the country where it was; and the Hebrew particle eth is oft rendered at. And whereas the sense seems to be imperfect, it must be noted, that he quotes only a fragment or piece of the book, and that principally to prove the situation of Arnon, which he had asserted Num 21:13, from which end the passage quoted is sufficient. And the sense is easily to be understood, for it is plain enough that this poet or writer is describing the wars and works of God by the several places where they were done; and having begun the sentence before, and mentioned other places, he comes to these here mentioned, at Vaheb in Suphah, and at the brooks of Arnon, etc. And it seems probable that the war here designed was that of Sihon against the Moabites, mentioned below, Num 21:26, which is fitly ascribed to the Lord, because it was undertaken and perfected by the singular direction and assistance of God, and that for the sake of the Israelites, that by this means that country might be invaded and possessed by them, without taking it away from the Moabites, which they were forbidden to meddle with or to disturb, Deut 2:9, and so their title to it might be more just and unquestionable. See Judg 11:12-13,27. In the brooks of Arnon, i.e. the brook, the plural number for the singular, as the plural number rivers is used concerning Jordan, Ps 74:15, and concerning Tigris, Nah 2:6, and concerning Euphrates, Ps 137:1, and concerning Thermodoon in Virgil, all which may be so called because of the several little streams into which they were divided.
Num 21:15. Ar; a chief city in Moab, as appears from Isa 15:1, of which Num 21:28.
Num 21:16. Beer, and Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth named here, Num 21:19, are not mentioned among those places where they pitched or encamped, Num 33. Either therefore they did not pitch or encamp in these places, but only pass by or through them, nor indeed is it here said they pitched or encamped in these places, which is said of those places, Num 33, but only that they went to them, Num 21:18; or, these are stations omitted there, and to be supplied from hence; for though it be there said they went from such a place, and pitched in such a place, yet it is not said they went immediately from the one place to the other, and therefore they might take these places in their way. Will give them water, to wit, in a miraculous manner.
Num 21:17. Israel sang this song, to praise God for giving them such a seasonable blessing, before they asked it, or complained for the want of it. Spring up; give forth thy waters that we may drink. Heb. Ascend, i.e. let thy waters, which now lie hid below in the earth, ascend for thy use. It is either a prediction that it should spring up, or a prayer that it might, or a command in the name of God directed to the well, by a usual prosopopśia, as when God bids the heavens hear, and the earth give ear, Isa 1:2. Any of these ways it shows their faith. Sing ye unto it; or, sing ye of it; or, answer to it or concerning it; it being the manner of the Jewish singers that one should answer to another, of which see Exod 15:21; 1 Sam 18:7.
Num 21:18. The princes digged; either by themselves, or by others whom they commanded to do it. By the direction of the lawgiver, or, with the lawgiver, i.e. Moses; they together with Moses, or they by Moses’s direction and appointment, which is signified Num 21:16. Their staves are here mentioned, either, 1. As the ensigns of their authority, Judg 5:14, by which they gave this command of digging. 2. As the instruments of their work; not that they, did formally and effectually dig the well or receptacle for the water, for which spades were more proper than staves, but that as Moses smote the rock with his rod, so they struck the earth with their staves, making only some small impression for form sake, or as a sign that God would cause the water to flow forth out of the earth where they smote it, as he did before out of the rock.
Num 21:19. See on Num 21:16.
Num 21:20. In the valley; or, the valley, which might be called Bamoth, not because it was a place naturally high, but from divers other reasons, which may be easily guessed. Or, to the valley, or to that valley, that famous or rather infamous valley, to wit, of Abelshittim, Num 33:49, where they committed those foul abominations recorded Num 25 Pisgah was the top of these high hills of Abarim; of which see Deut 3:17,27; Deut 32:49; Deut 34:1,6.
Num 21:21. By God’s allowance, that so Sihon’s malice might be the more evident and inexcusable, and that their title to his country more clear in the judgments of all men, as being gotten by a just war, into which they were forced for their own defence.
Num 21:22. They spoke what they seriously intended and would have done, if he had given them quiet passage; but withal they knew that Sihon would not do it, and that he would withstand them, and that they should subdue him and take his land, as God had told them before they sent this message, as appears from Deut 2:21,26-27; and accordingly God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, for this end, that he might deliver him into Israel’s hand there, Num 21:31. And no wonder, for he and his people were Amorites, and therefore devoted to destruction, as all that people were.
Num 21:23. Jahaz, a city, of which see Deut 2:32; Jer 48:21.
Num 21:24. From Arnon; or which reached from Arnon, etc. such supplements being very usual; and so here is contained a description or limitation of Sihon’s conquest and kingdom, that it extended only from Arnon—unto the children of Ammon; and then the following words, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong, come in very fitly, not as a reason why the Israelites did not or could not conquer the Ammonites, for they were absolutely forbidden to meddle with them, Deut 3:8; but as a reason why Sihon could not enlarge his conquests and empire to the Ammonites, as he had done to the Moabites. Jabbok; a river by which the countries of Ammon and Moab were in part bounded and divided. Was strong; either by the advantage of the river, or by their strong holds in their frontiers.
Num 21:25. Having destroyed the ancient inhabitants, Deut 2:34.
Num 21:26. The city of Sihon: this is added as a reason why Israel took possession of this land, notwithstanding God’s prohibition of meddling with them or their land, Deut 2:9, because it was not now the land of the Moabites, but had been some time since taken from them, and in the possession of the Amorites. The former king of Moab, i.e. the predecessor of Balak, who was the present king.
Num 21:27. That speak in proverbs; the poets, or other ingenious persons, to wit, of the Amorites or Canaanites, who made this following song of triumph over the vanquished Moabites; which is here brought in partly as a proof that this was now Sihon’s land, and partly as an evidence of the just judgment of God in spoiling the spoilers, and subduing these who insulted over their conquered enemies. Come into Heshbon: these are the words either of Sihon speaking thus to his people, or of the people exhorting one another to come and possess and repair the city which they had taken. The city of Sihon; that which once was the royal city of the king of Moab, but now is the city of Sihon.
Num 21:28. A fire, i.e. the fury of war, which is oft and fitly compared to fire here, as Isa 47:14; Amos 1:7,10,12,14; Amos 2:2,5; Heshbon; that city which before was a refuge and defence to all the country, now is turned into a great annoyance and a public mischief. Ar of Moab. Question. How can this be, since Ar was yet in the hands of the Moabites, Deut 2:9,18,29? Answer 1. This may be understood not of the city Ar, but of the people or the country subject or belonging to that great and royal city, as the Chaldee understands it. 2. Possibly Ar was taken by Sihon of the Moabites, but afterwards was either recovered by the Moabites, or upon the Israelites’ approach quitted by Sihon, gathering all his forces together that he might fight with the Israelites, and so repossessed by the Moabites. 3. This place may be thus rendered, It shall consume Ar of Moab, the past tense being put for the future, as is usual in prophetical passages; and so this may be the Amorites’ prediction or presage, that having taken Heshbon and its territories, they should now extend their victories to Ar of Moab, though they fell short of that hope, as ordinarily men do. The lords of the high places; either, 1. The princes or governors of the strong holds, which were frequently in high places, especially in that mountainous country, and which were in divers parts all along the river of Arnon; and having taken some of these, they promised to themselves that they should take all the rest, and so proceed further and further, till they had taken Ar itself. Or rather, 2. The priests and people that worshipped their god in their high places; which may seem more probable, 1. Because as the Israelites worshipped God, so the heathens worshipped Baal, in high places, Num 22:41, and particularly the Moabites are noted for so doing, Jer 48:35. 2. Because amongst the eminent places of Moab there is mention of Bamothbaal, or, of the high places of Baal, Josh 13:17.
Num 21:29. Alas, poor Moab! thou couldst not save thyself from Sihon’s sword. People of Chemosh, i.e. the worshippers of Chemosh: so the god of the Moabites was called, 1 Kings 11:7,33; 2 Kings 23:13; Jer 48:46. He, i.e. their god, hath delivered up his own people to his and their enemies; he could not defend them, but suffered many of them to be killed; nor could be secure even those that had escaped the sword, but suffered them to fall into their enemies’ hands, and by them to be carried into captivity. Unto Sihon king of the Amorites. Now the words of this and the following verse seem to be not a part of that triumphant song or poem made, as I suppose, by some Amoritish bard or poet, which seems to be concluded, Num 21:28; but of the Israelites making their observation upon it. And here they scoff at the impotency not only of the Moabites, but of their god also, who could not save his people from the sword of Sihon and the Amorites.
Num 21:30. Though you feeble Moabites, and your god too, could not resist Sihon, we Israelites, by the help of our God, have shot, to wit, with success and victory, as the following words show, at them, to wit, at Sihon and his Amorites; which is easily and plainly understood, both from the foregoing and following words. Heshbon, the royal city of Sihon, and by him lately repaired, is perished, is taken away from Sihon, and so is all his territory or country, even as far as Dibon, which, as some think is called Dibongad, Num 33:45. Which reached unto Medeba, i.e. whose territory extendeth to Medeba. Or, yea, even to Medeba; for the Hebrew word asher is sometimes used for yea, or moreover, as 1 Sam 15:20; Ps 10:6; Ps 95:11. The sense is, the whole country of Sihon, taken by him from the Moabites, is wasted and perished.
Num 21:32. Jaazer; one of the cities of Moab, formerly taken from them by Sihon, and now taken from him by the Israelites, Num 32:1,3,35; and after the decay or destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes, repossessed by the Moabites, Jer 48:32.
Num 21:33. Og also was a king of the Amorites, of whom see Deut 3:1,11. And it may seem that Sihon and Og were the leaders or captains of two great colonies which came out of Canaan, and drove out the former inhabitants of these places. Bashan, a rich country, famous for its pastures and breed of cattle, Deut 32:14; Ps 22:12; Jer 1:19, and for its oaks, Ezek 27:6.
Num 21:34. Fear him not; a necessary caution, for he was a great giant, Deut 3:11, likely to strike them with terror.
NUMBERS 22
Num 22:1: The Israelites pitch in the plains of Moab.
Num 22:2-8: Balak the king sends for Balaam to curse Israel.
Num 22:9-14: He inquires of the Lord, who forbids him to go: he goes not.
Num 22:15-21: Balak sends again: the Lord permits Balaam to go.
Num 22:22-33: An angel stands in the way; which his ass perceives: his eyes are at length opened to see the angel, who rebukes him.
Num 22:34-35: He confesses his fault, and offers to go back; He is commanded to go on, and speak as should be revealed to him.
Num 22:36-41: Balak comes to meet him; receives him; expostulates with him; he declares he has no power but to speak the word which God should put into his mouth.
Num 22:1. The plains of Moab still retained their ancient title, though they had been taken away from the Moabites by Sihon, and from him by the Israelites. By Jericho, i.e. over against Jericho; or, near the passage over Jordan to Jericho, or its territories.
Num 22:2. Balak, the son or successor of him whom Sihon had spoiled of part of his kingdom, Num 21:26. Of him see Judg 11:25; Mic 6:5.
Num 22:3. As it was foretold both in general of all nations, Deut 2:25, and particularly concerning Moab, Exod 15:15.
Num 22:4. The elders of Midian, called the kings of Midian, Num 31:8, and princes of Midian, Josh 13:21; who though divided into their kingdoms, yet were now unified upon the approach of the Israelites their common enemy; and being, as it seems, a potent and crafty people, and neighbours to the Moabites, these seek confederacy with them. We read of Midianites near Mount Sinai, Exod 2-3, which seem to have been a part or colony of this people that went out to seek new quarters, as the manner of those times was, but the body of that people were seated in those parts, as is evident from many scriptures. Lick up, i.e. consume and utterly destroy, in which sense the fire is said to lick up the water and sacrifices, 1 Kings 18:38. The meaning is, we can expect no mercy from them, they will utterly root us out as they did the Amorites, if we do not make a stout and timely opposition. All that are round about us, i.e. all our people, who lived in the country and territory adjoining to each city, where the princes resided.
Num 22:5. Balaam is called a prophet, 2 Pet 2:16, because God was pleased to inspire and direct him to speak the following prophecy, as he did inspire Caiaphas to speak those words, John 11:51-52, and as sometimes he did for a time inspire other wicked men; but in truth he was a soothsayer, as he is called, Josh 13:22. See Num 24:1. Beor, or Bosor, 2 Pet 2:15; for he had two names, as many others had. Pethor; a city in Mesopotamia or Aram: see Num 23:7; Deut 23:4. By the river, i.e. by Euphrates, which is oft called the river, by way of eminency, as Gen 15:18; Josh 24:2,15, and here the river of Balaam’s land or country, to wit, of Mesopotamia or Aram, Num 21:7. They abide over against me; they are encamped in my neighbourhood, ready to invade my kingdom.
Num 22:6. Curse me this people, i.e. curse them for my sake and benefit; use thy utmost power, which thou hast with thy gods or infernal spirits, to blast and ruin them. That we may smite them; thou by thy magical imprecations, and I by my sword joined with them. He had some experience of, or, at least, a great confidence in, Balaam’s skill and power in these matters.
Num 22:7. With the rewards of divination, Heb. with divinations; by which he understands not the instruments of divination, which it was needless and absurd to bring to so eminent a diviner, who doubtless was thoroughly furnished for his own trade; but the rewards of it, as it is explained 2 Pet 2:15, and as in the Hebrew, 2 Sam 4:10, good tidings is put for the reward of good tidings. Nor is it probable they would go to, or could expect to prevail with such a person, especially being noted for his covetousness, as appears from the story, without that powerful engine.
Num 22:8. The night was the time when God used to reveal his mind by dreams. Here is the first discovery of his wickedness, that he hakes time to consider, and doth his endeavour to effect that wicked notion of cursing the Israelites, which he should have rejected and abhorred at the first mention of it. As the Lord shall speak, Heb. Jehovah, the true God, whom he here mentions, either for his own greater reputation, as if he consulted not with inferior spirits, as other soothsayers did, but with the supreme God; or rather because this was Israel’s God, and the only possible way of ruining them was by engaging their God against them; as the known way of the Romans and other heathens, when they went to besiege any city, they used enchantments to call forth that god under whose peculiar protection they were. The princes of Moab, and of Midian too, as is manifest from Num 22:7, which was needless to repeat here.
Num 22:9. God came unto Balaam, not to gratify his covetous desire, but to advance his own honour and service, even by the counsels of his enemies. He asketh not for his own information, but partly that Balaam by repeating the thing in God’s presence might be convinced and ashamed of his sin and folly in offering his service in such a cursed business; and partly for a foundation to the following answer.
Num 22:10-12. God revealeth his mind to Balaam, not for any love to him, but for the sake of his people concerned in it, as he did to Pharaoh, Gen 41:25, and to Nebuchadnezzar, Dan 2:45. They are blessed by my irrevocable decree and sentence, and therefore it is in vain for men to curse them.
