Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 33:1
These [are] the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
This list was written out by Moses at Gods command Num 33:2, doubtless as a memorial of Gods providential care for His people throughout this long and trying period.
Num 33:3-6. For these places, see the marginal reference.
Num 33:8
Pi-hahiroth – Hebrew Hahiroth, but perhaps only by an error of transcription. However, the omitted pi is only a common Egyptian prefix.
Wilderness of Etham – i. e., that part of the great wilderness of Shur which adjoined Etham; compare Exo 15:22 note.
The list of stations up to that at Sinai agrees with the narrative of Exodus except that we have here mentioned Num 33:10 an encampment by the Red Sea, and two others, Dophkah and Alush Num 33:12-14, which are there omitted. On these places see Exo 17:1 note.
Num 33:16, Num 33:17
See the Num 11:35 note.
Num 33:18
Rithmah – The name of this station is derived from retem, the broom-plant, the juniper of the King James Version. This must be the same encampment as that which is said in Num 13:26 to have been at Kadesh.
Num 33:19
Rimmon-parez – Or rather Rimmon-perez, i. e., Rimmon (i. e., the Pomegranate) of the Breach. It may have been here that the sedition of Korah occurred.
Verse 19-36
The stations named are those visited during the years of penal wandering. The determination of their positions is, in many cases, difficult, because during this period there was no definite line of march pursued. But it is probable that the Israelites during this period did not overstep the boundaries of the wilderness of Paran (as defined in Num 10:12), except to pass along the adjoining valley of the Arabah; while the tabernacle and organized camp moved about from place to place among them (compare Num 20:1).
Rissah, Haradah, and Tahath are probably the same as Rasa, Aradeh, and Elthi of the Roman tables. The position of Hashmonah (Heshmon in Jos 15:27) in the Azazimeh mountains points out the road followed by the children of Israel to be that which skirts the southwestern extremity of Jebel Magrah.
Num 33:34
Ebronah – i. e, passage. This station apparently lay on the shore of the Elanitic gulf, at a point where the ebb of the tide left a ford across. Hence, the later Targum renders the word as fords.
Num 33:35
Ezion-gaber – Giants backbone. The Wady Ghadhyan, a valley running eastward into the Arabah some miles north of the present head of the Elanitic gulf. A salt marsh which here overspreads a portion of the Arabah may be taken as indicating the limit to which the sea anciently reached; and we may thus infer the existence here in former times of an extensive tidal haven, at the head of which the city of Ezion-geber stood. Here it was that from the time of Solomon onward the Jewish navy was constructed 1Ki 9:26; 1Ki 22:49.
Num 33:41-49
Zalmonah and Punon are stations on the Pilgrims road; and the general route is fairly ascertained by a comparison of these verses with Num 21:4, etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Num 33:1-2
These are the Journeys.
The journeys of Israel
This chapter gives a very graphic and instructive picture of a much larger scheme of journeying. The local names may mean nothing to us now, but the words departed, removed, encamped, have meanings that abide for ever. We are doing in our way, and according to the measure of our opportunity, exactly what Israel did in this chapter of hard names and places mostly now forgotten. Observe, this is a written account: And Moses wrote their goings out. The life is all written. It is not a sentiment spoken without consideration and forgotten without regret; it is a record–a detailed and critical writing, condescending to geography, locality, daily movement, position in society and in the world. It is, therefore, to be regarded as a story that has been proved, and that will bear to be written and re-written. The one perfect Biographer is God. Every life is written in the book that is kept in the secret place of the heavens. All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Nothing is omitted. The writing is plain–so plain that the blind man may read the story which God has written for his perusal. Who would like to see the book? Who could not write a book about his brother that would please that brother? Without being false, it might be highly eulogistic and comforting. But who would like to see his life as sketched by the hand of God? Enter not into judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. What a monotony there is in this thirty-third chapter! This will be evident to the eye. The reader sees but two words or three, and all the rest are difficult terms or polysyllables unrelated to his life. The terms are departed, removed, went. The language of actual life is a narrow language which may be learned in a very brief time. So with our daily life: we rise, we sit, we retire; we eat and drink, and bless one another in the name of God ; and go round the little circle until sometimes we say, Can we not vary all that, and add to it some more vivid line? Has no friend of ours the power of flushing this pale monotony into some tint of blood? Then we fall back into the old lines: we depart and remove and pitch; we pitch and depart and remove; we come and go and settle and return; until there comes almost unconsciously into the strain of our speech some expressive and mournful sigh. Few and evil have been the days of Thy servant. Yet, not to dwell too much upon this well-ascertained fact, we may regard the record of the journeys of Israel as showing somewhat of the variety of life. Here and there a new departure sets in, or some new circumstance brightens the history. For example, in the ninth verse we read: And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees. Sweet entry is that! It occurs in our own secret diaries. Do we not dwell with thankfulness upon the places where we find the waters, the wells, the running streams, the beautiful trees, and the trees beautiful with luscious fruitage? Then comes the fourteenth verse: And they encamped at Rephidim, &c. Such are the changes in life. We have passed through precisely the transitions here indicated. No water; nothing to satisfy even the best appetences of the mind and spirit; all heaven one sheet of darkness, and the night so black upon the earth that even the altar-stairs could not be found in the horrid gloom; if there was water, it had no effect upon the thirst; if there was bread, it was bitter; if there was a pillow, it was filled with pricking thorns. There is another variety of the story; the thirty-eighth verse presents it: And Aaron the priest went up into mount Her at the commandment of the Lord, and died there. Is that line wanting in our story? All men do not die on mountains. Would God we may die upon some high hill! It seems to our imagination nearer heaven to die away up on the mountain peaks than to die in the low damp valleys. Granted that it is but an imagination. We need such helps: we are so made that symbol and hint and parable assist the soul in its sublimest realisations of things Divine and of things to come. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Moses diary of travels and its teachings
God wished the people to remember these journeys; and He wishes all ages to know of them and to learn from them. Let us notice a few of the lessons God intends these journeys to teach us.
I. They impress upon us the great fact of Gods continued presence and interest in human life.
II. They point out to us that God is the one true and safe Guide through life.
III. They present to us a picture of human life, and thus tend to give us correct views of life.
IV. They show to us that the greatest evils of life and its only dangers come from sin.
V. They suggest the comforting thought that by trusting in God and following Him we are sure to possess the inheritance which He has promised His people. (D. Lloyd.)
The itinerary of Israel from Egypt to Canaan
I. An incentive to gratitude to God.
1. Emancipating them from bondage in Egypt.
2. Repeatedly delivering them from their enemies.
3. Infallibly guiding them in their journeys.
4. Constantly providing for them in the desert.
5. Inviolably guarding them from dangers.
II. An encouragement to obey and trust God. He is unchangeable; therefore His past doings are examples of what we may expect Him to do in the future. History, properly studied, will be the nurse of faith and hope (comp. Psa 78:3-8).
III. A monitor against sin.
1. Mans proneness to sin.
2. Gods antagonism against sin.
3. The great evil of sin.. (W. Jones.)
The travels of Israel
This is a review of the travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness. It was a memorable history, and well worthy to be thus abridged, and the abridgment thus preserved, to the honour of God that led them and for the encouragement of the generations that followed. Observe here–
I. How the account was kept (Num 33:2). Moses wrote their goings out. When they began this tedious march God ordered him to keep a journal or diary, and to insert in it all the remarkable occurrences of their way, that it might be a satisfaction to himself in the review and an instruction to others when it should be published. It may be of good use to private Christians, but especially for those in public stations, to preserve in writing an account of the providences of God concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced, especially those turns and changes which have made some days of their lives more remarkable. Our memories are deceitful, and need this help, that we may remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us in this wilderness (Deu 8:2).
II. What the account itself was. It began with their departure out of Egypt, continued with their march through the wilderness, and ended in the plains of Moab, where they now lay encamped.
1. Some things are observed here concerning their departure out of Egypt, which they are minded of upon all occasions as a work of wonder never to be forgotten.
2. Concerning their travels towards Canaan, observe–
(1) They were continually upon the remove. When they had pitched a little while in one place, they departed from that to another. Such is our state in this world: we have here no continuing city.
(2) Most of their way lay through a wilderness, uninhabited, untracked, unfurnished even with the necessaries of human life, which magnifies the wisdom and power of God, by whose wonderful conduct and bounty the thousands of Israel not only subsisted for forty years in that desolate place, but came out at least as numerous and vigorous as they went in. At first they pitched in the edge of the wilderness (Num 33:6), but afterwards in the heart of it. By lesser difficulties God prepares His people for greater. We find them in the wilderness of Etham (Num 33:8), of Sin (Num 33:11). of Sinai (Num 33:15). Our removes in this world are but from one wilderness to another.
(3) That they were led to and fro, forward and backward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He led them out (Deu 32:10), and yet led them the right way (Psa 107:7). The way God takes in bringing His people to Himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us the best way.
(4) Some events are mentioned in this journal, as their want of water at Rephidim (Num 33:14), the death of Aaron (Num 33:38-39), the insult of Arad (Num 33:40); and the very name of Kibroth-hattaavah, the grave of the lusters (Num 33:16), has a story depending upon it. Thus we ought to keep in mind the providences of God concerning us and our families, us and our land, and the many instances of that Divine care which hath led us and fed us and kept us all our days hitherto. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXIII
The journeyings of the Israelites written out by Moses,
according to the commandment of the Lord, 1, 2.
They depart from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first
month, on the day after the passover, the first-born of the
Egyptians having been slain, 3, 4.
Their forty-two stations enumerated, 5-49.
They are authorized to expel all the former inhabitants, and
destroy all remnants of idolatry, 50-53.
The land is to be divided by lot, 54.
Should they not drive out the former inhabitants, they shall be
to them as pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides, 55.
And if not obedient, God will deal with them as he has purposed
to do with the Canaanites, 56.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIII
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With their armies, i.e. in great number and exact order, as armies march, and they did, Exo 12:37,38; 13:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. These are the journeys of thechildren of IsraelThis chapter may be said to form the windingup of the history of the travels of the Israelites through thewilderness; for the three following chapters relate to mattersconnected with the occupation and division of the promised land. Asseveral apparent discrepancies will be discovered on comparing therecords here given of the journeyings from Sinai with the detailedaccounts of the events narrated in the Book of Exodus and theoccasional notices of places that are found in that of Deuteronomy,it is probable that this itinerary comprises a list of only the mostimportant stations in their journeysthose where they formedprolonged encampments, and whence they dispersed their flocks andherds to pasture on the adjacent plains till the surrounding herbagewas exhausted. The catalogue extends from their departure out ofEgypt to their arrival on the plains of Moab.
went forth . . . with theirarmiesthat is, a vast multitude marshalled in separatecompanies, but regular order.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
These are the journeys of the children of Israel,…. Which are related in this chapter following:
which went forth out of the land of Egypt: whither their fathers went and stayed, and were kept in hard bondage, but in due time were delivered from it, and came out from thence:
with their armies; in great numbers, and in an orderly manner, in rank and file, and like so many squadrons, see Ex 7:4, under the hand of Moses and Aaron: who were sent to the king of Egypt to require their dismission, and who were the instruments under God of their deliverance, and were the leaders of them; as of them out of Egypt, so through the wilderness, in their, several journeys here recorded.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the Israelites had ended their wanderings through the desert, when they arrived in the steppes of Moab by the Jordan opposite to Jericho ( Num 22:1), and as they began to take possession when the conquered land beyond Jordan was portioned out (ch. 32), the history of the desert wandering closes with a list of the stations which they had left behind them. This list was written out by Moses “at the command of Jehovah” (Num 33:2), as a permanent memorial for after ages, as every station which Israel left behind on the journey from Egypt to Canaan “through the great and terrible desert,” was a memorial of the grace and faithfulness with which the Lord led His people safely “in the desert land and in the waste howling wilderness, and kept him as the apple of His eye, as an eagle fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings” (Exo 19:4; Deu 32:10.).
Num 33:1-15 The first and second verses form the heading: “ These are the marches of the children of Israel, which they marched out, ” i.e., the marches which they made from one place to another, on going out of Egypt. does not mean a station, but the breaking up of a camp, and then a train, or march (see at Exo 12:37, and Gen 13:3). (see Exo 7:4). , under the guidance, as in Num 4:28, and Exo 38:21. , “ their goings out (properly, their places of departure) according to their marches,” is really equivalent to the clause which follows: “ their marches according to their places of departure.” The march of the people is not described by the stations, or places of encampment, but by the particular spots from which they set out. Hence the constant repetition of the word , “ and they broke up.” In Num 33:3-5, the departure is described according to Exo 12:17, Exo 12:37-41. On the judgments of Jehovah upon the gods of Egypt, see at Exo 12:12. “With an high hand:” as in Exo 14:8. – The places of encampment from Succoth to the desert of Sinai (Num 33:5-15) agree with those in the historical account, except that the stations at the Red Sea (Num 33:10) and those at Dophkah and Alush (Num 33:13 and Num 33:14) are passed over there. For Raemses, see at Exo 12:37. Succoth and Etham (Exo 13:20). Pihahiroth (Exo 14:2). “ The wilderness ” (Num 33:8) is the desert of Shur, according to Exo 15:22. Marah, see Exo 15:23. Elim (Exo 15:27). For the Red Sea and the wilderness of Sin, see Exo 16:1. For Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim, see Exo 17:1; and for the wilderness of Sinai, Exo 19:2.
