1The people murmur at the news. 6Joshua and Caleb labour to pacify them. 11God threateneth them. 13Moses intercedeth with God, and obtaineth pardon; 26but the murmurers are excluded from entering into the promised land. 36The men who raised the evil report concerning the land die by a plague. 40The people, that against the will of God would invade the land, are smitten by the inhabitants of it.
1AND all the congregation 1lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
1 Hebr. Then all the congregation raised, and gave their voice.
2And all the children of Israel murmured 2against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
2 And consequently against God Himself, Whose ministers they were.
3And 3wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall 4by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a 5prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
3 They seem to charge God with inconsiderateness, as if He had not considered what He had undertaken; or with unfaithfulness, as if He had no mind or intent to perform what He promised; or, with weakness and insufficiency, as if He were not able to effect it.
4 See Lev. 26 on verse 7.
5 Namely, to our enemies, the Canaanites.
4And they said 6one to another, Let us 7make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
6 Hebr. the man to his brother.
7 Hebr. set, put, make.
5Then Moses and Aaron 8fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
8 Namely, to pray and entreat the people to desist from their evil purpose and designs of returning into Egypt; or, to call upon God on the people’s behalf that He would convert them, as well as for themselves that He would preserve and rescue them from the present danger.
6¶And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, 9rent their clothes:
9 Of rending clothes in time of great trouble and distress, see Gen. 37 on verse 29.
7And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an 10exceeding good land.
10 Hebr. very very good. See the doubling of this word very also in Gen. 17:2, 6, 20; Ezek. 16:13.
811If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
11 That is, if we do not turn away from us the favor of the LORD by a wicked and rebellious existence. See the beginning of the next verse.
9Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither feara ye the people of the land; for 12they are bread for us: their 13defence is departed from them, and 14the LORD is with us: fear them not.
a Deut. 20:3.
12 That is, they shall be as easily subdued by us as bread is chewed in a healthy man’s mouth and consumed in his stomach. Compare Deut. 31 on verse 17.
13 That is, protection. Also Psalm 91:1; Isa. 25:4; Jer. 48:45, etc.
14 Namely, with His Fatherly grace, diligent providence and powerful assistance. See Gen. 21 on verse 22 and Gen. 26 on verse 24.
10But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the 15glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
15 Namely, by the outward sign of the cloud in which God used to appear now and then unto the Israelites in a very glorious manner, Exod. 16:7, 10; 24:15, 16; 40:34; Lev. 9 on verse 6; 2 Chron. 5:14.
11¶And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe 16me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
16 That is, not trusting Me, giving no regard to all the wonderful works which I have demonstrated abundantly among them through My power and goodness.
12I will smite them with the pestilence, and 17disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
17 Understand this, not as a determined sentence in full, but as a conditional threat, which the Lord wished to hold up to Moses to kindle his zeal and his intercession for the people’s welfare; insomuch that these words do not mean what God had determined by His unalterable decree, but only what punishments the Israelites had well deserved.
13¶And Moses said unto the LORD, Thenb18the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
b Exod. 32:12.
18 The arguments which Moses makes use of in his intercession for the people are three. The first, is taken from the enemies of God and His people, who would reproach God’s honor if He would destroy His people, in this verse and the following verses 14, 15, 16. The second, from the nature and gracious covenant of God, verses 17, 18. The third, from the former mercies and examples of God’s special favor so frequently exhibited to this people, verse 19.
14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen 19face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thouc goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
19 That is, most apparently, manifestly and familiarly. Compare Gen. 32 on verse 30; Exod. 33 on verse 11; Num. 12 on verse 8; Deut. 5 on verse 4; 1 Kings 22 on verse 19.
c Exod. 13:21; 40:38.
15¶Now if thou shalt kill all this people 20as one man, then the nations which have heard the 21fame of thee will speak, saying,
20 That is, all the people as if they were but one man. Also Judges 6:16.
21 Hebr. having heard Thy hearing.
16Becaused the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
d Deut. 9:28.
17And now, I beseech thee, let the 22power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
22 By joining His mercy to His justice.
18The LORDeis 23longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, 24and by no means clearing the guilty, 25visitingf the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 26third and fourth generation.
e Exod. 34:6; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Jonah 4:2.
23 Hebr. long of wrathfulnesses. See Exod. 34 on verse 6.
24 Unto the mercy of God, His justice is likewise added, they being inseparably in Him; in which regard Moses does not simply desire and beg for mercy here, but so that the justice of God should likewise have some place, and only that in judging and punishing of His people, He would remember mercy. See Exod. 34:7; Jer. 30:11; Nahum 1:3.
25 See Gen. 21 on verse 1; Exod. 20:5.
f Exod. 20:5; 34:7; Deut. 5:9.
26 Hebr. on the third and on the fourth, namely, descendants, counted from the stock.
19Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the 27glory of the LORD.
27 Understand the justice and power of the LORD, which would be made known throughout all the earth before all people unto His honor.
