John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Numbers 17:1



INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 17



In this chapter the priesthood of Aaron is further confirmed and established by the budding and blossom of his rod, as it lay among the princes of the several tribes, when theirs did not, Nu 17:1; which rod of Aaron was ordered to be laid up before the ark, as a token against the rebels, and to put an end to all murmurings against Aaron for the future; which was accordingly done, Nu 17:10; upon which the people expressed their fear of perishing because of their sins,

Nu 17:12.



Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the plague ceased, for the further confirmation of the priesthood in Aaron's family, another method is directed to by the Lord:



saying: as follows.





Numbers 17:2



Ver. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel,.... The principal men among them of the several tribes:



and take of everyone of them; not of every individual of the people of Israel, but of their princes, as afterwards explained:



a rod, according to the house of [their] fathers; or "father", of whom their house or tribe was called, as Reuben, Simeon, &c. this rod was either a common walking staff, as some think, or rather the ensign of their princely office and dignity, peculiar to each tribe; though some think it was now freshly cut off from an almond tree, and that all the rods were of one and the same tree; but supposing they were all of the almond kind, as Josephus {d} thinks, yet being dry rods, and of long use, served to make the miracle appear the greater:



of all their princes, according to the house of their fathers, twelve rods; this explains who they were to be taken of, the princes of the several tribes, whose names are given, Nu 1:5; and the number of them twelve, according to the number of the twelve tribes:



write thou every man's name upon his rod; the name of each prince, or head of a tribe, either by cutting it into the rod, or fastening a writing to it, after the manner of those times; as, for instance, the name of Elizur for the tribe of Reuben; by which it was to be made and was made to appear, that to none of these tribes belonged the priesthood, but to the tribe of Levi, and to none of that tribe but the family of Aaron; whereby it should seem that some of all the tribes made pretensions to it, as being all holy, and especially the chief firstborn of every tribe, as such their princes were.



{d} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 2.





Numbers 17:3



Ver. 3. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi,.... Or upon the rod that was for the tribe of Levi; the name of "Aaron" was to be written, not the word "Levi", or a "Levite", as Josephus {e}; for that would not have decided the controversy about the priesthood, which chiefly lay between the Levites and the family of Aaron, who were of the same tribe:



for one rod [shall be] for the head of the house of their fathers; one rod for the head or prince of every tribe, every prince representing his own tribe he was the head of, and the rod the prince; and though the tribe of Levi was divided into two families, the family of the priests, and the family of the Levites; yet, as Jarchi observes, they were but one tribe, and so one rod for them, as for the other tribes.



{e} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 2.





Numbers 17:4



Ver. 4. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation,.... In the most holy place:



before the testimony; that is, the ark in which the testimony or the law was; here they were laid as in the presence of God, who was in a miraculous way to decide the controversy by them, and put an end to it; for upon the ark was the mercy seat, over which were the cherubim, the seat of the divine Majesty, and where none could come at them, and where no fraud could be supposed to be committed:



where I will meet with you; not with the people in person, who might not go at any time into the most holy place; nor with Aaron, who only might go into it on the day of atonement; but with Moses, the chief ruler and representative of the whole body of the people, and who might go in there at any time, to consult with God about matters of moment and difficulty, and where the Lord had said he would meet him,

Ex 25:22; and now would, in a miraculous way, clearly show him, and the people of Israel by him, who was the priest he had chosen of all the tribes.





Numbers 17:5



Ver. 5. And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod whom I shall choose,.... Or make it manifest that he had chosen him, and so confirm the choice he had made of him and his family, for the priesthood to be and continue in:



shall blossom; bud and blossom, and yield fruit, as it afterwards did, which is here declared beforehand, that the miracle might appear the greater, exactly answering to a prediction delivered out before of it:



and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you; against Moses for setting up his brother as an high priest, and establishing the priesthood in his family; and against Aaron for accepting of it, and officiating in it; but by this method now taken, God would for ever silence their murmurings, so that they should never be able, with any face, to object any more to the authority of the Aaronic priesthood, which should appear by the predicted miracle beyond all dispute and contradiction.





Numbers 17:6



Ver. 6. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel,.... What the Lord had bid him say unto them concerning the rods, which they hearkened unto and observed:



and everyone of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one; every prince of the several tribes, and so a rod for every tribe, as well as for each prince:



according to their father's houses, [even] twelve rods; there being twelve tribes named after their fathers, or the patriarchs, the twelve sons of Jacob; and Joseph having two tribes which sprung from him, called after his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, there were twelve rods besides that of Aaron; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders the words with the next clause,



"and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron;''



in all thirteen; though the Jews say there were but twelve with it, allowing but one rod for Joseph, under whom were comprehended Ephraim and Manasseh, and reckoning the tribe of Levi one of the twelve so Aben Ezra observes, that the rod of Levi was among the twelve and Joseph had but one rod:



and the rod of Aaron [was] among their rods: in the middle of them, and was so placed, as Jarchi thinks, that it might not be said, because it was put on the side of the Shechinah or divine Majesty, therefore it budded; but being in the middle of them there could be no difference in that respect.





Numbers 17:7



Ver. 7. And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. In that part of the tabernacle where the testimony or witness was, that is, the law, which was in the ark, over which was the mercy seat, with the cherubim between which Jehovah dwelt, and this was the most holy place; and the rods being laid here, might be said to be laid before the Lord, who, by making a difference in one of those rods from the rest, would decide the controversy about the priesthood, which was the end of their being laid before him.





Numbers 17:8



Ver. 8. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness,.... Where none but he could go at any time; this was the day after the rods had been placed there:



and, behold, the rod of Aaron, for the house of Levi; the rod that had Aaron's name upon it, which was to represent the tribe of Levi, of which he was:



was budded, and brought forth buds; knobs of blossom, such that are seen on trees before they open; for the almond tree puts forth its blossoms before its leaves; though the Targum of Jonathan renders it "branches", as do some versions; and some think this is to be understood of its putting out its leaves first, contrary to the nature of the almond tree, and so makes the miracle the greater; thus Ben Melech:



and blossomed blossoms; open flowers or blossoms, such as appear on the almond tree in the spring, and look very beautiful:



and yielded almonds; ripe almonds, in their full perfection, as the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan; the latter of which is,



"in the same night it perfected and brought forth almonds:''



the word used has the signification of weaning, and alludes to children grown up to some ripeness and maturity, Ge 21:8; the case seems to be this, that in one part of the rod were buds, swelling and just putting out, in another part open flowers quite blown, and in others full ripe fruit: now this clearly showed it to be supernatural, since the almond tree, though quick and early in its production of buds and flowers, yet never has those and ripe fruit on it at the same time; to which may be added, that this was not the time of year the almond tree blossoms; not the spring, but rather autumn, as it should seem, since it was after the affair of the spies and the murmurs of the people on their report; now it was the time of the first ripe grapes, when they went into the land, and they were forty days searching it, and it was after their return the insurrections before recorded were: the design of this was to confirm the priesthood in Aaron's family, and show that it would continue there, in a flourishing condition, and that there would be a succession of priests from him to the time of the Messiah, as there were; and the almond tree having its name in Hebrew from watchfulness and haste, see Jer 1:11; may denote the vigilance of the priests in their office, and the haste punishment makes to come upon such that should oppose them, or usurp the priesthood, as in the case of Uzziah; so Jarchi remarks: this rod of Aaron's may be an emblem of the Gospel ministry of that rod that should come out of Zion, Ps 110:2; which in the eyes of men is mean and despicable, like a dry stick, but becomes a fruitful one through the power of divine grace; and an almond tree rod may denote the vigilance and watchfulness of Gospel ministers over themselves and others, and their doctrine; and oftentimes whom God puts into the ministry he early calls them by his grace, and frequently makes the first part of their ministry most useful, and fruit is brought forth which remains: moreover, this rod may be considered as a type of Christ; it being a dry rod or stick, may denote the meanness of his descent and appearance in the world, and the unpromising aspect of his being the King, Messiah, and Saviour of men; and being an almond tree rod, may signify his speedy incarnation in the fulness of time, which the Lord hastened; his being the firstborn, and his right to the priesthood, and his vigilance in it; its lying among other rods, and budding, and blossoming, and bringing forth fruit, may point at Christ's assuming the common nature or man, his being cut off by death, his resurrection from the dead, and the fruits arising from thence, justification, peace, pardon, and eternal life; and as Aaron's priesthood was confirmed by the budding, &c. of this rod, so the deity and Messiahship of Christ are, by his resurrection from the dead;

See Gill on "Heb 9:4".





Numbers 17:9



Ver. 9. And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord, unto all the children of Israel,.... He brought them out of the holy place, and showed them to the princes of the several tribes:



and they looked, and took every man his rod; which they knew by their names upon them; by their own handwriting, as Aben Ezra; for though Moses is bid to write their names on them, Nu 17:2; yet no more may be meant by that than that he should order them to be written, and take care that they were.





Numbers 17:10



Ver. 10. And the Lord said unto Moses,.... After the rods had been viewed, and every prince took his rod, and full satisfaction was given that the priesthood belonged to Aaron, by the budding and blossoming of his rod, when the rest remained as they were:



bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony; before the ark, in which the testimony or law was; here it was placed and continued, but how long cannot be said with certainty; no doubt for many ages; which increases the wonder, that it should, as it probably did, continue with its buds, blossoms, and fruit on it: the apostle speaks of it, as in the holy of holies, with the ark, the pot of manna, and the tables of the covenant, Heb 9:4; the Jews say {f}, that when Josiah the king ordered the ark to be laid up in that place which Solomon had built, that it might not be carried with the captives into captivity, as it is said, 2Ch 35:3, "put the holy ark", &c. they hid with the ark the rod of Aaron, and the pot of manna, and the anointing oil, and which were not in the second temple; and they say {g}, particularly of Aaron's rod, that at the time it was laid up by Josiah it had its buds and almonds: now this was ordered to be put in the most holy place before the ark:



to be kept for a token against the rebels; to be a token of their sin and wickedness in rebelling against God, his ordinance and ministers; which occasioned this miracle to be wrought, for the confirmation of the priesthood in Aaron's family, which they opposed, and to be a caution to others not to attempt anything against it for the future; so Christ and the Gospel ministry will be swift witnesses against the opposers of him and that; see Mal 3:5;



and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not; quite silence all the murmurings of the people with respect to the priesthood being so fully convinced by this miracle of the divine authority Aaron and his family had to exercise the priestly office, and they only, and so such destruction of the people be prevented as had been lately made.



{f} Kimchi in 2 Chron. xxxv. 3. Maimon. Hilchot. Beth Habechirah, c. 4. sect. 1. {g} T. Hieros. Shekalim, c. 6. fol. 49. 3.





Numbers 17:11



Ver. 11. And Moses did so; as the Lord commanded him, even so did he. Took Aaron's rod, and laid it up before the ark for the purpose mentioned, being a faithful servant to God in all his house.





Numbers 17:12



Ver. 12. And the children of Israel spake unto Moses,.... The princes of the tribes, who had seen the miracle of the rod, and knew that it was laid up in the most holy place, and for what purpose, which gave them a sensible concern: these, and as many as were acquainted with it, addressed Moses upon it, as follows:



saying, behold, we die, we perish, we all perish; which being expressed without the copulative, and in different words, show that they were spoken quick and in haste, and discover the passion of mind and distress they were in, and the sense they had of their sin and danger, fearing they should all die and perish, as many had already; it has respect, as some think, to punishments past and future, so the Targum of Jonathan,



"some of us have been consumed by flaming fire, and others of us have been swallowed up in the earth and are lost, and, lo, we are accounted as if all of us would perish.''





Numbers 17:13



Ver. 13. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die,.... They who before were so bold and daring as to think the priesthood was common to them with Aaron, or they had as good a right to it, and might go into the sanctuary of the Lord where he did, are now so frightened at the rod being laid up as a token against them, that they thought they must not come near the tabernacle at all, and, if they did, would be in the utmost danger of death:



shall we be consumed with dying? such violent deaths, until there are none left of us? but the Syriac and Arabic versions render the words affirmatively; we are near or about to be consumed; and so the Targum of Onkelos, lo, we are to be consumed; which agrees best with the preceding clause, for they would scarcely make a question of what they had affirmed.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Numbers 18:1



INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 18



This chapter gives an account of the distinct work and service of the priests and Levites, Nu 18:1; and of several things given to the priests for their maintenance, Nu 18:8; and of the tithes the Levites should have to live upon, since they were to have no inheritance in the land of Israel, Nu 18:20; and of the tenth out of those tithes they were to give to the high priest, Nu 18:25.



Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,.... As the things spoken were such as concerned Aaron, he might be only and immediately spoken unto: thou,



and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee; meaning both priests and Levites, the priests by him and his sons, and the Levites by his father's house:



shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; the blame of any evil committed there, the punishment of it; the priests, Aaron and his sons, if they did not perform the duty of their office aright, he in the most holy place, and they in the holy place, and at the altar of burnt offering in the court; and the Levites, if they did not take care to watch in the tabernacle, and keep out strangers and polluted persons:



and thou, and thy sons with thee, shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood; be answerable for my sins, errors, and mistakes that should be committed by them in the discharge of their office, through their own remissness, or not taking care that the Levites did their duty; this shows that the office of priesthood, though honourable, was burdensome, and not to be envied; and that the people needed not to be under such terrible apprehensions as they were, lest they should come too near the sanctuary, as to be in danger of death, since it lay upon the priests and Levites especially to take care thereof, and who, if negligent, would suffer.





Numbers 18:2



Ver. 2. And to thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father,.... For his father Amram was of that tribe, and so the Levites were his brethren, as he is directed to consider them; which might serve to conciliate their minds, and make them easy with respect to his enjoyment of the priesthood:



bring them with thee; into the court of the tabernacle, for further they might not go:



that they maybe joined unto thee: as their name of Levites signifies, persons joined and united to others, as they were to the priests: see reason of their patriarch's name Levi in Ge 29:34;



and minister unto thee: be assisting to the priests in killing the sacrifices, receiving the blood, and flaying the beasts, and in other things about the sanctuary, Nu 3:6;



but thou, and thy sons with thee, [shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness; which was the most holy place, where were the ark of the testimony or witness, and the tables of the covenant; and they might be said to minister before that, when they ministered in the holy place, which was before it, when they burned incense upon the altar of incense, ordered the shewbread, and trimmed the lamps of the candlestick, which none but the priests the sons of Aaron might do.





