Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 10:9
And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
9. 2Ch 13:12-16 relates an occasion on which the clarions brought success in battle.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9, 10. In Canaan the clarions are to be used in war ( Num 10:9) and in peace ( Num 10:10); and their purpose, in both, is to remind Jehovah of His people; see Num 5:26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For examples of the employment of trumpets in war compare marginal references and 2Ch 20:28. By employment of them was signified the dependence of Gods people on His aid.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. If ye go to war] These trumpets shall be sounded for the purpose of collecting the people together, to deliberate about the war, and to implore the protection of God against their enemies.
Ye shall be remembered before the Lord] When ye decamp, encamp, make war, and hold religious festivals, according to his appointment, which appointment shall be signified to you by the priests, who at the command of God, for such purposes, shall blow the trumpets, then ye may expect both the presence and blessing of Jehovah in all that ye undertake.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Which was practised accordingly. See Num 31:6; 2Ch 13:12.
Ye shall be saved from your enemies, if you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependence upon God for help, which condition is necessarily to be understood from divers others scriptures, where it is expressed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. If ye go to warIn the landof Canaan, either when attacked by foreign invaders or when they wentto take possession according to the divine promise, “ye [thatis, the priests] shall blow an alarm.” This advice wasaccordingly acted upon (Num 31:6;2Ch 13:12); and in thecircumstances it was an act of devout confidence in God. A solemn andreligious act on the eve of a battle has often animated the hearts ofthose who felt they were engaged in a good and just cause; and so theblowing of the trumpet, being an ordinance of God, produced thateffect on the minds of the Israelites. But more is meant by thewordsnamely, that God would, as it were, be aroused by the trumpetto bless with His presence and aid.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you,…. That enters in to invade it, to besiege cities, and distress the inhabitants of it:
then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets: a “tara-tan-tara” with both of them, to call the several tribes together to join against the enemy; or to call them to fasting and humiliation, to repentance and prayer, to seek the Lord in the exercise of these, and cry for help and assistance, for victory and salvation; for, as Ben Gersom observes, by this alarm their hearts would be broken and become contrite, and they would return to the Lord, and he would have mercy on them when they pray unto him; for such a sound makes a man’s heart shake and tremble, according to Am 3:6; see Jer 4:19; this is a third use of the trumpets, and in a mystical sense it may be observed, that saints are in a militant state, and have many enemies that come in to them to oppress them, sin, Satan, and the world; and the Gospel calls and encourages them to fight, furnishes them with armour, and assures them of victory, and directs them where to fight and with whom, and bids them endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ:
and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God; for a book of remembrance is written for them that fear God, humble themselves before him, and pray unto him:
and ye shall be saved from your enemies; as Israel from their temporal, so the people of God from their spiritual enemies, being made more than conquerors through him that loved them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(9) And if ye go to war.Better, And when ye shall go to war. In Num. 31:6 we read that in the war against the Midianites, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, had these trumpets of alarm (hazozeroth) in his hand. So also Abijah, in his address to Jeroboam, previously to the battle, lays great stress upon the fact that Judah had on their side the priests with the trumpets of alarm (2Ch. 13:12; 2Ch. 13:14). On the other hand, the seven priests who compassed the city of Jericho carried the shophar, or kereni.e., rams hornnot the hazozerah, or silver trumpet.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. If ye go to war The most virtuous and God-fearing nation may in defense of its life be compelled to engage in war. Until the conquest of the Canaanites Israel was commanded to wage an offensive war.
And ye shall be remembered “The blast of these trumpets,” says Keil, “was to call Israel to remembrance before Jehovah in time of war and on their feast days.” This anthropomorphic conception of Jehovah would be avoided by saying that Israel, in obeying this law, would be remembered or favored by him. We have intimation elsewhere that the divine regards were bestowed on moral and spiritual conditions accompanying the trumpet alarms. See Joe 1:14; Joe 2:1-16.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 10:9. If ye go to war in your land Bishop Patrick observes, that as these trumpets were to be used in summoning the armies of Israel to go forth to battle; so, previously to that, in calling the people together to implore a blessing upon their arms; as the latter part of the verse intimates, and as it is explained by Maimonides and other ancient interpreters: which exposition is confirmed by the prophet Joel, ch. Num 2:1; Num 2:15 where, at the same time that the alarm of war is ordered to be sounded, a fast is ordered to be proclaimed by blowing the trumpet.
And ye shall be remembered before the Lord Continues the sacred historian: the sounding of the trumpets being a kind of call upon God to assist them, and a sign to the people to implore and rely upon the divine aid:that they may be to you for a memorial before your God, Num 10:10 see Psa 150:3. In 2Ch 13:14-15 we read, that Judah, seeing themselves beset with dangers before and behind, cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with the trumpets; and it is here promised, that if they do so, [no doubt, a true repentance, is implied] they should be saved from their enemies.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Remark how very gracious the LORD is in his promises. LORD! give me grace, to be always looking and crying unto thee, in all my warfare. 1Jn 5:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 10:9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Ver. 9. Ye shall be remembered before the Lord. ] Who will arise, as it were, awakened by this sound of the trumpet. See 2Ch 13:12 Isa 51:9 . That is, by the prayer of faith; such as were the prayers of the ministers of Angrogna, in France, wherewith their enemies cried out, they were so bewitched that they could not fight. It was the custom of these poor persecuted Protestants, so soon as they saw the enemy approach, to cry all together for aid and help to the Lord: and when the combat was ended, constantly to give him thanks for the good success he had sent them. a So, at the siege of Montauban, the people of God, using daily humiliation, as their service would permit, did sing a psalm after it, immediately before their sallying forth: with this practice the enemy coming acquainted, ever upon the singing of the psalm, after which they expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, saying, They come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them.
a Act. and Mon., fol. 883.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
if ye go: Num 31:6, Jos 6:5, 2Ch 13:14
oppresseth: Jdg 2:18, Jdg 3:27, Jdg 4:2, Jdg 4:3, Jdg 6:9, Jdg 6:34, Jdg 7:16-21, Jdg 10:8, Jdg 10:12, 1Sa 10:18, Psa 106:42
then ye shall: Isa 18:3, Isa 58:1, Jer 4:5, Jer 4:19, Jer 4:21, Jer 6:1, Jer 6:17, Eze 7:14, Eze 33:3-6, Hos 5:8, Amo 3:6, Zep 1:16, 1Co 14:8
remembered: Gen 8:1, Psa 106:4, Psa 136:23, Luk 1:70-74
Reciprocal: Num 10:10 – a memorial Deu 20:2 – General Jdg 7:8 – trumpets 2Ch 13:12 – his priests Neh 4:18 – he that sounded Psa 108:11 – go forth Joe 2:1 – and sound
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 10:9. Ye shall be saved If you use this ordinance of God with trust and dependance upon God for help.