Numbers 33:16-35 In vv. 16-36 there follow twenty-one names of places where the Israelites encamped from the time that they left the wilderness of Sinai till they encamped in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh. The description of the latter as “the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh,” which agrees almost word for word with Num 20:1, and still more the agreement of the places mentioned in Num 33:37-49, as the encampments of Israel after leaving Kadesh till their arrival in the steppes of Moab, with the march of the people in the fortieth year as described in Num 20:22-22:1, put it beyond all doubt that the encampment in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh (Num 33:36), is to be understood as referring to the second arrival in Kadesh after the expiration of the thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert to which the congregation had been condemned. Consequently the twenty-one names in vv. 16-36 contain not only the places of encampment at which the Israelites encamped in the second year of their march from Sinai to the desert of Paran at Kadesh, whence the spies were despatched into Canaan, but also those in which they encamped for a longer period during the thirty-eight years of punishment in the wilderness. This view is still further confirmed by the fact that the two first of the stations named after the departure from the wilderness of Sinai, viz., Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, agree with those named in the historical account in Num 11:34 and Num 11:35. Now if, according to Num 12:16, when the people left Hazeroth, they encamped in the desert of Paran, and despatched the spies thence out of the desert of Zin (Num 13:21), who returned to the congregation after forty days “into the desert of Paran to Kadesh ” (Num 13:26), it is as natural as it well can be to seek for this place of encampment in the desert of Paran or Zin at Kadesh under the name of Rithmah, which follows Hazeroth in the present list (Num 33:18). This natural supposition reaches the highest degree of probability, from the fact that, in the historical account, the place of encampment, from which the sending out of the spies took place, is described in so indefinite a manner as the “desert of Paran,” since this name does not belong to a small desert, just capable of holding the camp of the Israelites, but embraces the whole of the large desert plateau which stretches from the central mountains of Horeb in the south to the mountains of the Amorites, which really form part of Canaan, and contains no less than 400 (? 10,000 English) square miles. In this desert the Israelites could only pitch their camp in one particular spot, which is called Rithmah in the list before us; whereas in the historical account the passage is described, according to what the Israelites performed and experienced in this encampment, as near to the southern border of Canaan, and is thus pointed out with sufficient clearness for the purpose of the historical account. To this we may add the coincidence of the name Rithmah with the Wady Abu Retemat, which is not very far to the south of Kadesh, “a wide plain with shrubs and retem ,” i.e., broom (Robinson, i. p. 279), in the neighbourhood of which, and behind the chalk formation which bounds it towards the east, there is a copious spring of sweet water called Ain el Kudeirt. This spot was well adapted for a place of encampment for Israel, which was so numerous that it might easily stretch into the desert of Zin, and as far as Kadesh.
The seventeen places of encampment, therefore, that are mentioned in vv. 19-36 between Rithmah and Kadesh, are the places at which Israel set up in the desert, from their return from Kadesh into the “desert of the way to the Red Sea” (Num 14:25), till the reassembling of the whole congregation in the desert of Zin at Kadesh (Num 20:1).
(Note: The different hypotheses for reducing the journey of the Israelites to a few years, have been refuted by Kurtz (iii. 41) in the most conclusive manner possible, and in some respects more elaborately than was actually necessary. Nevertheless Knobel has made a fresh attempt, in the interest of his fragmentary hypothesis, to explain the twenty-one places of encampment given in vv. 16-37 as twenty-one marches made by Israel from Sinai till their first arrival at Kadesh. As the whole distance from Sinai to Kadesh by the straight road through the desert consists of only an eleven days’ journey, Knobel endeavours to bring his twenty-one marches into harmony with this statement, by reckoning only five hours to each march, and postulating a few detours in addition, in which the people occupied about a hundred hours or more. The objection which might be raised to this, namely, that the Israelites made much longer marches than these on their way from Egypt to Sinai, he tries to set aside by supposing that the Israelites left their flocks behind them in Egypt, and procured fresh ones from the Bedouins at Sinai. But this assertion is so arbitrary and baseless an idea, that it is not worth while to waste a single word upon the subject (see Exo 12:38). The reduction of the places of encampment to simple marches is proved to be at variance with the text by the express statement in Num 10:33, that when the Israelites left the wilderness of Sinai they went a three days’ journey, until the cloud showed them a resting-place. For it is perfectly evydent from this, that the march from one place to another cannot be understood without further ground as being simply a day’s march of five hours.)
Of all the seventeen places not a single one is known, or can be pointed out with certainty, except Eziongeber. Only the four mentioned in Num 33:30-33, Moseroth, Bene-Jaakan, Hor-hagidgad, and Jotbathah, are referred to again, viz., in Deu 10:6-7, where Moses refers to the divine protection enjoyed by the Israelites in their wandering in the desert, in these words: “And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-bene-Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was buried…. From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.” Of the identity of the places mentioned in the two passages there can be no doubt whatever. Bene Jaakan is simply an abbreviation of Beeroth-bene-Jaakan, wells of the children of Jaakan. Now if the children of Jaakan were the same as the Horite family of Kanan mentioned in Gen 36:27, – and the reading for in 1Ch 1:42 seems to favour this-the wells of Jaakan would have to be sought for on the mountains that bound the Arabah on either the east or west.
Gudgodah is only a slightly altered and abbreviated form of Hor-hagidgad, the cave of Gidgad or Gudgodah; and lastly, Moseroth is simply the plural form of Mosera. But notwithstanding the identity of these four places, the two passages relate to different journeys. Deu 10:6 and Deu 10:7 refers to the march in the fortieth year, when the Israelites went from Kadesh through the Wady Murreh into the Arabah to Mount Hor, and encamped in the Arabah first of all at the wells of the children, and then at Mosera, where Aaron died upon Mount Hor, which was in the neighbourhood, and whence they travelled still farther southwards to Gudgodah and Jotbathah. In the historical account in Num 20 and 21 the three places of encampment, Bene-Jaakan, Gudgodah, and Jotbathah, are not mentioned, because nothing worthy of note occurred there. Gudgodah was perhaps the place of encampment mentioned in Num 21:4, the name of which is not given, where the people were punished with fiery serpents; and Jotbathah is probably to be placed before Zalmonah (Num 33:41). The clause, “a land of water-brooks” (Deu 10:7), points to a spot in or near the southern part of the Arabah, where some wady, or valley with a stream flowing through it, opened into the Arabah from either the eastern or western mountains, and formed a green oasis through its copious supply of water in the midst of the arid steppe. But the Israelites had encamped at the very same places once before, namely, during their thirty-seven years of wandering, in which the people, after returning from Kadesh to the Red Sea through the centre of the great desert of et Tih, after wandering about for some time in the broad desert plateau, went through the Wady el Jerafeh into the Arabah as far as the eastern border of it on the slopes of Mount Hor, and there encamped at Mosera ( Moseroth) somewhere near Ain et Taiyibeh (on Robinson ‘s map), and then crossed over to Bene-Jaakan, which was probably on the western border of the Arabah, somewhere near Ain el Ghamr (Robinson), and then turning southwards passed along the Wady el Jeib by Hor-gidgad ( Gudgodah), Jotbathah, and Abronah to Eziongeber on the Red Sea; for there can be no doubt whatever that the Eziongeber in Num 33:35, Num 33:36, and that in Deu 2:8, are one and the same town, viz., the well-known port at the northern extremity of the Elanitic Gulf, where the Israelites in the time of Solomon and Jehoshaphat built a fleet to sail to Ophir (1Ki 9:26; 1Ki 22:49). It was not far from Elath (i.e., Akaba), and is supposed to have been “the large and beautiful town of Asziun,” which formerly stood, according to Makrizi, near to Aila, where there were many dates, fields, and fruit-trees, though it has now long since entirely disappeared.
Consequently the Israelites passed twice through a portion of the Arabah in a southerly direction towards the Red Sea, the second time from Wady Murreh by Mount Hor, to go round the land of Edom, not quite to the head of the gulf, but only to the Wady el Ithm, through which they crossed to the eastern side of Edomitis; the first time during the thirty-seven years of wandering from Wady el Jerafeh to Moseroth and Bene Jaakan, and thence to Eziongeber.
Num 33:36 “ And they removed from Eziongeber, and encamped in the desert of Zin, that is Kadesh: ” the return to Kadesh towards the end of the thirty-ninth year is referred to here. The fact that no places of encampment are given between Eziongeber and Kadesh, is not to be attributed to the “plan of the author, to avoid mentioning the same places of encampment a second time,” for any such plan is a mere conjecture; but it may be simply and perfectly explained from the fact, that on this return route-which the whole of the people, with their wives, children, and flocks, could accomplish without any very great exertion in ten or fourteen days, as the distance from Aila to Kadesh through the desert of Paran is only about a forty hours’ journey upon camels, and Robinson travelled from Akabah to the Wady Retemath, near Kadesh, in four days and a half-no formal camp was pitched at all, probably because the time of penal wandering came to an end at Eziongeber, and the time had arrived when the congregation was to assemble again at Kadesh, and set out thence upon its journey to Canaan. – Hence the eleven names given in Num 33:19-30, between Rithmah and Moseroth, can only refer to those stations at which the congregation pitched their camp for a longer or shorter period during the thirty-seven years of punishment, on their slow return from Kadesh to the Red Sea, and previous to their entering the Arabah and encamping at Moseroth.
This number of stations, which is very small for thirty-seven years (only seventeen from Rithmah or Kadesh to Eziongeber), is a sufficient proof that the congregation of Israel was not constantly wandering about during the whole of that time, but may have remained in many of the places of encampment, probably those which furnished an abundant supply of water and pasturage, not only for weeks and months, but even for years, the people scattering themselves in all directions round about the place where the tabernacle was set up, and making use of such means of support as the desert afforded, and assembling together again when this was all gone, for the purpose of travelling farther and seeking somewhere else a suitable spot for a fresh encampment. Moreover, the words of Deu 1:46, “ ye abode in Kadesh many days,” when compared with Num 2:1, “then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness of the way to the Red Sea,” show most distinctly, that after the sentence passed upon the people in Kadesh (Num 14), they did not begin to travel back at once, but remained for a considerable time in Kadesh before going southwards into the desert.
With regard to the direction which they took, all that can be said, so long as none of the places of encampment mentioned in Num 33:19-29 are discovered, is that they made their way by a very circuitous route, and with many a wide detour, to Eziongeber, on the Red Sea.
(Note: We agree so far, therefore, with the vie adopted by Fries, and followed by Kurtz (History of Old Covenant, iii. 306-7) and Schultz (Deut. pp. 153-4), that we regard the stations given in vv. 19-35, between Rithmah and Eziongeber, as referring to the journeys of Israel, after its condemnation in Kadesh, during the thirty-seven years of its wandering about in the desert. But we do not regard the view which these writers have formed of the marches themselves as being well founded, or in accordance with the text, – namely, that the people of Israel did not really come a second time in full procession from the south to Kadesh, but that they had never left Kadesh entirely, inasmuch as then the nation was rejected in Kadesh, the people divided themselves into larger and smaller groups, and that portion which was estranged from Moses, or rather from the Lord, remained in Kadesh even after the rest were scattered about; so that, in a certain sense, Kadesh formed the standing encampment and meeting-place of the congregation even during the thirty-seven years. According to this view, the removals and encampments mentioned in vv. 9-36 do not describe the marches of the whole nation, but are to be understood as the circuit made by the headquarters during the thirty-seven years, with Moses at the head and the sanctuary in the midst ( Kurtz), or else as showing “that Moses and Aaron, with the sanctuary and the tribe of Levi, altered their resting-place, say from year to year, thus securing to every part of the nation in turn the nearness of the sanctuary, in accordance with the signals appointed by God (Num 10:11-12), and thus passed over the space between Kadesh and Eziongeber within the first eighteen years, and then, by a similar change of place, gradually drew near to Kadesh during the remaining eighteen or nineteen years, and at length in the last year summoned the whole nation (all the congregation) to assemble together at this meeting-place.” Now we cannot admit that in this view “we find all the different and scattered statements of the Pentateuch explained and rendered intelligible.” In the first place, it does not do justice even to the list of stations; for if the constantly repeated expression, “and they (the children of Israel, Num 33:1) removed…and encamped,” denotes the removal and encamping of the whole congregation in vv. 3-18 and Num 33:37-49, it is certainly at variance with the text to explain the same words in vv. 19-36 as signifying the removal and encamping of the headquarters only, or of Moses, with Aaron and the Levites, and the tabernacle. Again, in all the laws that were given and the events that are described as occurring between the first halt of the congregation in Kadesh (Num 13 and 14) and their return thither at the commencement of the fortieth year (Num 20), the presence of the whole congregation is taken for granted. The sacrificial laws in Num 15, which Moses was to address to the children of Israel (Num 15:1), were given to “the whole congregation” (cf. Num 33:24, Num 33:25, Num 33:26). The man who gathered wood on the Sabbath was taken out of the camp and stoned by “all the congregation” (Num 15:36). “All the congregation” took part in the rebellion of the company of Korah (Num 16:19; Num 17:6, Num 18:8.). It is true this occurrence is supposed by Kurtz to have taken place “during the halt in Kadesh,” but the reasons given are by no means conclusive (p. 105). Besides, if we assign everything that is related in Num 15-19 to the time when the whole congregation abode in Kadesh, this deprives the hypothesis of its chief support in Deu 1:46, “and ye abode in Kadesh a long time, according to the days that he abode.” For in that case the long abode in Kadesh would include the period of the laws and incidents recorded in Num 15-19, and yet, after all, “the whole congregation” went away. In no case, in fact, can the words be understood as signifying that a portion of the nation remained there during the thirty-seven years. Nor can this be inferred in any way from the fact that their departure is not expressly mentioned; for, at all events, the statement in Num 20:1, “and the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the desert of Zin,” presupposes that they had gone away. And the “inconceivable idea, that in the last year of their wanderings, when it was their express intention to cross the Jordan and enter Canaan from the east, they should have gone up from Eziongeber to the southern boundary of Canaan, which they had left thirty-seven years before, merely to come back again to the neighbourhood of Eziongeber, after failing in their negotiations with the king of Edom, which they might have carried on from some place much farther south, and to take the road from that point to the country on the east of the Jordan after all” ( Fries), loses all the surprising character which it apparently has, if we only give up the assumption upon which it is founded, but which has no support whatever in the biblical history, viz., that during the thirty-seven years of their wandering in the desert, Moses was acquainted with the fact that the Israelites were to enter Canaan from the east, or at any rate that he had formed this plan for some time. If, on the contrary, when the Lord rejected the murmuring nation (Num 14:26), He decided nothing with reference to the way by which the generation that would grow up in the desert was to enter Canaan, – and it was not till after the return to Kadesh that Moses was informed by God that they were to advance into Canaan from the east and not from the south, – it was perfectly natural that when the time of punishment had expired, the Israelites should assemble in Kadesh again, and start from that point upon their journey onward.)