Numbers 18:3



Ver. 3. And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle,.... That is, the Levites, whatever Aaron and his sons, the priests, should charge them to do, or commit to their care and charge, that they should observe; as to watch and keep out all unfit persons, to take down and set up the tabernacle when needful, &c.



only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary; as the ark and mercy seat in the holy of holies, the shewbread table, and candlestick in the holy place; wherefore when these were removed from place to place in journeying, they were covered, that they might not touch them as they carried them:



and the altar; both of incense and burnt offering, on neither of which might they offer:



that neither they nor you also die: the priests for suffering them to meddle with things that did not belong to them, and the Levites for intruding themselves.





Numbers 18:4



Ver. 4. And they shall be joined unto thee,.... As assistants in the sacred service:



and keep the charge of tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle; See Gill on "Nu 3:7" and

See Gill on "Nu 3:8";



and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you; not any of the other tribes, only such as were of the tribe of Levi; they only were to be brought with them, and joined unto them, and assist them, and minister to them, as in Nu 18:2; though the Jews {h} understand by a stranger anyone that was not a priest.



{h} Maimon. in Misn. Zebachim, c. 2. sect. 1.





Numbers 18:5



Ver. 5. And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary,.... That is, the priests, Aaron and his sons; the high priest was to keep the charge of the most holy place particularly, and do what was to be done in that on the day of atonement; and the common priests to keep the charge of the holy place, and do everything relating to the altar of incense, the shewbread table, and candlestick:



and the charge of the altar; of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the tabernacle:



that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel: as had been upon Korah and his company, Nu 16:32, and as afterwards came on Uzziah, 2Ch 26:19.





Numbers 18:6



Ver. 6. And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites, from among the children of Israel,.... See Gill on "Nu 3:12"; where the same is said, only they, are here called the brethren of the priests for the reason given, Nu 18:2;



to you [they are] given [as] a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; See Gill on "Nu 3:7",

See Gill on "Nu 3:8", and

See Gill on "Nu 3:9".





Numbers 18:7



Ver. 7. Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office,.... Observe all the duties of it, and keep out others from intruding into it:



for everything of the altar: both of incense and of burnt offering with respect to burning incense on the one, and offering sacrifices on the other; both were to be done by priests, and by no other:



and within the vail; in the most holy place, where the high priest entered but once a year, and he only with incense, and the blood of sacrifices, see Heb 9:7;



and ye shall serve; do all the business that is to be done at either altar, whether in the court, or in the holy place, and whatsoever is to be done in the most holy place within the vail:



I have given your priest's office [unto you] as a service of gift; it was not what they had taken to themselves of their own will, or had thrust themselves into, but what the Lord had called them to, and had freely invested them with, see Heb 5:4;



and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death; any common person, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; any Israelite, one that is a stranger from the priests, though a Levite, as Aben Ezra; such an one might not come either to the altar of burnt offering to offer any sacrifice upon it, or the altar of incense, to burn incense on that, or trim the lamps, or put the shewbread in order, or to do anything peculiar to the priest's office.





Numbers 18:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,.... Having pointed out to him the duty of his office, he now informs him of the perquisites of it; or having told him what was his work, now what his wages, or what was his service, and now his maintenance:



behold, I also have given thee the charge of my heave offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; such as the heave shoulder and wave breast, and firstfruits, and all other holy things in general, such as were the most holy things; as in Nu 18:9; and the lighter holy things, as the Jews call them, Nu 18:11; the charge of these was given to keep for themselves, and for their families:



unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing: because of his office as a priest, to which he was consecrated by anointing:



and to thy sons by an ordinance for ever; see Le 7:34.





Numbers 18:9



Ver. 9. This shall be thine of the most holy things,.... For, as observed, there were some lighter and lesser holy things or sacrifices, and others superlatively so: and those are begun with, such as were



[reserved] from the fire; those parts of sacrifices which were not burnt with fire on the altar of burnt offerings:



every oblation of theirs; which is a general word, including various offerings, the particulars follow;



every meat offering of theirs: or bread offering, for they were made of fine flour and oil, and burnt on the altar, the remainder of which was eaten by Aaron and his sons, Le 6:14;



every sin offering of theirs; which was offered to make atonement for sin, which also belonged to the priests and their sons, excepting such whose blood was carried into the most holy place, Le 6:25;



and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me; which was offered for a trespass committed; what remained of this also, when burnt on the altar, was eaten by the priest and his sons, Le 7:5; and this sacrifice was a ram, when a trespass was committed, either in the holy things of the Lord, or in wrongs done to men, Le 5:15; Jarchi interprets it of an offering for a trespass committed by rapine or violence to a stranger: these, all of them, it is added,



[shall be] most holy for thee and for thy sons; for their use, and for theirs only.





Numbers 18:10



Ver. 10. In the most holy [place] shalt thou eat it,.... Not in the holy of holies, eminently so called, nor in the holy place, for they were neither of them places to eat in; but in the tent of the congregation, as Aben Ezra, or court, as Jarchi; called most holy, in distinction from and in comparison of the camp of Israel, and their tents, as afterwards of Jerusalem, and their houses there, where they might not eat the most holy things:



every male shall eat it; the sons of priests, and they only, not their wives, nor their daughters, and therefore not to be eaten at home, or in their own houses:



it shall be holy unto thee; separated only for the use of him and his sons.





Numbers 18:11



Ver. 11. And this [is] thine,.... What follow, which appertained to the priests, are the less or lighter holy things:



the heave offering of their gift: the right shoulder, given to the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of peace offerings, Le 7:32; according to Jarchi, it was what was lifted up or heaved from the thank offering, the peace offerings, and the ram of the Nazarites, see Le 7:14;



with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel; which were waved to and fro before the Lord, as the breast of the peace offerings, called therefore the wave breast, Le 7:30;



I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever; for these were to be eaten in their own houses, and by their families, wives, children, and servants bought with their money, or born in their houses; but not hired servants, nor sojourners, nor strangers; nor their daughters married to strangers though, if widows, or divorced, and without children, and returned to their father's house, they might eat of them, Le 22:10; thus a provision was made for the maintenance of the priests of the Lord and their families, until the Messiah should come; who has also appointed that they that preach the Gospel should live of it, 1Co 9:13;



everyone that is clean in thy house shall eat of it: that was clean in a ceremonial sense; had not touched a dead body, &c. Jarchi says, this is said to comprehend his wife; but that might be concluded from what is said before, for if his children, much more might his wife eat of it.





Numbers 18:12



Ver. 12. All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat,.... Or the "fat" {i} of them; the fat of anything being the best, see De 32:14;



the firstfruits of them: the oil, and wine, and wheat:



which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee; this Jarchi calls the great heave offering, the firstfruits of their harvest and vintage, which being offered to the Lord, was given to the priests: the quantity is not fixed, but left to the generosity of the people, and was a free gift; liberal men would give a fortieth part, those of a meaner spirit a fiftieth, and niggardly ones a sixtieth, and less than that was not given See Gill on "Ex 22:29"; compare with this

Eze 45:13.



{i} blx "pinguedinem", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





Numbers 18:13



Ver. 13. [And] whatsoever is first ripe in the land,.... Of any other sort of fruit, figs, pomegranates, apples, plums, pears, &c. besides olives and vines;



which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; which they shall bring in a basket to the tabernacle, where it was, or to the temple, when built: this the priests were to have, see De 26:2;



everyone that is clean in thine house shall eat of it;

See Gill on "Nu 18:11".





Numbers 18:14



Ver. 14. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. Fields, houses, cattle, &c. if absolutely devoted to the Lord, they were the priest's; but if devoted to certain uses, they were appropriated to those uses, as the repairs of the temple, &c. see Le 27:1.





Numbers 18:15



Ver. 15. Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh,.... The firstborn of every creature:



which they bring unto the Lord; as they were obliged, he claiming it as his own, Ex 13:2;



[whether it be] of men or beasts, shall be thine; every firstborn of either, being the Lord's, became the priest's by his gift:



nevertheless, the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem; that is, take the redemption price for it, which was five shekels, as in

Nu 18:16; for the original proprietor was, strictly speaking, the redeemer, and paid the money, and the priest was the receiver, to whom it was paid; see Ex 13:13;



and the firstlings of unclean beasts shall thou redeem; with lambs, as an ass, which is put for unclean beasts, is ordered to be redeemed with a lamb, or its neck to be broken, Ex 13:13; the Africans, the shepherds among them, as Herodotus relates {k}, of their firstlings they cut off the ear of the beast and throw it over a house, and then turn its neck back, for they worship only the sun and moon; which seems to be an imitation of this law.



{k} Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 188.





Numbers 18:16



Ver. 16. And those that are to be redeemed,.... Which is to be understood not of unclean beasts last mentioned, for they were redeemed with lambs and not with money; and after they were eight days and not a month old, as follows, Ex 13:13; but of the firstborn of men:



from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation: that is, take the redemption money next mentioned; and though both time and price are fixed, yet said to be according to the estimation of the priest; see Le 27:5;



for the money of five shekels; which was about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and is the price given for the redemption of the firstborn, when the Levites were taken in their stead, Nu 3:47;



after the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerahs,

See Gill on "Nu 3:47"; of the manner of redeeming the firstborn,

See Gill on "Ex 13:15".





Numbers 18:17



Ver. 17. But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem,.... That is, shalt not take the redemption price for them, but the creatures themselves; which they, the priests, were to take for their own use:



they [are] holy; separated to the Lord, and therefore not to be used in common by men, but were sacred to the Lord, or became the property of his priests; see De 15:19; how they were to be made use of follows:



thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar; for they were to be sacrificed, and their blood used as in other sacrifices:



and shalt burn their fat [for] an offering made by fire; for a sweet savour unto the Lord; as the fat of other sacrifices was, and particularly of the peace offerings, which were wholly eaten otherwise, Le 7:31.





Numbers 18:18



Ver. 18. And the flesh of them shall be thine,.... For him and his family to eat of, whether blemished or perfect the Jews say {l}:



as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine: which were his part of the peace offerings, for him and his sons to eat of, Le 7:34; and the Jews observe {m}, that as the wave breast and heave shoulder of the peace offerings might be eaten in two days and one night, so might those of the firstlings.



{l} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Becorot, c. 4. sect. 2. & 5. 2. {m} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Zebachim, c. 5. sect. 8.





Numbers 18:19



Ver. 19. All the heave offerings of the holy things,.... All before mentioned, and whatsoever comes under that name:



which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord; either by his commandment, or of their own freewill;



have I given thee, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: so providing for their maintenance by an irrepealable law as long as their priesthood lasted, even until the Messiah should come:



it [is] a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee, and thy seed with thee: an incorruptible, inviolable, durable covenant, which should last for ever, even until the Gospel dispensation or world to come should take place; and it would remain ever before the Lord in his sight, who would take care it should never be made void, but stand fast with Aaron and his posterity as long as his priesthood endured.





Numbers 18:20



Ver. 20. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,.... What is said, being what concerned the tribe of Levi, at the head of which Aaron was, even concerning the maintenance of the Levites:



thou shalt have no inheritance in their land; in the land of Israel when they come to possess it, as the rest of the tribes had:



neither shalt thou have any part among them; any part of the land when it is divided by lot, as it was in the times of Joshua, when taken from the Canaanites; no tract of land was peculiarly assigned to them as were to the other tribes, as fields, nor vineyards; they had cities appointed them, and they had houses and fields devoted to the Lord which fell to them, and others they had by gift or legacy, or by purchase, as had Jeremiah the priest and Barnabas the Levite, Jer 32:9 Ac 4:36; but they had no share in the distribution of the land of Canaan at the time of the division of it among the tribes; no, not even in the spoil of the cities of the land of Canaan, when they were conquered; this Maimonides {n} says they were warned not to take; and a son of Levi that took any part of the spoil was to be beaten; but the spoil of other lands, subdued by the kings of Israel, they might take, as other Israelites did: the reason of all this was, because they had a sufficient provision made for them in another way, and that they might not be entangled in worldly affairs, or spend their time in the culture of fields and vineyards, but wholly give themselves to the service of God in his house:



I [am] thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel; in things temporal, the offerings, tithes, firstfruits, &c. which were given to the Lord, being bestowed upon them; and in things spiritual, they being employed in the work and service of God, and having a peculiar nearness to him, and communion with him: so all that are made priests unto God, as all believers in Christ are, 1Pe 2:5, have God for their portion and inheritance; God, in his persons and in all his perfections, and under every character, as the God of nature, providence, and grace, is the portion of his people; and a rich, large, and satisfying portion he is, and which is inexhaustible, and will endure for ever; he is their portion in life and at death, in time and to all eternity; see Ps 73:26.



{n} Hilchot Shemittah Veyobel, c. 13. sect. 10, 11.





Numbers 18:21



Ver. 21. And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance,.... The tenth part of the produce of the land; of the wheat, barley, oil, and wine; the tenth part of their harvest and vintage; so that though they were the least of the tribes, they had the greatest share of the increase of the land, and that without any labour or expense; the other having but nine parts among them all, and at the charge and labour of manuring, cultivating, &c. and this they were to have



for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; see Nu 18:3.





Numbers 18:22



Ver. 22. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation,.... To do any part of the priest's office, as to burn incense, as Korah and his company had done; or to do any part of the work of the Levites, by watching in the tabernacle, by taking it down and setting it up, and bearing the vessels of it; otherwise they might come to it, to bring their sacrifices, to pay their vows, and for their purification when necessary, and such like things:



lest they bear sin and die; lest sin be charged upon them, and punishment be inflicted, even the punishment of death; for it was death to intrude into the priest's office.





Numbers 18:23



Ver. 23. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,.... In guarding the tabernacle, that no unclean persons enter into it, or any others take anything out of it, and in assisting the priests in their service, and carrying the vessels of the sanctuary when required:



and they shall bear their iniquity: that is, when they fail in the duty of their office, are not careful in their service and work, and business appointed them; if either they did not do their business themselves, or suffered others to do it, or such to come to the tabernacle who should not, they would be blameworthy and suffer for it:



[it shall be] a statute for ever throughout your generations, that the children of Israel they have no inheritance; having such a plentiful provision made for them, by a statute as durable as this.





