Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 11:35
[And] the people journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.
35. Hazeroth ] It is impossible to identify the site. The name denotes ‘enclosures,’ and might be applied to any spot where nomads were accustomed to stay with their flocks. Hazor is a similar name, and several places in the south of Palestine had names compounded with Hazor or Hazar.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Of which place See Poole “Num 33:17” See Poole “Deu 1:1“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
35. HazerothThe extremesouthern station of this route was a watering-place in a spaciousplain, now Ain-Haderah.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[And] the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth,…. After having stayed there a month or more, as is gathered from Nu 11:20;
and abode at Hazeroth; at least seven days, as appears from
Nu 12:15; which, according to Bunting g, was eight miles from Kibrothhattaavah, or Taberah, which were the same place.
g Travels, p. 82.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
From the graves of greediness the people removed to Hazeroth, and there they remained ( as in Exo 24:12). The situation of these two places of encampment is altogether unknown. Hazeroth, it is true, has been regarded by many since Burckhardt (Syr. p. 808) as identical with the modern Hadhra (in Robinson ‘s Pal. Ain el Hudhera), eighteen hours to the north-east of Sinai, partly because of the resemblance in the name, and partly because there are not only low palm-trees and bushes there, but also a spring, of which Robinson says ( Pal. i. p. 223) that it is the only spring in the neighbourhood, and yields tolerably good water, though somewhat brackish, the whole year round. But Hadhra does not answer to the Hebrew , to shut in, from which Hazeroth (enclosures) is derived; and there are springs in many other places in the desert of et Tih with both drinkable and brackish water. Moreover, the situation of this well does not point to Hadhra, which is only two days’ journey from Sinai, so that the Israelites might at any rate have pitched their tents by this well after their first journey of three days (Num 10:33), whereas they took three days to reach the graves of lust, and then marched from thence to Hazeroth. Consequently they would only have come to Hadhra on the supposition that they had been about to take the road to the sea, and intended to march along the coast to the Arabah, and so on through the Arabah to the Dead Sea (Robinson, p. 223); in which case, however, they would not have arrived at Kadesh. The conjecture that Kibroth-hattaavah is the same as Di-Sahab (Deu 1:1), the modern Dahab ( Mersa Dahab, Minna el Dahab), to the east of Sinai, on the Elanitic Gulf, is still more untenable. For what end could be answered by such a circuitous route, which, instead of bringing the Israelites nearer to the end of their journey, would have taken them to Mecca rather than to Canaan? As the Israelites proceeded from Hazeroth to Kadesh in the desert of Paran (Num 13:3 and Num 13:26), they must have marched from Sinai to Canaan by the most direct route, through the midst of the great desert of et Tih, most probably by the desert road which leads from the Wady es Sheikh into the Wady ez-Zuranuk, which breaks through the southern border mountains of et Tih, and passes on through the Wady ez-Zalakah over el Ain to Bir-et-Themmed, and then due north past Jebel Araif to the Hebron road. By this route they could go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea in eleven days (Deu 1:2), and it is here that we are to seek for the two stations in question. Hazeroth is probably to be found, as Fries and Kurtz suppose, in Bir-et-Themmed, and Kibroth-hattaavah in the neighbourhood of the southern border mountains of et Tih.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
35. Hazeroth This is identified with modern Ain Huderah by Robinson, Stanley, and Palmer. It is a plain begirt by tall cliffs of sandstone. “Here and there a hill or dyke of green stone, or a rock of rosy granite, contrasts or blends harmoniously with the rest; and in the midst, beneath a lofty cliff, nestles the dark-green palm-grove of Hazeroth such a landscape as none but the Great Artist’s hand could have designed.” Palmer’s Desert of the Exodus. “The region through which the Israelites had hitherto marched was a wide tangle of mountains, with occasional broad plains and numerous narrow wadies, twisting hither and thither. The approach to Hazeroth, however, had been over sandy plains broken by outstanding sandstone cliffs, but the camp itself had been pitched on the sides and in the basin of a hollow, surrounded by weird and fantastic sandstone walls of the most varied colours deep red and violet, and rich gold and scarlet, mingled with deep purple.” Geikie.
Chapter 12 The Jealousy of Aaron and Miriam.
In this chapter the position of Moses is firmly established. It can be compared with Numbers 16-17 where the position of Aaron was firmly established. In both cases they had been directly appointed by God, not by man.
Possibly Aaron and Miriam had become jealous because of the Spirit coming on the seventy elders as they stood with Moses. Aaron was ‘the Priest’ and Miriam a prophetess (Exo 15:20). Perhaps they felt, unreasonably, that Moses was supplanting them and raising up others with spiritual insight. Whatever the cause they began to mutter against Moses.
Because they dared not attack him openly they attacked his wife. She was a Cushite woman and not a true-born Israelite. This then enabled them to get at Moses himself. ‘Why should he think he was different from them?’ they asked. Did Yahweh only speak with Moses? Did He not also speak with Aaron and Miriam? How dangerous it is when we become proud of what God has given us, or the position in which He has placed us. But Yahweh immediately stepped in to make clear Moses’ unique position and in the end the two had to plead with Moses to intercede for them.