Num 33:37-49 The places of encampment on the journey of the fortieth year from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and round Edom and Moab into the steppes of Moab, have been discussed at Num 20 and 21. On Mount Hor, and Aaron’s death there, see at Num 20:22. For the remark in Num 33:40 concerning the Canaanites of Arad, see at Num 21:1. On Zalmonah, Phunon, and Oboth, see at Num 21:10; on Ijje Abarim, at Num 21:11; on Dibon Gad, Almon Diblathaim, and the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo, Num 21:16-20. On Arboth Moab, see Num 22:1.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Encampments of the Israelites. | B. C. 1452. |
1 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. 4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. 5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. 6 And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. 7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. 8 And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. 9 And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. 10 And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. 11 And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. 12 And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. 13 And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. 14 And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. 15 And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. 16 And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah. 17 And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. 18 And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. 19 And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmon-parez. 20 And they departed from Rimmon-parez, and pitched in Libnah. 21 And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah. 22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah. 23 And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher. 24 And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah. 25 And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth. 26 And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath. 27 And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah. 28 And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah. 29 And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah. 30 And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth. 31 And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan. 32 And they removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad. 33 And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. 34 And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. 35 And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Ezion-gaber. 36 And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. 37 And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38 And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. 39 And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. 40 And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. 41 And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. 42 And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. 43 And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. 44 And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab. 45 And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad. 46 And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim. 47 And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. 48 And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. 49 And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
This is a review and brief rehearsal of the travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness. It was a memorable history and well worthy to be thus abridged, and the abridgment thus preserved, to the honour of God that led them and for the encouragement of the generations that followed. Observe here,
I. How the account was kept: Moses wrote their goings out, v. 2. When they began this tedious march, God ordered him to keep a journal or diary, and to insert in it all the remarkable occurrences of their way, that it might be a satisfaction to himself in the review and an instruction to others when it should be published. It may be of good use to private Christians, but especially to those in public stations, to preserve in writing an account of the providences of God concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced, especially those turns and changes which have made some days of their lives more remarkable. Our memories are deceitful and need this help, that we may remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us in this wilderness, Deut. viii. 2.
II. What the account itself was. It began with their departure out of Egypt, continued with their march through the wilderness, and ended in the plains of Moab, where they now lay encamped.
1. Some things are observed here concerning their departure out of Egypt, which they are reminded of upon all occasions, as a work of wonder never to be forgotten. (1.) That they went forth with their armies (v. 1), rank and file, as an army with banners. (2.) Under the hand of Moses and Aaron, their guides, overseers, and rulers, under God. (3.) With a high hand, because God’s hand was high that wrought for them, and in the sight of all the Egyptians, v. 3. They did not steal away clandestinely (Isa. lii. 12), but in defiance of their enemies, to whom God had made them such a burdensome stone that they neither could, nor would, nor durst, oppose them. (4.) They went forth while the Egyptians were burying, or at least preparing to bury, their first-born, v. 4. They had a mind good enough, or rather bad enough, still to have detained the Israelites their prisoners, but God found them other work to do. They would have God’s first-born buried alive, but God set them a burying their own first-born. (5.) To all the plagues of Egypt it is added here that on their gods also the Lord executed judgments. Their idols which they worshipped, it is probable, were broken down, as Dagon afterwards before the ark, so that they could not consult them about this great affair. To this perhaps there is reference, Isa. xix. 1, The idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence.
2. Concerning their travels towards Canaan. Observe, (1.) They were continually upon the remove. When they had pitched a little while in one place they departed from that to another. Such is our state in this world; we have here no continuing city. (2.) Most of their way lay through a wilderness, uninhabited, untracked, unfurnished even with the necessaries of human life, which magnifies the wisdom and power of God, by whose wonderful conduct and bounty the thousands of Israel not only subsisted for forty years in that desolate place, but came out at least as numerous and vigorous as they went in. At first they pitched in the edge of the wilderness (v. 6), but afterwards in the heart of it; by less difficulties God prepares his people for greater. We find them in the wilderness of Etham (v. 8), of Sin (v. 11), of Sinai, v. 15. Our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another. (3.) They were led to and fro, forward and backward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He led them about (Deut. xxxii. 10), and yet led them the right way, Ps. cvii. 7. The way which God takes in bringing his people to himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us the nearest way. (4.) Some events are mentioned in this journal, as their want of water at Rephidim (v. 14), the death of Aaron (Num 33:38; Num 33:39), the insult of Arad (v. 40); and the very name of Kibroth-hattaavah–the graves of lusts (v. 16), has a story depending upon it. Thus we ought to keep in mind the providences of God concerning us and our families, us and our land, and the many instances of that divine care which has led us, and fed us, and kept us, all our days hitherto. Shittim, the place where the people sinned in the matter of Peor (ch. xxv. 1), is here called Abel-shittim. Abel signifies mourning (as Gen. l. 11), and probably this place was so called from the mourning of the good people of Israel on account of that sin and of God’s wrath against them for it. It was so great a mourning that it gave a name to the place.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
NUMBERS – CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Verses 1-8:
Moses’ written account of Israel’s journeys was by the commandment of Jehovah. It was to be a reminder of His leadership and provision, for future generations.
Israel’s journey from Rameses began at night, on the fifteenth day of the first month, following the Passover, Ex 12:2, 29-36.
The plagues upon Egypt were in the nature of judgment upon their false gods, Ex 12:12
The text traces briefly the route from Israel’s point of departure, to the experience at Marah, Exo 12:1 to Exo 15:26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel. Moses had not previously enumerated all the stations in which the people had encamped, but scarcely more than those in which something memorable had occurred, especially after the passage of the Red Sea; because it was of great importance that the actual localities should be set, as it were, before their eyes, until they were not only rescued from impending death by God’s amazing power, but a way unto life was opened to them through death and the lowest deep. In fact, in one passage he has as good as told us that he omitted certain stations, where he records that the people “journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord,” to Rephidim, (Exo 17:1) here, however, he more accurately states every place at which they stopped, as if he were painting a picture of their journey of forty years. His object in this is, first, that the remembrance of their deliverance, and so many accompanying blessings, might be more deeply impressed upon them, since local descriptions have no little effect in giving certainty to history; and, secondly, that they might be reminded by the names of the places, how often and in how many ways they had provoked God’s anger against them; but especially that, now they were on the very threshold of the promised land, they might acknowledge that they had been kept back from it, and had been wandering by various tortuous routes, in consequence of their own depravity and stubbornness, until they had received the reward of their vile ingratitude. Whilst, at the same time, they might reflect that God had so tempered the severity of their punishment, that He still preserved and sustained the despisers of his grace, notwithstanding their iniquity and unworthiness; and also that He carried on to the children (of the transgressors) the covenant which He had made with Abraham.
It is not without reason that Moses premises that “these were the journeys of the children of Israel;” for, at the period when they came out of the land of Goshen, they were affected with no ordinary fear and anxiety, when they saw themselves buried, as it were, in the grave; for they were shut in on every side either by the sea or the defiles of two mountains, or by the army of Pharaoh. Having entered the desert, they had seven stations before they arrived at Mount Sinai, in which they must have perished a hundred times over by hunger and thirst, and a dearth of everything, unless God had marvellously succoured them. And although they might have completed their whole journey in so many days, even then their obstinate perversity began to subject them to delay. If the lack of bread and water beset them, they ought to have been more effectually stirred up by it to have recourse humbly to God. So little disposed, however, were they to that humility, which might have taught them to ask of God by prayer and supplication a remedy for their need, that they rather rebelled against Moses: and not only so, but they petulantly assailed God Himself with their impious taunts, as if He were a cruel executioner instead of their Redeemer. Hence, therefore, it came to pass that it was not before the fortieth day that they were at length brought to Mount Sinai. Scarcely had the Law been promulgated, and whilst the awful voice of God was still ringing in their ears, whereby He had bound them to Himself as His people, when, behold, suddenly a base, nay, a monstrous falling away into idolatry, whence it was not their own fault that, having rejected God’s grace, and as far as depended upon themselves having annulled the promise, they did not perisist miserably as they deserved. By this impediment they were again withheld from further progress. With the same obstinacy they constantly raged against God, and, though warned by many instances of punishment, never returned to a sound mind. The climax of their insane contumacy was, that when arrived at the borders of the promised land, they repudiated God’s kindness, and exhorted each other to return, as if God were adverse to them, and His inestimable deliverance, which ought to have been a perpetual obligation to obedience, were utterly distasteful to them. The stations, which then follow, express in a more, lively manner how, — like a ship which is driven away from its port by a tempest, and whirled round by various currents, — they were carried away from approaching the land, and wandered by circuitous courses: as if they deserved that God should thus lead them about in mockery. It will be well for us to keep our eyes on this design of Moses, in order that we may read the chapter with profit.
He calls the order of their marches journeys (profectiones,) in contradistinction to their stations: for they did not strike their camp unless the signal were given, i.e., when the cloud left the sanctuary, and moved to another spot, as if God stretched forth His hand from heaven to direct their way: and hence it was more clearly apparent, that they were retained in the desert by this power.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
In this chapter we have a list of the places at which the Israelites encamped from their departure from Egypt unto their arrival at the Jordan (Num. 33:1-49), and directions as to the conquest and distribution of Canaan (Num. 33:50-56).
Num. 33:1-2, form the introduction to the list of encampments.
Num. 33:3. Rameses, a city in the western part of the land of Goshen.Bibl. Dict.
Num. 33:4. Buried. Rather, were burying.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:5. Succothbooths or tents: situated probably nearly due east of Rameses, and fifteen miles distant in a straight line.Bibl. Dict.
Num. 33:6. Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. It is reasonable to place Etham where the cultivable land ceases, near the Seba Bir, or Seven Wells, about three miles from the western side of the ancient head of the gulf.Ibid.
Num. 33:7. Pi hahiroth. The word is most probably Egyptian, and signifies, the bed of reeds.
Baal zephon, or Typhon, a name of Baal as representative of the opposite of mundane order and harmony, or of the god ruling in winter(Fuerst). But Mr. Stuart Poole in Bibl. Dict gives as its meaning place of Zephon; and he says, We place Baal-zephon on the western shore of the gulf of Suez, a little below its head, which at this time was about thirty or forty miles north ward of the present head.
Migdol = a tower. Sometimes, a military watch tower, or a look-out in a vineyard. Migdol and Baal-zephon, says Mr. Poole. must have been opposite to one another, and the latter behind Pi-hahiroth with reference to the Israelites.
Num. 33:8. Wilderness of Etham; i.e., that part of the great wilderness of Shur which adjoined Etham.Speakers Comm.
Marah. A satisfactory site has been found for Marah. Howrah, at the head of Wady Amrah, where even now caravans halt in their journey to Sinai, possessing a spring at times so bitter that neither men nor camels can drink of it.Alford.
Elim is generally acknowledged to be the present Wady Ghurundel, two and a-half hours S.E. of Mara, and even now a famous watering-place of the Arabs.Ibid.
Num. 33:10. By the Red Sea. This must almost certainly be at the descent of the Wady Taiyibeh on the sea, or in some portion of the plain of Mrkhh, before they again turned up into the mountains.Stanley.
Num. 33:11. Wilderness of Sin. The whole of this district between Elim and Sinai is probably the wilderness of Sin (Alford). Knobel, however, maintains, and with him Keil agrees, that the wilderness of Sin is the great sandy plateau Debbet er Ramleh, between the desert of Et-Tih and Sinai. This plateau begins near Elim and stretches S. Eastwards towards the range in which Sinai must be included.Ibid.
Num. 33:13. Dophkah. Alush, not mentioned in Exodus, were most probably situated somewhere in the northern portion of the wilderness of Sin; but their respective sites have not been identified.
Num. 33:14. Rephidim = rests or stays, was most probably situated in Wady Feiran (see Sinai and Palestine, pp. 3842).
Num. 33:15. The wilderness of Sinai. The Sinai of the Law was most probably the Rs Sfsfeh, which is not a distinct mountain, but the northern portion of Jebel Msa, and is thus described by Dean Stanley: The cliff rising like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation, and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur, from end to end of the whole plain, is the very image of the mount that might be touched, and from which the voice of God might be heard far and wide over the stillness of the plain below. The people were most probably assembled in er-Rhah, the most suitable spot imaginable for the assembling of many thousands of people. It is upwards of two miles long and half a mile broad (see Sinai and Pal., pp. 39, 44; Alford on Exo. 19:1; and Dr. Smiths Bibl. Dict. art. Sinai).
Num. 33:17. Kibroth-hattaavah (see on Num. 11:34; p. 181).
Hazeroth (see on Num. 11:35, p. 181).
Num. 33:18. Rithmah, derived from retem, the broom plant, was in the desert of Paran (Num. 12:16), and probably the same locality as the Wady Abu Retemat, which is not very far to the south of Kadesh, a wide plain with shrubs and retem, i.e., broom. This spot was well adapted for a place of encampment for Israel, which was so numerous that it might easily stretch into the desert of Zin, and as far as Kadesh (Num. 13:21; Num. 13:26).Keil and Del.
Num. 33:19-36 give the names of the places of encampment during the years of penal wandering. The determination of their position is difficult, because during the period there was no definite line of march pursued.Speakers Comm. Of all the seventeen places not a single one is known, or can be pointed out with certainty, except Ezion-geber.Keil and Del.