Num 22:13. He conceals the principal things, to wit, the reason of God’s prohibition, which might have given a stop to their further course and counsels in this matter, and secretly intimates his own goodwill and readiness to comply with them, if God had not hindered him.
Num 22:14. Thus they lay the blame upon Balaam, which he imputed to God.
Num 22:15-16. No counsel nor suggestion either of God or man.
Num 22:17. Before he wrought upon his covetousness, now upon his ambition.
Num 22:18. You desire and expect that from me which is out of my power, to resist the will of the great God. He slyly insinuates, that he wanted not will, but power only. The Lord my God; so he calls him, partly, to magnify himself as the servant of the great Jehovah; partly, that by professing this respect unto God he might the sooner induce him to grant his desire; and partly, because he worshipped the true God, together with idols, as many in those times and places did.
Num 22:19. Possibly he may change his mind, or yield to my renewed suit. Thus he sought to make God and his conscience stoop to the service of his pride and covetousness, which was abominable.
Num 22:20. Go with them, since this is thy great desire and purpose; as far as thou canst, take thy course; I will, according to thy wish, withdraw my restraint, and leave thee to thyself and thy own choice. Compare Ps 81:11-12. That shalt thou do: these words signify not so much his duty as the event and his disappointment, Thou shalt not do what thou desirest, to wit, curse my people, and so enrich and advance thyself; but I will so overrule thy mind, and bridle thy tongue, that thou shalt speak nothing but what is contrary to thy desire and interest; and therefore though I permit thee to go, thou shalt lose thy design in it.
Num 22:21-22. God’s anger was kindled; either, 1. Because he went of his own accord with the princes of Moab, and did not wait till they came to call him, i.e. urged him to go, which was the sign and condition of God’s permission, Num 22:20, but rather himself rose and called them, as it may seem from Num 22:21. Or, 2. Because those words, Num 22:20, did contain no approbation nor license, but a bare permission, and that in anger, as Balaam might easily have understood, if he had considered his own heart, or the circumstances of his concession. This was no more an approbation than that passage of Christ to Judas, John 13:27, That thou doest, do quickly. Or, 3. Because he went with ill design, and desire to do contrary to what God had charged him, to wit, to curse the people, as plainly appears from the following story, and from Deut 23:5; for God hath been oft and justly angry with those who have done what God bade them, when they did it in evil manner, or for evil ends, as appears from Isa 10:6-7, and many other places. The Lord stood in the way, i.e. to oppose and terrify, if not to kill him. His two servants were with him; the rest of the company being probably gone before them. For in those ancient times there was more of simplicity, and less of ceremony; and therefore it is not strange that Balaam came at some distance after the rest, and attended only by his own servants.
Num 22:23. Balaam saw not the angel because God withheld his eyes, as he did the eyes of Daniel’s companions, Dan 10:7. It is a truth, which mere philosophers own, that when God withdraws his concourse or help from any of his creatures, they cannot perform their natural acts and offices; the eye cannot see, as Gen 19, nor the ear hear, nor the fire burn, as Dan 3.
Num 22:24-28. i.e. The Lord conferred upon the ass the power of speech and reasoning for that time. Impudent are those heathens that disbelieve and scoff at the Scripture for this and some such relations contained in it, when there are examples of the same kind of prodigies, to wit, of oxen and other brute creatures speaking some few words, in the greatest and most approved writers of the Roman history as Plutarch, Polybius, Livy, an others. See the particulars in my Latin Synopsis on this place.
Num 22:29. Balaam, was not much terrified with the ass’s speaking, because he was much accustomed to converse with evil spirits, which oft appeared to him and discoursed with him in the shape of such creatures.
Num 22:30-31. In token of reverence and submission.
Num 22:32. Howsoever thou mayst deceive thyself or others, I see the perverseness of thy heart and way, the wickedness of thy design and desires in this journey, which thou hast undertaken, not to please me, but to gratify Balak, and, if it be possible, to curse my people.
Num 22:33. I had slain thee alone, and left her; and therefore her turning aside and falling down was wholly for thy sake and benefit, not for her own, and thy anger against her was unjust and unreasonable.
Num 22:34. A frivolous supposition; for it was apparently displeasing to God, who had now said that his way was perverse, and had therefore opposed him and sought to slay him: but hereby he shows how loth he was to go back and lose the hopes he had conceived; and besides he speaks of desisting from the outward action, but shows no sense of the plague of his heart, his vile affections, which were the root of this ill-designed journey.
Num 22:35. Go with the men: this may be either, 1. A mere permission; Since neither the convictions of thy own conscience, nor the experience of thy danger, have weaned thee from thy base designs and inclinations, I shall no further restrain thee; my angel shall give thee no more disturbance; go on and prosper. Or, 2. A concession; I allow thee to go upon the following terms; for the words here are more absolute and unconditional than those Num 22:20. That thou shalt speak: these words may express either, 1. The event; or, 2. His duty. See above on Num 22:20.
Num 22:36. That by this great honour he might give him a taste and earnest of those great rewards he designed him, and thereby oblige him to use his utmost skill and interest for him. The utmost coast; not far from the camp of the Israelites, whom he desired him to curse.
Num 22:37-38. Any thing, to wit, agreeable to thy expectation or my own inclination. That shall I speak; I am forced to do so by his superior power, and therefore be not offended with me, if I speak things unpleasing to thee.
Num 22:39-40. Or, killed, either for sacrifice, or rather for a feast; for the sacrifices were offered after this, Num 23:1-2. Sent to Balaam, to invite him to the feast. The king had left the princes to accompany him and attend upon him.
Num 22:41. The high places of Baal, i.e. consecrated to the worship of Baal, i.e. of Baalpeor, who was their Baal or god, Num 25:2-3, or of Chemosh. The utmost part of the people, i.e. all that people, even to the utmost and remotest of them, as appears by comparing this with Num 23:13. He hoped that the sight of such a numerous host ready to break in upon his country would stir up his passion and further his charms.
NUMBERS 23
Num 23:1-10: Balak and Balsam sacrifice: God meets him, and he blesses Israel.
Num 23:11-21: Balak is troubled: they go to another place to curse them: they sacrifice again: Balaam consults God, who meets him, and he again blesses Israel.
Num 23:27-30: They go to a third place, and sacrifice again.
Num 23:1. The altars were either, 1. To Baal, in whose high places this was done and to whom alone Balak used to sacrifice. Or rather, 2. To the true God, otherwise he would not have mentioned it to God as an argument why he should grant his requests, as he doth Num 23:4. And though Balak was averse from God and his worship, yet he would be easily overruled by Balaam, who doubtless told him that it was in vain to make an address to any other than the God of Israel, who alone was able either to bless or curse them, as he pleased. And therefore when Balaam lost his design this way he tried it another way with greater success, but still used to the same method, in provoking their own God to destroy the Israelites, Num 25. But though he direct his sacrifices to the right object, he chooseth a wrong place, and, to comply with Balak’s desire, makes use of the high places of Baal for this end, and mingles his own superstitions with the worship of God, in erecting divers altars, according to the manner of heathens and idolators, 2 Kings 18:22; Isa 17:8; Jer 11:13; Hos 8:11; Hos 10:1; Hos 12:11; whereas God appointed and holy men used but one altar, though many sacrifices were to be offered upon it, Gen 8:20; Exod 17:15; Exod 24:4. Seven was the solemn and usual number in sacrifices, 1 Chron 15:26; 2 Chron 29:21; Job 42:8.
Num 23:2. Balak by procuring them and Balaam by offering them; though in ancient times kings were priests also, and so might perform a priestly work, as this was.
Num 23:3. By thy burnt-offering; as in God’s presence, as one that offers thyself its well as thy sacrifices to obtain his favour. I will go to some solitary and convenient place, where I may by my enchantments prevail with God to appear to me, and to answer thy and my desires in cursing this people. Whatsoever he showeth me, i.e. reveals to me, either by word or sign. To an high place; or, into the plain, as that word properly signifies, for he was now in a high place, Num 22:4. But this is not material, it was doubtless some solitary place, where he might use some gestures and ceremonies which he would not have others see, and where he might more reasonably expect to meet with God; for both good and evil spirits most commonly appeared to persons in such places.
Num 23:4. God met Balaam, not to comply with Balaam’s charms, nor to gratify, but to oppose, his wicked desires, and to fierce him against his own inclination and interest to utter the following words. A bullock and a ram, which I pray thee accept, and give me leave to curse thy people, as their abundant wickedness deserves.
Num 23:5. He suggested what he should say, even those words, Num 23:8-10.
Num 23:6-7. He took up, to wit, into his mouth; he expressed or spoke. His parable, i.e. his oracular and prophetical speech; which he calls a parable, because of the weightiness of the matter, and the majesty and smartness of the expressions which is usual in parables. From Aram; from Aram, Naharaim, or Mesopotamia, Deut 23:4. See Gen 10:22. Aram lay towards the mountains of the east: the east was infamous for charmers or soothsayers, Isa 2:6. Jacob; the posterity of Jacob, i.e. Israel, as it here follows.
Num 23:8. God hath not cursed, but blessed Israel, and therefore it is a vain and ridiculous attempt for me to curse them in spite of God.
Num 23:9. From the top of the rocks, upon which I now stand, I see the people, according to thy desire, Num 22:41, but cannot improve that sight to the end for which thou didst design it, to wit, to curse them. This people are of a distinct kind from others, God’s peculiar people, separated from all other nations, as in religion and laws, also in Divine protection; and therefore my enchantments cannot have that power against them which they have against other persons and people. See Exod 19:5; Lev 20:21,26.
Num 23:10. The dust of Jacob, i.e. the numberless people of Jacob or Israel, who, according to God’s promise; Gen 13:16; Gen 28:14, are now become as the dust of the earth. Of the fourth part of Israel, i.e. of one of the camps of Israel; for they were divided into four camps, Num 2, which Balaam from this height could easily discover; much less can any man number all their host. Of the righteous, i.e. of his righteous and holy people, the Israelites, called Jeshurun, Deut 32:15, which word signifies upright or righteous. The sense is, they are not only happy above other nations in this life, as I have said, and therefore in vain should I curse them, but they have this peculiar privilege, that they are happy after death; their happiness begins where the happiness of other people ends; and therefore I heartily wish that my soul may have its portion with theirs when I die. But it was a vain wish; for as he would not live as God’s people did, so he died by the sword, as others of God’s enemies did, Num 31:8; Josh 13:22. My last end, i.e. my death, as the word is used. Or, my posterity, as this Hebrew word signifies, Ps 119:13; Dan 11:4; Amos 4:2. And as the covenant and blessing of God given to Abraham did reach to his posterity, so this might not be unknown to Balaam, which might give him occasion for this wish. Or, my reward, as the word is taken, Prov 23:18; Prov 24:20. But the first sense seems the most true, because it agrees best with the usage of Scripture to repeat the same thing in other words, and this includes the third sense, to wit, the reward, which is here supposed to follow death; and for posterity, it doth not appear that he had any, or, if he had, that he was so very solicitous for them; or that he knew the tenor of God’s covenant with Abraham and his posterity. Nay, he rather seems to have had some hope of ruining Abraham’s posterity, which he attempted both here and afterwards.
Num 23:11-12. I speak not these words by my own choice, but by the constraint of a higher power, which I cannot resist.
Num 23:13. He thought the sight of the people necessary both to excite Balaam’s passions, and to strengthen and direct his conjurations; but he would now have him see but a part of the people, and not all, because the sight of all of them might dismay and discourage him, and, as it did before, raise his fancy to an admiration of the multitude and of the felicity of the people, Num 23:9-10.
Num 23:14. Zophim, a place so called from the spies and watches which were kept there. Pisgah, a high hill in the land of Moab, so called Deut 3:27; Deut 34:1.
Num 23:15. To consult him, and to receive an answer from him, if peradventure those renewed sacrifices will melt him into some compliance with our desires.
Num 23:16. See above on Num 23:4, and Num 22:35.
Num 23:17-18. Rise up: this word implies, either, 1. The reverence wherewith he should hear and receive God’s message, as Eglon did, Judg 3:20, which might have been probable, if Balak had been now sitting, as Ehud there was; but he was standing, Num 23:15: or rather, 2. The diligent attention required; Rouse up thyself, and carefully mind what I say.
Num 23:19. That he should lie, i.e. break his faith and promises made to his people for their preservation and benediction. That he should repent, i.e. change his counsels or purposes; which men do, either because they are not able to execute them, or because they are better informed and their minds changed by some unexpected occurrent, or by their lusts and passions, none of which have place in God. And therefore I plainly see that all our endeavours and repeated sacrifices are to no purpose, and can make no impression in God, nor induce him to curse those whom he hath purposed, and solemnly and frequently promised, to bless. Shall he not do it? Is he like a man that oft speaks and promises what he either never intends, or cannot or will not perform?
Num 23:20. Or, I have received a blessing, to wit, a sentence of blessing, which God hath put into my mind and mouth, and which I cannot forbear to utter. Heb. I have received to bless. The infinitive put for the noun, as is frequent.
Num 23:21. He, i.e. God, understood Num 23:20, and expressed Num 23:19, hath not or doth not behold or see iniquity or perverseness, i.e. any sin, in Jacob or Israel; which cannot be meant of a simple seeing or knowing of him, for so God did see and observe, yea, and chastise their sins, as is manifest, Exod 32:9; Deut 9:13; but of such a sight of their sins as should provoke God utterly to forsake and curse and destroy them, which was Balak’s desire, and Balaam’s hope and design. For as Balaam knew that none but Israel’s God could curse or destroy Israel, so he knew that nothing but their sin could move him so to do; and therefore he took a right, though wicked, course afterwards to tempt them to sin, and thereby to expose them to ruin, Num 25. And Balaam had now hoped that God was incensed against Israel for their sins, and therefore would be prevailed with to give them up to the curse and spoil. But, saith he, I was mistaken, I see God hath a singular favour to this people, and though he sees and punisheth sin in other persons and people with utter destruction, as he hath now done in Sihon and Og and the Amorites, yet he will not do so with Israel; he winks at their sins, forgets and forgives them, and will not punish them as their iniquities deserve. In this sense God is said not to see sins, as elsewhere he is said to forget them, Isa 43:25; Jer 31:34, and to cover them, Ps 32:1, which keeps them out of sight, and so out of mind; and to blot them out, Ps 51:1,9, and to cast them behind his back, Isa 38:17, or into the depth of the sea, Mic 7:19, in which cases they cannot be seen nor read. And men are oft said not to know or see those sins in their children or others, which they do not take notice of so as to punish them. And this sense best agrees with the context; God hath decreed and promised to bless this people, and he hath blessed them, and I cannot reverse it, Num 23:20, and he will not reverse it, though provoked to do so by their sins, which he will take no notice of. Others thus, He hath not beheld, as hitherto he hath not, so for the future he will not behold, i.e. so as to approve it, as that word is oft used, as Gen 7:1; Isa 66:2; Hab 1:13, or so as to suffer it, injury against Jacob, etc. For aven, here rendered iniquity, is oft used in that sense, as Job 5:6-7; Prov 12:21; Prov 22:8. And the other word, amal, rendered perverseness, oft notes vexation and trouble, as Job 5:6-7; Ps 25:17; Ps 36:4; and the particle beth, rendered in, is oft used for against, as Exod 14:25; Exod 20:16; Num 12:1. So the sense is, God will not see them wronged or ruined by any of their adversaries, whereof the following words may be a good reason, for God is with him, etc. The Lord his God is with him, i.e. he hath a favour for this people, and will defend and save them. So the phrase of God’s being with a person or people signifies, as Judg 6:13; Ps 46:7; Isa 8:10. The shout of a king is among them, i.e. such joyful and triumphant shouts as those wherewith a people congratulate the approach and presence of their king when he appears among them upon some solemn occasion, or when he returns from battle with victory and spoils. The expression implies God’s being their King and Ruler, and their abundant security and just confidence in him as such. And here is an allusion to the silver trumpets which were made by God’s command, and used upon great solemnities, in which God their King was present in a special manner, Num 10:9; Josh 6:16,20; 1 Sam 4:5; 2 Chron 13:12.
Num 23:22. God brought them out of Egypt, to wit, by a strong hand, and in spite of all their enemies, and therefore it is in vain to seek or hope to overcome them. He; either, 1. God, last mentioned. But so the comparison is mean and unbecoming. Or rather, 2. Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt; such change of numbers being very common in the Hebrew language. The sense is, Israel is not now what he was in Egypt, a poor, weak, dispirited, unarmed people, but high, and strong, and invincible. The great strength and fierceness of a unicorn is celebrated in Scripture, Num 24:8; Deut 33:17; Job 39:9; Ps 22:21; Ps 92:10. But whether it be a unicorn, or a rhinoceros, or a strong and fierce kind of wild goat, which is here called reem, it is not needful here to determine.
Num 23:23. I find by experience and serious consideration that all mine and thine endeavours to enchant Israel are in vain, being frustrated by their omnipotent God. I can do thee no service by my art against them. According to this time; not only in succeeding times and ages, of which he speaks, Num 24:17, etc., but even now, in this time and age, and so forward. What hath God wrought! i.e. how wonderful and glorious are those works which God is now about to do for Israel, by drying up Jordan, by subduing the Canaanites, etc.! These things will be matter of discourse and admiration to all ages.
Num 23:24. As a lion rouseth up himself to fight, or to go out to the prey; so shall Israel stir up themselves to warlike attempts against all their enemies, as occasion shall offer itself. He shall not lie down, i.e. not rest or cease from fighting and pursuing.
Num 23:25-28. Peor, a high place called Bethpeor, Deut 3:29, i.e. the house or temple of Peer, because there they worshipped Baalpeor.
NUMBERS 24
Num 24:1-4: Balaam lays aside his sorceries, and the Spirit of God comes upon him; his eyes are open; hears the words of God, and sees the vision of the Almighty;
Num 24:5-9: prophesies of Israel’s prosperity.
Num 24:10-14: Balak is angry; commands him to flee; his answer.
Num 24:15-24: He prophesies of the Messias the King, and of the destruction of the nations.
Num 24:25: He returns to his place; and Balak goes his way.
Num 24:1. To seek for enchantments, i.e. to use enchantments, which he is said to have done, either because when he consulted and sacrificed to God, he did also use enchantments and consult with the devil, that if one would not, the other might help him; or because he consulted God in a magical and superstitious way, by using such postures or instruments or forms of words as enchanters used. Toward the wilderness, where Israel lay encamped, either with intent to curse Israel without God’s leave; or rather, expecting what God of his own accord would suggest to him concerning this matter.
Num 24:2. According to their tribes; in the order appointed, Num 2. Came upon him, i.e. inspired him to speak the following words, and so constrained him again to bless those whom he desired to curse.
Num 24:3. The eyes, either, 1. Of his body, as in the following verse; or, 2. Of his mind, which God had opened in a peculiar and prophetical manner, whence prophets are called seers, 1 Sam 9:9. He implies that before he was blind and stupid, having eyes, but not seeing nor understanding. Some render the words having his eyes shut, as the Hebrew verb satham signifies, the letters schin and samech being frequently exchanged; and so the meaning is, that he received this revelation either in a dream, when men’s eyes are simply shut; or in an ecstasy or trance, when men’s eyes, though open, are in a manner shut, to wit, as to the use and exercise of them.
Num 24:4. The vision; so called either strictly and properly, because he was awake when this was revealed to him; or largely and improperly, for any extraordinary discovery of God’s mind to him, whether sleeping or waking. A trance, or ecstasy, fainting and falling upon the ground, as the prophets used to do. See 1 Sam 19:24; Ezek 1:28; Ezek 3:23; Ezek 43:3; Dan 8:17-18; Dan 10:15; Rev 1:17. Others, falling suddenly into a sleep, as the prophets sometimes did, as Gen 15:12; Dan 8:18.
Num 24:5-6. Valleys ofttimes from a small beginning are spread forth fir and wide. Others, as the brooks, or rivers, as the word signifies, which stretch out and disperse their waters into several channels, and sometimes farther. Are they spread forth, i.e. the Israelites last mentioned. As gardens by the river’s side; pleasant and fruitful, and secured by a fence. Trees of lign-aloes; an Arabian and Indian tree, of a sweet smell, yielding good shade and shelter both to man and beast; such is Israel, famous among the nations, and not only save themselves, but yielding shelter to all that join themselves to them. Which the Lord hath planted; which are the best of the kind; such as not man, but God, might seem to have planted, as the best of all sorts are ascribed to God, as the trees, hills, cities, of God, etc. Compare Ps 104:16. As cedar trees, which are famous for growth, and height, and strength, and durableness, whence Solomon’s temple was built of this wood, 1 Kings 6:9-10. Beside the waters, where trees thrive best.
Num 24:7. He, i.e. God, will abundantly water the valleys, gardens, and trees, is which represent the Israelites, Num 24:6, i.e. he will wonderfully bless his people, not only with outward blessings, of which a chief one in those parts was plenty of water, but also with higher gifts and graces, with his word and Spirit, which are often signified by waters, John 3:5; John 4:10; John 7:38-39, and at last with eternal life, the contemplation whereof made Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous. Others thus, God shall make his posterity numerous; for the procreation of children is oft signified by waters, fountains, cisterns, etc., as Ps 68:26; Prov 5:15,18; Prov 9:17; Isa 48:1. But there is no necessity of flying to metaphors here, and therefore the other being the literal and proper sense, is by the laws of good interpretation to be preferred before it. In many waters: this also may be literally understood of their seed, which shall be sown in waterish ground, and therefore bring forth a better increase, Isa 32:20. Others thus, His seed shall be so numerous, that it shall branch forth into many people, the several tribes being reckoned and sometimes called several people. Or, his seed shall rule over many people or nations, which are sometimes signified by many waters, as Ps 144:7; Isa 57:20; Jer 47:2; Rev 17:15. But here also the literal sense seems best. His king, i.e. the king of Israel; either God, who was in a peculiar manner their King or Ruler, Num 23:21; Judg 6:13; 1 Sam 8:7; Isa 33:22; or their chief governor or governors, whether king or others; for Moses called their king, Deut 33:5, and the judges were in a manner kings. Than Agag, i.e. than the king of the Amalekites, which king and people were famous and potent in that age, Num 24:20, as may be guessed by their bold attempt upon so numerous a people as Israel was. And it is probably thought by the Jewish and other interpreters, that the Amalekitish kings, as Abimelech was of the Philistines, and Pharaoh of the Egyptians, and Caesar of the Romans. But though this king only be instanced in, yet other kings, to wit, such as did or should border upon the Israelites, are doubtless to be understood, above whom the kings and people of Israel sometimes were advanced, and oftener should have been, if they had not been their own hinderance by their sins. Some make this a prophecy of Saul’s conquering Agag and his people, 1 Sam 15:7-8. But the words seem to be more general, and to signify a greater honour and advantage to Israel than that was.
Num 24:8. Shall break their bones, or, unbone, or, take out, i.e. shall eat the flesh to the very bones, and then break them also.
Num 24:9. Having conquered his enemies the Canaanites, and their land, he shall quietly and securely rest and settle himself there. Stir him up, i.e. awake or provoke him.
Num 24:10. He smote his hands together; a sign of great anger, Ezek 21:17; Ezek 22:13.
Num 24:11. Flee thou to thy place, whence I sent for thee, Num 22:5. The Lord, whose commands thou hast preferred before my desires and interest; and therefore seek thy recompence from him, and not from me.
Num 24:12-14. Advertise thee, or inform thee, to wit, concerning future things, as it here follows, for this word seems inseparably joined with the following. Others, give thee counsel, and tell thee what this people, etc. So it is a short and defective speech, such as we have Exod 4:5; Exod 13:8. And by counsel they understand that which is related Num 25:1-2, which was done by Balaam’s counsel, Num 31:16; Rev 2:14. But the former sense is more unforced and agreeable to the following words as they lie. In the latter days: not in thy time, therefore thou hast no reason to fear, but in succeeding ages, as 2 Sam 8:2, etc.
Num 24:15-17. I shall see, or, I have seen, or do see, for the future is oft put for other times or tenses: he speaks of a prophetical sight, like that of Abraham’s, who saw Christ’s day, John 8:56. Him, to wit, the Star and Sceptre, as it here follows, i.e. a great and eminent prince, which was to come out of Israel’s loins; either, 1. David, who first did the things here spoken of, 2 Sam 8:2; Ps 60:8; Ps 108:9, and some of the kings of Judah and Israel after him, for it is not necessarily understood of one particular person; or, 2. The Messias, as both Jewish and Christian interpreters expound it, who most eminently and fully performed what is here said, in destroying the enemies of Israel, or of God’s church, who are here described under the names of the nearest and fiercest enemies of Israel; which he doth partly by himself, by his word and Spirit, and spiritual plagues; and partly by his ministers, those princes whom he makes nursing fathers to his church, and scourges to his enemies. And to him alone agrees the foregoing verb properly, I shall see him, to wit, in my own person, or with the eyes of my own body, as every eye shall see him, Rev 1:7, when he comes to judgment. Nor can it seem strange that Balaam should speak of such high and remote things, seeing he foresaw and foretold these things by the revelation of the Spirit of God, by which also he foresaw the great felicity of good men, and the miserable state of bad men, after death and judgment, Num 23:10. But not now; not yet, but after many ages. A Star; a title oft given to princes and eminent and illustrious persons, and particularly to the Messias, Rev 2:28; Rev 22:16. A Sceptre, i.e. a sceptre-bearer, a king or ruler, even that sceptre mentioned Gen 49:10. The corners; either, 1. Literally, the borders, which by a synecdoche are oft used in Scripture for the whole country to which they belong, as Exod 8:2; Ps 74:7; Ps 147:14; Jer 15:13; Jer 17:3. Or, 2. Metaphorically, to wit, princes and rulers, who are sometimes compared to corners, as Zech 10:4, and Christ himself is called a cornerstone, because he unites and supports the building. But I prefer the former sense. Sheth seems to be the name of some then eminent, though now unknown, place or prince in Moab, where there were many princes, as appears from Num 23:6; Amos 2:3; there being innumerable instances of such places or persons sometimes famous, but now utterly lost as to all monuments and remembrances of them.
Num 24:18. A possession; which was also foretold Gen 25:23, and in part fulfilled, 2 Sam 8:14; 1 Chron 18:13, but more fully by Christ, Amos 9:12; Obad 18; who shall subdue and possess all his enemies; here signified by the name of Edom; as Jacob or Israel, his brother, signifies all his church and people. Seir, a part and mountain of Edom, Gen 36:8, which may be here mentioned as the strongest part of Edom, to show that not only the rest of Edom, which is more accessible, but even the rocks and best munitions of it, shall be taken. His enemies, the Israelites. Do valiantly, or, gain power, or riches, or victory, all which are comprehended in this phrase.
Num 24:19. Out of Jacob; out of Jacob’s loins. He that shall have dominion; David, and especially Christ. Of the city, or, from or out of this city, i.e. the cities, the singular number for the plural, which hath been oft noted before. The sense is, He shall not only subdue those Moabites and Edomites which meet him in the field, but he shall pursue them even to their strongest holds and cities, and shall pull them out thence. Possibly he may note some eminent city in which they confided most, their metropolis or royal city, as may be guessed from Ps 60:9.
Num 24:20. He looked from the top of Pisgah, which was exceeding high, and gave him the prospect of parts of all these kingdoms. The first, Heb. the firstfruits; so called either, 1. Because they were the first of all the neighbouring nations which were embodied together in one government. Or, 2. Because they were the most powerful and eminent of them, as is implied above, Num 24:7, the best things in each kind being oft signified by the name of firstfruits. Or, 3. Because he was the first who fought against Israel, and was vanquished by them, in that famous battle Exod 17, which victory was an earnest and firstfruits of that large harvest of victories which the Israelites should in due time get over all their enemies, and, among others, over Amalek himself, 1 Sam 15:3. That he perish for ever: he began with God and with Israel, but God will end with him; and the firm purpose and will of God is, that he shall be utterly destroyed, Exod 17:14; so that Saul lost his kingdom for not executing this decree and God’s command pursuant thereunto, 1 Sam 15.
Num 24:21. The Kenite; the posterity or kindred of Jethro; not that part of them which dwelt among the Israelites, to whom the following words do not agree, but those of them who were mingled with the Amalekites and Midianites. See Exod 3:1; Judg 1:16; Judg 4:11; 1 Sam 15:6. Thy nest, i.e. thy dwellingplace, so called, either because it was in a high place, as nests commonly are; or from their security and confidence of continuing long and safe in it; see Job 29:18; or in allusion to their name, for ken in Hebrew signifies a nest.
Num 24:22. Kenite, Heb. Kain, i.e. the Kenite; so called, either by a transposition of letters, which is very usual in the Hebrew tongue; or from the name of some eminent place where they lived, or person from whom they were descended, though now the memory of them be utterly lost, as it hath fared with innumerable other places and persons famous in their generations mentioned in ancient heathen writers. Shall be wasted, i.e. shall be by degrees diminished and wasted by the incursions of divers enemies, till at last the Assyrian comes to complete the work, and carries them into captivity. For the Kenites lived partly among the ten tribes, Josh 19:33, compared with Judg 4:11, and partly with the two tribes, Judg 1:16; Judg 4:16-17, and were carried captive with them, part by Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 17:6, and part by Nebuchadnezzar, who also is called an Assyrian, Ezra 6:22; Isa 52:4. The words may be rendered thus, shall be wasted. How long? to wit, shall they be thus wasted? (these particles being oft used abruptly and pathetically in the same manner, Ps 6:3; Ps 90:13; Isa 6:11) till Asshur comes, Asshur shall carry thee away captive.
