Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 12:16
And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.
16. wilderness of Paran ] See on Num 10:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. The wilderness of Paran.] This could not be the same Paran with that mentioned De 1:1, for that was on the borders of the promised land, see the note on De 1:1-2; they were long near the borders of Canaan, and might have speedily entered into it, had it not been for their provocations and iniquities. They spent thirty-eight years in a journey which might have been accomplished in a few weeks! How many through their unfaithfulness have been many years in gaining that for which, in the ordinary procedure of Divine grace, a few days had been sufficient! How much ground may a man lose in the Divine life by one act of unfaithfulness or transgression! Israel wandered in the wilderness because Israel despised the pleasant land, and did not give credence to the word of the Lord. They would have a golden calf, and they had nothing but tribulation and wo in return,
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hazeroth, where they abode, as is said, Num 11:35, for Miriams sake.
In the wilderness of Paran, i.e. in another part of the same wilderness, as may be gathered from Num 10:12; see also Deu 33:2. It is possible they might have removed out of one part of that wilderness into another wilderness, and then returned again into another part of it, as we know the Israelites had many strange windings and turnings in their wilderness travels. And this part was more especially called Rithmah, Num 33:18, and Kadesh-barnea, Num 13:26; Deu 1:19, which were two noted places in that part, both which seem to be comprehended within their camp, or near adjoining to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. pitched in the wilderness ofParanThe station of encampments seems to have been Rithma (Nu33:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And afterwards the people removed from Hazeroth,…. After seven days, where they had been so long at least; the cloud being returned to the tabernacle, and having been taken up, which was the signal for motion, the camps of Israel, in their order, removed and marched forward:
and pitched in the wilderness of Paran; at a place in it called Rithmah, Nu 33:18; which, according to Bunting m, was eight miles from Hazeroth, near to which was another place called Kadesh, or else this was another name of Rithmah, see Nu 13:3; and now the Israelites were very near the land of promise, and from hence they sent spies to make their observations on it, and bring a report of it; and had it not been for their ill conduct in that affair, in all probability would have been quickly in it, but on that account were kept out thirty eight years longer: it was on the twenty eighth or twenty ninth of the month Sivan the Israelites came to this place, according to the Jewish writers n, which month answers part of our May and part of June.
m Travels, &c. p. 82. n Seder Olam Rabba, c. 8. p. 24. & Meyer. Annotat. in ib. p. 338.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Num 12:16
. And afterward the people departed from Hazeroth. At first sight Moses appears to be at variance with himself: for he here states that he sent the spies at God’s command, whereas in Deu 1:22, he relates that he made this concession at the request of the people; (48) but the two statements are easily reconciled. It is, indeed, unquestionable that God had regard to the infirmity and distrust of the people; for the spies are not sent to see in what direction the land was to be attacked, with which design two were afterwards sent by Joshua, but God had here no other object than to encourage them, when they else were cowardly and inert, to throw off their inactivity, and eagerly to advance. The necessity of such a remedy was evidently shown, when they all demanded this of Moses. The second narrative, therefore, is fuller, and in it Moses goes back further than he had done in the first, viz., that it arose from the timidity and pusillanimity of the people that he did not at onto hasten whither God invited him; for, if they had straightway obeyed, they would have won the land of their enemies without any delay; but they requested that a respite might be given them. It is, then, by no means inconsistent that Moses did, at the request of the people, what God at the same time enjoined, because tie saw that they were otherwise hesitating, and but little disposed to advance, and needed this stimulus. For, if the spies had honestly per.-formed their duty, the people would have been led forward as if they had seen the land themselves, which would have been the readiest means for putting an end to all delays.