Rimmon-prirez = the pomegranate of the breach. The locality has not been identified.
Num. 33:20. Libnah = whiteness. Probably the Laban of Deu. 1:1, and situated on or near either the Elanitic gulf or the Arabah.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:21. Rissah = heaps of ruins. Probably identical with Rasa of the Roman tables, 32 Roman miles from Ailah (Elah), and 203 miles south of Jerusalem.Bibl. Dict.
Num. 33:22. Kehelathah = assembling. Nothing is known of the place.
Num. 33:23. Mount Shapher = beautiful mountain.Fuerst. Perhaps the hill now known as Jebel-esh-Shureif, about 40 miles north-west of Rs-el-Ka, north-west of Ezion geber, and west or south-west of el-Beyneh.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:24. Haradah = place of terror.Fuerst. Probably Wady-el-Khraizeh, about 15 miles south-east of Jebel-esh-Shureif.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:25. Makheloth = Places of meeting. Unknown.
Num. 33:26. Tahath = a depression or valley.Fuerst. The site has not been identified.
Num. 33:27. Tarah = station. Situation unknown.
Num. 33:28. Mithcah = sweet fountain (Fuerst); or place of sweetnessBibl. Dict. Unknown.
Num. 33:29. Hashmonah. The meaning of this word is doubtful; it may be fat or fertile soil. Probably it is the Heshmon of Jos. 15:27, and identical with the fountain Ain Hasb, in the north-west of the Arabah.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:30. Moseroth = place of chastisement.Fuerst. In Deu. 10:6, we have the singular form of the word (Moserah) instead of the plural, as in this place. In that place it is said, there Aaron died. Its site has not been identified.
Num. 33:31. Bene-jaakan = the children of Jaakan (see Gen. 36:27; 1Ch. 1:42). In Deu. 10:6, Beeroth (i.e. wells) of the children of Jaakan. There it is stated that the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera; whilst here, it is said, they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan. The two passages probably relate to different journeys. This one to a journey during the thirty-seven years of penal wanderings; and that in Deut. to the march in the fortieth year, when they journeyed from Kadesh to Mount Hor, where Aaron died (Num. 20:22-29). Beeroth-bene-jaakan may be identical with the wells of sweet water now known as el-Mayein, which lying up high among the hills, more than 60 miles due west of Mount Hor, would be likely to be visited by the Israelites either immediately before or after their encampment at Moserah.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:32. Hor-hagidgad. If the initial letter be Kheth (as in Tex. Recep., Syr., and later Targum) the name will denote the cavern of Gidgad; if He (as some few MSS., Samaritan text, earlier Targ., LXX., Vulg read) it will denote the summit of Gidgad. In Deu. 10:7, we read simply Gudgodah or Gudgod.Ibid. The situation has not been identified.
Num. 33:33. Jotbathah = goodness. In Deu. 10:7, Jotbath (Heb. Jotbathah) a land of rivers of waters. This place is perhaps to be identified with Wady Tbah, six miles south-west of the head of the Elanitic gulf; where is a broad plain running down to the sea, containing many palm trees and tamarisks, and well supplied with water.Ibid.
Num. 33:34. Ebronah; i.e. passage. This station apparently lay on the shore of the Elanitic gulf, at a point where the ebb of the tide left a ford across. Hence the later Targum renders the word fords.Ibid.
Num. 33:35. Ezion Gaber = the giants back bone. Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom (1Ki. 9:26). Dean Stanley says, There is nothing to fix the precise site of Ezion Geber. But it seems almost certain that it was at what was then the northern extremity of the Elanitic gulf, some miles north of the present head of the gulf, at Ain-el-Ghudyn.
Num. 33:36. The wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. See on chaps. Num. 12:16; Num. 13:21; Num. 13:26; Num. 20:16.
Num. 33:37. Mount Hor, &c. See on chap Num. 20:22.
Num. 33:37-40. See on chaps. Num. 20:22 to Num. 21:3.
Num. 33:41-43. Zalmonah, Pa-non, Oboth. See on Num. 21:10.
Num. 33:44. Ije-abarim. See on Num. 21:11.
Num. 33:45. Dibon-gad. See on Num. 21:30.
Num. 33:46. Almon-diblathaim is almost certainly identical with Beth diblathaim mentioned by Jeremiah (Jer. 48:22), in connection with Dibon and Nebo. Its site is unknown; but it is to be sought for to the north or north-west of Dibon.
Num. 33:47. The mountains of Abarim, before Nebo, is only another name for the valley of the field of Moab upon the top of Pisgah. See on Num. 21:20.
Num. 33:48. The plains of Moab, &c. See on chap Num. 22:1.
Num. 33:49. Beth-jesimoth = house of the wastes, a town situated on the north-eastern border of the Dead Sea (Jos. 12:3). Later it was allotted to the Reubenites (Jos. 13:20).
Abel-shittim. See on Num. 25:1.
Num. 33:50Num. 36:13. This last portion of the book concludes the record of the long wandering of the people by certain directions respecting that conquest and allotment of the Promised Land, with which the wandering terminated. These regulations are divided into two sections by the re-insertion at Num. 35:1 of the introductory formula with which Num. 33:50 opens. Of these portions the former contains commands concerning
(1) the extermination of the Canaanitish nations, Num. 33:50-56;
(2) the boundaries of the Promised Land, Num. 34:1-15;
(3) the names of the men who should allot the land, Num. 34:16-29.Speakers Comm.
Num. 33:52. Pictures. Rather, idols of stone (comp. Lev. 26:1).
Molten images; idols cast from brass.
High places, where altars were erected for the worship of idols.
THE ITINERARY OR ISRAEL FROM EGYPT TO THE PROMISED LAND
(Num. 33:1-2)
Moses kept this record of the marches and encampments of Israel by the commandment of the Lord. There must, therefore, have been some good and sufficient reason for it. And it seems to us that it was intended for a memorial, which was calculated in many ways to benefit primarily the Israelites, but also all others who might make acquaintance with the history. It is probable that the history of every station and march had its suggestions for the instruction, or encouragement, or admonition of the people. Of many of these encampments we know nothing except the name; but of others we know something of the occurrences and events connected with them, and in these instances we shall endeavour to briefly point out their moral suggestions. The verses before us, which are the introduction to the record, lead us to consider its general uses, and these as suggested by the fact that it was commanded by God.
It was calculated to be useful as
I. An incentive to gratitude to God.
His goodness and mercy to the Israelites are manifest throughout the entire history. They are especially seen in His
1. Emancipating them from bondage in Egypt. With a strong hand the Lord brought them out of Egypt.
2. Repeatedly delivering them from their enemies. From the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the Amalekites at Rephidim, the Canaanites at Arad, &c.
3. Infallibly guiding them in their journeys. In the day time He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He led them forth by the right way, &c. (a)
4. Constantly providing for them in the desert. He rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels food; He sent them meat to the full He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like the sand of the sea. He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths; &c. (b)
5. Inviolably guarding them from dangers. Excepting on those occasions when they forfeited His protection by their aggravated offences, He shielded them from the perils both of the desert through which they passed and of the enemies whom they encountered. (c)
The record which, by suggestion, reminded them of so much goodness and mercy, was eminently adapted to inspire their warm and deep gratitude to Him from whom these blessings flowed. And can we survey the path of our pilgrimage without discovering many and cogent reasons for gratitude to God? What shall I render unto the Lord? &c. Bless the Lord, O my soul; &c. (d)
II. An encouragement to obey and trust God.
The history makes it clearly manifest that in obedience to the Divine will Israel realized peace, security, and prosperity. This was a reason for continued and complete obedience And since God in His dealings with them had displayed so much kindness and wisdom, faithfulness and power, He had surely proved Himself to be worthy of their unlimited and hearty confidence. He is unchangeable; therefore His past doings are examples of what we may expect Him to do in the future. History, properly studied, will be the nurse of faith and hope (comp. Psa. 78:3-8). (e)
III. A monitor against sin.
Very impressively the history reveals
1. Mans proneness to sin. The Israelites sinned at the Red Sea (Exo. 14:11-12), in the wilderness of Sin (Exo. 16:2-3), at Rephidim (Exo. 17:1-4), at Sinai (Exodus 32), at Kibroth-hattaavah (chap. 11), at Kadesh (chap. 14), &c. How sadly in human life to day is the history of Israel in this respect reproduced!
2. Gods antagonism against sin. See this at Sinai, at Kibroth hattaavah, at Kadesh, in the rebellion of Korah and his company (Num. 16:31-50), in the sin in the matter of Peor (Num. 25:1-9). God is the unrelenting foe of sin. (f)
3. The great evil of sin. This itinerary shows by intimation how it had cursed Israel. All their sorrows and afflictions had resulted from sin. Many of these stations would never have been visited but for their sins. More than thirty-seven years of their wanderings were caused by them. They had painfully proved that sin is an evil thing and bitter (comp. Jer. 2:19). (g) All this was calculated to warn them against committing it. This use of history is distinctly mentioned in Psa. 78:9. And this, we think, was one of the ends why Moses was commanded to keep this diary of travel. Let the miseries which sin has caused us check every inclination to it. (h)
Conclusion.
Every man should remember his own history, and profit by his own experiences.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) This point is illustrated on pp 152154, 164
(b) Illustrations on the Divine provision are given on pp. 154, 189, 190, 202.
(c) The Divine protection is illustrated on pp. 105, 154, 164, 176.
(d) For illustrations on this point see pp. 101, 276.
(e) This point is illustrated on pp. 407, 416, 417
(f) and (g) For illustrations on these points see p. 327.
(h) An illustration on Discouragements to sin is given on p. 288.
MOSESS DIARY OF TRAVELS, AND ITS TEACHINGS
(Num. 33:2)
This chapter is a compilation from Mosess diary, recording the journeys on the way from Egypt to Canaan. The text tells us that God told Moses to keep this record, and to publish it. Human life is not to be forgotten; it is a thing of interest and moment to the person living it, and it is full of instruction to others observing it. God wished the people to remember these journeys; and He wishes all ages to know of them and to learn from them. Let us notice a few of the lessons God intends these journeys to teach us.
I. They impress upon us the great fact of Gods continued presence and interest in human life.
As we read the incidents recorded of these journeys, we see God feeding, guiding, protecting the people. In the census taken at His command, we see that He knows every individual and keeps a record of every life. Then we see Him giving the people laws, sanitary and moral, tending to health and comfort, purity and holiness. These journeys show us that God knew all, was interested in all, and was the best Friend of all. He is still the same, &c.
II. They point out to us that God is the one safe and true Guide through life.
The people in the wilderness were ignorant of the way, exposed to many dangers, and quite helpless in themselves. These journeys show that God with them was more than equal to all emergencies. They prove that while they trusted God, they were never in want; while they followed Him, they never missed the way; and while they obeyed Him, they never suffered harm. To us, as to them, the journey of life is a perilous one: the way is unknown to us, and we need a guide. Let the record of these journeys commend to us Israels Guide. He knows the way; He never errs; He can ever protect; He is one we can wholly trust; and He is willing to be our Guide.
III. They present to us a picture of human life and thus tend to give us correct views of life.
What is life as seen from these records? A pilgrimage of varied and chequered experiences. In no place had they a continuing city; and in their mysterious wanderings to and fro, they met with all kinds of experiences. They were constantly finding fault with God; and yet He was leading them in a straight, the best way. Such is life to us all; and it is well for us to know it, so as to have right views of life. Here have we no continuing city; this is not our rest. God is often leading us in a way which is mysterious to us; His paths are to us often in the deep waters; and we are often perplexed. But let us look at these journeys. He is ever doing rightdoing all things well. And the way He leads His people now, as then, is the best way to rest. As in these journeys so in our life; we have Marah and Elim, storm and calm, trouble and comfort; and let us not forget that God led the people to both. Let none then build their hopes on the earth; let none despair in passing through trials and afflictions. Our life here is a mingled one.
Bits of gladness and of sorrow,
Strangely crossed and interlaid:
Days of fever and of fretting,
Hours of kind and blessed calm.
Tears of parting, smiles of meeting;
Paths of smooth and rugged life.
Such are our annals upon earth,
Our tale from very hour of birth,
The souls true history.Bonar.
IV. They show to us that the greatest evils of life and its only dangers come from sin.
Journeying through this world cannot be all pleasant. In the nature of things, trials and troubles must and do come; for we are in an enemys land, we are passing through a course of discipline, &c. But the greatest evils and the only dangers of life come from sin. Look at these journeys. Nothing really injures man but sin. God led the people to the Red Sea, to Marah, to the wilderness, &c.; it was often trying to them; but God never failed them; He was equal to all; they lost not a man; they wanted nothing while they were faithful to Him. Invariably we find that sin was their curse. So with us. There is nothing to fear in poverty, illness, death, &c. They are hard to bear; we need patience under them; but they cannot hurt us. Yea! God can turn them into blessings for us. But as for sin, it is ever a curse, and nothing but a curse; it ruins body and soul; injures us for time and eternity. Yet people love sin, &c. O that all such would read the record of these journeys! &c.
V. They suggest the comforting though that by trusting in God and following Him we are sure to possess the inheritance which He has promised to His people.
Difficulties, trials, opposition are met on the way to heaven; but following after God, we shall safely reach the good land beyond Jordan, as did the people the record of whose journeys God commanded Moses to write.
We are all jouneying through life; soon, soon the journey will end. Let each ask himself, Whither am I going? Who is my guide? What will the end be? And let these journeys of Israel urge us all to seek for Israels God.David Lloyd.
THE DEPARTURE FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE
(Num. 33:3-4)
Concerning the departure of Israel from Egypt, the text sets forth the following facts
I. Their departure succeeded the observance of a significant and sacred memorial.
They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the morrow after the Passover. See pp. 139, 141.