Num 24:23. How calamitous and miserable will the state of the world be, when the Assyrian, and after him the Chaldean, shall overrun and overturn all these parts of the world! who will be able to live and keep his heart from fainting under such grievous pressures? how few will then escape the destroying sword!
Num 24:24. Chittim; a place or people so called from Chittim the son of Javan, Gen 10:4, whose posterity were very numerous, and were first seated in the Lesser Asia, and from thence sent forth colonies into the islands of the Aegean Sea, and into Cyprus, and afterwards into Macedonia, and other parts of Greece, and then into Italy. Whence it comes to pass that by this name is understood sometimes Macedonia, as appears from 1 Macc. 1:1; 1 Macc. 8:5; and sometimes Italy, as is manifest from Dan 11:29-30; and sometimes both, as in this place; for he speaks here of the scourge that God hath appointed for the Assyrian after he had done God’s work in punishing of his people and the bordering nations. Now although the Assyrian and Chaldean empire was subdued by the Medes and Persians, yet the chief afflictions and calamities of that people came from two hands, both beyond the sea, and brought to them by ships, as is here expressed; first from the Grecians under Alexander and his successors, by whom that people were grievously oppressed and wasted; then from the Romans, who subdued all the Grecian empire, one great part whereof were the Assyrians largely so called, and after many bloody wars made them a colony. Eber, i.e. the posterity of Eber, Gen 10:24, the Hebrews, who were the chief and flower of Eber’s children, and therefore are here designed by that general name, such general expressions being oft used concerning one particular and the most eminent of its kind. And it pleased God to express it thus darkly here, because though he would foretell this for the comfort and instruction of his people in after-ages, yet he would not have Balak, nor Balaam neither, understand or utter any thing which might seem to thwart that happy estate of Israel, which Balaam clearly saw and openly applauded. He also; not the Hebrews, as some understand, for his affliction was now mentioned before, and other scriptures tell us they shall have a better end, and that all Israel shall be saved, and therefore not perish for ever; but the afflicter or scourge of Asshur and Eber, to wit, the Grecian and Roman empire.
Num 24:25. To his place, i.e. to Mesopotamia. Objection: He went only to Midian, where he was slain, Num 31:8. Answer 1. He is said to return home, because he intended and began to do so, though he was diverted by the Midianites; for men in Scripture are oft said to do what they design or attempt to do, as Exod 8:18; Num 14:40. Answer 2. He did go home first, though afterwards he returned to the Midianites, either because they sent for him, or to recover his lost credit, and to do that by policy which he could not do by charms, to which purpose he gave them that devilish counsel which was put in practice, Num 25, and that by his advice, Num 31:16; Rev 2:14.
NUMBERS 25
Num 25:1-5: The Israelites’ whoredom and idolatry: God commands the guilty to be put to death.
Num 25:6-15: A plague: Phinehas’s zeal; for which God promises him the priesthood.
Num 25:16-18: God commands the Midianites to be slain for this their treachery in drawing the people to sin.
Num 25:1. Shittim; a place called more largely Abelshittim, Num 33:49, it being usual with the Hebrews to abbreviate long proper names, as Hermon is put for Baalhermon, Judg 3:3, Tholad for Eltolad, Josh 19:4, Nimrim, Isa 15:6 for Bethnimrah, Num 32:36. And this was their last station, from whence they passed immediately into Canaan. So this is here noted as a great aggravation of their sin, that they committed it when God was going to put them into the possession of their long-expected and much-desired land. The people; not all, but many of them, as appears from Deut 4:3-4; 1 Cor 10:8. To commit whoredom, both corporally and spiritually, either because they prostituted themselves to them upon condition of worshipping their god; or because their filthy god was worshipped by such filthy acts, as Priapus and Venus were. Of Moab, and of Midian too, as is evident from Num 25:6,17-18; Num 31:16; for both these people being confederated in this wicked design, the one is put for the other; and the daughters of Moab may be named, either because they began fine transgression, or because they were the chief persons, possibly, the relations or courtiers of Balak king of Moab.
Num 25:2. They called the people: this may be noted, either, 1. As the consequent of their whoredom, an invitation to further society in their sacred feasts; or rather, 2. As the cause or occasion of their whoredom, the Hebrew vau here signifying for, as it oft doth. The Moabites being now neighbours to the Israelites, and finding themselves unable to effect their design against Israel by war and witchcraft, they now fell another way to work, by contracting familiarity with them; and perceiving their evil and lustful inclinations, they, i.e. their daughters, last mentioned, invited them to their feasts. Unto the sacrifices, i.e. unto the feasts which were made of their parts of their sacrifices, after the manner of the Jews and Gentiles too, the participation whereof was reckoned a participation in the worship of that god to whom the sacrifices were offered, 1 Cor 10:18, and therefore was forbidden to the Israelites when such feasts and sacrifices belonged to a false god, Exod 34:15. Yet this was a less and more modest kind of idolatry, and therefore is fitly used to usher in what was more gross and impious. Of their gods, i.e. of their god, Baalpeor, the plural elohim being here used, as commonly it is, for one god. Bowed down; which properly notes the outward act of worship, which here consisting in or being accompanied with filthy serious, may either signify or connote them. To their gods; before their gods, or, to the honour and worship of their gods.
Num 25:3. Joined himself; the word implies a forsaking of God, to whom they were and should have been joined, and a turning to, embracing of, strict conjunction with, and fervent affection after, this false god. Compare Hos 9:10; 2 Cor 6:14. Baalpeor, called Baal, by the name common to many false gods, and especially to those that represented any of the heavenly bodies; and Peor, either from the hill Peor, where he was worshipped, Num 23:28, or rather from a verb signifying to open and uncover, either because of the obscene posture in which possibly the idol was set, as Priapus was, or because of the filthiness which was exercised in his worship. Was kindled, i.e. discovered itself in a dreadful plague, Ps 106:29.
Num 25:4. The sense is, either, 1. Take, to wit, to thyself and thy assistance, all the heads, i.e. the judges, as they are called Num 25:5, or rulers, of the people; and in their presence, and by their help, hang them, i.e. the people, now mentioned, to wit, such of them as were guilty, as was said Num 25:1. And this sense seems to be favoured by the next verse, where the execution of this command is mentioned, Moses said unto the judges of Israel, whom he had taken to himself and called together, Slay ye every one his man, i.e. each of you execute this command of God, and hang up the delinquents under your several jurisdictions. Or, 2. Take, i.e. apprehend, all the heads, i.e. the chief, of the people, such as were chief, either in this transgression, or rather in place and power, who are singled out to this exemplary punishment either for their neglect in not preventing, restraining, or punishing the offenders according to their power and duty, or for their concurrence with others in this wickedness, which was more odious and mischievous in them than in others. And then this must be necessarily limited to such heads as were guilty, which is evident from the nature of the thing, and from the words of the verse. And so these heads of the people differ, as in name and title, so in place and dignity, from the judges of the people, Num 25:5, which may seem to note the superior magistrates, even the seventy elders, which, being persons of great worth and piety, chosen by God, and endowed with his Spirit, most probably kept themselves from this contagion, and therefore were fitter to punish others; and the heads of the people seem to be the inferior magistrates, the rulers of tens or hundreds, or the like, who as they did many of them partake with the people in other rebellions, so probably were involved in this guilt. Now these are to be hanged up as other malefactors and condemned persons were, Deut 21:23; 2 Sam 21:6. Before the Lord; to the vindication of God’s honour and justice. Against the sun, i.e. publicly, as their sin was public and scandalous; and speedily, before the sun go down. But withal this phrase may signify, that these also must be taken down about sun-setting, as other malefactors were, Deut 21:23.
Num 25:5. Every one his men, i.e. those under his charge; for as these seventy were chosen to assist Moses in the government, so doubtless the care and management of the people was distributed among them by just and equal proportions.
Num 25:6. This was done, either, 1. Before God’s command to Moses, and by him to the judges, Num 25:4-5, such transpositions and disorders being not unusual in sacred story. Or rather, 2. In the order it is related, to wit, when Moses had given the charge to the judges, and, as it may seem, before the execution of it, otherwise it is probable he would not have been so bold and foolish to have run upon present and certain ruin, when the examples were fresh and frequent before his eyes. Unto his brethren, i.e. into the camp of the Israelites, or to his friends and relations in his tent, whither he carried her; Num 25:8, for his or their fleshly satisfaction. In the sight of Moses; an argument of intolerable impudence and contempt of God and of Moses. All the congregation, i.e. the rulers of the congregation with divers of the people. Weeping; bewailing the abominable wickedness of the people, and the dreadful judgments of God, and imploring God’s mercy and favour.
Num 25:7-8. Into the tent, or brothel house; for since they gave way to such lewd practices, no doubt they singled out convenient places for their wickedness. Thrust both of them through; which is no warrant for private persons to take upon them the execution of justice upon any, though the greatest malefactors, because Phinehas was himself a man in great authority and power, and did this after the command given by Moses to the rulers to slay these transgressors, and in the very sight, and no doubt by the consent of Moses himself, and also by the special instinct and direction of God’s Spirit. Through her belly, or in her brothel house, for the word is the same before used, and translated tent, and it may be called hers, because she chose or used that place for her wicked purposes, as the rest doubtless hid other places of like nature. The plague; either the pestilence, or some other sudden and grievous mortality.
Num 25:9. Objection. They were but 23,000, 1 Cor 10:8. Answer. The odd thousand here added were slain by the judges according to the order of Moses, the rest by the immediate hand of God, but both sorts died of the plague, the word being used, as oft it is, for the sword, or hand, or stroke of God.
Num 25:10-11. He was zealous, fervent and resolute and valiant, for my sake, for my satisfaction and vindication.
Num 25:12. i.e. The covenant of an everlasting priesthood, as it is expounded, Num 25:13, which is called a covenant of peace, partly with respect to the happy effect of this heroical action of his, whereby he made peace between God and his people; and partly with regard to the principal end and use of the priestly office, which was constantly to do that which Phinehas now did, even to mediate between God and men, to obtain and preserve his own and Israel’s peace and reconciliation with God, by offering up sacrifices, and incense, and prayers to God on their behalf, Num 16:47-48, as also by turning them away from iniquity, which is the only peace-breaker, and by teaching and pressing the observation of that law, which is the only bond of their peace, Mal 2:5-7.
Num 25:13. And his seed after him. Question. What advantage had he by this promise, seeing the thing here promised was due to him by birth? Answer 1. The same blessing may be ofttimes promised, as the kingdom was to David; and the renewing of this promise might seem convenient here, To signify that bloodshed was so far from polluting him, and thereby casting him out of the priesthood, that it was a mean to confirm him in it. 2. This promise secured him and his against divers contingencies, which otherwise might have befallen him or them; as that he should live longer than his father, else he could not have been the high priest; that he should be preserved from those blemishes which might have rendered him incapable of the priesthood, which were many; that he should have a seed, and they such as were fit for that office. An everlasting priesthood, i.e. to continue as long as the law and commonwealth of the Jews did. Quest. How was this verified, seeing the priesthood went from Eleazar’s to Ithamar’s line in Eli and three or four of his successors? Answer 1. This promise, as others of the like nature, was conditional, and therefore might be made void, and of none effect, by the miscarriages of Phinehas’s sons, as it seems it was; and thereupon a like promise was made to Eli of the line of Ithamar, that he and his should walk before the Lord, to wit, in the office of high priest, for ever, which also for his and their sins was made void, 1 Sam 2:30. Answer 2. That was but a short interruption, and not considerable in so long a succession, for the priesthood returned to Phinehas’s line in the time of Solomon, 1 Kings 2:26-27,35; 1 Chron 24:3; and continued in that line till the captivity of Babylon, as is evident, and afterward too, 1 Chron 6:4; Ezra 7:1,5, even until Christ’s time, for any thing which appears to the contrary.
Num 25:14. A prince: this is added as a proof of Phinehas’s zeal, that he durst venture upon so great a person, who was likely to have many avengers of his blood. Of a chief house, Heb. of the house of his father. Every tribe was divided into great households, called the houses of their fathers, Num 1:2, and he was the prince or chief of one of these, though not of fire whole tribe. Among the Simeonites; of the tribe of Simeon, which seems to have been too much influenced by his and other such examples, so that for 59,300, which were numbered, Num 1:22-23, there were now only 22,000 Num 26:14.
Num 25:15. Zur; one of the kings or princes or Midian, Num 31:8; Josh 13:21. Of a chief house, or, and over her father’s house.
Num 25:16-17. And why not the Moabites, who were as guilty, Num 25:1? Answer 1. Because God will reserve to himself a liberty of punishing or sparing, according to his own good pleasure. 2. God had a kindness for the Moabites for Lot’s sake, Deut 2:9. 3. God punished the Moabites in another manner, partly, by his own immediate hand, whereby it is probable he cut off those Moabitish women that were guilty of this fact; partly, by a particular and dreadful kind of excommunication, Deut 23:3; and partly, by impunity, which in its consequences is commonly worse and more pernicious than any or all temporal punishments, which none that believes the Bible can deny. 4. It is probable the Midianites were most guilty, as in persuading Balak to send for Balaam, as may be gathered from Num 22:4,7; so in the reception of Balaam after Balak had dismissed him, Num 31:8, and in further consultation with him, and in contriving the means for the executing of this wicked plot. Smite them, i.e. kill them; in which words, as there is a command to war against them, so there is a promise of success.
Num 25:18. For under pretence of kindred, and friendship, and leagues, yea, and marriages, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites expected from them, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the Israelites, which they had in vain attempted to bring another way. In the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi; by drawing you both to spiritual and corporal whoredom. Their sister, in a large sense, to wit, their countrywoman.
NUMBERS 26
Num 26:1-51: Israel numbered, such as were fit for war, of every tribe; Levi excepted: their number.
Num 26:52-56: The land to be distributed according to their number.
Num 26:57-62: The Levites numbered by themselves, because they had no inheritance.
Num 26:63-65: All that were numbered by Moses and Aaron at Sinai, save only Caleb and Joshua, died in the wilderness.
Num 26:1. After the plague, last mentioned, Num 25:8-9. Eleazar, his father being dead, was high priest.
Num 26:2. They were numbered twice before, Exod 30:11-12, and Num 1:1-2. Now they are numbered a third time, partly to demonstrate the faithfulness of God, both in cutting all those off whom he had threatened to cut off, Num 14:29, and in a stupendous increase and multiplication of the people according to his promise, notwithstanding all their sins, and the sweeping judgments inflicted upon them; and partly to prepare the way for the equal division of the land which they were now going to possess.
Num 26:3. In the plains of Moab; see Num 22:1; Num 33:48
Num 26:4. Take the sum of the people: these words are easily supplied and necessarily to be understood from Num 26:2.