22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these 28ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
28 That is, oft times; a certain number for an uncertain. See Gen. 31 on verse 7 and Lev. 26 on verse 8.
2329Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neitherg shall any of them that provoked me see it:
29 That is, they shall never see it, as the following words of this verse plainly declare; understand therefore hereupon to perfect the sense, then I shall not live, or the like. For here God is introduced speaking after the manner of men, this is usual among the Hebrews when they took an oath to conceal the issue or imprecation, in case of swearing falsely. Compare Gen. 14 on verse 23. The like kind of swearing is likewise attributed to God elsewhere, as in verses 28, 35; Num. 32:11, 12; Deut. 1:35; 2 Kings 9:26; Psalm 89:35.
g Deut. 1:35, 36.
24But 30my servanth Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, 31and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
30 Joshua is not named here, because God pronounced this sentence over the people that were in the camp where Caleb had his abode, but Joshua was with Moses and Aaron at the tent of the congregation; therefore he is also not reckoned nor sentenced with the people that was in the camp (wherefore he is also expressly named afterwards in verse 30). And thus Moses and Aaron likewise are excepted, having not sinned with the people, although, for another cause related in Num. 20:12, they likewise died without entering into the land of Canaan.
h Joshua 14:8, 9.
31 Hebr. and hath fulfilled to go after me, that is, he has shown constantly, faithfully and with an upright heart, his obedience to Me. So Deut. 1:36; 1 Kings 11:6.
25(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt 32in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the 33Red sea.
32 Namely, on the other side of that mountain, down below. The Israelites were hereby warned of the danger of advancing further, being come to the borders of their enemies, who stood upon their guard against them, and whom they would not be able to subdue, since God was not with them. See verse 43.
33 Understand the reed sea, called thus by reason of the abundance of reeds and bulrushes, which grew in and especially about, or at the shore of it. See further of this sea also in Num. 21:4; Psalm 106:7, 9, 22; 136:13. Hebr. of the reed sea.
26¶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
2734How longishall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
34 See the similar expression, Mat. 17:17. Other, How long shall I forbear, or forgive this evil congregation, which are, etc.; or, How long shall I hear this evil congregation, which is murmuring against me, and the murmuring of the children of Israel, whereby they, etc.?
i Psalm 106:26.
28Say unto them, Asj truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have 35spoken in mine ears, 36so will I do to you:
j Num. 26:65; 32:11.
35 See on verse 23.
36 What they spoke when they murmured, see verse 2.
29Your carcasesk shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were 37numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
k Deut. 1:35; Heb. 3:17.
37 Of whom see Num. 1:1, 2, etc.
30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I 38sware to make you dwell therein, savel Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
38 The manner of swearing used among men, calling God to witness by lifting up their hand, is here, humanly speaking, attributed to God. See of this manner of swearing, Gen. 14 on verse 22.
l Joshua 14:6.
31But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33And your children shall 39wander in the wilderness 40forty years, and bear 41your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
39 Hebr. shall be feeding. The Hebrew word implies to be shepherds, or, to remove to and fro with the flock, to seek out good pasture. Whereby is understood any uncertain and unsettled kind of life here on earth. Compare Isa. 38:12.
40 Counting from the time of their exodus out of Egypt, as it appears from Num. 33:38; Deut. 1:3; 2:14.
41 That is, the punishments due to your manifold, spiritual whoredoms and revolts. Spiritual whoredom is idolatry, whereof see Exod. 34:15, 16; and although these children suffered the punishment of their parents, wandering so many years in the wilderness, nevertheless God was not unjust, forasmuch as they also, having had their manifold sins, deserved this punishment.
34After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even fortym days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your 42iniquities, even 43forty years, and ye shall know 44my breach of promise.
m Psalm 95:10.
42 That is, the punishments of your iniquities. See Gen. 4 on verse 13.
43 Being included among them the time which was now passed, since their departure out of Egypt. See on verse 33.
44 This may be understood in respect of God, Who by reason of their continual rebellion would separate Himself from among them; or, in regard of the people, deserving this punishment by their withdrawing from God.
35I the LORD have said,45 I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
45 See on verse 23.
36And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, 46diedn by the 47plague 48before the LORD.
46 Other, shall die.
n 1 Cor. 10:10; Jude verse 5.
47 Some understand this plague of the pestilence as threatened in verse 12; others of a hasty and sudden death, by comparing their case with that of Joshua and Caleb, who are said to have remained alive, in verse 38.
48 That is, God the Lord had executed His judgment upon them in a very remarkable manner, as if for that end and purpose He had been visible sitting in the seat of judgment against them.
38But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
39And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40¶And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into 49the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for 50we have sinned.
49 Hebr. head.
50 This was no true sorrow for, nor confession of their sins; they cannot be said truly to repent who, ceasing from one kind of evil, fall to the committing of another, as these Israelites did here; for, they ceased indeed to murmur against the LORD, but immediately resolve to go on and invade the land of Canaan, against the express command of God.
41And Moses said, Whereforeo now do ye transgress 51the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
o Deut. 1:41.
51 Hebr. the mouth of the LORD. Understand God’s express command, whereof see verse 25.
42Go not up, for the LORD is not 52among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
52 Namely, with His favorable help and assistance.
43For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
44But they 53presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
53 The Hebrew verb here used properly signifies to rush upon a business with a great deal of ill grounded daring and impetuosity, especially striving to get upward.
45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto 54Hormah.
54 The name of a place, afterwards so called by reason of this defeat. See Num. 21:3.