Learn: The importance of commemorating the Divine mercies to us. Such commemorations tend to foster our gratitude to God, to encourage our confidence in Him, &c. (a)
II. Their departure was public and triumphant.
The children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
1. It was public. In the sight of all the Egyptians. There was no thing clandestine or ignominious in the way in which they left the land of their oppressors (comp. Isa. 52:12).
2. It was triumphant. With an high hand. God had displayed a little of the awful might of His strong right hand to the Egyptians. He effected the deliverance of Israel, &c.
Learn: The certainty of the accomplishment of the Divine purposes, and the fulfilment of the Divine promises. Notwithstanding the most powerful and persistent opposition, He carries forward His plans to triumphant issues. A reason for trusting Him, &c. (b)
III. Their departure took place when their oppressors were engaged in the most mournful occupation.
For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them. How deep and keen must have been the anguish of the Egyptians! The sorrow of one that is in bitterness for his firstborn, is spoken of in the sacred Scriptures as the most sharp and sore. And how universal was this sorrow! There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Learn: The greatest sorrows are the result of our sins. The anguish of the Egyptians arose from their oppression and cruelty to the Israelites, and their persistent refusal to comply with the demand of God, and let them go. Shun sin, &c. (c)
IV. Their departure had been brought about by the most awful displays of the Divine judgments.
All their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.
1. On the Egyptians. The whole kingdom of Egypt, says Dean Milman, had been laid waste by successive calamities: the cruelty of the oppressors had been dreadfully avenged; all classes had suffered in the indiscriminating desolation. Their pride had been humbled; their most sacred prejudices wounded; the Nile had been contaminated; their dwellings polluted by loathsome reptiles; their cleanly persons defiled by vermin; their pure air had swarmed with troublesome insects; their cattle had perished by a dreadful malady; their bodies broken out with a filthy disease; their early harvests had been destroyed by the hail, the later by the locusts; an awful darkness had enveloped them for three days; and, finally, they were smitten with a calamity more dreadful than all these, the instant death of all their firstborn, both of man and cattle.
2. On their idols. Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. The meaning of this clause is very doubtful. From the fact that the words are here connected with the burying of the firstborn, it has been supposed, says Dean Alford, that the destruction of the firstborn is meant by the phrase, seeing that among them would be many animals worshipped by the Egyptians. Calvin supposes that the judgment would consist in the demonstration of the worthlessness of the help and guardianship of Egypts gods. But it must be confessed that both these explanations fall short of any satisfactory elucidation of the words. The Pseudo Jonathan gives a perhaps more likely interpretation, when he refers it to a destruction of the images of Egypts gods: The molten images shall liquefy, those of stone shall be smitten in pieces, those of earth be broken up, those of wood shall be burnt to ashes (comp. 1Sa. 5:3, f.). We have very similar denunciations in Isa. 19:1; Jer. 43:13; Jer. 46:25; Eze. 30:13, in three of which places is a distinct reference to the destruction of the images. But if this is meant, there is, of course, far more beneath it: the gods of Egypt are demoniac powers, and Jehovahs discomfiture of them, beginning with the failure of the magicians, was consummated in the destruction of the firstborn.
Learn: The utter folly of any creature opposing himself to God. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him? (d)
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) For illustrations on this point, see pp. 407, 416, 417.
(b) For an illustration on this point, see p. 460.
(c) Illustrations on this point are given on pp. 97, 258, 327.
(d) Illustrations on this point appear on pp. 252, 312.
SUCCOTH AND ETHAM: THE DETERMINATION OF THE ROUTE
(Num. 33:5-6)
Succoth, their first station, seems to have been the general rendezvous after their hasty flight, and from thence their journey proper began. Here various Divine instructions seem to have been given to the Israelites, the consideration of which is beyond the scope of our work. There is, however, one question connected with the encampment at Succoth, which cannot be overlooked in any satisfactory treatment of this itinerary, viz., the determination of the route to be pursued; for it is in the account of their brief stay here that we first read of that route. From Succoth to Palestine, through the land of the Philistines, the usual caravan way, is comparatively a short journey. From Rameses to Gaza, says Kalisch, is a straight and much frequented way of eight or ten days, either northwards, through the pass of Djebel-el-Tih, or more eastwards, through that of Djebel-el-Edshmeh; and the sons of Jacob journeyed, in not many days, from Palestine to Egypt to buy corn. Why then were the Israelites led by the long and trying way of the wilderness of the Red Sea? The answer is given in Exo. 13:17.
The following homiletic sketch on the determination upon this route as illustrating The tender consideration of God for His people is taken from Buddicoms Christian Exodus.
The Christian life is a growth, and if assailed by some temptations in its infancy, the consequences might be fatal. He, therefore, who commences and maintains the process of our salvation, gradually accustoms His soldiers and servants to the difficulties of their warfare. Their faith, love, zeal, and self-denial are thus exercised rather than oppressed.
I. The circumstances of the Israelites.
They had been redeemed from bondage. They were commencing their journey to the Promised Land, every spirit filled with pleasure. They were confident of their power to endure the trials of the way. The heart-searching God knew their deficiencies; and a variety of circumstances connected with their feeble faith determined Him in wisdom to divert their feet towards Canaan by a devious path.
1. The Philistines, who lay between them and the promised inheritance, were a brave and warlike people, against whom the sons of Jacob, numerous as they were, could not hope to succeed in battle. Wisely, therefore, did the Lord judge that they would shrink from such enemies. Such are the Christians foes. Satan has triumphed over man in every age. And thinkest thou, Christian, that the enemies of the soul are enfeebled? What, then, would be the consequences if God led thee past them to Canaan? Wisely and graciously are you led by the wilderness.
2. The Israelites were unarmed, and therefore utterly unable to cope with the Philistines, who were prepared with every means of offence and defence which a people whose delight was in war could invent. The young believer just escaped from the house of bondage is defenceless. His enemies are armed. He cannot expect to wield the sword of the Spirit with the full energy of one who has been accustomed to fight with it.
3. In thus estimating the goodness of God towards the children of Israel, we must add that their spirits were bowed down by long captivity. The hard bondage in mortar and brick was not the school in which to learn courage. Hence Israel was not fitted to match against the free soldiers of Philistia. The slavery of Satan unfits for conflict with the foes of the soul.
II. The dealing of God towards them.
God might have made Israel at peace with the Philistines; or have given them courage to defeat their foes. But this would have comprehended less of moral discipline.
1. He avoided the nearest way to the Promised Land, and led them by the way of the wilderness. The Israelites would be astonished at the line of march; they would be disposed to murmur. Has not God often contradicted your desires? The passenger ignorant of navigation cannot direct the course of the ship. The ship-master knows the rocks: God knows our path best.
2. He saw fit that they should pass through the dangers of the Red Sea, and sojourn in the wilderness of Sin. Could this be the result of wisdom? Clouds and darkness are round about Him. It is the exclusive province of unerring wisdom to draw an exact line between the discipline necessary for our moral good, and that severity of affliction which might overwhelm us. We must confide in our Heavenly Father.
3. Although the journey of the Israelites was contrary to their expectations, their wishes, and their clouded judgment, it was the safest and the best path to Canaan. He led them forth by the right way. Let us learn, then, to leave the choice of our course simply and solely to God.
PI-HAHIROTH; OR, STANDING STILL IN THE MIDST OF DANGER
(Num. 33:7)
Departing from Etham, on a sudden, to quote the words of Dean Milman, the march of the Israelites is altered; instead of pressing rapidly onwards, keeping the sea on their right hand, and so heading the gulf, they strike to the south, with the sea on their left, and deliberately encamp at no great distance from the shore, at a place called Pi-hahiroth. The king, recovered from his panic, and receiving intelligence that the Israelites had no thought of return, determined on pursuit: intelligence of this false movement, or at least of this unnecessary delay on the part of the Israelites, encouraged his hopes of vengeance. The great caste of the warriors, the second in dignity, were regularly quartered in certain cities on the different frontiers of the kingdom, so that a considerable force could be mustered on any emergency. With great rapidity he drew together 600 war chariots, and a multitude of others, with their full equipment of officers. In the utmost dismay the Israelites beheld the plain behind them glittering with the hostile array; before them lay the sea; on the right, impracticable passes. Resistance does not seem to have entered their thoughts; they were utterly ignorant of military discipline, perhaps unarmed, and encumbered with their families, and their flocks and herds. Because there were no graves in Egypt, they exclaimed, in the bitterness of their despair, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Their leader alone preserved his calmness and self-possession.
Let us fix upon some of his remarkable words to them as suggesting instructive and helpful considerations: Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day (Exo. 14:13). Consider
I. The deplorable effect of slavery upon the Israelites.
This, the first peril which they encountered, revealed their almost utter destitution of manliness. Notice
1. Their cowardice. Soon as they saw the advancing hosts of Pharaoh they were sore afraid. They were in great consternation, prepared for anything mean and unmanly; totally unprepared for anything noble or brave.
2. Their faithlessness. All the signs and wonders of the Divine Hand wrought on their behalf are lost sight of by reason of their present difficulty and danger.
3. Their ingratitude. How disgracefully they reproached Moses! Because there were no graves in Egypt, &c What a base return for all his disinterested and noble efforts on their behalf! They go so far as to apostatise in spirit. Better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. A man would have said: Better death than slavery; better anything than to again bow our neck beneath the yoke of the oppressor. When freedom and honour are no more, life is not desirable. But slavery had crushed the manhood out of them. The degradation of their position had done its mischievous work by degrading themselves, and reducing them in spirit to mere serfs. In estimating their conduct, we must thus take into account their previous disadvantages and sufferings. And this principle should be observed in analogous cases in our own day. Apply it in the case of the reclaimed drunkard. It is unreasonable to complain because he is not at once a man of refinement, &c. It will take years to repair the waste and injury of the years of intemperance. Let us be thankful for the transformation of the drunkard into a sober man, and wait with patience for the exhibition of the characteristics of a noble manhood. Apply it to the spiritual life. After we are delivered from the bondage of sin, we shall often discover evil results of our former life clinging to us, and retarding our progress. The strength and courage of mature Christian manhood are not attained at once. Sainthood is a growth. Let us patiently and hopefully persevere, &c.
II. The distinguished heroism of Moses.
Amid all the excitement, danger, alarm, and reproaches of the people, Moses was sublimely calm and magnanimous. He uttered no reproach to his craven-hearted followers; but addressed to them words of lofty inspiration and encouragement. Fear ye not, stand still, &c. The crisis that revealed the mean cowardice and base ingratitude of his followers, revealed also the noble generosity and triumphant heroism of the leader. That which brought out their want of faith in God, also brought out the strength and firmness of his faith in Him.
III. The remarkable exhortation of Moses.
Fear ye not, stand still, &c. This exhortation warrants the inference, that there are times when our highest wisdom is to stand still and wait the Divine directions; when the best thing we can do is to do nothing but look to God to indicate our course. We do not counsel indolence either in temporal or spiritual things. There can be no progress without effort; or attainment without industry; or conquest without conflict. Yet there are seasons in life when it is the part of the wise man and the Christian not to exhaust himself in fruitless efforts, but to stand still and wait with all possible calmness for the interposition of God. When we have done all that we can do, and can do no more, and yet the end is not attained, we are not extricated from our difficulties, it is wise in us not to exhaust ourselves in frantic cries and efforts which merely beat the air, but to wait until God shall appear for our help, (a) This principle is applicable to
1. Our personal salvation. We are commanded to work out our own salvation; and only by patient and earnest effort can we advance in the Christian life. But there is a very important part of our salvation in which we can do nothing but stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Thus it is in relation to our acceptance with God Our part in this is not to endeavour to commend ourselves to His favour, or strive to justify ourselves before Him, or labour to merit His grace. Our part is to accept His grace, to leave ourselves to His mercy, to receive Christ as our Saviour, to stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.
2. The exigencies of life. There are seasons when we find human and earthly resources utterly inadequate to our need. There are burdens which no human friend can help us to bear; difficulties from which no human skill can extricate us; crises in which we are thrown either into unmanly, enforced submission, or into the frenzies of despair, or upon the help of God. In these crises let us stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; let us hopefully appeal to Heaven for help. Thus did David (Psa. 60:11; Psa. 142:4-5). We are exhorted in the Scriptures to do so (Psa. 46:10; Isa. 30:7; Isa. 30:15). (b) Nor is it less brave, at such times, to stand still and wait the help of God. The coward may struggle frantically in the terrible crises of life; but only the heroic can wait the time when action is serviceable, and wait that time calmly. To stand still in the moment of supreme anxiety, and wisely estimate our resources and scan our prospects, and determine the best mode and time for action, and cast ourselves upon Godthis demands a brave man, and one whose courage springs from faith. There are times when it is more heroic to stand still than to fight, and crises when it is wiser to wait than to work. (c)
The great lesson of our subject is this, trust in God. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, &c.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) One of our hardest lessons is to find out the wisdom of our hindrances; how we are to be put forward and upward by being put back and put down; encouraged by being rebuked; prospered by being baffled. When the company in the Pilgrims Progress had to sit up watching all night at the house of Gaius, Greatheart kept them awake with this riddle, He that would kill must first be overcome; and the truth in it has been practically dug out, by trials that broke sleep, through many a hard fortune, in every Christian experience since. It needs wakeful watchers, spiritual eyesight, to read that riddle of life, how defeat helps progress; how a compulsory standing still speeds us on; how humiliation exalts; how putting a cross on the shoulders lightens the burden of the race. But Christ has solved the wonder of His own cross, humbling Himself, becoming obedient unto death, and in His humiliation having His judgment taken away.
Gradually, to believing eyes, the fact comes out. Standing still at the right time, in the right way, for the right purpose, is the surest advance. Waiting on God brings us to our journeys end faster than our feet. The failure of our favourite plans is often the richest success of the soul. Let the pressure of trouble drive you down from your heights of health and pride, and you will come upon the primary foundation, and grow strong out of the rock Be exiled from the convivial fellowships of comfort and popularity, and you make new acquaintances with stronger friends,Christian self-possession, and wholesome repentance, and a mastery of your moral forces, and faith in your Lord.F. D. Huntington, D.D.