Num 26:5-7. The families, i.e. the chief houses, which were subdivided into divers lesser families. Forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty; whereas in their last numbering they were 46,500, Num 1:21; for Korah’s conspiracy, as well as other provocations of theirs, had cut off many of them.
Num 26:8. Sons for son, of which change of the number see Gen 12:7; Gen 46:7
Num 26:9-10. Swallowed them up together with Korah: according to this translation Korah was not consumed by fire with his two hundred and fifty men, Num 16, but swallowed up by the earth. But others rather think he was devoured by the fire, of which see on Num 16:32,35, and render these words, and the things of Korah, or belonging to Korah, to wit, his tent, and goods, and family, children excepted, as here follows; which interpretation receives strength by comparing this place with Num 16:32, And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them (to wit, Dathan and Abiram, as is manifest from Num 26:24-25,27) up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah; which variation of the phrase plainly shows that Korah himself was not swallowed up with them, but only his men and his tabernacle, which is mentioned there together with the tabernacles of Dathan and Abiram, Num 26:24,27, but his person is not there mentioned with their persons. Nor is it unusual both in sacred and profane authors, by the name of a man who is the head and master, to understand only his house and family, though himself be not included. But this difficulty may be cleared another way. The Hebrew particle eth may? be here the note of a nominative case, as it is 2 Kings 6:5; Neh 9:19; Jer 38:16; Ezek 39:14; Ezek 43:7, and there may be a defect of a verb, which is most frequent; and so the place may be rendered thus, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, to wit, Dathan and Abiram, Num 26:9, and Korah, or, and as for Korah, he died (which verb is easily understood out of the following noun, of which ellipsis there are many instances in Scripture, some whereof have been given before, and more will follow in their places) in the death of that company, or when that company died, what time the fire devoured the two hundred and fifty men. And so this place, and Num 16:35, explain one another; and whereas there is mention only of two hundred and fifty men consumed by that fire, Korah is here added to the number. They became a sign, i.e. God made them a monument or example, to warn others not to rebel against God nor against magistracy, nor to usurp the priestly office.
Num 26:11. God being pleased to spare them, either because they disowned their father’s act, and thereupon separated themselves both from his tent and company, or because Moses interceded for them, or because God would glorify his own free mercy in sparing some, while he punished others, according to his declaration in a like case, Exod 33:19. Hence the sons of Korah are mentioned 1 Chron 6:22,37, and oft in the book of Psalms.
Num 26:12. Nemuel, called Jemuel, Gen 46:10; Exod 6:15. Jachin, called also Jarib, 1 Chron 4:24. And such names might be either added or changed upon some special occasion not recorded in Scripture.
Num 26:13. Zerah, called also Zohar, Gen 46:10; Exod 6:15. There is another of his sons, Ohad, mentioned Gen 46:10, not here, possibly because his family was extinct before this time.
Num 26:14. Whereas there were 35,400 in Num 1:23. It is thought the example of Zimri, one of their princes, Num 25, and some others among them, did infect the generality of the tribe, and so caused this great diminution in their numbers.
Num 26:15. Gad is placed next, because he was joined with Reuben and Simeon in the same camp and quarters, Num 2:10,14. Zephon, called Ziphion, Gen 46:16.
Num 26:16. Ozni, called Ezbon, Gen 46:16.
Num 26:17. Arod, called Arodi, Gen 46:16
Num 26:18. Fewer by above five thousand than there were in their last numbering, Num 2:15.
Num 26:19-21. The sons of Pharez, though Judah’s grandchildren, are here mentioned among his sons, because they are put in the stead of Er and Onan, which died before.
Num 26:22. About two thousand more than they were Num 1:27; whereas the foregoing tribes were all diminished, this tribe was now increased, and the blessing promised to that tribe above the rest, Gen 49:8, doth herein begin to show itself.
Num 26:23. Pua, called also Phuvah, Gen 46:13; as his brother Jashub, Num 26:24, is called Job, Gen 46:13.
Num 26:24-25. A great increase. Compare Num 2:6.
Num 26:26-27. Whereas before they were but 57,400 in Num 1:31; Num 2:8. So that Judah’s camp was much increased, as Reuben’s was much diminished.
Num 26:28-29. Gilead is here mentioned as Machir’s only son, and therefore some conceive that the family of the Machirites, and of the Gileadites, are one and the same family, only called by two names; first Machirites, but afterwards Gileadites. Others make them distinct families, because Machir had other children, Gen 1:23; 1 Chron 7:14-16, which are called by their father’s name, Machirites, whereas the children of his eldest son Gilead are called by his name, Gileadites. But though Machir had other children, it seems they and their posterity were extinct at this time, and that Machir alone was left and his posterity, as may be gathered by comparing this and the following verses with Josh 17:1-3; 1 Chron 7:14-19.
Num 26:30. Jeezer, called also Abiezer, Josh 17:2; Judg 6:11,34; 1 Chron 7:18.
Num 26:31-34. Whereas they were but 32,200 in Num 1:35. So they are now increased above 50,000, according to that prophecy, Gen 49:22.
Num 26:35. Becher, called also Bered, 1 Chron 7:20.
Num 26:36. Eran, called Edan or Laadan, 1 Chron 7:26; the letters daleth and resh being alike in the Hebrew tongue, and therefore oft changed, as is evident from Scripture instances.
Num 26:37-38. The sons of Benjamin were ten, Gen 46:21, whereof only five are here mentioned, the rest probably, together with their families, being extinct ere this time. Ashbel, called also Jediael, 1 Chron 7:6. Ahiram, called also Aharah, 1 Chron 8:1 and Ehi, Gen 46:21.
Num 26:39. Shupham, called also Shuppim, 1 Chron 7:12, and Muppim, Gen 46:21. Hupham, called Huppim, Gen 46:21; 1 Chron 7:12.
Num 26:40. Ard, or Arde, and by transposition, Addar, 1 Chron 8:3.
Num 26:41-42. Shuham, called, by transposition, Hushim, Gen 46:23. After their families; the greater families subdivided into lesser families.
Num 26:43. All from one son and family; whereas of Benjamin, who had ten sons, and here five families, there were only 45,600, to show that the increase of families depends singly upon God’s blessing and good pleasure.
Num 26:44. Of Jesui, called Isui, Gen 46:17, where also there is another son of Asher named, to wit, Ishuah, whose family seems now to be lost.
Num 26:45-46. Who seems to be here mentioned because she was a woman of masculine wisdom, or courage, or other virtue.
Num 26:47. Whereas they were only 41,500 in Num 1:41.
Num 26:48-51. Very nigh as many as there were before, Num 1:46. So wisely and marvellously did God at the same time manifest his justice in cutting off so vast a number, and his mercy in giving such a speedy and numerous supply, and his truth in both.
Num 26:52-53. Unto these; to these families now mentioned. The land shall be divided, by lot, Num 26:55. The land was divided into nine parts and a half, respect being had in such division to the goodness as well as to the largeness of the several portions, and the lot gave each tribe their part. Of names, i.e. of the persons, names being oft put for persons, as Acts 1:15; Phil 2:9; Rev 3:4; Rev 11:13. The meaning is, that the share of each tribe was divided amongst the several families, to some more, to some less, according to the number of the persons of each family, Num 33:54. And withal, if one of the lots or portions proved too large or too little for all the families and persons of that tribe, in this case they might either give part of their portion to another tribe, as Simeon and Dan had parts of Judah’s share, Josh 19:1,40, or take away a part from the portion belonging to another tribe.
Num 26:54. Thou shalt give; thou, Moses, partly by thyself, for he divided the land beyond Jordan to the two tribes and a half; and partly by thy successor Joshua, whom thou shalt empower and command to do it. According to those that were numbered of him; according to the number of the families and persons now numbered, and being twenty years old, no regard being to be had either to any increase of the number by those who came up to that age between this time and the division of the land, or to the diminution of this number by the sword of Canaanites or otherwise.
Num 26:55. By lot; which lots seem to have been cast only for the tribes, not, as some would have it, for the several families, for the distribution of it to them was left to the ruler’s wisdom, according to the rule now given, Num 26:54. Yet if any lot was too large for the tribe, they might give up part of their right to others, with the ruler’s consent, as Judah gave a share to Simeon and to Dan within his lot. According to the names of the tribes, i.e. the lots shall go under the names of each tribe or each patriarch.
Num 26:56. i.e. That share which shall by lot fall to each tribe, shall be distributed to the several families and persons in such proportions as their numbers shall require.
Num 26:57-58. The families of the Levites are here numbered by themselves, because they were not to have a distinct share of the land, whence it is that they are not so distinctly and exactly mentioned as the other tribes, but confusedly and imperfectly, some of them being wholly omitted here. See Exod 6:17-19.
Num 26:59. Her mother, to wit, Levi’s wife, which must necessarily be understood.
Num 26:60-62. Twenty and three thousand; one thousand more than they were Num 3:39. The reason of which different way of numbering, see on Num 3:15.
Num 26:63-65. There was not left a man of them, to wit, of those who then murmured and rebelled against God, as plainly appears, both because this threatening and punishment is confined to those transgressors, and because otherwise this had not been true; for of those that were then numbered there were now left Eleazar and Ithamar, and possibly many of the Levites, and some others, who being not guilty of that sin, did not partake of their judgment. Caleb and Joshua are mentioned here, as also Num 14, not by way of exception, as if these were murmurers, which is utterly denied, Num 14:24, but by way of opposition, to signify that they, though they were two of the spies, and companions of them who were the chief authors and ringleaders of that mutiny, yet they kept themselves from their sin, and therefore God kept them from their plague and destruction, as also he did some others for the same reason.
NUMBERS 27
Num 27:1-11: The law of inheritance: for daughters on defect of sons; and on defect of them to the brother; and if there be none, to the next kinsman.
Num 27:12-14: God commands Moses to go up into a mountain to view the land of Canaan, and die there: the reason.
Num 27:15-17: Moses prays to the Lord to appoint an able successor.
Num 27:18-23: Joshua chose, and confirmed in his office by imposition of hands before all the people.
Num 27:1. Perceiving that the males only were numbered, and that the land was to be divided to them only, they put in their claim for a share in their father’s inheritance.
Num 27:2. Nigh unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation it seems was the place where Moses and the chief rulers assembled for the administration of public affairs, which also was very convenient, because they had frequent occasion of recourse to God for his assistance and direction therein.
Num 27:3. He was not in the company of Korah, nor in any other rebellion of the people, which must be understood, because all of them are opposed to his own sin, in which alone he is said to die. But they mention this only either, 1. Because he might possibly be accused to be guilty of this. Or, 2. Because he, being an eminent person, might be thought guilty of that rather than of any other, because the great and famous men were more concerned in that rebellion than others. Or, 3. To gain the favour of Moses, against whom that rebellion was more particularly directed, and more desperately prosecuted than any other. Or, 4. Because peradventure he died about that time, and therefore might be presumed guilty of that crime. Or rather, 5. Because that sin, and, as it may seem, that only of all the sins committed in the wilderness, was of such a flagitious nature, that God thought fit to extend the punishment not only to the persons of those rebels, but also to their children and families, Num 16:27,32, as was usual in like cases, as Deut 13:15; Josh 7:24; whence it is noted as a singular privilege granted to the children of Korah, that they died not, Num 26:11, whereas the children of their confederates died with them. And this makes their argument here more proper and powerful, that he did not die in that sin for which his posterity were to be cut off, and to lose either their lives or their inheritances, and therefore their claim was more just. In his own sin; either, 1. For that sin mentioned Num 14, which they call his own sin, in opposition not to the rest of the people, for it was a common sin, but to his children, i.e. the sin for which he alone was to suffer in his person and not in his posterity, as God had appointed, Num 14:33. Or rather, 2. For his own personal sins; for, 1. These were more properly his own sins. 2. It was a truth, and that believed by the Jews, that death was a punishment for men’s own sins. 3. The punishment of that common sin was not directly and properly death, but exclusion from the land of Canaan, and death only by way of consequence upon that.
Num 27:4. Be done away; as it will be, if it be not preserved by an inheritance given to us in his name and for his sake. Hence some gather that the first son of each of these heiresses was called by their father’s name, by virtue of that law, Deut 25:6, whereby the brother’s first son was to bear the name of his elder brother, whose widow he married. A possession in the land of Canaan upon the division of it, which, though not yet conquered, they concluded would certainly be so, and thereby gave glory to God by believing.
Num 27:5. i.e. Into the tabernacle, where God was pleased to speak with Moses upon occasions, Exod 25:22; Num 7:89. For it was a hard case; and though their plea seemed reasonable, yet Moses showed his humility and modesty, that he would not determine it himself without God’s particular direction.
Num 27:6-7. Give them: in Hebrew it is of the masculine gender, to show that women in this case should enjoy the man’s privilege, and that the heavenly Canaan, whereof this was a type, did belong no less to women than to men, Gal 3:28. The inheritance of their fathers, i.e. which belonged to their fathers in case they had lived.
Num 27:8-10. No brethren, nor sisters, as appears from Num 27:8.
Num 27:11. A statute of judgment; a statute or rule by which the magistrate shall give judgment in such cases.
Num 27:12. The whole tract of mountains was called Abarim, Num 33:47, whereof one of the highest was called Nebo, Deut 32:49, and the top of that, Pisgah, Deut 34:1.
Num 27:13. Gathered unto thy people; of which phrase see Gen 15:15; Gen 25:8.
Num 27:14. In Kadesh: this is added to distinguish this miscarriage of Moses from that of the people in Rephidim, Exod 17:7.
Num 27:15-16. All flesh, i.e. of all men; the Searcher of spirits, that knowest who is fit for this great employment; the Father, and Giver, and Governor of spirits, who canst raise and suit the spirits of men to the highest and hardest works, as thou didst those Num 11:16-17. See Num 16:22.
Num 27:17. i.e. Which may wisely conduct them in all their affairs, both when they go forth to war, or upon other occasions, and when they return home and live in peace. A metaphor from shepherds, as it here follows, which in those places used not to go behind their sheep, as ours now do, but before them, and to lead them forth to their pasture, and in due time to lead them home again. Of this phrase see Deut 28:6; Acts 1:21.
Num 27:18. The spirit; the spirit of government, of wisdom, and of the fear of the Lord, etc. Lay thine hand upon him; by which ceremony Moses did both design the person and confer the power, and by his prayers, which accompanied that rite, obtain from God all the spiritual gifts and graces necessary for his future employment, as appears from Deut 34:9. See of this custom Gen 48:14; Lev 1:4; Num 8:10; 1 Tim 4:14.
Num 27:19. That they may be witnesses of the whole action, and may acknowledge him for their supreme ruler. Give him a charge: thou shalt command him in my name to undertake the government of my people, which otherwise he will be afraid and unwilling to do, and thou shalt give him counsels and instructions for the right management of that great trust.
Num 27:20. Thou shalt not now use him as a servant, as thou hast done, but as a brother and thy partner in the government, showing respect to him, and causing others to do so, and thou shalt impart to him the ensigns and evidences of thy own authority, whatsoever they be. Some understand this honour of those spiritual endowments which did adorn Moses, which Moses was now to confer upon him. But this Joshua had before, for in him was the spirit, Num 26:18; and he received a further measure of the spirit by Moses’s laying on of hands, from both which this honour is distinguished; and, had he meant this, he would not have expressed it in so dark and doubtful a phrase, but have called it a putting not of honour, but of the spirit, upon him, as it is called, Num 11:17. And seeing the word honour here may very well be properly understood, why should we run to figurative significations?
Num 27:21. Who shall ask counsel for him, when he requires him to do so, and in important and difficult matters. See Josh 9:14; Judg 1:1; Judg 20:18; 1 Sam 23:9. After the judgment, or, by or from the judgment, i.e. by seeking and receiving and communicating to him the judgment or sentence thereby given: or, by the judgment is here put defectively for by the breastplate of judgment, as it is called Exod 28:30, as the testimony is oft put for the ark of the testimony. Or, concerning the judgment; or sentence, i.e. what the mind and will of God is in the matter. Or, after the manner or rite, for so the Hebrew word mishpat here used oft signifies. Urim, understand, and of Thummim, for these two generally go together; only here, as also 1 Sam 28:6, Urim is synecdochically, put for both Urim and Thummim. For the manner of this inquiry and answer, see on Exod 28:30. Before the Lord; ordinarily in the tabernacle near the second veil, setting his face to the ark, or otherwise presenting himself as in God’s presence, as Abiathar did by David’s direction, 1 Sam 23:9, when they were both banished from the ark. At his word, i.e. the word of the Lord, last mentioned, delivered to him by the high priest.
NUMBERS 28
Num 28:1-8: Offerings to be observed at set times: the daily burnt-offering in the morning, together with its meat and drink offering; and at evening.
Num 28:9-10: The sabbath offering.
Num 28:11-15: The burnt-offering of the new moons, with, its meat, drink, and sin offering.
Num 28:16-18: The passover.
Num 28:19-25: Its sacrifices; and their continuance.
Num 28:26-31: The Pentecost and the sacrifices thereof.
Num 28:1-2. God here repeats some of the former laws about sacrifices, not without great reason, partly, because they had been generally discontinued for thirty-eight years together; partly, because the generation to which the former laws had been given about these things was wholly dead, and it was fit the new generation should be instructed about them, as their parents were; partly, to renew the testimonies of God’s grace and mercy, notwithstanding their frequent forfeitures thereof by their horrid apostasies and rebellions; and principally, because they were now ready to enter into that land, in which they were obliged to put these things in practice, Deut 12:8, etc. Made by fire. According to this translation the sense is, My offering, i.e. my offering or sacrifices, and my bread, i.e. either my shewbread, or rather my meat-offering made of bread or meal, for my sacrifices made by fire, i.e. which is to accompany my burnt-offerings. Or thus, My offering, to wit, my bread, i.e. my meat-offering, which was made of bread or meal, which is oft expressed by this very name of corban or offering, as Lev 2:1; Lev 6:20; but because corban signifies not only a meat-offering, but other offerings also, as Lev 7:37-38, therefore he limits that general word by adding my bread with (so the Hebrew lamed is oft used, as Gen 46:26; Ezra 1:5; Ezra 2:63, etc.) my sacrifices made by fire, which may be understood either, 1. Generally for all the sacrifices, as that phrase is sometimes taken, as 1 Sam 2:28, where it must needs be so meant, because the burnt-offerings properly so called were not given to the priest, but reserved to God himself, and the priest’s portion lay in the other sacrifices only; or, 2. Specially and properly for burnt-offerings; and so under them, as the most eminent kind, are contained all other sacrifices; as under the meat-offering here is contained the drink-offering. And according to this translation and explication these words contain a full and general rule, comprehending all the particulars following in this chapter, as in reason they ought to do, and which otherwise they do not.
Num 28:3-5. A meat-offering, which was an appendix or accessary to the principal sacrifice. See on Lev 2:1, and Num 15:4.
Num 28:6. Ordained, or, prescribed, instituted by God. Or, made, i.e. offered at that place, though since omitted for thirty-eight years.
Num 28:7. In the holy place, i.e. upon the altar of burnt-offerings, which was in the court of the priests nigh to the entrance into the sanctuary. See Exod 29:42; 2 Chron 29:7. Strong wine, Heb. shecar, which though it signify in the general all kinds of strong drink, yet is here put for the most famous of that kind, to wit, for wine, which alone was used in offerings, as appears below, Num 28:14; Exod 29:40.
Num 28:8. Thou shalt offer it, or, thou shalt offer with it. Or, with the meat offering of the morning, and with the drink offering thereof thou shalt offer it; the letter caph being put for beth, which are alike in Hebrew, and the words are said to be read with beth in some copies.
Num 28:9. Two lambs, besides that for the daily sacrifice, Num 28:10.
Num 28:10-11. In the beginnings of your months, which though not reckoned among the solemn feasts, Lev 23, yet were celebrated as such, by the sound of trumpets, Num 10:10, by extraordinary sacrifices, by abstinence from servile works, Amos 8:5, and by attendance upon the ministry of God’s word, 2 Kings 4:23. And God ordained it thus, partly that by giving God the firstfruits of every month they should acknowledge him as the Lord of all their time, and own his providence, by which all times and seasons, and all the fruits and blessings of them, and actions done in them, are ordered; and partly that it might be a type of the future renovation of the world by Christ.
Num 28:12-14. i.e. To be offered in the beginning of every month.
Num 28:15. One kid of the goats; a he goat. See Num 15:24. Unto the Lord; not unto the moon, to which the Gentiles offered it.
Num 28:16. Instituted by him, and to his honour and service. See on Lev 23:5.
Num 28:17. The feast, to wit, of unleavened bread; of which see on Lev 23:6.
Num 28:18-23. And that in the evening too, as is evident from the nature of the thing, and from other scriptures; but the morning sacrifice alone is mentioned, partly because the celebration of the feast began with it, and principally because this alone was doubtful, whether this might not be omitted when so many other sacrifices were offered in that morning, whereas there was no question but the evening sacrifice should be offered, when there were none other besides it to be offered.
Num 28:24. i.e. The sacrifice made by fire, which is as it were my meat or food; for as God is said to smell the sacrifices, to wit, metaphorically, i.e. to accept of them; so is he said to eat them, i.e. to devour or consume them, and to be satisfied with them: such things spoken of God after the manner of men are to be understood so as to agree with the majesty of God.
Num 28:25-26. In the day of the firstfruits; in the feast of Pentecost, Acts 2:1. A new meat-offering; new fruits, two loaves made of your new corn, Lev 23:16. Your weeks, i.e. the seven weeks which you are to number from the passover, Lev 23:15 Heb. in the weeks, in being put for after, as it is Isa 20:1; Luke 9:36; Luke 11:37.
Num 28:27. The burnt-offering, for the celebration of the feast, over and besides that other offering which was joined with the firstfruits, Lev 23:18: so here is a new additional sacrifice prescribed, which doth not destroy the former.
NUMBERS 29
Num 29:1-4: The sacrifice at the feast of the trumpets; its burnt-offering, and sin-offering.
Num 29:5-11: Of the feast of atonement; its offerings.
Num 29:12-38: Of the feast of tabernacles, during seven days; their offerings; the eighth day a great holiday.
Num 29:1. In the seventh month; so it was in their ecclesiastical account, in which the month Abib was the first; but as to civil matters, this was the first month. A day of blowing the trumpets; whereby the people were admonished solemnly to prepare themselves for the feasts, which were as many in this month as in all the year besides.
Num 29:2. A burnt-offering, besides the offerings of every month and day, as is expressed, Num 29:6.
Num 29:3-6. Of the month; belonging to every new moon, of which see Num 28:11-12; 2 Chron 2:4. According to their manner; according to the order, rites, and ceremonies appointed by God.
Num 29:7. Your souls, i.e. yourselves, by fasting and abstinence from all delightful things, and by compunction and bitter sorrow for your sins, and the judgments of God either deserved by you, or inflicted upon you for your sins. See Lev 16:29-30; Lev 23:27.
Num 29:8-11. The sin-offering of atonement, by which the high priest made atonement; of which see Lev 16:9,29-30.
Num 29:12. The feast of booths; of which see Lev 23:34-35; Deut 16:13. Seven days; not by abstaining so long from all servile works, but by offering extraordinary sacrifices each day.
Num 29:13. Thirteen young bullocks; more sacrifices than at any other feast, partly because this feast was in the close of the year, when it was meet to supply the defects of the year past, and when they had gathered in all their fruits, Deut 16:13,15 and therefore ought to make the larger returns and acknowledgment to God; partly because it was God’s pleasure so to order it, for reasons known to himself, in whose will we ought to acquiesce. And the same reason holds why these sacrifices grew fewer and fewer every day.
Num 29:14-18. Of which see for meat-offerings, Num 29:3-4,9-10; and for drink-offerings, Num 28:7,14
Num 29:19-36. This was the last and great day of the feast, as it is called John 7:37, and yet the sacrifices were fewer than any other day, to teach them not to trust to the multitude of their sacrifices, nor to expect remission of sins from them, but from the one and only sacrifice of Christ.
Num 29:37-39. Your freewill offerings; your ordinary sacrifices shall not be omitted because of the extraordinary, which ye offer on special occasions.
NUMBERS 30
Num 30:1-2: Vows not to be broke: if a man vow, he must perform.
Num 30:3-5: If a daughter living with her father vow, and he disapprove thereof, she is free.
Num 30:6-8: If a married woman vow, and her husband disapprove thereof, she is free.
Num 30:9: A widow or divorced woman’s vow binding;
Num 30:10-15: but not those of a married woman, unless her husband consent or be silent.
Num 30:1. The heads of the tribes; the chief rulers of each tribe, who were to communicate it to the rest.
Num 30:2. A man; which notes both the sex, as appears by Num 30:3, and the age, that he be grown up; for none can be so weak as to think the vow of a young child would bind it. A vow, i.e. a simple Vow to do something possible and lawful. Unto the Lord; to the honour and service of God. Or swear an oath; confirm his vow by an oath. To bind his soul with a bond; to restrain himself from something otherwise lawful, as suppose from such a sort of meat or drink; or to oblige himself to the performance of something otherwise not necessary, is to observe a private day of fasting. He shall not break his word, Heb. not pollute or profane his word, as the same phrase is used, Ps 55:20; Ps 89:34, i.e. not render his word, and consequently himself, profane, or vile and contemptible in the eyes of others. According to all that proceedeth out of his own mouth; and that without delay, Deut 23:21; Eccles 5:4, provided the thing be not unlawful and forbidden by God, Acts 23:14; for it is an idle conceit that a man can give away God’s right, or that he can make void God’s commands by his own vows, which was the dotage of the Pharisees, Mark 6:23,26.
Num 30:3. If a woman, or a man in the same circumstances, a son or a servant, as plainly appears from hence, because the reason of this law is perfectly the same in both sexes, which is, that such persons have given away what was not their own, but another’s, even their superior’s right, which is against the rule and law of natural reason, and against the word of God, which binds all persons to give to every one their due. He instanceth only in the woman, because that sex is both by creation and sin put into a state of subjection, but under the chief and most unquestionable kind all other subjects in like circumstances are comprehended, as is very usual. Being in her father’s house, i.e. under his care, power, and government, which she is whilst she continues in her father’s house, being a virgin, as appears by the opposition of a married woman, Num 30:6, and of a widow, and divorced woman, Num 30:9, and by this phrase of being in her father’s house, for when she marries, she is removed into her husband’s house, Ruth 1:9. Or, being in, or of her father’s family, the word house being commonly used for family; for when she marries, she is translated and removed into another family. In her youth; when not only her sex, but her age, disenables her for vowing; and this clause is added not by way of restriction, as if virgins in their riper years were freed from their parents’ jurisdiction, and at their own disposal, (which undoubtedly they are not,) but by way of addition, or amplification, q.d. especially (which particle is here to be understood, such defects of particles being frequent in the Hebrew tongue) in her youth, which is commonly reckoned about her twelfth or thirteenth year.
Num 30:4. Her father; under which title seem to be comprehended, as in other places of Scripture, masters, magistrates, and all other superiors, in such cases wherein their right is given away by the inferior’s vow; as for instance, when a servant vows to go a long journey for his friend, and his master will not permit him to do so; but not in other cases; as if a servant vows to do something for another in that time which his master alloweth to his own use and disposal, in this case his vow binds him, but not in the former. And her father shall hold his peace; his silence being an interpretative consent, and much more if he declares his approbation of it. Shall stand, i.e. be established, or confirmed, or be in force.
Num 30:5. In the day that he heareth, i.e. speedily, or without delay, allowing’ only necessary and convenient time for deliberation. And it is hereby intimated, that the day or time he had for disallowing her vow was not to be reckoned from her vowing, but from his hearing or knowledge of her vow. Shall forgive her; or, will forgive either her rashness of making such vows, or rather her not performing of it. But this is to be understood only of such vows which could not be performed without invading the father’s or superior’s right; for if one should vow to forbear such or such a sin, and all unnecessary occasions or means leading to it, and to perform such or such duties, when he had opportunity, no father nor superior can discharge him from such vows.
Num 30:6. An husband, to whose will and authority she was thereby made subject. When she vowed, to wit, when she was in her father’s house, as is evident by comparing Num 30:10; and this clause seems to be added by way of exception to that which was said Num 30:3-4, to signify, that though she were in her father’s house, yet if she were married, her husband only, and not her father, could disoblige her from her vow. Or uttered ought; either, 1. By way of vow, and so this clause explains and determines the former, i.e. if she express her vow in words. Or, 2. By way of oath, concerning which this same phrase is used Lev 5:4, and so this clause is distinct from the former, which the disjunctive particle or implies.
Num 30:7-9. Though she be in her father’s house, whither such persons oft returned; which limitation may be gathered both from the opposition of her being in her husband’s house, Num 30:10, and from hence, that this was the only doubtful cast for if such a person was not in her father’s house, she was unquestionably bound by it, but being now freed from her husband, and returned to her father, it was doubtful whether she was not returned to the same state of subjection in which she was before, and consequently unable to make or perform a vow without her father’s consent, as she was before, which is here denied.
Num 30:10. In her husband’s house, i.e. if she that now is a widow, or divorced, made that vow whilst her husband lived with her; as suppose she then vowed, that if she was a widow, she would give such a proportion of her estate to pious or charitable uses, of which vow she might repent when she came to be a widow, and might believe or pretend she was free from it, because that vow was made in her husband’s lifetime, which is here granted, in case her husband then disallowed it, but denied, in case by silence or otherwise he consented to it. And thus this law is sufficiently distinguished from that above, Num 30:6-8.
Num 30:11-13. Afflict the soul, i.e. herself by fasting, which oft goes under that name, as Lev 16:29,31; Lev 23:27,32; Isa 58:5, by watching, or the like. And these words are added not for limitation, for it is manifest from Num 30:5,8,10,12, that the power of parents and husbands was more general and large; but for amplification, to show that the husband had this power not only in those vows which concerned himself or his estate, but also in those which might seem only to concern her own person or body. And the reason hereof is, because the wife’s person or body being the husband’s right, she might not do any thing to the injury of her body without his consent.
Num 30:14-15. After that he hath heard them, and approved them by his silence from day to day; if now after that time spent, he shall upon further thoughts dislike and hinder it, which he ought not to do, her iniquity, her nonperformance of her vow, shall be imputed to him, not to her.
NUMBERS 31
Num 31:1-2: God commanded Moses, before he die, to avenge Israel of the Midianites.
Num 31:3-8: he chooses twelve thousand men, and Phinehas: the kings of Midian and Balaam slain.
Num 31:9-12: Their women and cattle taken; and cities burnt: they bring the spoil to Moses and Eleazar.
Num 31:13-21: Moses is wroth with the officers for saving the women alive; commands them to kill every male child, and woman that had known man; the rest saved alive; and to purify themselves and the captives.
Num 31:25-40: A law for dividing the booty; executed; and the sum of the booty.
Num 31:41-47: The tribute-offering of the Lord given to the priests and Levites.
Num 31:48-54: The captains make an offering to the Lord; which is laid up in the tabernacle for a memorial.
Num 31:1-2. Of the Midianites, for their malicious designs and practices against Israel, both by hiring Balaam to curse them, and by sending their women to enslave them. The Moabites also were guilty, but God out of his own good pleasure, and in kindness to Lot, was pleased to spare them, the rather, because the measure of their iniquity was not yet full.
Num 31:3. For the affront and injury which they offered to God, partly by their own idolatry and lewdness, and partly by seducing God’s people into rebellion against him. God’s great care was to avenge the Israelites, Num 31:2, and Moses’s chief desire was to avenge God rather than himself or the people. Withal he doth hereby insinuate, that God and his people have the same cause, the same friends and enemies.
Num 31:4-5. A thousand of every tribe, to prevent emulations or divisions. God would send no more, though it is apparent that the Midianites were numerous and strong, because he would try and exercise their trust in him, and because he would hereby give them an earnest of their Canaanitish conquests.
Num 31:6. Phinehas had the charge not of the army, as general, (an office never committed to any priest in all the Old Testament,) but of the holy instruments, etc. as is here expressed, and was also sent to encourage, and quicken, and confirm them in their good enterprise. It is not here mentioned who was the general, whether Joshua, as some think, because he is not named amongst those who went out to meet the returning host, though that might be for other reasons, or some other prince, nor is it worth while to determine. The holy instruments; either, 1. The ark, with the things belonging to it, which before the building of the temple they did sometimes carry into the war for the encouragement of their army. See Num 14:44; Josh 6:9; 1 Sam 4:4; 1 Sam 14:18. But why then is it thus ambiguously expressed, seeing in all the other places it is called by its proper name? Nor is the ark ever so called in Scripture. Or, 2. The trumpets, as it here follows, the words being thus to be read, the holy instruments that is, the trumpets; for and is ofttimes put exegetically for that is, or to wit, as Gen 13:15; 1 Chron 21:12, compared with 2 Sam 24:13; Zech 1:4; Zech 9:9, etc. Or rather, 3. The holy breastplate, wherein was the Urim and Thummim, which was easily carried and used, and very useful in war upon many emergent occasions. See 1 Sam 23:9; 1 Sam 30:7. And the trumpets, which were to be used in war as well as in the service of the tabernacle. See Num 10:9; 2 Chron 13:12.
Num 31:7. Namely, all whom they took in that war, or all who lived in those parts; for it is probable (and was then very usual) some colonies of them were sent forth to remoter places, which therefore had no hand either in their former sin, or ill this present ruin, of whom we read after this, Judg 6. And herein they did according to God’s own order concerning such people, Deut 20:13; only their fault was, that they did not consider the special reason and great obligation which they had to involve the women in the destruction, for which reason Moses blames them afterward, Num 31:15-16.
Num 31:8. The kings, called dukes or princes of Sihon, Josh 13:21, because they were subject to him while he lived, but upon his death they resumed their kingly power. Zur, the father of Cozbi, Num 25:15. Balaam also. Objection. He was gone and returned to his own place, Num 24:25, which was Aram or Mesopotamia, Num 23:7. Answer. Either he did go thitherward, but in his journey made some stay in Midian, where he was overtaken by Divine vengeance; or understanding the success of his wicked counsel left with Balaam, in the sin and slaughter of the Israelites, he returned, partly to enjoy the reputation and reward of his counsel which he had lost before, and partly to employ his hellish arts against Israel, now they were, as he thought, forsaken by their God, and exposed to his malice. Here Balaam dies the death of the wicked, and not of the righteous, as he desired, Num 23:10.
Num 31:9-10. Partly, to blot out the name and memory of so lewd and vile a people; partly, lest any of the Israelites should be tempted to settle there, and so be discouraged in their progress to Canaan; and partly, lest they should be possessed by other people who might prove as bad neighbours to them as these would have been.
Num 31:11-13. Partly to put respect upon them, and congratulate with them for their happy success; and partly to prevent the pollution of the camp by the untimely entrance of the warriors into it.
Num 31:14. Because they had spared those who were most criminal, and who by the law of God and of nature were worthy of death.
Num 31:15-17. Among the little ones, which they were forbidden to do to other people, Deut 20:14, except the Canaanites, to whom this people had equalled themselves by their horrid crimes; and therefore it is not strange, nor unjust, that God, the supreme Lord of all men’s lives, who as he gives them, so may take them away when he pleaseth, did equal them in the punishment. Every woman that hath known man; partly for punishment, because the guilt was general, and though some of them only did prostitute themselves to the Israelites, yet the rest made themselves accessory by their consent, or concurrence, or approbation; and partly for prevention of the like mischief from such an adulterous generation.
Num 31:18. Not known a man, to wit, carnally: see on Gen 4:1; Gen 19:8; Lev 18:22. Keep alive for yourselves; either to sell them as slaves to others, or to use them as servants to yourselves, or to marry them, when you have prepared and instructed them.
Num 31:19. Seven days; according to the law, Lev 15:13; Num 19:11-12. Purify with the water of sprinkling, Num 19:9.
Num 31:20. All your raiment, to wit, your spoil and prey. See Lev 8:15; Lev 14:49. All these things had contracted some ceremonial uncleanness, either from the dead bodies which wore them, or the tents or houses where they were, in which such dead bodies lay, or from the touch of the Israelitish soldiers, who were legally defiled by the slaughters they made.
Num 31:21-27. The congregation hath some share, because the warriors went in the name of all, and because all having been injured by the Midianites, all were to have some share in the reparations; but the warriors, who were but 12,000, have a far greater share than others of their brethren, because they underwent greater pains and dangers.
Num 31:28. One soul, i.e. one person, as it follows here and Num 31:30.
Num 31:29-30. One portion of fifty; whereas the former part was one of five hundred: the reason of the difference is, partly because this was taken out of the people’s portion, whose hazards being less than the others, their gains also in all reason were to be less; partly because this was to be distributed into more hands, the Levites being now numerous, when the priests were but few.
Num 31:31-32. The rest of the prey; all which was now left of the prey. It is so expressed because they took more, but some of the persons were since killed, Num 31:17, and some of the cattle was spent for the necessary provisions of the army.
Num 31:33-41. Either now upon his consulting of God in the case, or formerly in general rules and laws for such occasions, such as Num 18:8.
Num 31:42-50. For their error, noted, Num 31:14-16, and withal for a memorial, as it is said Num 31:54, or by way of gratitude for such a stupendous assistance and deliverance, as appears from the word therefore in the beginning of this verse, and from Num 31:49.
NUMBERS 32
Num 32:1-5: The Reubenites and Gadites sue for their inheritance on that side Jordan, as being fit for cattle.
Num 32:6-15: Moses reproves them as discouraging the people, and herein following their fathers’ ill example.
Num 32:16-19: They promise to leave their children and cattle there, and go armed before their brethren till Canaan should be subdued;
Num 32:20-42: on which condition they, together with the half-tribe of Manasseh, obtain their desire.
Num 32:1. Jazer; a city and country taken from the Amorites, Num 21:32. Gilead; a mountainous country, famous for pasturage, Jer 1:19; Mic 7:14.
Num 32:2-3. Ataroth; different from that Ataroth, Josh 16:2,7, which was on the other side of Jordan. Nimrah, called Bethnimrah, Num 22:36; Josh 13:27; and the waters of Nimrim, Isa 15:6. Shebam, called Shibmah, Num 32:38. Beon which is thought to be the same place called Baalmeon, Num 32:38, and Bethmeon, Jer 48:23.
Num 32:4. Which the Lord smote before the congregation, and gave to them for a possession, in the same manner as he will give the land of Canaan.
Num 32:5. To wit, to give us our possession there, but let this land on this side Jordan be our whole possession.
Num 32:6. In case and peace, whilst your brethren are engaged in a bloody war. Their words were ambiguous, and Moses thought this to be an act of unbelief and sloth and self-love and policy.
Num 32:7-9. That they should not attempt to go, but rather return to Egypt. Num 14:4
Num 32:10-12. The Kenezite; so called from Kenaz, his grandfather, or one of his eminent ancestors, Josh 15:17; 1 Chron 4:13-15.
Num 32:13-14. Succeeding your fathers, as in their places and estates, so also in their sins.
Num 32:15. Who being moved by your counsel and example, will refuse to go over Jordan, and to possess the land of Canaan.
Num 32:16-17. We ourselves; either all, or as many of us as shall be thought necessary, leaving only so many as may be necessary to provide for the sustenance and defence of our wives and children here. See Josh 4:12-13. The inhabitants of the land; the Moabites and Edomites, or other bordering people.
Num 32:18-20. Before the Lord; either, 1. Sincerely and heartily, as in God’s presence. Or rather, 2. Before the ark, which was the token of God’s presence. He alludes either to the order of the tribes in their march, whereby Reuben and Gad marched next and immediately before the ark, as appears from Num 2:10,14,16-17; or to the manner of their passage over Jordan, wherein the ark went first into Jordan, and stood there whilst all the tribes marched over Jordan by and before it, Josh 3; Josh 5, and these amongst the rest, as is expressly noted in these very words, that they passed over before the Lord, Josh 4:13.
Num 32:21-22. Before the Lord, i.e. by his presence, and gracious and powerful assistance.
Num 32:23. i.e. The punishment of your sin; as that word is very oft used.
Num 32:24. Which you have uttered and promised to do. See this or the like phrase Num 20:2; Matt 15:8.
Num 32:25-26. Largely so called, as that word is oft used, for that whole country beyond Jordan, as in other places it is taken more strictly for a part of it, as here below, Num 32:39-40, and elsewhere.
Num 32:27-30. They shall forfeit and lose their possessions in Gilead, and shall be constrained to go over Jordan, and to seek possessions there among their brethren.
Num 32:31. As the Lord hath said; either at this time by thy mouth; or formerly, where he commandeth us as well as our brethren to go into Canaan and possess it.
Num 32:32-33. Half the tribe of Manasseh are here added to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, either because upon the good success of the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, they were encouraged to make the same request for themselves, as having much cattle as well as they; or because upon further consideration it was found that this portion of land was more than sufficient for those two tribes; and it was given by Moses to these rather than to any other, because they fought against the Amorites with great courage and success, here Num 32:39; Josh 17:1.
Num 32:34. i.e. Repaired and fortified, as that word is oft used, as 1 Kings 12:25; 2 Kings 14:22; 2 Chron 8:1; 2 Chron 11:5; 2 Chron 26:2; Dan 4:30; for they neither had need nor leisure as yet to do more, the old cities not being burnt and ruined, as divers in Canaan were.
Num 32:35-38. Nebo; of which city see Deut 34:1; Jer 48:1. Their names being changed; either because conquerors of places use to do so; or because the names of other gods (which Nebo and Baalmeon unquestionably were) were not to be mentioned, Exod 23:13, especially at the first settling of the Israelites there, that the very remembrance of the idols might be blotted out, and so the temptation to idolatry removed, though afterwards, when that danger was over, they were called by their old names again, Josh 13:17,20.
Num 32:39. Took it, i.e. part of it; or Gilead is here taken more strictly. See above on Num 32:29; Gen 31:21; Deut 3:12-13.
Num 32:40. Unto Machir, i.e. not to Machir himself, who doubtless was long since dead; see Gen 1:23; but the family or posterity of Machir, which are called by their father’s name; as the names of Abraham, Acts 7:16; of Isaac, Amos 7:9; of Jacob or Israel frequently; of Judah and Simeon, Judg 1:3; of David, 1 Kings 12:16; are manifestly put for their posterity.
Num 32:41. Jair is called here the son of Manasseh, partly because he was so by his mother, 1 Chron 2:21-22; and partly because he joined himself with the Manassites in this expedition, and settled himself among them.
Num 32:42. Nobah, who though not elsewhere named, was doubtless an eminent person of the tribe of Manasseh.
NUMBERS 33
Num 33:1-49: A relation of the marches and campings of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan.
Num 33:50-54: They are commanded to drive out the Canaanites, and destroy their pictures, molten images, and high places, and to divide the land by lot.
Num 33:55-56: The Canaanites, if not dispossessed, should trouble and vex them; and God would do to them as he thought to do to the others.
Num 33:1. With their armies, i.e. in great number and exact order, as armies march, and they did, Exod 12:37-38; Exod 13:18.
Num 33:2. Moses would have this done, partly to evince the truth of the history, partly to preserve the remembrance of God’s glorious and miraculous works both of judgment and mercy towards his people, and thereby to confirm their faith in their present difficult undertaking.
Num 33:3. They all repaired to Rameses by Moses’s order from all parts of the land. In the sight of all the Egyptians. See Exod 14:8; Num 15:30.
Num 33:4. Upon their gods; either, 1. Their princes and rulers, who are sometimes called gods in Scripture; and so this is added by way of amplification, God slew their firstborn; not only of the meaner sort, but even of their king and princes. Or, 2. Their false gods, to wit, those beasts which the brutish Egyptians worshipped as gods, which were killed with the rest, for the firstborn both of men and beasts were then killed, Exod 13:5. See more on Exod 12:12; Exod 18:11.
Num 33:5-10. i.e. By another part of that sea which they passed over.
Num 33:11-18. Rithmah; a place in the wilderness of Paran, near Kadeshbarnea.
Num 33:19-31. Called more fully Beeroth-Benejaakan, Deut 10:6.
Num 33:32. Called Gudgodah, as Jotbathah is called Jotbath, Deut 10:7.