First, however, the place is described, from whence the spies were sent, viz., at no great distance from mount Sinai, although they had encamped twice, so that it was their third station. It has already been stated in chapter 10, that the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran, which some understand to have been said by anticipation, ( πρόληψιν,) as if Moses had said that, from the time when the people left Mount Sinai, they had not made any permanent halt, until they came to that wilderness, and there pitched their tents. But this opinion is by no means consistent; for it is clear that they stayed some time in Taberah; and many days were spent at the graves of lust, (Kibroth-hattaavah;) for there they were gorged for a month with the flesh of the birds, and then the pestilence attacked them, which cut off many of them, for whose burial it was necessary to provide. Now, their next halt was for more then seven days. It, therefore, appears probable to me that by the word Paran, a different place is not expressed; but that it is merely meant that, though they advanced, they still remained in some part of that wilderness. For, since the wilderness of Paran was in one direction contiguous to Mount Sinai, that name is sometimes given to it; for Moses certainly confounds them elsewhere, as also does the Prophet Habakkuk. (Deu 33:3; Hab 3:3.)
(48) Hengstenberg (Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch, vol. 2, p. 344,) discusses this point, in opposition to Vater and De Wette, though he reminds us that “the discrepancy is no new discovery, but has been thoroughly canvassed; compare Gerhard on Deut., p. 53.” “That the contradiction is only apparent (he says) is clear from Num 13:26; for, since those, to whom the answer was brought back, must be identical. with the persons who sent out the spies, it appears from this passage that. not merely Moses and Aaron, but also the congregation, had a share in giving the commission. The author, therefore, cannot intend to deny this, when, in verse 1 and 2, he refers the matter to God.” “The sending out of the spies (he further argues) was a part of God’s plan, and hence was expressly commanded by Him, as soon as its indispensable condition, the proposal on the part of the people, had taken place. For one thing, it would insure to the well-disposed a strengthening of their weak faith; on the other hand, it formed a part of God’s design, that the evil-disposed should take occasion by this undertaking to manifest their unbelief, and be ripened by it for judgment, This design we learn from the result, which can never be contrary to the design. If the divine purpose was the essential point, and the proposal of the people the mere conditio sine qua non of its being carried into effect, it will be easily understood how the latter might be passed over in the Book of Numbers, although, as we have already seen, it is pre-supposed. After what has been remarked, Calvin’s view of the mutual relation of the two passages will clearly appear to be the correct one.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) In the wilderness of Paran.See Note on Num. 10:12. It appears from the 26th verse of the following chapter that the encampment was at Kadesh, which has been supposed by some to be identical with Rithniah (Num. 33:18).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
FROM HAZEROTH TO KADESH, Num 12:16.
16. Wilderness of Paran Gen 12:6, note; Num 10:12, note. By comparing Num 13:26 with Deu 1:19-24, it will be seen that the place in this wilderness to which they removed was Kadesh-barnea. Gen 14:7; Jos 10:41, note. But in Num 33:18, the station after Hazeroth is Rithma, which is either the same as Kadesh or perhaps the modern Wady Abu Retemet, a wide and well-watered plain near Ain Gadis, which Rowland and other recent travelers identify with Kadesh.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And afterwards the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.’
The whole incident is a reminder that those who are truly servants of God should be honoured as such, and that to seek to harm them is to bring a person under the judgment of Yahweh. While their bodies may not be affected, their inner beings certainly will be. Where it is against one who is being faithful to God, murmuring makes our hearts become diseased, for God honours those who honour Him. It is a reminder to all Christian leaders that they must honour other leaders who are the chosen of God, and not become jealous about their own position. What a contrast there was between Moses, who wanted others to share in his privileges, ‘would that all Yahweh’s people were prophets’, and the attitudes of Miriam and Aaron (‘would that we were equal to Moses’). One sought only Yahweh’s glory, the others sought their own glory.
The incident being over, and the seven days having passed, the people moved from Hazeroth to the wilderness of Paran. All was now ready for the invasion of the land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 12:16. And pitched in the wilderness of Paran That all the people might be admonished of the sin of Miriam, they were not permitted to remove from Hazeroth till her days of cleansing were fulfilled, when they removed and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. This station was at the mountain of the Amorites, at the south part of Canaan; (Deu 1:20.) so that their next removal was to have been into the promised land, had not they hindered themselves by their rebellion. “As tradition,” says Dr. Shaw, “has continued down to us the names of Shur, Marah, and Sin, so has it also that of Paran; the ruins of the late convent of Paran, built upon those of an ancient city of that name (which might give denomination to the whole desart) being found about the half way between Sinai and Corondel, which lie at forty leagues distance. This situation of Paran, so far to the south of Kadesh, will illustrate Gen 14:5-6 where Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, are said to have smote the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El Paran, (i.e. unto the city, as I take it, of that name,) which is in or by the wilderness. The whole country round about Paran is very mountainous, making part of the of Ptolemy; which, he tells us, extended from the promontory of Paran as far as Judaea.From the more advanced part of the wilderness of Paran, (the same which lay in the road betwixt Midian and Egypt, 1Ki 11:18.) Moses sent a man out of every tribe to spy out the land of Canaan, ch. Num 13:3 who returned to him, after forty days, unto the same wilderness, to Kadesh Barnea; ch. Num 32:8. Deu 1:1-2. Jos 14:7. This place or city, which in Gen 14:7 is called En-mishpat, (i.e. the fountain Mishpat,) is, ch. Num 20:1 Num 27:14 Num 33:26 called Tzin Kadesh, or simply Kadesh, as in Gen 16:14; Gen 20:1 and being equally ascribed to the desart of , Tzin, and to the desart of Paran, we may presume that the desarts of Tzin and Paran were one and the same: , or , may be so called from the plants of divers palm grounds upon it.” Travels, quarto, p. 318.
REFLECTIONS.God’s displeasure was manifest, and now it appeared,
1. Miriam becomes leprous. She, who was challenging equality with Moses, bears in her forehead a brand of infamy, and becomes viler than the meanest Israelite. Those who walk in pride God is able to abase. The fair face that swells the heart with vanity, one stroke of disease can quickly make loathsome. Aaron is spared, as least in the offence, or perhaps for his office-sake, that it may not appear vile; but, as God’s high-priest, he is obliged to pronounce that sentence on his sister, which must cover himself with confusion. In the execution of their office no connections must influence ministers; if their nearest relatives are found leprous, they should be excluded from the communion of God’s people.
2. Aaron’s humble submission and entreaty. He acknowledges their mutual sin, asks pardon of his brother, whom he has vilified, and earnestly begs his intercession for his sister, that she might not be cut off, as one dead, from the congregation of the Lord. Note; (1.) They who revile God’s servants shall be brought to bow to them, like Aaron in time, or like Dives in eternity. (2.) When we have offended, we cannot be too early in begging forgiveness both of God and man. To continue impenitent is certain ruin. (3.) They who are cut off from the communion of the Lord by their sins, are, worse than leprous Miriam, spiritually dead.
3. Moses’s charity appears as exemplary as his meekness. He instantly cries to God for help. Instead of calling down judgment as she deserved, he prays for that forgiveness with God which he found from himself. We must thus learn to forgive our enemies, and pray for them who despitefully use us. This is the spirit of Christianity.
4. His request is granted. Miriam is healed. But for her humiliation, and for example to others, she is excluded the camp seven days, to bear her shame for such ungrateful conduct. When we do evil, we ought to take that shame to ourselves that we have deserved, and submit to every humiliatory process which may serve to shew our own sorrow, and to warn others against our sin.
5. During the time of Miriam’s separation the people halted. Note; (1.) In our way to heaven all our hindrances arise from our sins. (2.) God will have us treat those with the greatest tenderness, who, however vile they have made themselves, are now in penitential tears returning from their evil ways.
6. The people go forward to the borders of Canaan. One step more, and they had been safely lodged in it. But the next chapter relates a fatal change. Note; While we are on this side the grave we need to watch and pray. Many have gone to the borders of heaven, who will never enter it; they were almost, but not altogether Christians.
General Reflections on the eleventh and twelfth Chapters.
What can be so horrible as the ingratitude, so senseless as the rebellion of this infatuated populace! They form a camp, they dwell in it, they change it, enjoying a perfect liberty and security under the immediate protection of God their legislator, their creator, the guide and conductor of their whole army: yet they long again for their servitude in Egypt, hard and intolerable as it wasthat servitude in which their souls had so often been depressed; which had caused them so many labours, so many groans! How striking a resemblance of those wretched worldlings, who always prefer the past, though far worse, to the present and the future; and that with a design to lessen those obligations which the ungrateful are unwilling to avow for benefits received!
The pillar of cloud and of fire, which appeared day and night, was a manifest sign to the Israelites of the Divine presence. They saw God, if we may so say, as in a mirror; and though they enjoyed the most uncommon and precious privileges, temporal and spiritual, they were less sensible of all these blessings, than of the few miserable ideas of the fish, the melons, the cucumbers and onions of Egypt! Can there be a more melancholy instance of our corruption, than to see reasonable beings thus preferring nothing to the most important realities; earth to heaven; death to life?
For an appointed season they gather the heavenly and miraculous mature: they grow satiated with this delicious food; and, not content with this, these worms of the earth are still craving for meat. They prescribe laws to God their Creator, Redeemer, and Preserver: day after day they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel; foolish enough to wish to set bounds, as it were, to his omnipotence! Nor was this the first instance of their rebellion: before their arrival at mount Sinai they had shewn the same spirit. But God bore with the crimes they committed before the promulgation of the law. After that law was given, God altered his conduct in this respect, and always proportioned the crime to the light wherewith he endued them: a consideration which ought peculiarly to influence Christians, whose offences are aggravated according to their knowledge; and who can have no excuse for preferring earthly things to heavenly, now that life and immortality are so fully brought to light by the Gospel.
It is remarkable, that Moses, to whom nothing in general appeared difficult after he had accepted the commission of lawgiver to the people of God, lost all courage as soon as this unhappy people fell into any great crime. The sins of a nation are more terrible than the most invincible armies: holiness and piety are the best bulwarks for covering and defending it. There was, perhaps, something too impatient in the complaint of Moses, ch. 11: Num 12:11, &c. nevertheless God took pity of his weakness, as well knowing that it had for its motive true zeal and undissembled love; but the complaint of the Israelites arose from far different causes: it is true, their petition was granted, but the grant was punishment. How should this instruct Christians to submit all their desires to the will of God! They often know not what they ask: and when they ask improperly and impatiently, God frequently fulfils their desires, and accomplishes their wishes, to shew them in a little time that this accomplishment is the greatest evil. The Christian’s best prayer at all times is, NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE.
It was a severe trial to Moses to be exposed to the murmurings of the people; but how much more severe to be exposed to those of his own brother and sister! Good men frequently experience the heaviest trials, even from those who ought most to comfort and assist them; but this instructs them to draw nearer to God, whose comforts are everlasting. Who can look for love and prosperity at once, when Moses finds enmity in his own flesh and blood? Authority cannot fail of opposition, if it be ever so mildly swayed; to do well, and hear ill, is princely. It is no uncommon thing to find the evil attempts of enemies productive of effects directly contrary to their design. The envy of Miriam and Aaron proved the occasion of confirming the authority, and of gaining from the Almighty the highest eulogium of Moses. The remunerations of the Almighty are infinitely gracious. He never will want honour and patronage who seeks the honour of his Maker. The ready way to true glory is goodness.
Though both Aaron and Miriam sinned, Miriam alone is punished. It was not the dignity of his priesthood alone which rescued Aaron; the greatness of that dignity added heinousness to his sin. It was his repentance which delivered him. We cannot wonder to see him escape while we see him penitent. The universal antidote for all the judgments of God, is the merit of the atoning Blood made over to the humble penitent.
Miriam would have wounded Moses with her tongue; Moses would heal her with his. Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee! The wrong is the greater because his sister did it. He does not say, “I sought not her shame, she sought mine: if God have revenged it, I have no reason to consider her as a sister, who considered me as an adversary;” but, as if her leprosy were his own, he intercedes for her cure.Admirable meekness of Moses! His people, the Jews, rebelled against him: God proffers punishment; he declares himself ready to die, rather than they should perish. His sister rebelled against him: God avenges him; he will not cease to importune that God till she be restored. Behold a noble and worth example for us to follow! How far are they from this disposition, who are not only content that God should punish, but are ready to prevent God’s punishment with their own revenge!
To return good for evil, and to pray for those who despitefully use us, is the certain fruit of a true Christian temper: endowed with which, we shall not only be blest ourselves, but, by our pious and charitable prayers, through the alone merits of Christ, appease the wrath of God towards others, and engage for them his grace and favour.*
* See Scheuchzer and Bishop Hall.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Paran joined to the border of Canaan on the south. And from hence it was but a stage more, had Israel gone the direct road, to the promised land. Reader! our distance from the LORD is made greater, like Israel’s, by sin. Isa 59:2 .
REFLECTIONS
WHAT an interesting character is Moses, and in how charming a light doth he appear in this Chapter! To all the unprovoked unkindness of his brother Aaron, to whom he had been so friendly, we find he made no unkind return, but recompensed the cruelty both of Aaron and Miriam with his prayers. But here again, my soul, as in a thousand other instances, pass over the contemplation of creature-excellencies, to behold the unequalled loveliness of Creator-love, and mercy, manifested to thy ingratitude in the person of the LORD JESUS. Oh! thou holy Redeemer! how dost thou unceasingly intercede at the right hand of power, for me, and for all thy unworthy ungrateful people; who in the very moment that thy blood, and righteousness, is pleading for our salvation, are causing thee to serve with our sins, and wearying thee with our iniquities. SON of GOD! compassionate the leprosy of my soul, and shut me not out from thy presence, but say to me, as thou didst to the poor creature in the gospel, who cried out, LORD! if thou wilt; thou canst make me clean; I will be thou clean; and immediately my soul will be cleansed!
Reader! do not close this Chapter without having an eye in the intercession of Moses for Aaron and Miriam, to the intercession of JESUS on the cross, for those who crucified him. Oh! what a volume is folded up in that one prayer of JESUS to comfort poor sinners, and to show the all-prevailing efficacy of JESUS’S advocacy. FATHER! forgive them for they know not what they do. Oh! LAMB of GOD! let this first cry of thine upon the cross, be the first and last of my soul-reviving consolations under all the discouragements by reason of my unworthiness and neglect of thee. Surely, dear LORD! when I sin against thee, I know not what do.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 12:16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.
Ver. 16. Wilderness of Paran. ] At a place called Rithmah, Num 33:18 and Kadeshbarnea. Num 13:3 ; Num 13:26
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the Spies Sent to Canaan
Num 12:16; Num 13:1-20
By comparing the opening verses with Deu 1:19-22, it appears that the suggestion about the spies emanated from the people, and that their proposal was graciously acquiesced in by God. But let us remember that it is a profound mistake to spy out or criticize the land or lot into which we are being led. We are almost certain to see the difficulties apart from the grace, and they sometimes appear to be insurmountable.
It is better to await with calm trust the unfoldings of divine providence. The book of the future is in the hands of the Lamb that was slain, Rev 5:7-8. Take no thought for tomorrow! Go steadily on! God will go before you, and cleave your way! Unbelief sees giants and spells them with G; faith sees God, and spells giants with g. Looking unto the promise of God, Abraham wavered not, Rom 4:20.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
afterward: Num 11:35, Num 33:18
Hazeroth: The exact situation of this place is unknown. Dr. Shaw computes it to be three days’ journey, i.e., thirty miles from Sinai. From this passage, it appears that the wilderness of Paran commenced immediately upon their leaving this station. Calmet observes, that there is a town called Hazor in Arabia Petrea, in all probability the same as Hazerim, the ancient habitation of the Hivites – Deu 2:23, and likewise, according to all appearances, the Hazeroth, where the Hebrews encamped.
the wilderness: Num 10:12, Num 13:3, Num 13:26, Gen 21:21, 1Sa 25:1, Hab 3:3
Reciprocal: Gen 14:6 – Elparan Deu 1:1 – Paran
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
12:16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of {a} Paran.
(a) That is, in Rithmah, which was in Paran, Num 33:18.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
From Hazeroth Israel moved on to the wilderness of Paran and Kadesh on the southern border of Canaan.
These three failures to be content with God’s provisions and plans at Taberah, Kibroth-hattaavah, and Hazeroth prepared the Israelites for an even more serious failure at Kadesh.