(b) In the midst of our own houses, there are more secret sorrows than I need to name. Every life has its own. Perhaps there are erring, ungrateful, and ungracious children, with parents hearts breaking and bleeding over them, and agonizing in daily prayers for their return. Have faith in God; every prayer pierces the Heaven of heavens; the Intercessor and Mediator pleads with it; and its answer is committed to some strong angels at the right hand of the Throne. There are anxieties, alienations, unavailing affections, crossed desires and hopes. There are memories running back from pews in this house of prayer to the graves of those that worship no more in earthly temples. Rest, mourners, in the Lord. Seek not the living among the dead. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all else shall be added. Let us be still beneath Gods hand; for though His hand be heavy upon as, it is strong and safe beneath us too: and none can pluck us out of His hand. O, impatient griefs, and sorrows that have no hope, be still; and ye hopes that would outrun the wisdom of a healing Providence and a saving Mercy, be still; all unreasonable and rebellious thoughts, be still; know that the Lord, He is God. Remember that the darkness is Gods as well as the light; and if we cannot walk and work therein, we can at least kneel down and pray.Ibid.
(c) If we learn to measure the bravery of Christian acquirements rather by the inward effort they cost than by their display, if we estimate character more by the standard of Christs heatitudes than by what we short-sightedly call results, we shall find some of the sublimest fruits of faith among what are commonly called passive virtues: in the silent endurance that hides under the shadow of great afflictions; in the quiet loveliness of that forbearance which suffereth long and is kind; in the charity which is not easily provoked; in the forgiveness which can be buffeted for doing well and take it patiently; in the smile on the face of diseased and suffering persons, a transfiguration of the tortured features of pain brightening sick rooms more than the sun; in the unostentatious heroism of the household, amidst the daily dripping of small cares in the noiseless conquests of a love too reverent to complain; in resting in the Lord, and waiting patiently for Him. Have you yourself never known the time when you found it a harder lesson to learn how to be still in your room than to be busy in the world? Of masculine natures that is apt to be the special cross. And so that may be the point where faith and virtue need to rally their strength, if you would be a triumphant disciple. It is a fact which not all of us may have noticed, that of the nine beatitudes of our Lord, all, unless it be one, pronounce their blessing on what the world would call tame and passive traits, from the poor in spirit, to those who are reviled and persecuted without revenge. So does Christianity turn upside down the vulgar vanity of out ambition, and empty our worldliness of blessedness.Ibid.
PI-HAHIROTH; OR, A LONG SEPARATION
(Num. 33:7)
There are other remarkable words of Moses, spoken at this station, which we shall do well to consider before we pass on. Having uttered the words which we have already noticed, he said: For the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever (Exo. 14:13). In these words we have an illustration of
I. The triumphant faith of Moses.
It rose superior to difficulties and dangers; the abject terror of his followers could not diminish its vitality or vigour; the almost desperate aspect of affairs could not overcome it; it was splendidly victorious over all. Let us emulate Moses in this respect.
II. The suicidal hardihood of the wicked.
Most terrible was the development of Pharaohs character. His resistance of the Divine commands although they were authenticated by the most striking and dreadful signs; and his hardening of himself in rebellion against Godhow appalling are these! Madly he rushed into ruin; blindly he courted destruction. His is a typical case. Sin seems to infatuate mendrives them mad. Spiritually, men are their own executioners; they of their own accord rush into the sea that engulfs them. Sin is madness. The persistent sinner is beside himself.
III. The working of God in history.
1. Delivering the oppressed. The Israelites had long cried unto Him; and the only result seemed to be that their position became worse. As we reckon time, His interposition was long delayed. Does God hear? Does He judge amongst men? Yes. He sitteth in the throne judging right. He will avenge His own elect, &c.
2. Retributing the oppressor. Long time had God borne with Pharaoh; but at length His forbearance ceases and He visits him in judgment. Because sentence against an evil work, &c. (Ecc. 8:11). Though hand join in hand, &c. (Pro. 11:21). Thinkest thou that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? (Rom. 2:3-6). He that being often reproved, &c. (Pro. 29:1).
3. Developing in all His own wonderful purposes. Consider these Israelites,they were cowardly, ungrateful, preferring to return into slavery than to die fighting for freedom. How unlikely that they should ever become a truly great nation! How unlikely that through them should come to the human race the greatest blessings! the clear revelation of the will and purpose of God, and the Redeemer of men! How unlikely! Yet such was Gods purpose; towards its accomplishment these events were tending; and in due season it was realized. History should be studied reverently, for God is working in it. In all and by all He is developing His own glorious plans.
IV. Separations which are taking place amongst men in the present.
1. There are many persons whom having seen them once we shall see them again no more for ever. In the througed thoroughfare, in the railway carriage, at the summer retreat, we see many persons once, and never more in this life. Join to this the fact that we may influence them by act, or word, or look; and how solemn is the consideration! What an argument for a true life at all times!
2. There are persons whom we separate from to see them again no more for ever in the same circumstances. We meet them again; but, so changeful are all things here that, the surroundings of their life are altered. The poor have become prosperous; the prosperous, impoverished; the distressed have become happy, and the happy, miserable, &c. This changefulness makes many a separation very anxious. We ask,Shall we meet again as well and as happy? &c.
3. There are persons whom we separate from to see them again no more for ever in the same character. We part from a person who is ungodly and profane; years roll away, and we meet him a reverent and religious man A youth leaves home reckless and wild; he returns a thoughtful and earnest man. A young man or woman leaves home comparatively innocent and pure; but the man returns with a blasted character, and the woman a moral wreck. This is the most separating separation. Separation of time, or space, or even of world, does not so painfully separate as division of character.
V. The great separation which will take place amongst men in the future.
See Mat. 13:30; Mat. 13:39-43; Mat. 25:31-46.
In that great final separation, where shall we be found?
PI-HAHIROTH; OR, GOING FORWARD IN THE FACE OF DIFFICULTIES
(Num. 33:7)
The time for standing still and waiting was soon at an end. Moses sought direction from God; and at once received the Divine answer: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward (Exo. 14:15).
It must have seemed strange to the Israelites to be commanded to advance. To go forward seemed like rushing from one difficulty into another. Pharaoh and his army were an alarming danger behind them; before them the sea appeared a danger no less to be dreaded. Yet the order was, Go forward. Notwithstanding the threatening sea, they were to advance. We regard this as an illustration of Christian Progress in the Face of Difficulties. It is an established fact of the Christian life, that God calls us to advancement though there are immense difficulties in our path. He commands us to Go forward in despite of dangers which appear inevitable and fatal.
I. In the Christian life advancement is demanded.
Progress is a great law of the universe. In nature all things move onward. Winds, and streams, and stars, are ever advancing. The history of science, philosophy, and art, is a record of progress The Religion of Jesus Christ also has advanced and grown constantly. Progress is a law of all life. Where progress ends decay begins. So in the spiritual life the command is, forward, upward, heavenward, God ward. Continuance in the same condition is impossible. Advancement to higher attainments, and nobler developments, and more perfect conditions of being, is ever demanded of us. Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. Grow in grace, &c. Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, &c. (2Pe. 1:5-7). Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Go forward. (a)
II. In the Christian life advancement is demanded with a full recognition of the obstacles in the way of it.
He who commanded the Israelites to go forward was perfectly acquainted with the sea which rolled forbiddingly before them, and all the succeeding difficulties which awaited them; yet He gave the order to advance. He does likewise in the Christian life. He hath forewarned us that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Yet He ever summons us to advance, ever calls us to ascend. The path of Christian progress is seldom an easy one. Dangers and difficulties are numerous. We pass from conquest to renew the conflict. We throw one foe and advance to engage another. We surmount one difficulty, and another challenges us to effort. Yet knowing all these things, the Lord says, Go forward. (b)
III. In the Christian life, obstacles to progress, manfully encountered, may be surmounted.
In ordinary life we frequently witness proofs of this principle. Man, by the force of a sound and active understanding, and iron will, and persistent effort, is constantly removing mountains, accomplishing that which is pronounced impossible.
Who breaks his births invidious bar,
And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star,
he can do wondersalmost all things are possible to him. Let the same mind and will and activity be under the guidance of God, and nerved by faith in Him, and difficulties shall melt away before them. All things are possible to him that believeth. Faith laughs at impossibilities. The Israelites moved forward at the command of God; and before the majesty of such reliant obedience, the sea disparted. The difficulty vanished in the presence of believing obedience. When God saith, Go forward, though it be towards the deep sea or trackless mountain, let us advance, and some unseen path will open before us, or the waters will divide at our feet.
Dark and wide the sea appears,
Every soul is full of fears,
Yet the word is onward still,
Onward more and do His will;
And the great deep shall discover
Gods highway to take thee over. (c)
IV. In the Christian life, obstacles to progress, manfully encountered, contribute to our advancement.
Obstacles are disciplinary. Every difficulty that has vanished before the obedience of faith is an argument for future and greater reliance. Every conflict, courageously entered upon and continued, must end in conquest; and every conquest fits us for more severe conflicts, and makes our final victory more sure. Through the grace of God, difficulties, dangers, and foes, are all contributing to our progress, (d)
V. In the Christian life we are incited to progress, notwithstanding obstacles, by a host of encouragements.
Here are some of our encouragements.
1. Believing prayer is mighty with God. Moses cried unto the Lord; and the Lord responded to his prayer by dividing the sea. He still attends to the requests of men. (e)
2. Glorious examples incite us onward. Think of Paul: I count not myself to have apprehended, &c. And later in life: I have fought a good fight, &c. Think of that glorious and ever-increasing multitude who by faith have triumphed over all hindrances, perils, and adversaries. Be ye followers of them who through faith and patience, &c. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about, &c.
3. The character of our great Leader encourages us forward. His path has been one of splendid victories; His career one of constantly increasing glory. He is equal to every emergency. With Jesus at our head we need not fear to advance.
What earnest voices unite in urging us to Go forward! Voices of the glorified urge us onward. They who have passed from the semblances of time to the realities of eternity call upon us to advance. The rest that awaits us invites us forward. We do not pine for our rest before God wills it. We long for no inglorious rest. We are thankful rather for the invaluable training of difficulty, the loving discipline of danger and strife. Yet in the midst of it all, the prospect of rest attracts us heavenward. Through all, and above all, God cries, Go forward; Come up hither.
Forward I be our watchword,
Steps and voices joined;
Seek the things before us,
Not a look behind:
Burns the fiery pillar
At our armys head;
Who shall dream of shrinking,
By our Cap ain led?
Forward through the desert,
Through the toil and fight;
Canaan lies before us,
Zion beams with lightAlford.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Certainly advance is the great law of the Christian life, as well as of the universe. All things in nature and history go forward. The stream moves forward, not a wave of it turns back, its every eddy even is, in reality, advancing. The winds move forward, pausing, indeed, often on their journey, lingering amidst the locks of the pine or in the cleft of the rock, but speedily resuming their onward sweep again. The starsthe earth includedmove forward, hasting not, resting not, seeking, it is said, some distant centre. How we saw the comet of 1858 shooting like an arrow towards its broad target, the sun! Science, art, philosophy, literature, every species of knowledge, move forward; invention following inventiondiscovery, discovery; one man of genius eclipsing another, to be in his turn outshone. Time moves forwardoh, how rapidly! and how his vast wings seem to say as they rush along, I have an engagement at the judgment-seat. I have an appointment in eternity, and I must fulfil it. My Kings business requireth haste. Christ Himself never rested. He was never in a hurry, but He was always in haste. The difference between Him and many of His people is, His life was short, and He knew it, and did the most in it; theirs, too, is short, but they know it not, and do not with their might what their hand findeth to do. God Himself even, with all the leisure of eternity, is not losing an hour, but is carrying on His broad plans with undeviating regularity and increasing swiftness, and surely men should aspire in this respect to be imitators of, and fellow-workers with, God. Christs religion, too, has been active and progressive; sometimes frozen up for a time like a river, but, like a river, working under the ice, and when spring arrived, making up for the time lost by the increased rapidity of its course. And so with the path of the individual; like the river, the winds, the stars, the Eternal Himself, it must advance. Our motto should be Excelsior.G Gilfillan, M.A.
(b) The progress of the Christian is often from one difficulty to another, and very idle for him, in this earth, to expect an unvaried course of even moderate peace and happiness. He only exchanges one difficulty for another. After old obstacles are surmounted, new ones are sure to arise. The children of Israel probably thought they had buried all their difficulties in that ocean. And how loud and bold rung their psalm, as if it were a challenge to the wilderness, on the verge of which they stood. But the wilderness accepted the challenge, and what with thirst, hunger, wild beasts, and, at last, Divinely-appointed death, it engulfed almost all that multitude which had shouted for victory on the shore of the Red Sea. And so with the desert of this world. The Slough of Despond is exchanged for the Hill Difficulty, and that for the Castle of Giant Despair. We disguise not the pleasures of the wilderness, its wells, arbours, angels, Delectable Mountains, but notwithstanding all this, it is a wilderness at the best, and grows often more dreary the longer we pursue our path.Ibid.
(c) For an illustration on this point see p. 393 (a).
(d) Illustrations on this point appear on pp. 393, 394.
(e) Beloved, if you can conceive of an age that is worse than another, so much the more is it a fit platform for the heavenly energy; the more difficulty, the more room for omnipotence to show itself; there is elbow-room for the great God when there is some great thing in the way, and some great difficulty that He may overturn. When there is a mountain to be cast into the valley, then there is almighty work to be done; and our covenant God only needs to see work to do for His paying people, and He will shortly do it.C. H. Spurgeon.
Illustrations on the Power of Prayer appear on pp. 183, 225.
THE DIVIDING OF THE RED SEA
(Num. 33:8)
And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness.
I. This dividing of the sea was miraculous.
1. Because it took place, and the waters closed again, upon the outstretching of the hand of Moses, and in fulfilment of his word (Exo. 14:13). The sea is less manageable by man, perhaps, than any other force of nature. The sea is Gods, and He made it (Psa. 95:5), and to Him only will it render obedience. The obedience in this case to Moses was, therefore, the result of a supernatural interposition. (a)
2. Because the waters stood upright on either side of the path. When waves roll back and leave their bed dry for a short space of time, they break, and return again; a strong wind would drive back the water on one side only and leave the water perhaps knee-deep or ankle-deep, but the wall of water on either side, and the dry land in the middle, could have been produced by miraculous power alone.
II. The fact of the miracle is proved by the present existence of the nation which was that day born.
No nation in the world, except the Hebrew, can point to the place and the day on which it began its national existence. All other ancient nations have lost their identity, but the Jews retain theirs, and the miracle of the Red Sea has always been the foundation fact of their history (Isa. 63:12; Psa. 68:12, &c.).
Lessons.
i. The attainment of moral ends is more important than physical convenience. The Israelites could have entered Canaan by a much nearer way than through the Red Sea, but that way was chosen for them to teach them many important truths in connection with God. The shortest way to attain an end is not always the best way. A short way to a fortune may not be so conducive to the formation of a worthy character as one which it takes much longer to travel. This truth is taught in the temptation of our Saviour (Luk. 4:5-8). Satan proposed a short way to that universal dominion, which our Lord knew could only be safely and truly attained through Gethsemane and Calvary.
ii. The attainment of moral ends is more important than the uninterrupted operation of the ordinary laws of nature This is not at all surprising. The laws of nature are Gods servants, and it is only reasonable to expect that, when He can reveal His power and mercy better by suspending their action, and operating, as it were, upon the forces of the world, without their instrumentality, He should do so. When the special end is accomplished they return to their wonted service. They have kept the bed of the Red Sea covered ever since the day when the waters closed over Pharaoh and his hosts.
iii. The attainment of moral ends is more important than the preservation of bodily life. This is an acknowledged fact. The life of a rebel is considered of less importance than the upholding of the law that condemns him to death. The lives of many men are oftentimes considered of less importance than the establishment and upholding of freedom, and the downfall of that which degrades the higher life of the human race and prevents its development.W. Harris.
ILLUSTRATION
(a) On a sudden Moses advances towards the sea, extends his rod, and a violent wind from the east begins to blow. The waters recede on both sides, a way appears; at nightfall, probably about eight oclock, the caravan begins to defile along this awful pass. The wind continued in the same quarter all the night; but immediately they had passed over, and while the Egyptians, madly plunging after them, were in the middle of the passage, the wind as suddenly fell, the waters rushed back into their bed, the heavy chariot-wheels of the pursuers sank into the sand, broke and overthrew the chariots, and in this state of confusion the sea swept over the whole host, and overwhelmed the king and all the flower of the Egyptian army.
Such is the narrative in the book of Exodus, which writers of all ages have examined, and, according to the bias of their minds, have acknowledged or denied the miraculous agency, increased or diminished its extent. At an early period, historians (particularly in Egypt), hostile to the Jews, asserted that Moses, well acquainted with the tides of the Red Sea, took advantage of the ebb, and passed over his army, while the incautious Egyptians, attempting to follow, were surprised by the flood, and perished. Yet, after every concession, it seems quite evident that, without one particular wind, the ebb tide, even in the narrowest part of the channel, could not be kept back long enough to allow a number of people to cross in safety. We have, then, the alternative of supposing, that a man of the consummate prudence and sagacity, and the local knowledge, attributed to Moses, altered, suspended, or at least did not hasten his march, and thus deliberately involved the people, whom he had rescued at so much pains and risk, in the danger of being overtaken by the enemy, led back as slaves, or massacred, on the chance that an unusually strong wind would blow at a particular hour, for a given time, so as to keep back the flood, then die away, and allow the tide to return at the precise instant when the Egyptians were in the middle of their passage.
Wherever the passage was effected, the Mosaic account cannot, by any fair interpretation, be made consistent with the exclusion of preternatural agency. Not to urge the literal meaning of the waters being a wall on the right hand and on the left, as if they had stood up sheer and abrupt, and then fallen back again,the Israelites passed through the sea with deep water on both sides; and any ford between two bodies of water must have been passable only for a few people at one precise point of time. All comparisons, therefore, to marches like that of Alexander, cited by Josephus idly, and in his worst spirit of compromise, are entirely inapplicable. That bold general took the opportunity of the receding tide to conduct his army round a bluff headland in Pamphylia, called Climax, where, during high water, there was no beach between the cliffs and the sea. But what would this, or any other equally daring measures in the history of war, be to the generalship of Moses, who must thus have decoyed his enemy to pursue him to the banks of the sea, and so nicely calculated the time, that the lowest ebb should be exactly at the hour of his greatest danger, while the whole of the pursuing army should be so infatuated, and so ignorant of the tides, as to follow them without any apprehension of the returning flood? In this case Moses would appear as formidable a rival to the military fame of Alexander, as to the legislative wisdom of Solon or Lycurgus.H. H. Milman, D.D.
MARAH; OR, ASPECTS OF THE JOURNEY OF LIFE
(Num. 33:8)
And they went three days journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.
Human life in this world is a journey, which begins at birth and ends at death. Certain aspects of this journey are brought before us by the journey of the Israelites from the Red Sea to Marah, and their life at Marah.
I. The privations of this journey.
They went three days journey in the wilderness of Etham. And we learn from Exo. 15:22, that during those days they found no water. We have already briefly treated this topic on p. 366. (a)
II. The disappointments of our journey.
And pitched in Marah. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. How intensely painful must their disappointment have been! (b)
An illustration of some experiences in our own life. We have looked upon some thing or some position, and have felt and said to ourselves: When I attain that I shall be satisfied and happy. We have attained it, and found it unsatisfactory and bitter. Napoleon III., when an exile, deemed the throne to be all he needed to secure his happiness. He attained it; and in a few years he confessed: In changing my destiny, I have but changed my joys and sorrows. Formerly I bore the afflictions of exile; now I have to sustain the cares of power. One has looked at wealth as the one thing needful to his happiness; secured it; and been filled with bitter disappointment. Another has so judged concerning leisure, and attained it, with a similar result. Many have thus estimated married life and offspring. Countless mothers, on the birth of their first son, have said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. But how often, like Cain, has he wrung that mothers heart with anguish! How often has a fathers beloved turned out a second Absalom! We have looked upon many things as the pleasant fruit of our life; grasped them; and discovered a foul worm at the core. God disappoints us with the waters of Marah in order to lead us to Him who can make them sweet. When we over-estimate things and creatures, He has ordered that they shall disappoint us in order to lead us to Him who can fully meet our highest and vastest expectation.
III. The sins of our journey.
When the Israelites found that they could not drink the waters of Marah, they murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? Notice
1. Their unreasonableness and ingratitude towards Moses. Why murmur against him? Was he responsible for the lack of drinkable water? Could he make the bitter water sweet? Their murmurings were childish. Moreover, he had been their benefactor He had dared and sacrificed bravely for them. How ungrateful, then, was their conduct towards him!
2. Their unbelief and ingratitude to God. They had soon forgotten practically their deliverance from Egypt and their passage through the Red Sea. Three days ago they were singing the song of victory; to-day they are murmuring. Past interpositions of God on their behalf should have inspired present confidence in Him. Gratitude should have precluded murmuring. We also are prone to sin in like manner in our life-journey; to overlook past deliverances in present dangers; to fret and murmur at the inconveniences and trials of the way; to be unbelieving and ungrateful, &c. (c)
IV. The all-sufficient Resource of our journey.
In answer to the prayer of Moses God made the bitter waters sweet for them (Exo. 15:25). He is our Resource, and he is
1. All-sufficient. He is equal to every emergency and every need. To Him there are no emergencies. He sees the whole of our journey, knows every step of the way, and has wisely and amply provided for every need. (d)
2. Always willing to help. We have not to overcome by our prayers any unwillingness on His part to bless us. We have but sincerely to seek His aid, and He will impart it to us. (e)
3. Ever available. We can approach Him at all times and in all places. The cry of supplication or the song of praise will always reach His ear and secure His regard.
Brothers, we are all journeying, and sometimes with weary and aching hearts. Lifes changes sometimes clothe our life in shade, and weigh down our hearts with sadness. Its disappointments surprise and grieve our spirits. Our own sins often fill our hearts with shame and sorrow. But here is our unfailing Resource. Our Lord can take away the sin. He can sanctify changes and disappointments to our spiritual and eternal advantage. Let our trust be in Him. We are all journeying; but we may each find the end of our journey to be a secure and blessed home. In that home there shall be no more changes saddening our souls, no more disappointments distressing us, no more sins to harass and grieve the soul; but pure and peaceful life, &c.
Tuneful is the sound
That dwells in whispering boughs;
Welcome the freshness round,
And the gale that fans our brows.
But rest more sweet and still,
Than ever nightfall gave,
Our yearning hearts shall fill,
In the world beyond the grave.
There shall no tempests blow,
No scorching noon-tide heat,
There shall be no more snow,
No weary, wandering feet.
So we litt our trusting eyes
From the hills our fathers trod,
To the quiet of the skies,
To the Sabbath of our God.
Hemana.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Three days they marched without finding any water. We do not, with some, suppose, that during all this time they were without water. This was impossible. They must hare brought water in their leathern bottles with them from the last station. But this time having passed without an opportunity of replenishing their vessels, the supply was at length exhausted, and they began to suffer fearfully from thirst. Let us not think lightly of their distress. Thirst is a cruel thing; and it is known to be such even in a humid clime, where the sensation is rarely and lightly experienced and is very easily removed. But amid the hot sandy waste, under a burning sky, without any means of relief, the suffering is horrible. There is nothing like it. If we reflect that this vast host of men, women, and children, with numerous herds of cattle, had to travel over the sandy waste mostly on foot, with the burning sun over their heads, we may be able to form some faint and inadequate idea of their condition. But if we endeavour to picture to ourselves the circumstances of their case, and the unmistakable signs of suffering and misery which it presented, we shall have a more distinct apprehension of their wretched condition. They plod moodily and heavily on, no man speaking to his fellow. Many cannot speak if they would. Their tongues are parched and rough, and cling to the roofs of their mouths; their lips are black and shrivelled; and their eyeballs are red with heat, and sometimes a dimness comes over them, which makes them stagger with faintness. There is not one in all that multitude who probably would not have given all he possessed in the world, who would not have parted with a limb or have given up his life for one cool draught of water. And this was suffered by a people who had been used to drink without stint of the finest water in the world.John Kitto, D.D.
(b) But lot their misery, they think is past. In the distance they behold trees and bushes clad in refreshing green, and they know there must be water near. With glad looks and quickened steps they push joyously on.
For sure through that green meadow flows
The living stream! And lo! their famished beast
Sees the restoring sight!
Hope gives his feeble limbs a sudden strength,
He hurries on.Thalaba.
What a rush to the water! what eagerness to gulp the refreshing flood! But whence that universal groan, and horror, and despair? The water is bitterso bitter as to be loath-some even to their intense agony of thirst. Pity them; but judge them not too severely, if, in that awful moment of disappointed hope, with the waters of Marah before their faces, and the waters of the Nile before their thoughts, they did murmur, they did complain that they had been brought from unfailing waters to perish in that thirsty desolation. They should have trusted in God. They had been rescued from more imminent danger; and it was no arm of flesh, but the sacred pillar of cloud, which had indicated their way and brought them to that place. They should have prayed to their Divine Protector to supply their wants, as He was well able to do; and although there is much in the real misery they suffered to extenuate this offence, their forgetfulness and neglect were most blameworthy. Yet, in consideration of their sufferings. God Himself excused them in this more readily than man has done. It will be seen in the sacred record that He dealt tenderly with them. He did not, as on other occasions, when they sinned in like manner without the like excuse, reprove them; but when Moses cried to Him for help, He, in the tenderness of His great pity, at once healed the waters, and made them sweet and salutary.Ibid.
(c) For illustrations on Murmuring, see pp. 247, 266, 267; on Ingratitude, pp. 247, 368; and on Unbelief, p. 252.
(d) An illustration on this point appears on p. 369 (d)
(e) This point also is illustrated on p. 369 (e)
THE HEALING OF THE WATERS OF MARAH
(Num. 33:8)
And they pitched in Marah.
I. There are four bitter things of which Marahs waters are a likeness.
1. The bitterness of mans heart. The heart is by nature a bitter fountain sending forth its bitter waters.
2. The bitterness of mans afflictions. Affliction was intended to be a bitter thing to flesh and blood, for it was part of that punishment which sin brought with it.
3. The bitterness of Gods wrath which we have incurred. The displeasure of Him whose favour is life, from whom alone all good cometh.
4. The bitterness of the death that we must die. This is as the waters of Marah to an ungodly man: the sting of death is sin.
II. Let us see what answers to the tree, which, being cast into the waters, made them sweet.
The Gospel is able to sweeten all the bitters.
1. The wrath of God. Jesus cast Himself into those bitter waters and made them sweet. It was the very God who made the waters bitter, who pointed out the means of healing them. It was the very God to whom vengeance belongeth who hath sent His Son into the world to save us from it.
2. Afflictions. It furnishes a motive for patience and an example to encourage.
3. The heart of man. The fountain of the heart is cleansed by grace.
4 Death. To him who cordially believes in Jesus, the sting of death is drawn by sin being covered.Arthur Roberts.
ELIM: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
(Num. 33:9)
Wells of the highest importance in Eastern countries. Heat, &c. Here, then, where there were twelve wells, and seventy palm trees, they encamped. Make some observations.
I. In the journey of human life the Lord affords us many kind accommodations.
These mercies are
1. Necessary. What more so than water? So are His favours.
2. Refreshing. Palm trees. Journey wearisome. Their shade delightful, &c. (a)
3. Various. Fountains and palm trees. God gives blessings not of some one kind only, but several. Their variety heightens them.