Numbers 18:24



Ver. 24. But the tithe of the children of Israel,.... The tenth of the produce of their land, as before:



which they offer [as] an heave offering unto the Lord: by way of gratitude to him for giving them the land, and for making it so fruitful to them, and as an acknowledgment of his being the sovereign Lord and proprietor of it:



I have given to the Levites to inherit; so that the Levites had the tithe not immediately from the Israelites, nor were they dependent on them for them; but they were first given to the Lord, and then by him to the Levites, who held them of him, and not of the Israelites; and were a portion and an inheritance, settled upon them by the Lord himself, which they had as good a right and title unto as the rest of the tribes had to their several inheritances:



therefore have I said unto them, among the children, of Israel they shall have no inheritance; as in Nu 18:23.





Numbers 18:25



Ver. 25. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... And not unto Aaron, because a tithe out of the tithe was to be given to Aaron, as Aben Ezra observes, and it was not so proper that he should have this order to deliver to the Levites, in which he and his sons were so much concerned, and therefore it was given to Moses to acquaint them of it:



saying; as follows.





Numbers 18:26



Ver. 26. Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them,.... Aaron was to tell them what a provision would be made for them on account of their service, but Moses was to inform them what part Aaron was to have out of it:



when ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance; which was done at the time of their harvest, and of the ingathering of the fruits of the earth:



then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord; in token of gratitude for the liberal provision he had made for the maintenance of them:



[even] a tenth [part] of the tithe; a tenth part out of the tenth of the produce of the land of Israel.





Numbers 18:27



Ver. 27. And [this] your heave offering,.... The tithe of the tithe, which though not properly heaved or lifted up, as the heave offerings, strictly so called, were, any more than the tithe itself, Nu 18:24; yet is so called, because separated to the use and service of the Lord, as they were:



shall be reckoned unto you, as though [it were] the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress; that is, it should be as acceptable to God as if they had fields and vineyards, threshing floors, and wine presses of their own, from whence corn and wine were taken, as the Israelites when they received their tithes from them; and what remained they had as good a right unto, and might make use of as their own, as well as they; see Nu 18:30.





Numbers 18:28



Ver. 28. Thus you also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord,.... As the Israelites did when they paid tithes to them, Nu 18:24;



of all your tithes which ye receive of the children of Israel; which heave offering was a tenth part of them:



and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest; that is, the said tenth part of the tithe was to be given not to Aaron only, as the high priest, as some have thought, and so to his successors in the high priesthood; but to him and his sons, even to all the priests in common, the high priest having his share of it; and Josephus {o} is clear for it, that the tithe of the annual fruits was paid to the Levites, and to the priests. Hecataeus, an Heathen writer, who lived in the times of Alexander the great, says {p}, that all the priests of the Jews received the tenth of whatsoever was produced, and ministered things in common, and were 1500 in number.



{o} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 3. {p} Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. sect. 22.





Numbers 18:29



Ver. 29. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord,.... Not only out of their tithes, but out of whatsoever gifts were given by the Israelites to them, and out of the produce of the fields which belonged to their cities, Nu 35:4; the Levites were to take a tenth, and bring it to the Lord as an heave offering; that is, they were to give it to the priests, to testify their gratitude for everything they had, and to sanctify the rest unto them, and confirm their right and title to it, and give them the free use of it:



of all the best thereof, [even] the hallowed part thereof, out of it; which was the tenth part, for that Was holy, as Aben Ezra says, and that was to be the best of it, which was always to be given to the Lord.





Numbers 18:30



Ver. 30. Therefore thou shalt say unto them,.... The Targum of Jonathan is,



"thou shalt say to them the priests;''



but the words seem manifestly spoken to the Levites:



when ye have heaved the best thereof from it; taken out the tenth part of it, and that the best:



then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the wine press; then what remains shall be reckoned as much their own, and may be as lawfully enjoyed, as the corn of the threshing floor, and the wine of the wine fat, of any Israelite whatever.





Numbers 18:31



Ver. 31. And ye shall eat it in every place,.... In any of their tents or dwelling houses, not being obliged to eat it in the tabernacle, where the priests, were obliged to eat many of their holy things, and second tithes were only to be eaten at Jerusalem, De 14:22; but the Levites might eat theirs any where, in any place, clean or unclean, according to Jarchi; for, he says, it might be eaten even in a graveyard; but Aben Ezra much better, in a clean place, be that where it would:



ye, and your households; they and their wives, their sons and daughters, their servants, whether bought or hired; and they might sell it to strangers, to purchase other necessaries with. The Targum of Jonathan interprets this of the priests; but the Levites only are plainly spoken of:



for it [is] your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation; which is said to encourage them in their work, and animate them to it, as well as to clear their right to such a maintenance against all objections; for the labourer is worthy of his reward, as those that labour in the word and doctrine are of theirs, 1Ti 5:17.





Numbers 18:32



Ver. 32. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it,.... Shall have no blame laid upon them, or guilt imputed to them, or punishment inflicted on them, on account of their having and enjoying their tithes and gifts:



when ye have heaved from it the best of it; took out the tenth, and that the best, and given it to the priests; or otherwise they would be blameworthy, guilty, and liable to punishment:



neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel; the gifts they have given for holy uses, and so are holy; which would be the case if they ate of them, or enjoyed them, without giving the priests the tenth part of them:



lest ye die; for it seems such a neglect was punishable with death.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Numbers 19:1



INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 19



This chapter contains a law for making a water for purification for sin, the ingredients of which are the ashes of a red heifer burnt, about which many things are observed, Nu 19:1; the use of the water made of them, to purify such as were unclean by the touch of a dead body, Nu 19:11; some rules are given, by which it might be known who were unclean on account of a dead body, Nu 19:14; the manner of purifying such persons, Nu 19:17; and the punishment of those that should neglect purification, Nu 19:20.



Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Not at this time, after the business of the spies, and the affair of Korah, but before the children of Israel departed from Sinai; and so Aben Ezra observes, that this was spoken in the wilderness of Sinai, when the Lord commanded to put unclean persons out of the camp, and when some were defiled with a dead body, and unfit for the passover, Nu 5:2; and mention is made of the "water of purifying", Nu 8:7;



saying; as follows.





Numbers 19:2



Ver. 2. This [is] the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded,.... By which it appears, that this law was not of the moral, but of the ceremonial kind, being called an ordinance, a statute, a decree of God, the King of kings; and which was founded not on any clear plain reason in the thing itself, but in the will of God, who intended it as a type and shadow of the blood and sacrifice of Christ, and of the efficacy of that to cleanse from sin; and it also appears by this, that it was not a new law now made, but which had been made already: "which the Lord hath commanded": as is plain from what has been observed, See Gill on "Nu 19:1"; and the Jews {q} say, that the red heifer was slain by Eleazar the day after the tabernacle was erected, even on the second day of the first month of Israel's coming out of Egypt; and it was now repeated both on account of the priests and people, because of the priest to whom it belonged, as Aben Ezra observes, Aaron being now established in the priesthood; and because of the people, who were afraid they should die if they came near the tabernacle; now hereby they are put in mind of a provision made for the purification of them, when under any uncleanness, which made them unfit for coming to it:



saying, speak unto the children of Israel; whom this law concerned, and for whose purification it was designed; and it was at the expense not of a private person, but of the whole congregation, that the water of purifying was made; and that, as the Jews say {r}, that the priests might have no personal profit from it:



that they bring thee a red heifer; or "young cow", for so the word properly signifies; one of two years old, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so says the Misnah {s}; though some of the Rabbins say one of three years, or of four years, or even one of five years old, would do. This instance, with others, where females are ordered to be slain, see Le 3:1; confutes the notion of such, who think the laws of Moses were made in conformity to the customs of the Egyptians, this being directly contrary to them; if they were the same in the times of Moses, they were in the times of Herodotus, who expressly says {t}, male oxen the Egyptians sacrifice; but it is not lawful for them to sacrifice females, for they are sacred to Isis. Indeed, according to Plutarch {u} and Diodorus Siculus {w}, the Egyptians in their times sacrificed red bullocks to Typhon, who they supposed was of the same colour, and to whom they had an aversion, accounting him the god of evil; and because red oxen were odious to them, they offered them to him; as red-haired men also were slain by them for the same reason, at the tomb of Osiris, who they say was murdered by the red-haired Typhon; but these were superstitions that obtained among them after the times of Moses, and could not be retorted to by him; a better reason is to be given why this heifer or cow was to be of a red colour:



without spot, wherein [is] no blemish; the first of these, without spot, the Jews understand of colour, that it should have no spots in it of any other colour, black or white, nor indeed so much as an hair, at least not two of another colour; and so the Targum of Jonathan, in which there is no spot or mark of a white hair; and Jarchi more particularly,



"which is perfect in redness; for if there were in it (he says) two black hairs, it was unfit;''



and so Ben Gersom, with which agrees the Misnah {x}; if there were in it two hairs, black or white, in one part, it was rejected; if there was one in the head, and another in the tail, it was rejected; if there were two hairs in it, the root or bottom of which were black, and the head or top red, and so on the contrary; all depended on the sight: and it must be owned, the same exactness was observed in the red oxen sacrificed by the Egyptians, as Plutarch relates {y}; for if the ox had but one hair black or white, they reckoned it was not fit to be sacrificed; in which perhaps they imitated the Jews: it being without blemish was what was common to all sacrifices, such as are described in

Le 22:22;



[and] upon which never came yoke; and so among the Heathens in later times, very probably in imitation of this, they used to offer to their deities oxen that never had bore any yoke; as appears from Homer, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, and Seneca, out of whom instances are produced by Bochart {z}. Now, though this red cow was not properly a sacrifice for sin, yet it was analogous to one, and was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all these characters meet, and are significant. It being a female may denote the infirmities of Christ's human nature, to which it was subject, though sinless ones; he was encompassed with, and took on him, our infirmities; and may have some respect to the woman, by whom the transgression came, which brought impurity on all human nature, which made a purification for sin necessary; and the red colour of it may point at the flesh and blood of Christ he partook of, and the sins of his people, which were laid upon him, and were as crimson and as scarlet, and the bloody sufferings he endured to make satisfaction for them; and its being without spot and blemish may denote the perfection of Christ in his person, obedience, and sufferings, and the purity and holiness of his nature; and having never had any yoke upon it may signify, that though he was made under the law, and had commands enjoined him by his father as man, yet was free from the yoke of human traditions, and from the servitude of sin, and most willingly engaged, and not by force and compulsion, in the business of our redemption and salvation.



{q} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 7. p. 22. {r} Misn. Shekalim, c. 7. sect. 7. & Maimon, in ib. {s} Misn. Parah, c. 1. sect. 1. {t} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 41. {u} De lside. {w} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79. {x} Parah, c. 2. sect. 5. {y} Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 79.) {z} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 33. vol. 322.





Numbers 19:3



Ver. 3. And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest,.... The son of Aaron; the Sagan of the priests, as the Targum of Jonathan calls him, the second or deputy priest; it was not to be given to Aaron, that he might not be defiled, though but for a small time, that so he might not be hindered in his office at all; but to Eleazar, to inure him to his office, and to confirm him in it:



that he may bring her forth without the camp; without the camp of Israel; Jarchi says, without the three camps, as afterwards without Jerusalem; it used in later times to be burnt on the mount of Olives; it was brought forth as impure, and was a type of Christ, having the sins of his people on him, and who in conformity to this type suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, see Heb 13:11;



and [one] shall slay her before his face; the Targum of Jonathan says, another priest; but it was not necessary that it should be slain by a priest, any man might do it. Jarchi says, a stranger slew, and Eleazar looked on; though it was not slain by him, yet it was slain before him, that it might look like a sacrifice, though not offered on the altar; and slaying of it denotes the putting of Christ to death, which was done in the presence, and with the approbation, of the priests and elders of the people.





Numbers 19:4



Ver. 4. And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger,.... He took the blood in his left hand, and sprinkled it with the finger of his right hand, as Maimonides says {a}; and so the Targum of Jonathan, which says, he did not receive it into a vessel, but into the palm of his hand, and from thence sprinkled it with his finger {b}: which Ainsworth thinks signified the Spirit of Christ, our high priest, called "the finger of God", Lu 11:20; who takes the blood of Christ, and sprinkles it on the hearts of his people, whereby they are freed from an evil conscience:



and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times; or "towards the tabernacle", so Noldius {c}; as sprinkling of the blood was the principal action in sacrifices, this was to be done directly before the tabernacle, from whence its purifying virtue was expected, though it was not shed in it, that it might have all the appearance of a sacrifice it could have; and being done seven times, denotes the perfection of it: the priest, when he sprinkled, stood on the east side, with his face to the west. When the temple was built at Jerusalem, this affair was transacted on the mount of Olives, which was east of Jerusalem. Jarchi says, the priest stood in the east of Jerusalem, and placed himself so that he might see the door of the temple at the time of sprinkling the blood. Now it appears, as Maimonides says {d}, that the floor of the temple was higher than the floor of the eastern gate of the mountain of the house twenty two cubits, and the height of the gate of the mountain of the house was twenty cubits; wherefore one that stood over against the eastern gate could not see the door of the temple, therefore they made the wall, which was over the top of this gate (the battlement of it), low, so that he (the priest), that stood on the mount of Olives, might see the door of the temple, at the time he sprinkled the blood of the cow over against the temple; otherwise he could only have seen the eighth step of the porch of the temple, as the same writer observes {e}, with which agrees the Misnah {f}, that all the walls there (about the mountain of the house) were high, except the eastern wall, that so the priest that burnt the cow might stand on the top of the mount of Olives, and look and behold the door of the temple, when he sprinkled the blood.



{a} Hilchot Parah Adumah, c. 3. sect. 2. {b} Vid. Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 7. {c} P. 81. No. 379. {d} Hilchot Beth Habechirah, c. 6. sect. 2. {e} In Misn, Middot, c. 2. sect. 4. {f} Misn. ib.





Numbers 19:5



Ver. 5. And [one] shall burn the heifer in his sight,.... Another priest, as the Targum of Jonathan, Eleazar looking on, as that expresses it; the Jews say {g}, that when the priest came to the mount of Olives, accompanied by the elders of Israel, before he burnt the cow, he dipped himself in a dipping place there; and the wood being laid there in order, wood of cedar, ash, fir, and fig trees, made in the form of a tower, with holes opened in it (to put in the fire, and that it might burn the quicker), and its aspect being to the west, he bound the cow, and laid her upon the pile, with her head to the south, and her face to the west; and then having slain it, and sprinkled its blood, as before related, he set fire to it by the help of some small wood: the burning of it may signify the dolorous sufferings of Christ, when the wrath of God was poured forth like fire upon him; the same was signified by roasting the passover lamb:



her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn; which may denote the extent of Christ's sufferings, reaching to all parts of his body, skin, flesh, and blood, and the shame and reproach that attended them, signified by dung; as well as how impure and accursed he was accounted when he was made sin for his people, bore their sins and suffered for them, even not in body only, but in his soul also; for his soul as well as his body were made an offering for sin.



{g} Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 7, 8, 9.





Numbers 19:6



Ver. 6. And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet,.... Another priest, according to the Targum of Jonathan; but it seems to design Eleazar the priest, and so, in later times, the same priest that burnt the cow took these things; the Jews say {h}, when he took them he said, is this cedar wood? is this hyssop? is this scarlet? so he said three times for everyone of them, and he was answered, yes, three times to each of them: these were the same that were used at the cleansing of the leper, Le 14:4;



and cast [it] into the midst of the burning of the heifer; these were rolled or bound up together, as the Jews say {i}, and made one bundle of, that they might the more easily be cast into the fire; the hyssop was wrapped about the cedar wood with the scarlet wool: the true reason of the use of these, Maimonides says {k}, was never clear to him; but the cedar wood, being durable, may denote the continued efficacy of Christ's sufferings; the hyssop, being purgative and of a good smell, the purging nature of Christ's sacrifice, who by himself purged away our sins, and the sweet odour thereof ascended to the Lord; and the scarlet, the sins of his people destroyed thereby.



{h} Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 10. {i} Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 11. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. {k} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 47.





Numbers 19:7



Ver. 7. Then the priest shall wash his clothes,.... The Targum of Jonathan has it,



"he that slew the cow,''



and Aben Ezra, the priest that burnt it; but it seems to mean Eleazar, the priest that sprinkled the blood, and by touching that was defiled and needed washing; and so the Jews {l} say, all that were employed about it, from the beginning to the end, were defiled in their garments; not only he that slew it, and burnt it, and sprinkled its blood, but he that took and cast in the cedar wood, &c. as we find also he that gathered the ashes of it as well as burnt it: this creature was reckoned so impure, though its ashes were for purifying, that whoever had anything to do with it was unclean, as the scapegoat, which had the sins of all Israel on it; and this as that was typical of Christ, made sin for his people, that he might cleanse them from sin: it may point at the sin of the priests and people of Israel, in putting Christ to death, and yet there was cleansing from that sin, in the precious blood of Christ, as well as from all others:



and he shall bathe his flesh in water; in forty seahs of water, as the Targum of Jonathan; not his clothes only, but his body was to be dipped in water:



and afterward he shall come into the camp: when his clothes and flesh are washed, but not before:



and the priest shall be unclean until the even; though washed, and therefore, though he is said to go into the camp upon washing, this is to be understood, after the evening is come: so Jarchi directs to interpret the passage, transpose it, says he, and so explain it; and he shall be unclean until the evening, and after that he may come into the camp, not only the camp of Israel, but the camp of the Shechinah, as the same writer.



{l} Misn. Parah, c. 4. sect. 4.





Numbers 19:8



Ver. 8. And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water,.... In forty seahs of water, as the Targum of Jonathan: this shows that one different from this is designed in Nu 19:7; and that this is one distinct from him that sprinkled the blood, Nu 19:4;



and bathe his flesh in water: in a like quantity, as the above Targum:



and shall be unclean until the even: and, though washed, might not go into the camp until that time: this may signify, as before, that though the crucifixion of Christ was a very great sin, and done by wicked hands, yet was pardonable through the very blood that was shed by them, Ac 2:23.





Numbers 19:9



Ver. 9. And a man [that is] clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer,.... A man, a clean priest, as the Targum of Jonathan; in later times great care was taken that the priest concerned in the burning of the red cow should be pure; he was separated from his own house seven days before the time, and every day he was sprinkled with the blood of all sin offerings then offered, that it might be sure he was free from any pollution by a grave, or a dead body; and for the same reason they made a causeway on double arches from the temple to the mount of Olives, over the valley of Kidron, lest any unseen grave should be in the way; and when he came thither he was obliged to wash or dip himself, as before observed {m}; and so he that gathered up the ashes was to be clean from all ceremonial pollution: the Jews say {n}, that they pounded the ashes; if there were any black coal in them or bone, they did not leave it in them, but sifted them in stone sieves; and not the ashes of the heifer only they took, but the ashes of the cedar wood, &c. mixed with them; and these they put, as the Targum of Jonathan says, into an earthen vessel enclosed in a covering of clay:



and lay [them] up without the camp in a clean place; they were divided into three parts, according to the Targum of Jonathan, one part was put in the Chel (or the enclosure of the court of the tabernacle), another in the mount of Olives, and the third part was divided among all the wards of the Levites, with which the Misnah {o} agrees; Jarchi makes mention of the same division, and of the use of each; that the wards had was without the court, that the citizens might take of it, and all that needed to be purified; that in the mount of Olives was for the priests, to sanctify other heifers with it; and that in the Chel was for a reserve:



and it shall be kept [for a reserve] for the congregation of Israel; as ashes may be kept a long time, if well taken care of, because they are not subject to any corruption or putrefaction; and so was, as Bishop Patrick observes from Dr. Jackson, a figure of the everlasting efficacy of Christ's blood: and, according to the Jews, these ashes of the first heifer must last more than a thousand years; for they say {p} the second that was burnt was in the time of Ezra, though they reckon seven more afterwards before the destruction of the second temple, in all nine; and the tenth they expect in the days of the Messiah, which are past; he, being come, has put an end to this type by fulfilling it in himself: and the use of them was



for a water of separation; being put into water, and mixed with it, was for the cleansing of such as were separated from others for their uncleanness, and was a purification of them for it, as follows:



it [is] a purification for sin: or "it [is] sin" {q}, not an offering for sin, properly speaking; the heifer, whose ashes they were, not being sacrificed in the tabernacle, nor on the altar, and wanted other rites; yet it answered the purposes of a sin offering, and its ashes in water were typical of the blood of Christ, which purges the conscience from dead works, when this only purified to the sanctifying of the flesh, Heb 9:13; and is the fountain set open for sin and uncleanness, Zec 13:1; where both the words are used which are here, and in the preceding clause: ashes are known to be of a cleansing nature, and so a fit emblem of spiritual purification by Christ; and the duration of them of the perpetuity of it.



{m} Misn. Parah, c. 3. sect. 1. 6. 7. {n} Ib. sect. 11. {o} lbid. {p} Ib. sect. 5. {q} ayh tajx "peccatum ipsa", Montanus; "peccatum enim est", Tigurine version.





Numbers 19:10



Ver. 10. And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes,.... Whom the Targum of Jonathan calls a priest, though it does not seem necessary he should be one:



and be unclean until the even; See Gill on "Nu 19:7";



and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever; until the Messiah came, whose sufferings and death are for the expiation of, and purification for the sins of Jews and Gentiles, of all the people of God throughout the world, signified by the burning of this heifer; see 1Jo 2:2.





Numbers 19:11



Ver. 11. He that toucheth the dead body of any man,.... A man and not a beast, as Aben Ezra observes; for he that touched the dead body of a beast was unclean only until evening, Le 11:24; any man, Jew or Gentile, as the same writer notes: this is instanced in, as being the principal pollution, though not the only one, yet so some think, for which the water of purification made of the ashes of the burnt heifer was appointed:



shall be unclean seven days; the reason of which is, because death is the fruit of sin, which is of a defiling nature, and to show that all that are dead in sins are defiled and defiling, and are not to be touched, or to have communion and fellowship held with them but to be abstained from.





Numbers 19:12



Ver. 12. He shall purify himself with it,.... That is, with the ashes of the water of purification made of them: and this was to be done first



on the third day; from the time of his touching the dead body. Aben Ezra intimates, that there is a secret or mystery in this and the following number seven; it may respect the third day of Christ's resurrection, who, as he shed his blood for the expiation and purification of sinners, so he rose again the third day for the justification of them:



and on the seventh day he shall be clean; which may denote the perfect state, or sabbath of rest, which remains for the people of God, when all Christ's purified and justified ones shall be clear of all sin, and be the spirits of just men made perfect:



but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean; whoever is not cleansed from his sins by the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of them, and is not justified from them by him that rose from the dead the third day, will never be cleansed in the world to come, or in the eternal sabbath; but it will then be said, "let him that is filthy be filthy still", Re 22:11.





Numbers 19:13



Ver. 13. Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself,.... With the ashes of the heifer, or water of purification, and so neglects the means which God has appointed for his cleansing:



defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; that is, if he goes into it in his uncleanness, which it was not lawful for him to do: from the Jews the Assyrians seem to have borrowed some customs of theirs, as related by Lucian {r}, who upon burying a dead cock reckoned seven days, see

Nu 19:11; and then went into the temple, for before they might not go in, nor perform holy service; such laws they use, that if anyone sees a dead carcass, he may not go that day into the temple; but he goes in the day following, after he has purified himself:



and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; either be excommunicated from the church, or die by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God; that is, if he knew he had touched a dead body, and wilfully neglected the means of his purification, and so sinned presumptuously; otherwise, if all this was done ignorantly, an atonement was made for it, Le 5:3



because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; as all are who are not sprinkled with the blood of Christ:



his uncleanness is yet upon him; and will remain, nothing can remove it; as nothing can remove the stain and blot of sin but the blood of Christ; and where that is not applied it will remain marked before God, and will lie upon the sinner to his utter condemnation and ruin; see Jer 2:22.



{r} De Dea Syria.





Numbers 19:14



Ver. 14. This is the law when a man dieth in a tent,.... A tent is only mentioned, because the Israelites now dwelt in tents, as Aben Ezra remarks; otherwise the law holds equally good of an house as of a tent:



all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days; the meaning of which is, that all persons that come into a tent or house where a dead body is are equally unclean as those that were in it when it died; and the same is to be supposed of all vessels brought into it, as well as those that are in it, that is, open ones, as appears by what follows.





Numbers 19:15



Ver. 15. And every open vessel,.... An earthen one, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so Jarchi interprets it; and Maimonides {r} observes, that this is only to be understood of an earthen vessel:



which hath no covering bound upon it; a linen or a woollen cloth wrapped and tied about it:



[is] unclean; the air of the house getting into it by its being uncovered.



{r} In Misn. Cholin, c. 1. sect. 6.





Numbers 19:16



Ver. 16. And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields,.... That is killed by another, that dies a violent death, either by the sword or other means; one that touched such an one was unclean, or that touched the sword with which he was slain, as the Targum of Jonathan adds: "or a dead body": that dies a natural death, or suddenly, or in any way:



or a bone off a man; dug out of a grave, and lying by itself:



or a grave; the Targum adds, either the covering or side of a grave:



shall be unclean seven days; all which has respect to the defiling nature of sin, which is the cause of death and the grave.





Numbers 19:17



Ver. 17. And for an unclean person,.... Defiled by any of the above means:



they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin; from the place where they were laid up for this use;

See Gill on "Nu 19:9" and some have thought that they were laid up in various cities and places in the country, as well as at Jerusalem, that they might be come at easily upon occasion; otherwise they could not be had without great trouble and expense, and in some places not so soon as the law required for their purification, namely, on the third day after their defilement:



and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel; the Targum Jonathan is,



"fountain water in the midst of earthen vessel;''



for no water but fountain, spring, or river water, was made use of; and it should seem by what is said that ashes were first put into the vessel, and then the running water was put to them; and yet the Jewish writers say {s}, that if the ashes were put in first, and then the water, it was not right; and the meaning of what is said here is, that the water and ashes should be mixed together; for it is urged from the words: "running water in a vessel", that it is plain, that the water is put in the vessel and not to the ashes; and therefore that which is said, "shall be put thereto", is to caution the person, that after he has put the ashes upon the water, that he mixes them well with his finger, and cause the water below to rise above {t}.



{s} Maimon. Milchot, Parah Adumah, c. 9. sect. 1. {t} Bartenora in Misn. Temurah, c. 1. sect. 5.





Numbers 19:18



Ver. 18. And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water,.... Three stalks of hyssop bound together, as the Targum of Jonathan, and this man was to be a clean priest, according to the same; but it does not seem necessary that he should be a priest, but that anyone free from ceremonial pollution might do it:



and sprinkle it upon the tent; where there was a dead body: but this, we are told, is to be understood not of a tent made of wood, or stone, or clay, but made of anything woven, as linen: or of skins {u}:



and upon all the vessels; in such a tent, that is, open ones, as before observed:



and upon the persons that were there: when the man died in it, or came into it since, and while the dead body was in it;



and upon him that touched a bone; of a dead man, or, as the Targum of Jonathan, the bone of a living man that is separated from him:



or one slain, or one dead; slain with a sword, or dead of the pestilence, as the same Targum, or of any other disease, or in any other way:



or a grave; or the covering or side of one, as the same Targum adds.



{u} Maimon. in Misn. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 3.





Numbers 19:19



Ver. 19. And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean,.... The clean priest shall sprinkle upon the unclean man, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, he shall sprinkle the water of purification upon him that is unclean in any of the above ways:



on the third day, and on the seventh day; See Gill on "Nu 19:12",



and on the seventh day he shall purify himself; either the unclean person, who shall perfect his purification, as Jarchi interprets it, that is, by doing what follows; or else the clean person, who becomes in some measure unclean, by sprinkling and touching the water of separation, as appears from Nu 19:21 as the priest that sprinkled the blood of the heifer, and the man that burnt it and gathered its ashes,

Nu 19:7



and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even; in like manner as the man that let go the goat into the wilderness, Le 16:26.





Numbers 19:20



Ver. 20. But the man that shall be unclean,.... By touching any dead body, bone, or grave:



and shall not purify himself; with the water of purification:



that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation:

See Gill on "Nu 19:13".



because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: by going into it in his uncleanness:



the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him, he is unclean; and will remain so, for nothing else could purify him, see

Nu 19:13.





Numbers 19:21



Ver. 21. And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them,.... To the children of Israel, throughout their generations, unto the coming of the Messiah, when the ceremonial law, which stood in divers washings and purifications, was abolished:



that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; the priest that sprinkled, according to the Targum of Jonathan, or any other person that did it; so that the same purifying water, which made an unclean person clean, defiled a clean one; for though it was purifying, it had uncleanness in it; having the ashes not only of the cow itself, but of its skin, blood, and dung; and so a lye made of ashes is impure in itself, and yet serves to scour cloth: Ainsworth thinks this signifies the imperfection and insufficiency of legal rites, which, in their greatest virtue, only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, and left the purifier himself in uncleanness he had not before; by consideration of which, the people might be led to Christ, and his Spirit, for cleansing, Heb 9:13 but it rather signifies, that the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, and answers to this purifying water, that its cleansing virtue is owing to Christ being made sin for his people; and that some may be instruments of directing souls to the blood of Christ for cleansing, and yet be defiled themselves: it does not appear that this man, thus unclean, was to have the water of purification sprinkled on him, but was only to wash his clothes; see Re 7:14



and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even: but was not clean until he had washed, as Aben Ezra observes, though not expressed; for if one that only sprinkled it had need to be washed, much more one that touched it, and which was unavoidable, if, when he mixed the water and ashes together, he stirred them with his finger, See Gill on "Nu 19:17", though Maimonides {t} understands this of sprinkling and touching the water when there was no necessity for it, when a person was not employed in doing the duty of this law.



{t} Hilchot Parah Adumah, c. 15. sect. 1.





Numbers 19:22



Ver. 22. And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean,.... Not the person unclean by sprinkling, or touching the water of purification, but the unclean person spoken of throughout the chapter, that was unclean by touching a dead body, bone, or grave; whatever that man touched, any vessel or thing, that was unclean also; or "whomsoever", any person, man or woman, for it respects both persons and things:



and the soul that toucheth it; that which the unclean person hath touched; or "him", the unclean person, whether the unclean person touched him, or he the unclean person, or touched anything he had touched, he was unclean; denoting the spreading and infectious nature of sin, and how much sin and sinners are to be avoided; see

Le 15:4.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Numbers 20:1



INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 20



In this chapter is an account of the children of Israel coming to the wilderness of Zin, where Miriam died, and where wanting water they murmured, Nu 20:1, upon which Moses and Aaron applied to the Lord, who ordered Moses to speak to a rock, which should give forth water, and which being smitten by him, accordingly did, Nu 20:6, but Moses and Aaron, in their conduct of this affair, displeased the Lord, Nu 20:12, after this, Moses sent to the king of Edom to desire a passage through his country, which request was refused,

Nu 20:14, upon Israel's coming to Mount Hor, Aaron, by order, went up to the mount, and, when stripped of his clothes, which were put on his son Eleazar, he died, lamented by all the people, Nu 20:22.



Ver. 1. Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation,.... Not immediately after the transaction of the above things, recorded in the preceding chapters; as the sending of the spies into the land of Canaan, and their report of it; the business of Korah, and the giving of several laws respecting the priesthood, and the purification of the people; but thirty eight years after: nor was this the congregation that came out of Egypt; their carcasses, by this time, had fallen in the wilderness, as had been threatened, excepting some few, so that this was a new generation: what passed during this time we have very little account of, excepting their journeyings from place to place, in Nu 33:1, by which it appears, there were eighteen stations between the place they encamped at when the spies were sent, and this they now came to; and that the place from whence they came hither was Ezion Geber; from hence they journeyed,



and came unto the desert of Zin; which is different from the wilderness of Sin, Ex 16:1 as appears by their names, which are different, and by the stations of the Israelites, Nu 33:11, hither they came



in the first month; the month of Nisan, on the tenth day of it, according to the Targum of Jonathan, which was the first month of the fortieth year of their coming out of Egypt, so Aben Ezra; with which agrees the Jewish chronologer {u}, which says, this was the fortieth year, and the beginning of the month Nisan:



and the people abode in Kadesh: which is by some thought to be different from Kadeshbarnea, from whence the spies were sent, and lay to the south of the land of Canaan, whereas this was upon the borders of Edom; but Doctor Lightfoot {w} shows them to be the same: it is supposed to be eight hours north or northnorth-west of Mount Sinai, which may be computed to be about twenty miles {x}; here the Israelites abode about four months, see Nu 33:38 the above Jewish chronologer says three months, wrongly:



and Miriam died there, and was buried there; the Jews say {y} she died there the tenth day of the month Nisan, which was ten days after the Israelites came to this place; though, according to the Targum of Jonathan, it was the same day they came thither: Patricides, an Arabian writer, says {z} she died on the seventh day of Nisan, aged one hundred and twenty seven; no mention is made of the people mourning for her as for Aaron, Nu 20:29 and for Moses, De 34:8 perhaps because of their distress for want of water, as follows.



{u} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 9. p. 25. {w} Chorograph. Cent. in Matt. c. 7. p. 8, 9. {x} Pococke's Travels, p. 157. {y} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2. {z} Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 457.





Numbers 20:2



Ver. 2. And there was no water for the congregation,.... Which was so ordered, for the trial of this new generation, to see whether they would behave any better than their fathers had done in a like circumstance, the first year they came out of Egypt, Ex 17:1



and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron; just as their fathers had done before them, being of the like temper and disposition.





Numbers 20:3



Ver. 3. And the people chode with Moses,.... Contended with him in a wrangling and litigious manner, showing no reverence nor respect unto his person on account of the dignity of his office, and the many favours they had received from him; and this at a time, when, instead of quarrelling with him, they should have condoled him on the loss of his sister, and bewailed their own loss also of one who had been a prophetess to them, and a leader of them, Mic 6:4



and spake, saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord; either at Taberah by fire, or as Korah and his company in like manner, or as the fourteen thousand and seven hundred by a pestilence, Nu 11:1 which they thought a much easier death, either of them, than to die of thirst: they might well call them brethren, not only because of the same nation, and nearly related to them, but because they were of the same temper and disposition, and indeed brethren in iniquity; and they seem to use this appellation, as being of the same sentiments with them, and in vindication of them, and adopt almost their very language; see Nu 14:2.





Numbers 20:4



Ver. 4. And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness,.... The wilderness of Zin, whither by various marches and journeys, and through different stations, they were at length come:



that we and our cattle should die there? with thirst; they seem to represent it, as if this was the end, design, and intention of Moses and Aaron in bringing them thither; their language is much the same with their fathers on a like occasion; which shows the bad influence of example, and how careful parents should be of their words and actions, that their posterity be not harmed by them; see Ex 17:3.





Numbers 20:5



Ver. 5. And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt,.... They represent that affair in such a light, as if they were forced out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron against their wills; or at least were overpersuaded by them to do what they had no inclination to, namely, to come out of Egypt; though they were in the utmost bondage and slavery, and their lives were made bitter by it, and they cried by reason of their oppression, and the hardships they endured; but this was all forgot. Aben Ezra says, it is a strange word which is here used, which shows the confusion they were in:



to bring us unto this evil place; dry and barren, where there were neither food nor drink, as follows:



it is no place of seed; or fit for sowing, as the Targum of Jonathan, any sort of seed, as wheat, barley, rye, rice, &c.



or of figs, or vines, or pomegranates; it is not a soil fit to plant such trees in, nor would they grow were they planted:



neither is there any water to drink; for them and their cattle, and therefore must be a miserable place for so large a body of people to subsist in.





Numbers 20:6



Ver. 6. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly,.... Like fugitives, as Aben Ezra; they fled from them through fear, lest they should rise and fall upon them, and stone them, as their fathers were ready to do in a like case, Ex 17:4. It is very likely this assembly gathered about the tents of Moses and Aaron, who went from thence unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; where the Lord had promised to meet Moses, and speak unto him, Ex 29:42



and they fell upon their faces; to pray, as Aben Ezra, that God would forgive the sin, of the people, and not break forth in his wrath against them, as he sometimes had done, and as their sin deserved, and that he would grant them what was needful for them. In the Vulgate Latin version the following words are added as their prayer,



"and they cried unto the Lord, and said, Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, the fountain of living water, that they being satiated, their murmuring may cease.''



But they are not neither in the Hebrew text, nor in the Greek version, nor the Chaldee paraphrases:



and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them; either to Moses and Aaron, to encourage them to expect their prayers would be answered; or to the people, to terrify them, and silence their murmurings; see

Nu 16:19.





Numbers 20:7



Ver. 7. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of what was the token of his glory, which perhaps was the cloud, with an uncommon lustre and brightness in it: saying; as follows.





Numbers 20:8



Ver. 8. Take thy rod,.... The rod of miracles, as the Targum of Jonathan; not the rod of Aaron, miraculous for its blossom and fruit, as some Jewish writers think; but the rod of Moses, with which he had done many wonders in Egypt, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, and particularly by smiting the rock at Horeb, when the Israelites wanted water, as they did now:



and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother; not only the heads of the people, but the body of them, as many as could be got together to see the miracle, and to receive the benefit of it:



and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; which was near, but a little way off, within sight, and might be pointed to: it was not the same rock that was smote before; that was in Horeb, this in the extremity of the land of Edom, as Aben Ezra observes; this was to be spoken to, and by a word speaking it would give out water; which was a trial of the faith of Moses and Aaron, as well as of the people, before whom, in a public manner, the rock was to be addressed, as if it was intelligent and all-sufficient:



and it shall give forth his water; not as though there was a fountain of water in it, but that water should flow from it, or God by it give water:



and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; by speaking to it: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink; sufficient for them both.





Numbers 20:9



Ver. 9. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord..... Which was laid up somewhere in the sanctuary, as well as the rod of Aaron,

Nu 17:7:



as he commanded him; being always faithful and obedient to him that appointed him.





Numbers 20:10



Ver. 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock,.... To which they were directed, and were to speak unto; before this they gathered not only the elders of the people, but as many of the congregation as could be well assembled together:



and he said unto them; Moses, who was bid to take the rod, and was the principal person concerned in this affair:



hear now, ye rebels; such their fathers had been, and such they now were, a rebellious generation ever since they were known by him; not only rebellious against him their chief magistrate, but against the Lord himself, murmuring against him, being discontented and disobedient, see De 9:23:



must we fetch you water out of this rock? not only signifying their unworthiness of having such a miracle wrought for them, and as showing some degree of reluctance to attempt it, but as expressing diffidence about it; not of the power of God to bring water out of the rock, but of his will to do it for such a rebellious people; or else their unreasonableness to expect any such thing should be done for them: when they were so wicked, how could they think that such a miracle should be wrought for them? so the Targum of Jonathan,



"out of this rock is it possible for us to fetch out water for you?''



so Aben Ezra, have we power to bring out water to you from it? This was said in a passion, as the manner of speaking shows; see Ps 106:32 many of the congregation as could be well assembled together:





Numbers 20:11



Ver. 11. And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice,.... At first it only brought out some drops, as Jarchi conjectures, and therefore Moses smote again, when it brought forth water plentifully: the Targum of Jonathan says,



"at the first time it dropped blood, at the second time came out much water.''



Could this be credited, it would make the agreement between this rock and Christ appear very manifest, from whom, when his side was pierced with a spear, there came out blood and water, Joh 19:34 for justification and sanctification. In what respect this rock was a type of Christ, as the other at Horeb, and the smiting of it an emblem of Christ being smitten with the rod of justice, according to the law of God, and of the abundance of water flowing from it, as typical of the abundance of grace, and the blessings of it, as coming through a smitten wounded Saviour, See Gill on "Ex 17:6", where the same things are said of another rock as of this, and both types of Christ;



and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also; there was enough for them and their cattle; for it came out in great quantities, in large streams, so that it ran down like a river, and which gave them drink as out of the great depths,

Ps 78:15, where the Psalmist makes mention of rocks in the plural number, for there were two that were smitten in two different places, and at two different times; the one was at Rephidim, the other, as here, in Kadesh; the one was in the first year of Israel's coming out of Egypt, this in the fortieth year of it; that was struck but once, this twice; of this second stone no mention is made by any traveller but one {a}, who coming from Mount Sinai, says,



"we passed by a large rock on our left hand, in which, as in the other rock which Moses struck with his rod, appear, from the bottom to the top, openings where water hath gushed out.''



{a} See a Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai, 1722. p. 42, 43. Ed. 2.





Numbers 20:12



Ver. 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron,.... Out of the cloud, where his glory appeared, and still continued:



because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel; that Moses and Aaron committed an evil which was displeasing to the Lord is certain, but what that was is variously represented. Some say their sin was, that the order was to speak to the rock, whereas it was smitten, and not spoken to; but why then was Moses bid to take the rod with him, if it was not to smite with it, as he had done before at Horeb? and besides, this would only have been the sin of Moses, and not of Aaron; others think, that what provoked the Lord was, that the Israelites were called "rebels"; but this is a name the Lord himself gave them, Nu 17:10, and was what they justly deserved; and what after this Moses says of them, which, had this been the case, he would have been careful to have abstained from, De 9:24. Others are of opinion, that what was displeasing to the Lord was, that the bringing the water out of the rock was ascribed to themselves, and not to him; "must we fetch you water", &c. Others suppose the sin was in smiting the rock twice, and in anger; but this could only be the fault of Moses at most. Dr. Lightfoot {b} thinks the particular fault was this, that Moses expressed his displeasure and resentment to the Israelites, that on their murmuring a new rock was opening, which portended a new and long stay in the wilderness, as the opening of the first rock at Horeb did when he and Aaron were in expectation of being soon out of the wilderness, and now they feared they were beginning anew their abode in it; but it is certain from the text that unbelief was their sin; they were diffident about the will of God to bring water out of the rock for such a rebellious people, and they did not put them in mind of the miracles God had wrought in former time, to encourage their faith; and so the Lord was not sanctified by them before the people, as he ought to have been:



therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them; the land of Canaan, a grant of which was made to their fathers, and particularly to this generation, and into which they would certainly be brought; but not by Moses and Aaron, who were excluded because of their unbelief, and accordingly both died before the entrance of the people into the land. This, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and Jarchi, was said with an oath; see Heb 3:18.



{b} See his Works, vol. 1. p. 36.





Numbers 20:13



Ver. 13. This is the water of Meribah,.... Or "strife": this is the name by which the water had in this place, and from this rock, was called; and which is the same name given to the place at Horeb, where a rock had been smitten, and water had flowed, as now, the first year they came out of Egypt; and to distinguish this from that, this is sometimes called Meribah-Kadesh, De 32:51, this being at Kadesh, as that was at Rephidim:



because the children of Israel strove with the Lord: for their chiding and striving with Moses was interpretatively striving with the Lord himself, whose ministers and servants they were:



and he was sanctified in them; that is, the glory of his divine perfections was displayed in them; either in the waters fetched out of the rock, which was a proof of the almighty power of God, and of his truth and faithfulness to his promises; or in the children of Israel, in whose sight, and for whose sake this miracle was wrought: the Targum of Jonathan expressly says, in Moses and Aaron, in not sparing these his saints, but expressing severity towards them for their sin; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it.





Numbers 20:14



Ver. 14. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom,.... This country was sometimes governed by kings, and sometimes by "dukes", see Ge 36:14. At the time of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, we read of the dukes of Edom, Ex 15:15, and here, thirty nine years after, of a king of Edom, but who he was is not certain. Bishop Usher takes him to be the same with Hadar, the last of the race of kings mentioned in Ge 36:39, to him Moses sent messengers with a request, which follows after a preamble to it; who were the messengers is not said; the place from whence they were sent is Kadesh, a city on the borders of the land of Edom; but not Kadeshbarnea, Aben Ezra says, though some are of opinion it is the same, see Nu 20:1:



thus saith thy brother Israel; the Israelites and Edomites springing from two men, Jacob and Esau, who were twin brothers, and is observed to ingratiate themselves to the Edomites, and gain their request, pleading relation to them:



thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us; what an uncomfortable condition they had been in for many years, which was well known to Edom, a neighbouring country, as is reasonable to suppose; since the fame of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, passing through the Red sea, and being so long in the wilderness, was spread everywhere; this was said to move their pity.





Numbers 20:15



Ver. 15. How our fathers went down into Egypt,.... Jacob and his twelve sons, with their children:



and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; even the space of four hundred and thirty years, Ex 12:40



and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers; used them ill, brought them into bondage, and made their lives bitter, laid heavy tasks and burdens upon them, as well as slew their male children, see Ex 1:7.





Numbers 20:16



Ver. 16. And when we cried unto the Lord,.... By reason of their bondage, and to be delivered from it, Ex 2:24:



he heard our voice; their prayer to him, as the Targum of Jonathan, for help and deliverance, Ex 2:24:



and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; one of the ministering angels, as the same Targum, and so Aben Ezra; though he observes that some interpret it of Moses, as do Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Ben Melech, which is not likely; since Moses is the person that sent this message to the king of Edom, who would not easily understand it of him, if so he meant; nor would the mention of it be of any consequence and avail with him; whereas to understand it of some divine and heavenly agent, sent by the Lord on so important an affair, might make it the more remarkable, and to be regarded by him: and indeed no other is meant than the Angel of God's presence, who appeared to Moses in the bush, and sent him to Pharaoh to demand the dismission of the children of Israel; and who, by him, wrought the wonders in Egypt, and brought Israel from thence, and went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire:



and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border; not that they were properly in the city, but near it, for they dwelt in tents in the wilderness; nor would that, or anyone city, hold so large a number as they consisted of.





Numbers 20:17



Ver. 17. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country,.... That being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were:



we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards; to harm them, and injure any man in his private property, by gathering the fruit of them, if the season of the year for it, or by trampling them down:



neither will we drink of the water of the wells; which private persons had dug, for the watering of their fields and vineyards, and for other uses, at least without paying for it; or only of the waters of the rivers, common to all passengers; from hence it appears, that the country of Edom was not then such a barren country as in later times, and as travellers {c} now report it is; See Gill on "Mal 1:3"



we will go by the king's highway; not the way in which the king used to walk, or which he should order them to walk in, as Aben Ezra; but the public roads, common to all his subjects, and travellers to walk in by his allowance; and such roads are now called by us the king's highway:



we will not turn to the right hand, or to the left; to do any injury to any person's property, but go straight forward:



until we have passed thy borders; from one to another, and got quite through the country.



{c} See Shaw's Travels, 4. 438. Ed. 2.





Numbers 20:18



Ver. 18. And Edom said unto him,.... The king of Edom replied to Israel, represented by the messengers sent in their name:



thou shall not pass by me; through my country:



lest I come out against thee with the sword; or with those that use the sword, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, with an army of soldiers with their drawn swords in their hands, to slay them as enemies.





Numbers 20:19



Ver. 19. And the children of Israel said unto him,.... The messengers sent by the children of Israel made answer to the king of Edom:



we will go by the highway; we desire no other favour but that of the public road; we propose not to go through any part of the country that is enclosed and cultivated, to do any damage to it:



if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it; as it was usual, and still is, to buy water in those countries near the Red sea, where it is scarce. We are told {d}, that at Suess, a city on the extremity of the Red sea, there is no water nearer than six or seven hours journey towards the north east, which is brought from thence on camels; and a small vessel of it is sold for three or four medinas, and a larger vessel for eight or ten, according to the demand for it; a medina is an Egyptian piece of money, worth about three halfpence of our English money:



I will only (without doing anything else) go through on my feet; as fast as I can, without saying anything to the inhabitants to terrify and distress them, and without doing them any injury. Some render it, I will only go "with my footmen" {e}; foot soldiers, an army on foot, as Israel were.



{d} See a Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai, p. 10, 11. Ed. 2. {e} ylgrb "cum meo exercitu pedestri"; so some in Fagius & Vatablus.





Numbers 20:20



Ver. 20. And he said, thou shall not go through,.... Which is an absolute and peremptory denial:



and Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand; the king raised the militia of his country, and came at the head of a powerful army to hinder their passing into it; being fearful and jealous, lest such a large body as they were should seize on his country, or spoil it, not relying on their promises; and this might arise also from the old grudge of Esau against Jacob, and which continued in his posterity, and might now be revived upon their going to Canaan to possess the earthly blessing conferred on Jacob and his seed: however, it seems, though the Edomites would not let Israel pass through their country, yet they furnished them with food and drink for their money, De 2:28.





Numbers 20:21



Ver. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his country,.... Notwithstanding their near relation to each other, and the fair promises Israel made:



wherefore Israel turned away from him: patiently bearing the refusal, and not resenting it; being ordered, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, by the Word of heaven, not to make war with them, because the time was not yet come to take vengeance on Edom by their hands; and to the same purpose the Targum of Jerusalem.





Numbers 20:22



Ver. 22. And the children of Israel, [even] the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh,.... Not directly, but after they had continued there some time, and had furnished themselves with provisions for their journey, which they bought of the Edomites, see Jud 11:17, "the whole congregation" is observed to Journey from hence, not one of them being lost by the king of Edom's coming out against them; these went out complete and perfect, safe and sound:



and came unto Mount Hor; which, according to Bunting {f}, was forty eight miles from Kadesh; this had not its name from the Horim or Horites, nor they from that, their name being written with a different letter, but from Harar, a mountain, for the word itself signifies a mountain; wherefore it may be rendered, "a mountain of the mountain", which Jarchi interprets a mountain on the top of a mountain. Josephus {g} says, that here stood a city, formerly called Arce, since Petra, surrounded with an high mountain, where Aaron went and died; and Pliny says {h} of Petra, that it is encompassed with inaccessible mountains.



{f} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 83. {g} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 7. {h} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.





Numbers 20:23



Ver. 23. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor,.... When they were at the foot of that mountain, in the valley adjoining to it:



by the coast of the land of Edom; which they were still upon the borders of, and were going round it, not being permitted to go through it:



saying; as follows.





Numbers 20:24



Ver. 24. Aaron shall be gathered unto his people,.... That is, shall die, for this phrase is a periphrasis of death, and is used in common both of good and bad men, and designs death in general, without regard to persons and places men go to at death:



for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel; the land of Canaan; and Aaron the priest, and so Moses the lawgiver, not being suffered to enter into that land, show the weakness and imperfection of the law, and of the Levitical priesthood, and the insufficiency of them, and of obedience to them to bring men to, and give them an entrance into the heavenly glory; that is done by another person, the antitype of Joshua, even Jesus:



because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah; that is, you Moses and Aaron; their unbelief is called a rebelling against the word of the Lord, for which it was threatened them, that they should not bring the people of Israel into the land of Canaan, and now the threatening begins to take place, see Nu 20:12.





Numbers 20:25



Ver. 25. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son,.... His eldest son, who was to succeed him in the priesthood, and did:



and bring them up unto Mount Hor; to the top of it, they being now at the foot of it, where the people of Israel lay encamped.





Numbers 20:26



Ver. 26. And strip Aaron of his garments,.... His priestly garments, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi:



and put them upon Eleazar his son; thereby declaring him to be high priest in his father's stead:



and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there; the phrase of gathering to his people is here explained of his dying.





Numbers 20:27



Ver. 27. And Moses did as the Lord commanded,.... Though it must be very cutting, distressing, and afflicting to him, to part with a brother so dear to him, and who had been so many years a companion of him, and a partner with him in the care and government of the people of Israel; but it being the Lord's will, he submits unto it, and faithfully and readily obeyed his orders, as he always did:



and they went up into Mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation; that is, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar, and perhaps there might be some others that went with them as servants, to attend them and assist them in some things to be done, particularly in the burial of Aaron; they all saw Aaron go up, but he came down no more, and so it was ordered in this public manner, that they might be witnesses of the translation of the priesthood from Aaron to Eleazar, who, after this affair was over, came down with Moses.





Numbers 20:28



Ver. 28. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments,.... His priestly garments, which, very probably, were put on at the foot of the mountain, on purpose for the transaction of this affair, since they were not in common worn, but only when in service; the same hands that clothed Aaron with them at first, stripped him of them, and both were done at the command of God; as the stripping of those garments was a divesting Aaron of his office, so it was a figure of the disannulling of his priesthood, when the Messiah should come, a priest after another order:



and put them upon Eleazar his son; which was an investing him with the office of high priest in his father's room; and which, as it must give Aaron pleasure and satisfaction to see his son put into his office before he died, so it signified the continuance of it in succession in his posterity, and was a confirmation of it; and it must be pleasing to Moses and the people of Israel to observe the care and faithfulness of God in providing for the succession of the priesthood:



and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; quietly, comfortably, and contentedly, without the least murmuring or repining: this was on the first day of the fifth month, as appears from Nu 33:38, that is, of the month Ab, as the Targum of Jonathan here says; and in this the Jewish writers {k} agree in general, which month answers to part of July and part of August; and in this same place where he died he was buried, as is evident from De 10:6, wherefore no credit is to be given to the Arabs, who show a stone not far from Mount Sinai, about two feet high from the ground, on which are seen some unknown characters, which, they say, were engraven by Jeremiah the prophet, in honour of Moses and Aaron, who were buried there {l}:



and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount; after Aaron was dead and buried.



{k} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 10. p. 29. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2. {l} Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai, p. 40. Ed. 2.





Numbers 20:29



Ver. 29. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead,.... Not that they saw his dead body, but they perceived by the relation of Moses, and by various circumstances, as not seeing Aaron come down, whom they saw go up, and seeing Eleazar with Aaron's garments on him, and perhaps by tokens of mourning in Moses and Eleazar; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say, they saw them come down from the top of the mountain, with their garments rent, and ashes on their heads, weeping and lamenting:



they mourned for Aaron thirty days; the whole month out; so long public mourning with the Jews lasted, as Josephus {m} relates:



[even] all the house of Israel; men and women, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi: no doubt it was for the amiable virtues and abundant grace that were in him, and the many services he had done for them, both before and since he was invested with the priestly office; and oftentimes the memory of such things is revived after the death of a good man, which are not so much taken notice of in his life, nor he be thanked for them, or have honour and respect shown him on account of them; but when dead, he, and what he has done, are spoken well of, and his loss lamented.



{m} De Bello Jud. l. 3. c. 8. sect. 5.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Numbers 21:1



INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 21



This chapter gives an account of the defeat of King Arad, the Canaanite, Nu 21:1 of the murmurings of the children of Israel, because of difficulties in travelling round, the land of Edom, for which they were punished with fiery serpents,

Nu 21:4 and how that upon their repentance a brazen serpent was ordered to be made, and to be erected on a pole, that whoever looked to it might live, Nu 21:7 and of the several journeys and stations of the children of Israel, until they came to the land of the Amorites, Nu 21:10, when they sent a message to Sihon their king, to desire him to grant them a passage through his country; but he refusing, they fought with him, smote him, and possessed his land, concerning which many proverbial sayings were used, Nu 21:21 and the chapter is concluded with the defeat of Og, king of Bashan, Nu 21:33.



Ver. 1. And [when] King Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south,.... Arad seems rather to be the name of a place, city, or country, of which the Canaanite was king, than the name of a man, since we read of the king of Arad, Jos 12:14 see also Jud 1:16 and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem here render it, the king of Arad; and the Targum of Jonathan says, he changed his seat and reigned in Arad, which might have its name from Arvad, a son of Canaan, Ge 10:18 and Jerom says {n}, that Arath, the same with Arad, is a city of the Amorites, near the wilderness of Kadesh, and that to this day it is shown, a village four miles from Malatis and twenty from Hebron, in the tribe of Judah; and so Aben Ezra observes, that the ancients say, this is Sihon (the king of the Amorites), and he is called a Canaanite, because all the Amorites are Canaanites; but, according to Jarchi, the Amalekites are meant, as it is said, "the Amalekites dwell in the land of the south": Nu 13:29 and so the Targum of Jonathan here,



"and when Amalek heard, that dwelt in the land of the south;''



what he heard is particularly expressed in the following clause:



heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies: either after the manner of spies, or rather by the way in which the spies went thirty eight years ago, which was the way of the south, where this Canaanitish king dwelt, see Nu 13:17, the Septuagint version leaves the word untranslated, taking it for the name of a place, and reads, "by the way of Atharim", so the Samaritan Pentateuch and Arabic version; and did such a place appear to have been hereabout, it would be the most likely sense of the passage; for as the spies were never discovered by the Canaanites, the way they went could not be known by them; nor is it very probable that, if it had been known, it should be so called, since nothing of any consequence to them as yet followed upon it:



then he fought against Israel; raised his forces and marched out against them, to oppose their passage, and engaged in a battle with them:



and took some of them prisoners; according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, great numbers of them; but Jarchi says, only one single maidservant.



{n} De locis Heb. fol. 87. K.





Numbers 21:2



Ver. 2. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord,.... The Israelites made supplication to the Lord for help against their enemies, and that he would give them victory over them, and made promises to him:



and said, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand; certainly and entirely deliver them, so as that a complete victory shall be obtained over them:



then will I utterly destroy their cities; or "anathematize", or devote them to utter destruction {o}; slay man and beast, burn their houses and take their goods, not for a spoil, for their own private use, but reserve them for the service of God; all which is implied in the vow made, as was done to Jericho, Jos 6:21 and so it is a vow, as Abendana observes, of what they would do when they came to the land of Canaan.



{o} ytmrxhw "et anathematisabo", Montanus; "devovebo", Tigurine version.





Numbers 21:3



Ver. 3. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel,.... In their prayers and vows; with acceptance heard, and answered them according to their wish:



and delivered up the Canaanites: into their hands, gave them victory over them:



and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; that is, "anathematized" them, and devoted them to destruction; for as yet they did not actually destroy them, since we read of Arad afterwards,

Jos 12:14, but this they did in Joshua's time, when the whole land of Canaan came into their hands; for had they entered the land now, and took and destroyed the cities belonging to Arad, they would doubtless have proceeded, and pursued their conquests, and not have returned into the wilderness again to go round about Edom, in order to enter another way; many think, as Aben Ezra observes on Nu 21:1 that this section was written by Joshua, after the land was subdued:



and he called the name of the place Hormah; which before was called Zephath, and it seems to have its name from various disasters which happened at this place; as the defeat of the Israelites by the Amalekites, Nu 14:45, and here of the Canaanites by the Israelites, and afterwards of the inhabitants of this place by Judah and Simeon, Jud 1:17 it had its name from "Cherem", the anathema or destruction it was devoted to.





Numbers 21:4



Ver. 4. And they journeyed from Mount Hor,.... After the battle with the king of Arad, and the defeat of him:



by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom; which lay by it, and from whence it had the name of the Red sea, Edom signifying red; and by the way of that the Israelites must needs go, to go round that country:



and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way; because it was going back instead of going forward to Canaan's land, and because of the length of the way; it was a round about way they were going; when, could they have been admitted to have passed through the country of Edom, the way would have been short; or had they pursued their victory over the Canaanite, they would have gone directly into the land; and this perhaps was what fretted, vexed, and discouraged them, that they were obliged to go back, and take such a circuit, when they had such an opportunity of entering; and they might be distressed also with the badness and the roughness of the way, the borders of Edom being rocky and craggy: it is in the original text, "their soul or breath was short" {p}; they fetched their breath short, being weary and faint with travelling, or through anger, as angry persons do, when in a great passion: so the people of God travelling through the wilderness of this world are often discouraged, because of the difficulties, trials, and troubles they meet with in the way, from sin, Satan, and the world, and are fretful and impatient; but though they are led about and walk in a round about way, and in a rough way, yet in a right way to the city of their habitation, Ps 107:7.



{p} vpn ruqtw "et abbreviata est anima", Montanus, Munster, Fagius, Vatablus; "decurtata", Piscator.





Numbers 21:5



Ver. 5. And the people spake against God,.... Who went before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, for leading them in such a way; that is, against Christ, as the apostle has taught us to interpret it,

1Co 10:9, and is no inconsiderable proof of the deity of Christ; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,



"and the people thought in their heart, and spake against the Word of the Lord,''



the essential Word and Son of God:



and against Moses; his servant, for obeying the orders of the Lord, and leading and guiding the people as he directed him:



wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? ascribing this equally to God and to Moses; using a strange word, as Aben Ezra calls it, being in a great passion, and not considering well what they said; showing great ingratitude for such a mercy, and representing it in a wrong light, as if the intent of bringing them from thence was to slay them in the wilderness:



for [there] is no bread; no bread corn, nothing in the wilderness to make bread of; nothing that they called and accounted bread, otherwise they had manna, as is presently owned:



neither [is there] any water; any fresh water fit to drink, otherwise they were near the sea; what they had from the rock, lately, perhaps was now spent, and it did not follow them as the other rock had:



and our soul loatheth this light bread; the manna; this very light, this exceeding light bread, the radicals of the word {q} used being doubled, which increases the signification: if to be understood of light and easy digestion, it was the more to be valued; but perhaps they meant, it had but little substance and virtue in it, and was not filling and satisfying; or rather that it was exceeding vile, mean, and despicable; so they called the bread of heaven, angel's food, this wonderful gift of Providence; in like manner is Christ, the hidden manna, treated, and his Gospel, and the precious truths of it, by unregenerate men and carnal professors, 1Co 1:23.



{q} lqlqh "levissime", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Fagius, Vatablus; "vilissimi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Numbers 21:6



Ver. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,.... Of which there were great numbers in the deserts of Arabia, and about the Red sea; but hitherto the Israelites were protected from them by the cloud about them, but sinning, the Lord suffered them to come among them, to punish them; these are called fiery, either from their colour, for in Arabia, as there were serpents of a golden colour, as Aelianus {r} relates, to which the brazen serpent, after made, bore some likeness, so there were others in the same parts of Arabia of a red or scarlet colour, as Diodorus Siculus says {s}, of a span long, and their bite entirely incurable; or else they are so called from the effect of them, exciting heat and thirst in those they bit; so Jarchi says, they are so called because they burn with the poison of their teeth: these, very probably, were flying ones, as may seem from Isa 14:29 and being sent of God, might come flying among the people and bite them; and such there were in the fenny and marshy parts of Arabia, of which many writers speak {t}, as flying from those parts into Egypt, where they used to be met by a bird called Ibis, which killed them, and for that reason was had in great veneration by the Egyptians; and Herodotus {u} says they are nowhere but in Arabia, and also {w} that they of that kind of serpents, which are called Hydri, their wings are not feathered, but like the wings of bats, and this Bochart {x} takes to be here meant:



and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died; for, as before related from Diodorus Siculus, their bites were altogether incurable; and Solinus {y} says, of the same Arabian flying serpents, that their poison is so quick, that death follows before the pain can be felt; and of that kind of serpent, the Hydrus, it is said by Leo Africanus {z}, that their poison is most pernicious, and that there is no other remedy against the bite of them, but to cut off that part of the member bitten, before the poison can penetrate into the other parts of the body: the Dipsas, another kind of serpent, which others are of opinion is designed, by biting, brings immediately a thirst on persons, intolerable and almost not extinguishable, and a deadly one, unless help is most speedily had; and if this was the case here it was very bad indeed, since there was no water: Solinus {a} says, this kind of serpent kills with thirst; Aristotle {b} speaks of a serpent some call the sacred one, and that whatsoever it bites putrefies immediately all around it: these serpents, and their bites, may be emblems of the old serpent the devil, and of his fiery darts, and of sin brought in by him, and which he tempts unto, the effects of which are terrible and deadly, unless prevented by the grace of God.



{r} De Animal. l. 10. c. 13. {s} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 180. {t} Herodot. Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 15. Aelian. de Animal. l. 2. c. 38. Mela, l. 3. c. 9. Solin. Polyhistor, c. 45. & alii. {u} Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 109. {w} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 76. {x} Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 13. col. 423. {y} Polyhist. c. 45. {z} Apud Scheuchzer, Physic. Sacr. vol. 2. p. 386. {a} Polyhist. c. 40. {b} Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 29.





Numbers 21:7



Ver. 7. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, we have sinned,.... Being bitten with serpents, and some having died, the rest were frightened, and came and made an humble acknowledgment of their sins to Moses:



for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; murmuring at their being brought out of Egypt, and because they had no better provision in the wilderness; concluding they should die there for want, and never enter into the land of Canaan, of which evils they were now sensible, and confessed them:



pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us; or "the serpent" {c}, in the singular, which is put for the plural, as it often is; or the plague of the serpent, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it might cease, and they be no more distressed by them: they were sensible they came from God, and that none could remove them but him; and knowing that Moses was powerful in prayer, and had interest with God, they entreat him to be their intercessor, though they had spoken against him and used him ill:



and Moses prayed for the people; which proves him to be of a meek and forgiving spirit; who, though he had been so sadly reflected on, yet readily undertakes to pray to God for them.



{c} vxn ta "serpentem", Montanus; "hunc serpentem", Piscator,





Numbers 21:8



Ver. 8. And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Out of the cloud; or, it may be, Moses went into the sanctuary, and there prayed, and the Lord answered him from between the cherubim:



make them a fiery serpent; not a real one, but the likeness of one, one that should very much resemble the fiery serpents Israel had been bitten with:



and set it upon a pole; a standard, banner, or ensign, as the word signifies; perhaps meaning one of the poles on which their ensigns were carried: the Targum of Jonathan renders it, on an high place, that so it might be seen by all in the camp:



and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live; which is very wonderful, that by looking to the figure of a serpent, men should be cured of the bites of real ones, and which bites were deadly; the virtue of healing could not come from the figure, but from God, who appointed it to be made, the Targum of Jonathan adds, that one bitten should live,



"if he directed his heart to the Word of the Lord,''



even to that divine Logos or Word of God, whose lifting up was figured hereby; see Joh 3:14.





Numbers 21:9



Ver. 9. And Moses made a serpent of brass,.... Which was the most proper metal to make it of, that it might resemble the fiery serpents, whether of a golden or scarlet colour: and Diodorus Siculus {d} speaks of some of the colour of brass, whose bite was immediately followed with death, and by which, if anyone was struck, he was seized with terrible pains, and a bloody sweat flowed all over him; and this was chosen also, because being burnished and bright, could be seen at a great distance, and with this metal Moses might be furnished from Punon, the next station to this, where they now were, Zalmonah, as appears from Nu 33:42 a place famous for brass mines, and which Jerom {e} says, in his time, was a little village, from whence brass metal was dug, by such that were condemned to the mines:



and put it upon a pole; as he was directed:



and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived: which was very marvellous, and the more so, if what physicians say is true, as Kimchi relates {f}, that if a man bitten by a serpent looks upon a piece of brass he dies immediately: the lifting up of this serpent on a pole for such a purpose was a figure of the lifting up of Christ, either upon the cross, or in the ministry of the word, that whosoever looks unto him by faith may have healing, See Gill on "Joh 3:14",where this type or figure is largely explained: the station the Israelites were now at, when this image was made, is called Zalmonah, which signifies an image, shadow, or resemblance, as the brazen serpent was; from Mount Hor, where they were last, to this place, according to Bunting {g}, were twenty eight miles: this serpent did not remain in the place where it was set, but was taken with them, and continued until the days of Hezekiah, 2Ki 18:4.



{d} Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 560. {e} De locis Heb. fol. 91. G. {f} Sepher Sherash. rad. vxn {g} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. 83.





Numbers 21:10



Ver. 10. And the children of Israel set forward,.... From Zalmonah, and came to Punon, which, according to the above writer, was twenty miles from it; though here indeed, some think, the brazen serpent was set up, here being, as before observed, brass mines to furnish with that metal:



and pitched in Oboth; which was twenty four miles from Punon, as says the same writer: the word signifies bottles; perhaps here the Israelites got water and filled their bottles, or, as others think, they filled them with the wine of Moab, and called the name of the place from thence; it is perhaps the same with the Eboda of Ptolemy {h}, which he places in Arabia Petraea; and of which Pliny {i} also makes mention.



{h} Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. {i} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.





Numbers 21:11



Ver. 11. And they journeyed from Oboth,.... How long they stayed there is not certain:



and pitched at Ijeabarim; which, according to Bunting {k}, was sixteen miles from Oboth; Jarchi says it was the way that passengers pass by Mount Nebo to the land of Canaan, and which divides between the land of Moab and the land of the Amorites:



in the wilderness which is before Moab; called the wilderness of Moab, De 2:8



towards the sunrising; the east side of the land of Moab,

Jud 11:18.



{k} Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. 83.)





Numbers 21:12



Ver. 12. From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zered. Or the brook Zered, as in De 13:14 that is near it: this seems to be the same station with Dibongad, Nu 33:45, and which, according to the above writer, was sixteen miles from Ijeabarim.





Numbers 21:13



Ver. 13. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon,.... A river on the borders of Moab:



which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites; according to Jarchi, they went round the land of Moab, all to the south and east, and came not into the border of Moab, as Jephthah said, Jud 11:18 but before they came hither they had a station at Almondiblathaim, Nu 33:46



for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites; a river which divided these two countries, and bounded them; and Moses is the more particular in this account, to show that the Israelites took nothing from the Moabites, but what the Amorites had taken from them, they being charged not to distress the Moabites and Ammonites, De 2:9, see Jephthah's defence, Jud 11:15.





Numbers 21:14



Ver. 14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord,.... A history of wars in former times, which the Lord had suffered to be in the world; and which, as Aben Ezra thinks, reached from the times of Abraham and so might begin with the battle of the kings in his time, and take in others in later times, and particularly those of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and his conquests of some parts of Moab; and to this book, which might be written by some one of those nations, Moses refers in proof of what he here says:



what he did in the Red sea; that is, what Sihon king of the Amorites did, or the Lord by him, "at Vaheb in Suphah", as the words may be rendered; either against a king, or rather city, of Moab, whose name was Vaheb, in the borders of the land of Moab, or how he destroyed that city Vaheb with a storm or terrible assault {l}:



and in the brooks of Arnon: some places situated on the streams of that river, which were taken by the Amorites from the Moabites, as the book quoted plainly testified.



{l} Vid. L'Empereur. Not. in Mosis Kimchi odoiporia p. 195.





Numbers 21:15



Ver. 15. And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar,.... All that part of the country which lay upon the stream, as far as the city of Ar, the metropolis of Moab, called Ar of Moab, Isa 15:1,



and lieth upon the border of Moab; as that city did; so far goes the quotation out of the aforesaid book, as a proof of what was taken by the Amorites from the Moabites, and were not in their possession when Israel were upon their borders; and therefore, in taking them from the Amorites, did no wrong to Moab.





Numbers 21:16



Ver. 16. And from thence they went to Beer,.... A place so called from a well which sprung up here, of which the following account is given:



that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses; promising him to give it to the children of Israel, without asking for it; which was a very singular favour, and for which they were thankful: saying to him,



gather the people together, and I will give them water; for as they were now gone from the river Arnon, and the streams and brooks of it, they might be in want of water, though they did not murmur as they had been used to do; and without their petition for it, the Lord promises to give it to them; and that they might be witness of the miracle that would be wrought for them, they are ordered to be gathered together.





Numbers 21:17



Ver. 17. Then Israel sang this song,.... Being affected with the free favour and good will of God towards them:



spring up, O well; for the springing up of which they prayed in faith, believing in the promise of God, that it would spring up; and so encouraged one another not only to believe it, but even to sing on account of it before it actually did:



sing ye unto it; or on account of it praise the Lord for it; or "answer to it" {m}, it being their manner to sing their songs by responses, or alternately.



{m} hl wne "respondete ei", Montanus; "alternis canite ei", Tigurine version, Piscator.