The construction of the passage is clear.
a They journey from Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth (Num 11:35).
b Miriam, with Aaron, turns against Moses (Miriam named first) (Num 12:1-2).
c Moses is the meekest man on earth (Num 12:3).
d Yahweh speaks to Moses, Aaron and Miriam and calls them into His presence (Num 12:4).
e The cloud comes down to the door of the Dwellingplace (Num 12:5).
f Yahweh’s definition of a prophet (Num 12:6).
f Yahweh’s declaration about Moses (Num 12:7-8).
e The cloud departs from the Dwellingplace leaving Miriam leprous (Num 12:9-10).
d Aaron pleads with Moses to go into Yahweh’s presence on their behalf (Num 12:11-13).
c Miriam is as one whose father spits in their face (Num 12:14).
b Miriam is cast out of the camp for seven days (Num 12:15).
a They journey from Hazeroth to the wilderness of Paran (Num 12:16).
It is clear from the chiastic pattern (of Num 11:31-34) that Num 11:35 belongs to the Chapter 12 and we have interpreted accordingly.
Num 11:35
‘From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth; and they abode at Hazeroth.’
The people moved from ‘the graves of craving’ to Hazeroth, the stage prior to Kadesh. Now they were not far from the land. If only they had left their cravings behind. But they had not. And sadly there were two others who had cravings which they should not have had, cravings for position and glory. Those two were Aaron and Miriam. They had forgotten the commandment, “You shall not covet”.
Num 12:1
‘And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.’
Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ sister and brother, had probably become jealous at the power that had been given to the seventy elders. Both probably felt that their influence had been lessened, Aaron because up to this point it had always been him who was next to Moses. He had been ‘the man’. There had been no rivals. And now suddenly there were seventy rivals. And Miriam because she was a prophetess and did not like the idea of seventy men who had prophesied possibly diminishing her position and respect. They were more concerned for their own position than for the expansion of God’s work. Thus, while not liking to attack Moses’ authority directly, they were looking for other grounds of criticism. They felt supplanted. They felt that Moses was not giving them the consideration that they deserved. Jealousy in spiritual spheres is a dreadful thing. And it can only result in a diminishing of the Spirit.
We note that Miriam is mentioned first and that the feminine verb is used in verse 1 (‘they spoke against’). She was clearly the most prominent in the attack on Moses. It may also be that she saw Moses’ new wife as a threat to her own position. Perhaps his new wife was more forceful than Zipporah had been. So the mention of Miriam first and the use of the feminine verb was in order to indicate that it was she who was the main culprit. But that is not to excuse Aaron. It would, however, help to explain why it was she who was punished most severely.
Ostensibly the main ground that they found was that he had married a Cushite woman. The argument would be that she was not a pure bred Israelite. In view of the restrictions on himself Aaron probably felt that that was not right. The priest had to take a virgin of his own people to wife (Lev 21:14). Why should Moses not have to do so as well? Why should he be any different? The woman was probably Sudanese (ancient ‘Ethiopia’). Their complaint was not because she was black but because they presumably felt that he was being inconsistent. After all Moses was a Levite and related to a priestly family. He ought to have remembered his position and to have married within the family! (It must be considered quite possible that Moses marriage had been diplomatic, a means of uniting together the true-born Israelites and the mixed multitude, but we are not told so. However it certainly confirmed that in Yahweh’s eyes both were on the same level once they were in the covenant).
Num 12:2
‘And they said, “Has Yahweh indeed spoken only with Moses? Has he not spoken also with us?” And Yahweh heard it.’
But then the criticism advanced. It became a direct attack on Moses himself. Was Moses not getting above himself? Did not Yahweh speak to them as well? Did they not therefore have a right to be consulted on such things as the elders, and Moses’ marriage? Should he not defer a little more to them? He was not giving them the respect due to them as spiritual equals with him. The pride of life was consuming them.
“And Yahweh heard it.” We need to beware of what we say, for God always hears us. And Yahweh was not pleased at what He heard. He had shown His graciousness to them both, and now they were taking it out on Moses because of their own pride And what Moses had done had not been on his own initiative. He had simply been obeying Yahweh. So in effect they were grumbling because God had not sufficiently considered their importance.
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! pause over this Chapter, and behold in Israel’s murmuring and disobedience the picture of thine own heart. How often hast thou repined at thy GOD’S appointment, when matters have for a short space appeared a little thwarting to flesh and blood? Many a time since grace renewed thy heart hast thou looked back to the days of thine unregeneracy, and like Israel, to the flesh pots of Egypt, seemed to think, in an angry hour, it was better with thee then than now. LORD! give me grace to admire and adore, in the reviews of thy forbearance and long-suffering, how unchangeable thy love is to thy people. Well may it be said concerning the sovereignty of thy tender purposes, as thou didst to the church of old, I am the LORD, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
But my soul, chiefly in the view of this Chapter, do thou contemplate him in his everlasting priesthood, whom Moses personated when the people cried unto him in their distress, and he prayed unto the LORD. Yes! thou ever precious JESUS! thou wert made our great High Priest with an oath; and our GOD and FATHER hath in the most solemn manner anointed thee to be our priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec. Help me then in all my afflictions and distresses by reason of sin, to be looking unto thee who art mighty to save. Help me also to be feeding on thee by faith, and never, never slight or despise this heavenly manna; nor covet the flesh pots of a carnal appetite. May a gracious GOD and FATHER take of his HOLY SPIRIT, and put upon me, as upon the seventy elders: and may this be my happiness under such gracious influence, to be living in the constant apprehension of the knowledge and enjoyment of the mystery of GOD, and of the FATHER, and of CHRIST.
Kibroth-hattaavah
i.e. graves of lust. Num 33:17
journeyed: Num 33:17
unto Hazeroth: Num 12:16, Deu 1:1
abode at: Heb. they were in, etc
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge