Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 27:16

Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,

16. the God of the spirits of all flesh ] See on Num 16:22.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The God of the spirits of all flesh – An acknowledgment that man, who is but flesh (compare Gen 6:3), is of himself helpless; and lives and moves and has his being in God Act 17:28. The words are suitably employed here to introduce an entreaty that God would not leave the congregation without a guide and leader, and in Num 16:22 as a preface to an intercession that the whole people should not suffer for the sin of a, few.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Num 27:16-23

Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.

The spiritual leaders of men

I. The worlds need of spiritual leaders.

1. The great majority of every generation are uninventive, unaspiring, cringing, servile, thoughtless, ignorant. They not only walk in moral darkness, but lack the desire, if not the capacity, to struggle into the light of moral principles.

2. Clearly, then, they require spiritual leaders, men who shall point out to them the way of honesty, truth, purity, and holiness, marching before them in all the stateliness of the Christly morality.

II. The genuine type of spiritual leaders.

1. The true spiritual leader must be a man. Not an idiot, not a charlatan, not a functionary. A man is a person who has right convictions of moral duty, and honestly embodies them in his daily life.

2. The true spiritual leader must be a man inspired by God. No man can be a true moral leader of the people who has not within him, as the all-animating and directing force, an unutterable abhorrence of wrong and an invincible attachment to the right, whose whole nature does not beat and beam with the soul of Divine morality.

III. The Divine succession of spiritual leaders. They are all in the hands of God.

1. He takes the greatest spiritual leaders away by death.

2. He raises others to supply their place. One enters into anothers labours. (Homilist.)

A model ordination service

I. That the person ordained should be chosen of God for his work. Moses asked the Lord to set a man over the congregation, &c. (Num 27:16-17). And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, &c. So now the Christian minister should be–

1. Called by God to His work.

2. Appointed by God to his sphere of work.

II. That the ordination is to the most important work.

III. That the ordination should be conducted by tried men.

IV. The ordination should be accompanied with the imposition of hands.

V. That the ordination should include a charge to the ordained, Give him a charge. The duties and responsibilities of the office should be laid before those who are being set apart to it; and the experience of godly and approved men should be made available for the direction of the inexperienced. What wise and inspiring things Moses would say to Joshua in this charge! What sage counsels drawn from his ripe experience! &c.

VI. That the ordination should be conducted in the presence of the people. Moreover, such an arrangement–

1. Is more impressive to the person being ordained. There present with him are the immortal souls for whom he has to live and labour.

2. Tends to influence the people beneficially. As they hear of the important duties and solemn responsibilities of their minister, they should be awakened to deeper solicitude and more earnest prayer on his behalf, and to heartier co-operation with him.

VII. The ordination should confer honour upon the person ordained.

VIII. That a person so chosen of God, should seek special direction from Him, and seeking, shall obtain it.

1. A warning against self-sufficiency.

2. A source of encouragement and strength. (W. Jones.)

The God of the spirits of all flesh

I. The affecting view here furnished of the agency and dominion of God in connection with the human mind.

1. God imparts the powers of the spirit. We have nothing self-derived.

2. He claims the affections of the spirit.

3. He heals the disorders and sympathises with the sorrows of the spirit.

4. He alone can constitute the happiness of the spirit.

5. He will decide upon the future destiny of the spirit.

II. The moral uses of these contemplations.

1. Let them teach you reverence for the human mind.

2. Let them impress you with thoughts of the vast importance of personal religion.

3. Let them inspire you with practical efforts to benefit and bless society. By education-by missions, &c.

4. Let them kindle hope for the prospects of the human race. (S. Thodey.)

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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. The Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh] See Clarke on Nu 16:22.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

All flesh, i.e. of all men; the Searcher of spirits, that knowest who is fit for this great employment; the Father, and Giver, and Governor of spirits, who canst raise and suit the spirits of men to the highest and hardest works, as thou didst those Num 11:16,17. See Num 16:22.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

16. God of the spirits of all flesh,set a man over the congregationThe request was most suitablymade to God in this character, as the Author of all the intellectualgifts and moral graces with which men are endowed, and who can raiseup qualified persons for the most arduous duties and the mostdifficult situations.

Nu27:18-23. JOSHUAAPPOINTED TO SUCCEEDHIM.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh,…. The Maker of the souls of men, called the spirits of all flesh, or of corporeal beings, to distinguish them from the angels, who, though spirits, are incorporeal; and who knows the different qualities of the souls of men, their powers, and capacities, and fitness for service, what gifts and talents they have for business; and who can bestow such upon them, which will quality them for it:

set a man over the congregation: meaning in his room and stead.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(16) Let the Lord . . . We have a remarkable instance here of the true greatness of Moses, as a type of Him whose words were, Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children (Luk. 23:28). Instead of indulging in excessive grief, or in unavailing remorse, the mind of Moses was intently fixed upon the welfare of those for whose sake he had been willing that his own name should be blotted out of the Book (Exo. 32:32); and instead of appointing one of his own family, or the man of his own choice, as his successor, he commits the matter to God, and prays that He will appoint one who would be a true shepherd to the flock.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

JOSHUA PUBLICLY CONSECRATED AS THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES, Num 27:15-23.

16. The spirits of all flesh The distinction between mind and matter is here clearly taught by Moses. In answer to the objection that the Hebrew word ruach signifies only breath, we quote the following from Sir W. Hamilton: “The term soul, (and what I say of the term soul is true of the term spirit,) though in this country less employed than the term mind, may be regarded as another synonyme for the unknown basis of the mental phenomena. Like nearly all words significant of the internal world, there is here a metaphor borrowed from the external; and this is the case not merely in one, but, as far as we can trace the analogy, in all languages. You are aware that , the Greek term for soul, comes from , I breathe or blow, as , in Greek, and spiritus, in Latin, from verbs of the same signification. In like manner, anima and animus are words which, though in Latin they have lost their primary signification, and are only known in their secondary or metaphorical sense, yet in their original physical meaning are preserved in the Greek , wind or air. The English soul, and the German seele, come from a Gothic root saivala, which signifies to storm. Ghost, the old English word for spirit in general, and so used in our English version of the Scriptures, is the same as the German geist, and is derived from gas or gescht, which signifies air. In like manner the two words in Hebrew for soul or spirit, nephesh and ruach, are derivatives of a root which means to breathe; and in Sanscrit the word atma (analogous to the Greek , vapor or air) signifies both mind and wind or air.” Jehovah is here styled the God of all human spirits, to intimate his perfect acquaintance with the mental, moral, and spiritual characteristics of all men, and hence his ability to select the man who should succeed to the leadership of Israel, soon to be made vacant by the death of Moses.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Num 27:16 Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,

Ver. 16. The God of the spirits of all flesh. ] “Thou, Lord, that knowest the hearts of all men.” Act 1:24 See Trapp on “ Act 1:24 “ Artificers know well the nature and properties of their own work. Deus intimior nobis intimo nostro.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)