Num 33:33-35. A place upon the Red Sea, as appears from 1 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 22:48
Num 33:36-45. Iim, rather Ijim, i.e. the heaps, as the word signifies, even the heaps of Abarim, last mentioned; the Hebrew word is the same with Ije, Num 33:44, only there it is in the construed, and here in the absolute, form. Dibongad; so called partly by way of distinction of this from another Dibon, in the portion of Reuben, Josh 13:17, and partly, because it was rebuilt by the tribe of Gad.
Num 33:46-47. Of which see Num 27:12; Deut 32:49-50; Deut 34:1
Num 33:48-49. Abelshittim; called Shittim, Num 25:1, and here Abelshittim, for the grievous mourning which there was both for the heinous crimes committed, and horrible judgments there inflicted.
Num 33:50-52. Ye shall drive out; not by banishing, but by destroying them, as it is explained, Deut 7:1-2, and elsewhere. Their pictures seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. See Deut 16:22. Molten images. See Exod 23:24,32; Deut 7:5. High places, i.e. by a metonymy, the chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up, for the hills themselves could not be destroyed by them. See on Deut 12:2.
Num 33:53-55. Pricks in your eyes, i.e. both vexatious and pernicious, for the eye is a tender part, and a wound there is very mischievous.
NUMBERS 34
Num 34:1-15: God describes the borders of Canaan;
Num 34:16-29: and names those who should divide the same among the children of Israel.
Num 34:1-2. Or, limits, or bounds, to wit, of the land beyond Jordan; which are here particularly described, 1. To direct and bound them in their wars and conquests, that they might not seek the enlargement of their empire, after the manner of other nations, but be contented with their own portion. 2. To encourage them in their attempt upon Canaan, and assure them of their success. 3. To guide them in the approaching distribution of the land.
Num 34:3. The south quarter is here described from east to west by divers windings and turnings, by reason of the mountains, rivers, etc. By the coast of Edom, bordering all along upon the Edomites. The Salt Sea, so called from the salt and sulphurous taste of its waters. Eastward, i.e. at the eastern part of that sea, where the eastern and southern borders meet.
Num 34:4. Akrabbim, called Maalehacrabbim, Josh 15:3, which was at the south end of the Salt or Dead Sea. From the south, or, on the south, i.e. proceeding onward towards the south. Kadeshbarnea was on the southern part of Canaan, Num 13:17. Hazaraddar, in Josh 15:3, may seem distinguished into two places, Hezron and Adar, which here are united, because peradventure they were contiguous, or joined together. Or, the village of Addar; and so this is the same place called Adar, Josh 15:3; and for Hezron, that may be another place here omitted, and there supplied for more exactness. Azmon is at the west end of the Mount of Edom.
Num 34:5. The river of Egypt, called Sihor, Josh 13:3, which divided Egypt from Canaan. See Gen 15:18. The sea; the midland sea, called the sea emphatically; whereas the other seas there, as they are called, are indeed but lakes.
Num 34:6. The great sea; the midland sea from the south to the north so far as runs parallel with Mount Libanus.
Num 34:7. Not that Hor where Aaron died, Num 20:23, which was southward, and bordering upon Edom, Num 33:37-38, and therefore could not be their northern border; but another mountain, and, as it is conceived, the mountain of Libanus, which is elsewhere mentioned as the northern border of the land, and which, in regard of divers parts, or by divers people, is called by divers names, as Sirion and Shenir, Deut 3:9, and Sion, Deut 4:48, and Hermon, Josh 13:5, and here Hor, which signifies a mountain, and this may be called so by way of eminency. Certain it is, that as Hor here, so Hermon, Josh 13:5, is joined with the entrance of Hamath, which makes it probable they are one and the same place.
Num 34:8. Hamath, called Hamath the great, Amos 6:2, which is among the northern borders, Ezek 47:16-17. See Gen 10:15,18; Num 13:21; Judg 3:3; 1 Kings 8:65.
Num 34:9-11. Chinnereth; of this name we have a city, Josh 19:35, and a country, Josh 11:2; 1 Kings 15:20 and a sea or lake, here an Josh 12:3; Josh 13:27 which in the New Testament is called the sea of Gennesaret, Luke 5:1 and of Galilee, and of Tiberias John 6:1.
Num 34:12. Down to Jordan, i.e. all along the river of Jordan, even to the end of it, which is the eastern border.
Num 34:13-17. Eleazar was to act in God’s name, to cast lots, to prevent differences and contentions, to consult with God in cases of difficulty, to transact the whole business in a solemn and religious manner.
Num 34:18-19. The order of the tribes is here differing from that Num 1:7,26, and in other places, being here, as also Josh 16-19 conformed to the order of their several inheritances, which afterwards fell to them by lot; which is an evident demonstration of the infinite wisdom of God’s providence, and of his exact and peculiar care over his people.
NUMBERS 35
Num 35:1-15: Eight and forty cities given to the Levites, together with their suburbs; among which six cities of refuge, for an Israelite or stranger who had killed another unawares.
Num 35:16-21: Wilful murder decided, and the murderer to be put to death.
Num 35:25-29: The manslayer must abide in the city of refuge till the death of the high priest; and if caught out of it, might be killed.
Num 35:30: Two witnesses required to condemn a man to die.
Num 35:31: No satisfaction to be taken for the life of a murderer,
Num 35:32: nor that any one might return from a city of refuge before the time;
Num 35:33-34: that the land be not defiled and polluted, and not cleansed of the blood shed in it.
Num 35:1-3. For their cattle; for pasturage for their cattle; where they might not build houses, nor plant gardens, orchards, or vineyards, no, nor sow corn, for which they were abundantly provided out of the firstfruits and tithes. And these suburbs did not belong to the Levites in common, but were distributed to them in convenient proportions, as may appear from Josh 21:18; 1 Chron 6:60.
Num 35:4. Objection. In the next verse it is two thousand. How do these agree? Answer 1. LXX. interpreters read both here and Num 35:5 two thousand cubits, whence some suppose this to be an error in the Hebrew text, which, being in a matter neither concerning faith nor good manners, is not prejudicial to the authority of the Holy Scriptures. Answer 2. The one thousand cubits may be in length from the city, and the two thousand cubits in breadth on each side of the city, and so they well agree; for a line of a thousand cubits being draw in length eastward, and another westward, and another northward, and another southward, a line drawn at a thousand cubits distance from the city, from east to west, must needs contain two thousand cubits, and so must the other line from north to south, and so on every side of the city there must be two thousand cubits. Answer 3. This verse and the next do not speak to the same thing: this speaks of the space or place from whence the suburbs shall be measured, the next verse speaks of the space unto which that measure shall be extended; and the words may very well be read thus, And the suburbs—shall be (so it is only an ellipsis of the verb substantive, which is most frequent, and the meaning is, shall be taken or accounted) from the wall of the city, and from (that particle being supplied or understood from the foregoing words, which is very usual) without it, or, from the outward parts of it, (which being a general and indefinite expression is limited and explained by the following words,) even from a thousand cubits round about; which are mentioned not as the thing measured, for as yet there is not a word of measuring, but as the term or space from which the measuring line should begin. And then it follows, Num 35:5, And ye shall measure from without the city (not from the wall of the city, as was said before, Num 35:4, but from without it, i.e. from the said outward part or space of a thousand cubits without the wall of the city round about) on the east side two thousand cubits, etc. So in truth there were three thousand cubits from the wall of the city, whereof one thousand probably were for outhouses, stalls for cattle, gardens, vineyards, and oliveyards, and the like, and the other two thousand for pasture, which are therefore called the field of the suburbs, Lev 25:34, by way of distinction from the suburbs themselves, which consist of the first thousand cubits from the wall of the city.
Num 35:6. For refuge, or, of receipt, or escape, or resort, to wit, for manslayers; and these cities are assigned among the Levites, partly, because they might be presumed to be the most proper and impartial judges between manslayers and wilful murderers; partly, because their presence, and counsel, and authority would more effectually bridle the passions of the avenger of blood who might pursue him thither; and partly, to signify that it is only in Christ (whom the Levitical priests did represent) that sinners find refuge and safety from the destroyer. The names of these cities, we have Deut 4:41,43; Josh 20:8. For the manslayer, such as is here described, Num 35:11,15,22-23.
Num 35:7-8. Ye shall give many: compare Num 33:54; Josh 20:2.
Num 35:9-11. i.e. Not wilfully, designedly, or maliciously, but inconsiderately, through mistake, or indiscretion, or carelessness. See Lev 4:2.
Num 35:12. The avenger, to wit, of the party slain, or, of blood, as it is fully expressed below, Num 35:19,25; Heb. from the redeemer, or, from the next kinsman, to whom by the law belonged the right of redemption of the lands of, and vindication of the injury done to the person deceased. Die not, i.e. be not killed by the avenger meeting him in some other place. Before the congregation, i.e. before the society or convention of judges or elders, who were appointed in every city for the decision of criminal causes, who were twenty-three, who were to examine the matter, and that publicly before the people, whether the murder was wilful or casual. Quest. In what city was this cause to be tried? Answer. Some say in the city of refuge, others say in the city in or near which the fact was committed. It seems to me it was done in both, at first in the city of refuge, as is manifest in Josh 20:4; but if that trial and sentence did not satisfy the avenger of blood, it was fully and finally determined in the other city, as is sufficiently evident both by comparing this place with Num 35:25; Josh 20:6, and from the usual and most reasonable course of justice, which is that facts should be examined, as far as may be, in or near the places where they were committed, and where the witnesses and evidences were at hand. In judgment, or, for judgment, i.e. to receive sentence there according to the nature of the fact.
Num 35:13-14. On this side Jordan; because that land was as long as Canaan, though not so broad, and besides these might be convenient for many of them that lived in Canaan.
Num 35:15. For the stranger; not the proselyte only, but all strangers, this being no matter of religious privilege, but of common right, and agreeable to the law of nature and practice of wise heathens.
Num 35:16. If he smite him, wittingly and wilfully, though not with premeditated malice or design, as appears by comparing this with Num 35:20-23. So that he die, to wit, suddenly, not so if he walked abroad afterward, Exod 21:19-20. Shall surely be put to death; yea, though he were fled into the city of refuge.
Num 35:17. With throwing a stone, Heb. with the stone of the hand, i.e. cast by the hand, and that knowingly, as appears by Num 35:23.
Num 35:18-19. Either, 1. By himself, as the following words show: so it is only a permission, that he may do it without offence to God or danger to himself. Or, 2. By the magistrate, from whom he shall demand justice: so it is a command, as may appear by comparing this with Num 35:31; Deut 19:12-13.
Num 35:20-22. Suddenly; through sudden passion or provocation. Or, by chance, or unawares.
Num 35:23-24. If the manslayer flee to the city of refuge.
Num 35:25. He shall abide in it, be confined to it, partly to show the hatefulness of wilful murder in God’s account by so severe a punishment, as this in many cases might prove, inflicted upon the very appearance of it; and partly for the security of the manslayer, lest the presence of such a person, and his conversation among the kindred of the deceased, might occasion reproach and bloodshed. Unto the death of the high priest; partly because the public grief for the loss of so public a person was likely to assuage the private griefs and passions of men, the rather, because by this example they were minded of their own mortality, and thereby withheld from taking vengeance; and principally to show that the death of Christ (the true High Priest, whom the others did evidently and eminently represent and typify) is the only mean whereby sins are pardoned, and sinners are set at liberty.
Num 35:26-27. i.e. Not liable to punishment from men, though not free from guilt before God, because he kills an innocent person, as appears from Deut 19:10. This God ordained to oblige the manslayer to abide in his city of refuge. See Num 35:32.
Num 35:28-30. No judge shall condemn any man to death upon a single testimony.
Num 35:31. No intercession nor ransom shall be accepted to save his life, or procure him a pardon.
Num 35:32. Whereby God would signify the absolute and indispensable necessity of Christ’s death to expiate sin, and to redeem the sinner.
Num 35:33. These words are added as a reason not of the last law, Num 35:32, for in that case the land was cleansed without the blood of the manslayer, but of the law next foregoing that, Num 35:31, in which case it holds; and the sense is, If you shall spare the murderer, or take any satisfaction for him, you do together with yourselves involve your land and people in
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guilt, and will certainly bring down God’s vengeance upon yourselves and them.
Num 35:34. Be not cruel to your own land by making it a den of murderers.
NUMBERS 36
Num 36:1-9: The inconvenience of daughters inheriting is remedied by a general command that all such marry in the tribe of their fathers, to which of them they shall think best.
Num 36:10-12: They obey.
Num 36:13: These commands God gave by Moses to Israel in the plains of Moab.
Num 36:1. The chief fathers of the families, who had the care and management of the public affairs of that tribe committed to them.
Num 36:2. Our brother, i.e. our kinsman, one of our tribe, Josh 17:2-3.
Num 36:3. For their inheritance will pass to their children, who will be of another tribe by their father’s side, which alone is considered in this place.
Num 36:4. Which God appointed principally for this end, to preserve the inheritance in the hands of the tribes and families to which they were first given.
Num 36:5. Their plea is just and reasonable. God did not take particular care about every occurrence that happened, or might happen, but left divers things to be found out by human prudence, which being his own gift, it was meet there should be opportunities left for the exercise of it; and God thought fit to approve and ratify the prudent and profitable inventions of men by his own law or sanction; as in the case of Jethro, Exod 18, of Zelophehad’s daughter, Num 27, and here of their brethren. But it is observable, that God allowed this only in civil affairs, but never in the matters of his worship, where he utterly forbids it.
Num 36:6. They seem hereby to be confined not only to the same tribe, but also to the family of their tribe, as appears from the reason of the law, for God would have the inheritance of families as well as tribes kept entire and unmixed; and this was one reason of that law of marrying the brother’s wife, Deut 25. And although the next verse may seem to thwart this interpretation, the reason of this law being there given that inheritances might not go from tribe to tribe, Num 36:8 confirms it, where the very same phrase is repeated, and that more emphatically, that such shall marry one of the family of the tribe of her father; and this further reason and restriction is added, that they may enjoy every man the inheritance (not only of his tribe, but) of his fathers, to wit, belonging to his father’s family.
Num 36:7-8. By which clause it seems that this law was not general to forbid every woman to marry into another tribe, (as may be reasonably concluded from the practice of so many patriarchs, kings, priests, and other holy men, who have married women of other tribes, yea, sometimes of other nations, which it is not likely they would have done, if this had been a transgression of God’s law,) but restrained to heiresses, or such as were likely to be so. See 1 Chron 23:22. But if they had brethren, it is probable they were free to marry into any tribe, yet so that, if their brethren died, their punishment was, that the inheritance went from them to the next akin of their father’s tribe and family. And the principal reason why God was solicitous to preserve tribes and families unmixed was, that the tribe and family too out of which the Messiah was to come, and by which he should be known, might be evident and unquestionable.
Num 36:9-11. It is certain whether brothers or sons be taken strictly and properly, or more large, as those words are oft used in Scripture.