Numbers 21:18



Ver. 18. The princes digged the well,.... The princes and heads of the several tribes:



the nobles of the people digged it; the seventy elders, according to the Targum of Jonathan:



by the direction of the lawgiver; either the Lord himself, the lawgiver of his people, who pointed out the spot, and directed the princes where to dig, that is, be did this by Moses; and who, as Jarchi thinks, is the lawgiver, and not amiss: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render the word by Scribes, in the plural number, and interpret them of Moses and Aaron: and this the princes and nobles "dug with their staves"; either their walking sticks, or their rods, the ensigns of their authority; with these they smote the ground, or stuck them in a soft and sandy place, upon which the waters bubbled up and flowed out. Dr. Shaw {n} chooses to render the words, "with their united applause", or "clapping of hands", as the word Nev in Chaldee signifies; or it may be expressed, as by Dr. Hunt, quoted by him, "by describing" or "marking out" the figure or fashion of the well "with staves". Mr. Ainsworth thinks that this well signified Christ, the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters; and the waters of it the Spirit and his graces, which are a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life; the means of which are the labours of the governors of the church, the ministers of Christ,



by preaching the word, and opening the Scriptures; and such grace is worthy of a song, and to be had with joy out of the wells of salvation,

Isa 12:3:



and from the wilderness they went to Mattanah; from the wilderness near Arnon, which came out of the coasts of the Amorites, Nu 21:13 to a place which signifies a gift. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem render it,



"and from the wilderness it was given to them for a gift''



that is, the well; and so the people of God, that are called out of the wilderness of this world, and come up from it, are called to partake of the gifts and blessings of grace, which are freely given unto them of God.



{n} Travels, p. 67. Ed. 2.





Numbers 21:19



Ver. 19. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth. All the Targums interpret this, and the following verse, not of the journeying of the children of Israel, but of the motion of the well, that that, from the place from whence it was given them, descended with them into the valleys, and from thence to the high places, as these words signify: and indeed those places are not mentioned in the journeys of the children of Israel, Nu 33:1 and were not stations where they pitched, but places they passed through before they came to Abarim, and the wilderness of Kedemoth.





Numbers 21:20



Ver. 20. And from Bamoth, [in] the valley,.... Or rather "to the valley", as the Targum of Onkelos, since Bamoth signifies high places; though, according to the Jerusalem Talmud {o}, Bamoth, Baal, which seems to be the same place, was in a plain:



that is in the country of Moab; the valley belonged to Moab, into which Israel came:



to the top of Pisgah; not that the valley reached to the top, nor did the children of Israel go to the top of it, only Moses, but rather to the bottom, which indeed is meant; for it intends the beginning of it, where Pisgah, which was an high mountain near the plains of Moab, began, and which was properly the foot of it:



which looketh towards Jeshimon; that is, Pisgah, as Jarchi rightly interprets it, which looked over a place called Jeshimon; and which signifies a wilderness, and is no other indeed than the wilderness of Kedemoth, De 2:26 for from thence the following messengers were sent.



{o} Sheviith, fol. 38. 4.





Numbers 21:21



Ver. 21. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites,.... Who were one of the nations of the Canaanites, and a principal and powerful one, and who were devoted to destruction, and their land designed for the people of Israel; see Ge 15:16, at this time Sihon was their king, to whom Moses, in the name of Israel, sent a very peaceable message from the wilderness of Kedemoth, which lay near his country, De 2:26:



saying; as follows.





Numbers 21:22



Ver. 22. Let me pass through thy land,.... Through some part of it, which would have been a shorter way to the river Jordan, over which Israel was to pass into the land of Canaan; the terms proposed, or things to be observed in their passage, which they would bind themselves strictly to, are the same that were made to the king of Edom. See Gill on "Nu 20:17".





Numbers 21:23



Ver. 23. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border,.... Because he could not trust them, and confide in the promises they made, and thought it not safe to let such a body of people into any part of his dominions, Jud 11:20 and chiefly because his heart was hardened by the Lord, that he might be delivered into the hands of Israel, as was determined, De 2:30:



but Sihon gathered all his people together; all that were able to bear arms out of his cities, and which made no doubt a very numerous and powerful army; but then these being defeated, as they were, it became more easy to the Israelites to take their cities, where there were none left but women and children:



and went out against Israel into the wilderness; the wilderness of Kedemoth; not content to reject a peaceable message, he went out in an hostile manner against Israel, even out of his own dominions; so that he was the aggressor and unprovoked, which made his ruin appear the more just, and the children of Israel to have a better claim to his country conquered by them:



and he came to Jahaz; a frontier town in the land of Moab, see

Isa 15:4 and which, according to Bunting {p}, was sixteen miles from Abarim:



and fought against Israel; at the above place, where they had a pitched battle.



{p} Travels of the Patriarchs, p. 83.





Numbers 21:24



Ver. 24. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword,.... Slew him and his army, entirely routed them, and got a complete victory over them; God giving them up into their hands, who otherwise were a very strong, powerful, and warlike people; see Am 2:9



and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok; two rivers, the one to the south, the other to the north of his country; the one was the boundary of his country between him and the Moabites, the other the boundary of his country between him and the Ammonites, as it follows:



even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong; which is given as a reason why the Israelites proceeded no further in their conquest; there was another reason for that, which was the order of the Lord not to distress the Ammonites, nor meddle with them; though Jarchi makes this prohibition to be their strength, De 2:19, but this is given as a reason why Sihon could not extend his conquests further, because it was so well fortified, either by nature or art, or both, by the river Jabbok, by mountains and frontier towns, and particularly by Rabbah, as the Targum of Jonathan suggests, which was their royal city in later times, and a very strong place; see 2Sa 12:26.





Numbers 21:25



Ver. 25. And Israel took all these cities,.... Which lay between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; their particular names may be seen in

Nu 32:3,



and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites; being given to the Reubenites and Gadites, who inhabited them, as their possession and inheritance, Nu 32:2:



in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof; or "daughters thereof" {q}. Heshbon was the metropolis or mother city, and all the towns and villages adjacent were as daughters to it; of which city more is said in the following verses, See Gill on "Isa 15:4".



{q} hytnb "filiabus ejus", Montanus, Munster, Fagius, Grotius.





Numbers 21:26



Ver. 26. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites,.... His royal city, where he kept his palace, where he had resided for some time, and perhaps some of his predecessors; and therefore being now in his possession when taken by the Israelites, they had a good right and title to keep it, and dwell in it: and indeed this is here given as a reason of it,



who had fought against the former king of Moab; either the king that reigned before Balak, or some king of Moab, that reigned formerly, against whom one of the name of Sihon, which might be a common name to the kings of the Amorites, as Pharaoh to the Egyptians, had engaged in war:



and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon; and had been in the hands of the Amorites some years; and therefore the Moabites had no reason to object to the Israelites dwelling in it, and possessing it, which they had not taken from them, but from the Amorites in a lawful war. And for proof of this, reference is had to the bards and poets of those times, who were the persons that transmitted in verse the history of famous actions to posterity.





Numbers 21:27



Ver. 27. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say,.... The historical writers of those times, among the Amorites, who were usually poets, and wrote the history of the wars between the Moabites and Amorites in verse; as Homer among the Greeks wrote the wars of Troy; and the compositions of those ancient bards were short and compendious, and wrapped up in proverbial sayings, and enigmatical and figurative expressions, that they might be the better retained in memory, and therefore were called proverbialists. Jarchi says, they were Balaam and Beor that took up their parables, and said,



come into Heshbon; which words are the beginning of the song, and in which the Amorites are represented as inviting Sihon, and his nobles, to enter Heshbon, which he had taken, and make it his royal seat; or as encouraging one another to go into it and repair it, having suffered much at the taking of it, which seems to be confirmed by what follows:



let the city of Sihon be built and prepared; that is, let us set about rebuilding of the city, and let us fit it up for Sihon our king, and let it be called his city, and made the place of his residence, his palace, and where his court may be kept.





Numbers 21:28



Ver. 28. For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon,.... Not before, but after Sihon had subdued it, as Jarchi observes; and is to be understood of his soldiers going out from thence, and making desolations in the adjacent parts, like a strong fire, and the fierce flames of it there is no resisting; and so the Jerusalem Targum,



"for a people mighty, and burning like fire, are gone out of Heshbon:''



see Am 1:4: a flame from the city of Sihon: which is the same thing in other words, the city of Sihon being Heshbon, and a flame the same with fire; warriors, as both the Targums of Oakelos and Jerusalem interpret it; this seems to be what those composers undertook in their poetical way to foretell would be the case in future times; concluding, from the conquests already made, that they would be extended much further, and that no opposition could hinder:



it hath consumed Ar of Moab; the metropolis of the country of Moab, that is, they were as sure of it, and endeavoured to make the people by these their compositions as confident of it, that this city would fall into the hands of their armies, and be destroyed, as if it was already done; otherwise it does not appear that it ever was taken out of the hands of the Moabites, until taken by the Assyrians or Chaldeans; of this city See Gill on "Isa 15:1"



and the lords of the high places of Arnon; who had the government of the high, strong, and fortified places all along the river Arnon; these it is suggested would be conquered by the Amorites; all the three Targums interpret it of the priests and worshippers in the temples, and at the altars of the idols in Arnon; and it may be rendered, "the Baals of the high places of Arnon", as if the gods of those places should fall into the victors' hands; and which seems to have some confirmation from what follows; and it may be observed, that in these parts there were some places called Bamoth Baal, or the high places of Baal, see

Nu 22:41, and Beth Baal Meon, which has its name from its being the temple and habitation of Baal, Jos 13:17.





Numbers 21:29



Ver. 29. Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone,.... The whole country ruined, or likely to be so:



O people of Chemosh; which was the name of their idol, who is called the abomination of the Moabites, 1Ki 11:7:



he hath given his sons that escaped; that is, the idol Chemosh had given his sons, the men of the country that worshipped him, who escaped the sword of the Amorites, these,



and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites; who took captive what he slew not, or would do so, Chemosh their god not being able to preserve them, but obliged to deliver them up: thus the composers of this song insult the god of the Moabites, as it was usual for conquerors so to do; see Isa 10:10, though some think these are the words of the Israelites, making their observations upon the above song, which ends at verse twenty eight, and scoffing at the idol of the Moabites.





Numbers 21:30



Ver. 30. We have shot at them,.... Either the Amorites at the Moabites, or else the Israelites at the Amorites; for, according to Aben Ezra, these are the words of Moses, though they, with Nu 21:29, seem rather to be a continuation of the song of the old Amorite bards, describing the ruin of the country of Moab by them; and this clause may be rendered with the next, "their light, or lamp, is perished from Heshbon" {r}; or their yoke, as Jarchi, and so the Vulgate Latin version; that is, their kingdom, and the glory of it, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, and so Jarchi:



even unto Dibon; which was another city in the land of Moab; see Isa 15:2:



and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which [reached] unto Medeba; Nophah perhaps is the same with Nebo, mentioned along with Medeba, Isa 15:2, however, they were both places in Moab, and are mentioned to show how far the desolation had or would spread; and the whole is observed to prove, that this part of the country of Moab, now possessed by the Israelites, was taken from them, not by them, but by the Amorites, a people Israel now conquered, and so had a right to what they found them in the possession of.



{r} Nwbvx dba Mryn "lucerna eorum, Heshbon (seilicet) periit", Tigurine version; "regnum eorum periit a Chesbon", Pagninus, Vatablus; "imperium eorum", Munster.





Numbers 21:31



Ver. 31. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. Not the land of the Moabites; and by those means before mentioned; by conquering Sihon their king, they came into the possession of it, and took up their dwelling in it; this was the beginning of the conquest of the Canaanites, and an earnest and pledge of inheriting their land promised unto them; the Israelites that dwelt here were the tribes of Reuben and Gad.





Numbers 21:32



Ver. 32. And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer,.... Or Jazer, as it is called in Isa 16:9, another city that belonged to the Amorites, and which they had taken from the Moabites; and which came into the hands of the latter again, after the captivity of the ten tribes, as appears from the above places; according to Jerom {s}, it was fifteen miles distant from Heshbon:



and they took the villages thereof; not the spies, as Jarchi, but the Israelites under Moses; who upon the return of the spies, and the report they made, marched towards it, and took it, and all the towns and villages round about it; for it seems to have been a principal city:



and drove out the Amorites that were there; that dwelt there, and were in possession of it; otherwise they would not have attacked it, had it, and its villages, been in the hands of the Moabites.



{s} De locis Heb. fol. 92. G.





Numbers 21:33



Ver. 33. And they turned,.... From Jaazer, after they had taken it, and came back a little way:



and went up by the way of Bashan; which was a nearer way to Canaan, a fine country abounding with oxen and sheep, having rich pastures, and very famous for its oaks; it had its name from the mountain of Bashan in it, and has been since called Batanea; it was at this time in the hands of the Amorites, and from them it was taken by Israel, as follows: who marched this way for that purpose, or at least were so directed by the providence of God for that end:



and Og king of Bashan went out against them; who was of the race of the giants, and he himself of a gigantic stature, and was a king of the Amorites, as well as Sihon, De 3:8, he came out in an hostile manner against Israel, to stop them going any further:



he, and all his people: out of his many cities, a numerous army no doubt:



to the battle at Edrei; where it was fought between him and Israel. Jerom says {t} it was in his time called Adara, a famous city of Arabia, twenty four or twenty five miles from Bozra, and six from Ashtaroth Karnaim, the ancient seat of the Rephaim, or giants from whom Og sprung, Ge 14:5, and was the seat of Og now, from whence he came to Edrei or Adara, to meet and fight Israel there; see De 1:4.



{t} De locis Heb. fol. 87. I. & 92. M.





Numbers 21:34



Ver. 34. And the Lord said unto Moses, fear him not,.... Og being of a gigantic stature, and his forces numerous, might cause some fear in Moses, and in the people, and therefore the Lord encouraged them not to be afraid of him and his army:



for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; that is, he had determined to do it, and now promised it, and it might be depended on and looked upon as if actually done:



and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon; slay him and his people, and take possession of his country.





Numbers 21:35



Ver. 35. So they smote him and his sons, and all his people,.... They engaged in battle with him, slew him and his sons that came with him, and all his armies; and which consisted, as is probable, of all able to bear arms in all his cities; which the more easily came into the hands of the Israelites after this battle, in which such a carnage was made:



until there was none left him alive; so universal was the slaughter at the battle, and in the cities that fell into their hands; they utterly destroyed men, women, and children, De 3:3:



and they possessed his land; in which were sixty cities fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns; these were possessed by the half tribe of Manasseh, De 3:4.

 

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