4. Plentiful. Twelve fountains and threescore and ten palm trees. They are plentiful if we compare them
(1) with the enjoyments of others;
(2) with our deserts.
II. Refreshing mercies after seasons of distress are peculiarly sweet.
Many seasons of afflictions, trials of mind, family, &c. Then these mercies sweetwhy so?
1. We have a higher relish for them. So, spring after winter, health after sickness, &c.
2. They give a proof that God has not forgotten us. Apt to think so when He tries us, and we do not receive any peculiar marks of His favour. Then He returns, &c.
3. They will increase our faith in future trials. We shall expect in them fresh displays of power and goodness,this will cause us to love Him moreserve Him better.
III. The blessings with which we are favoured should be used and enjoyed.
They encamped, not only drank, but, &c. All our mercies should be enjoyed.
1. With humility. We do not deserve any of them. Are entirely dependent on God for them. God designs by such dependence to keep us humble and obedient.
2. With gratitude. Ingratitude hateful to God and man. Gratitude pleasing, and ought naturally to flow to God, &c. Our mercies are great, and call loudly for it.
3. With a firm resolution to devote the strength derived from them to God, &c. Thus they will answer the end, &c. Then may we expect more. Devote yourselves therefore to His glory, &c.
IV. Amidst all our enjoyments we should not lose sight of our pilgrimage state.
They encamped, did not build a city, &c. Christians are travellers. World not our rest. We should
1. Cherish the idea that all earthly things are fading, withering. Dew, flowers, &c. So human life. We know it; we should act accordingly. (b)
2. Prepare for changes. Changes of condition, circumstances, feelings,these are to be expectedwill come. This generally acknowledged, and yet how few prepared.
3. Wish to go forward. Arguments for it deduced from what is said above. Heaven is at the end,how worthy of all our toil,how refreshing, &c., will it be! (c)
Address,
1. Such as are now on the march.
2. Such at are now encamped at Elim.
Remarks arising from the subjectThos. Spencer.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) In eastern countries, where the habit of hospitality is stronger than with us, the traveller is sometimes surprised and regaled by much needed but unexpected wayside comforts. Yonder husbandman, who is now afield at his work, was here in the early morning to leave by the wayside that pitcher of Water that the passing traveller might drink. This clump of trees, which makes a thick and welcome shadow from the heat, was planted by one who expected neither fame nor money for his toil, and who now lies in a nameless grave. Hands now mouldering in dust scooped out this cool seat in the rock. Some Father Jacob gave us this well, after drinking thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle. Travellers from the west are much affected by such instances of pure humanity and unselfish kindness. And yet these are but feeble types, mere dim shadows of Divine thoughtfulness and care. The heavenly Benefactor comes down in preventing loving kindness upon the pathway of His people. He foreknows, forecasts, foreruns. We think of Jesus as forerunner of His people only within the veil. In a sense not less true, He is their forerunner along the journey of every day. We cannot be up so early that He has not been waking before us. We cannot run so fast that He has not far outstripped our speed. Our tomorrow is His yesterday. He is with us and yet before us. He has said at one place and another,They are to pass this way; I will leave these helps for them; I will smooth down the over-raggedness of life, so that they shall get through; I will open rivers for them in high places, and streams in the midst of the desert; and for the ever-recurring weariness of life, for its toil and conflict, heat and trouble, they shall have quiet resting placesAlex. Raleigh, D.D.
(b) The visible felicity of man is of no continuance. We may frequently observe in the evening a cloud, by the reflection of the sun, invested with so bright a lustre, and adorned with such a pleasant variety of colours, that in the judgment of our eyes, if an angel were to assume a body correspondent to his glory, it were a fit matter for it; but in walking a few steps, the sun is descended beneath the horizon, and the light withdrawn, and of all that splendid flaunting appearance nothing remains but a dark vapour, that falls down in a shower. Thus vanishing is the show of felicity here.Bates.
(c) Illustrations on this point appear on pp. 163 (b), 409 (g).
IN THE WILDERNESS OF SIN
(Num. 33:10-13)
All the places mentioned in these verses were probably situated in the desert of Sin (see Explanatory Notes in loco). The principal events in this portion of the journey were the murmuring of the people, and the giving of the manna; and these have been treated in The Hom. Comm. on Exodus 16. Moreover, in our own work we have noticed the base murmuring of the people on other occasions (see pp. 181, 183, 244, 245, 247, 265267); we have also written on the manna (see pp. 187190; and The Hom. Comm. on Exod., pp. 308, 309). For these reasons we proceed to the next verse.
REPHIDIM; OR, WATER FROM THE ROCK IN HOREB.
(Num. 33:14)
The history of Israel at Rephidim to remarkable by reason of
(1) the want of water, and its miraculous supply; and
(2) the battle against Amalek. (Exodus 17). A similar want and supply of water we have already noticed (see pp. 366371); and, having noticed these miracles also in our exposition of Psa. 78:15-16 (see The Hom. Comm. on Psalms, vol. i. pp. 443446); we will introduce here a sketch from Outlines of Sermons on the Miracles and Parables of the Old Testament.
Notice.
I. That the place of the miracle was calculated to increase the faith of the man who was to be the instrument in performing itthe rock in Horeb.
God appeared first to Moses in Horeb (Exo. 3:1). The return to places which God has fixed indelibly upon our minds by some special manifestation of His providential favour, is very helpful to every mans faith. It was so to Jacob (Gen. 32:10) when God said to him, Arise, go up to Bethel (Gen. 35:1). He intended to use the place as a means of arousing him to increased faith and obedience by the remembrance of former mercies received there. So in the case of Moses. The return to Horeb would enable him to draw from the past some compensation for the trying circumstances of the present (Exo. 17:2-4). The very sight of the place in which God had given him promises (Exo. 3:10-20), which had since been fulfilled, would give him hope for the future.
II. The temptation connected with the miracle.
The murmuring and chiding of Israel against Moses is said to be tempting God. The miracles already wrought by Moses had been an abundant confirmation of His Divine commission. God had in the past so identified His servant with Himself, that to murmur against him was finding fault with his and their God.
III. The nature of the miracle.
1. The water from the rock was a miracle, because it gushed forth at the moment when Moses smote the rock, as the Lord had said. The people by their murmuring had fully admitted that no water could be obtained from natural sources. God never supplies our wants by supernatural means when they can be satisfied by the operation of the ordinary laws of nature.
2. But though miraculous, it was connected with human agency. Moses smote the rock, and God gave the water. The rod was in the hand of Moses, the power in the hand of God. Peter took the lame man by the hand, and God gave him the power to walk (Act. 3:7).
Lesson.
God can bring good to His people from the most unlikely sources. Nothing seemed more unlikely to yield water than the barren rock of Horeb. So God often brings refreshing streams of comfort to His people out of hard circumstances. Paul and Silas could sing in the dungeon, and their imprisonment was made the means of adding to their converts in Philippi. The lot of John in Patmos seemed hard and dreary indeed; but, at the bidding of Christ, streams of living water gushed forth there, which refreshed the soul of the apostle at the time, and have followed the Church until the present. Out of the sufferings of the martyrs came joy to themselves and blessings to their descendants. Above all, out of the hard circumstances of the crucified Lord of glory, God has brought forth waters of everlasting life.
ILLUSTRATION
At Rephidim they again wanted water, their murmurings were now more violent, and their conduct more outrageous than at Marah. We had then some sympathy for them, and were inclined to plead some extenuating circumstances in their behalf. But we have not a word to say for them now. Their misbehaviour is most flagrant, and the harshest judgment cannot estimate their offence too severely. They had lately seen their wants relieved in a similar emergency; and at this very time they were receiving, every morning, from heaven their daily bread. Yet so strangely unreasonable was their spirit, that they reproached Moses for having brought them out of Egypt, to kill them and their children and their cattle with thirst; and their violence of manner was such as led Moses to cry unto the Lord, saving, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me Alas! it had come to this already. Alreadyin one little monthwere the ransomed people prepared to deal thus with their deliverer, all whose toil and thought were spent for their advantage. Thus soon did they justify the prescient reluctance with which he had abandoned for these responsibilities the safe and quiet life he loved so well. It seems to have been in order that Moses might not be plunged in deeper discouragement, that the Lord forbore to declare His own displeasure. He simply indicated the mode in which He meant to provide for their wants.John Kitto, D.D.
REPHIDIM; OR, THE BATTLE BETWEEN AMALEK AND ISRAEL
(Num. 33:14)
We cannot well pass away from Rephidim without noticing the remarkable battle which was fought there between the Amalekites and the Israelites, and which is recorded in Exo. 17:8-16. Before mentioning what appear to us as its chief teachings, let us attend to some important preliminary considerations.
i. On the part of the Israelites this battle was entirely defensive (Exo. 17:8; Deu. 25:17-18). It was for the preservation of their own lives, and the lives of their people, that the Israelites fought, and Moses prayed on this day.
ii. The part which the Israelites took in this battle was approved by Jehovah. It was commanded by Moses, who, as the minister of Jehovah, was specially authorised and attested; and Jehovah manifested His approval by giving them the victory to a great extent in answer to prayer, and by commanding Moses to write an account of the battle in a book, and thus transmit it to coming generations. This battle was a righteous one on the part of Israel, or it would not thus have received the Divine approval.
iii. What was the cause of this battle? This was probably twofold:
(1) The fertility of the valley. We accept the conclusion that Rephidim is Wady Feiran, of which Dr. Hayman speaks as, the well-known valley, richer in water and vegetation than any other in the peninsula. It is the finest valley in the whole peninsula. And Dean Stanley: Rephidim, the resting places, is the natural name for the paradise of the Bedouins in the adjacent palm-grove; the Amalekites may thus have naturally fought for the oasis of the Desert.
(2) The recollection of an ancient injury. The Amalekites were to a great extent, if not entirely, descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:12; Gen. 36:16); and is it not probable that the old enmity between Jacob and Esau had something to do with their attack upon Israel? Esau had forgiven Jacob the injury, and God had pardoned his sin, yet the memory of his base act was handed down from generation to generation of the posterity of Esau, arousing their hatred against the posterity of Jacob. Thus the memory of evil is perpetuated, and thus evil actions live and work for long ages after they who did them have passed away, and the sin of the father in its penalty falls upon the children of many following generations. Here is warning. &c.
Let us now view this brief chapter of ancient history in three aspects:
I. As an illustration of the working of God in human history, or of the means and methods by which He effects His purposes.
Notice the steps that were taken and the means that were employed to vanquish the Amalekites. Joshua was appointed general; he selected the most suitable men to fight the battle; for their encouragement Moses ascended the hill, &c. How, then, did God give them this victory, and in so doing accomplish His own design in the matter?
1. By their own efforts. After the way in which God had dealt with them, they might not very unreasonably have thought, when they were attacked, that without their effort He would deliver them. He led them forth out of Egypt without exertion on their part. When they were pursued by Pharaoh and his host, they had only to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. But had that treatment been continued, they would have remained a nation of slaves or children in spirit. If they are to become a nation of men, they must be roused to effort. So they have to fight the Amalekites.
2. By the efforts of the most efficient. Amongst the Israelites there were no trained soldiers; they must have been ill-armed, and had long been inured to servitude. In these circumstances, at the command of Moses, Joshua selected the fittest men to fight the battle.
3. By the efforts of the most efficient tinder a most skilful and heroic general. Joshua was a man of remarkable genius and skill as a leader of men. Considering his previous condition, his generalship is very extraordinary.
4. By the efforts of the most efficient under an able general, with wise arrangements for arousing and maintaining courage. At this time the Israelites were anything but heroes: they were sadly deficient of manliness. The rod in the hand of Moses would tend to awaken memory, confidence, and courage. What wonders had been wrought with that rod on former occasions! &c. (a)
5. And in addition to all other things, the victory was obtained by prayer. Moses on the hill was, doubtless, engaged in prayer to God. His prayer had power with God. To Him he ascribed the victory. Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi; i.e., Jehovah my banner. (b)
God works by means. He never uses supernatural means where natural ones will accomplish the end. He uses means eminently adapted to secure the end. He uses men as His instruments; and never does for us that which we can do for ourselves. And in our works He would have us use our utmost skill and power. He does not need our wisdom, and He certainly does not need our ignorance or folly. The Israelites planned and fought as if all depended upon themselves; Moses prayed as if all depended upon God; and when victory was attained they ascribed it to Him. Let us go, and do likewise. (c)
II. As an illustration of the work and warfare of every good man.
1. The Christian life involves difficulty, toil, and conflict (1Co. 9:24-27; Eph. 6:10-18; Heb. 12:1-4; 1Pe. 5:8-9). We cannot live a Christian life and do Christian work without battling with enemies. We must fight against
(1) the world, or evil in society;
(2) the flesh, or evil in ourselves; and
(3) the devil, or malign spiritual influences. (d)
2. In the work and warfare of the Christian life we need the help of others. We are members one of another. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, &c. But we are chiefly dependent on Jesus Christ. He is our General, our Joshua. The Captain of our salvation. He is our Intercessor, our Moses. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. His uplifted hands are never weary, &c. And as the uplifted rod encouraged the Israelites, so the presence of Christ nerves the spirit for the fight. Looking unto Jesus is the true attitude of every Christian both in work and in warfare.
3. By earnest, believing effort, and the help of God, the work and warfare of the Christian life will be ultimately accomplished and crowned with victory. Effort, or no effort; effort with God, or effort without God; upon the determination of these the issues of lifes work and warfare depend. No effort, or effort without God, means failure: personal effort with God means success, victory.
III. As an illustration of the work and warfare of the Church of Jesus Christ.
The call of God to the Church is to take possession of the world in His name and for Him; and to accomplish this its members must battle with the Amalekites of crime, vice, ignorance, superstition, religious indifference, &c. In the prosecution of this work and warfare
1. The Church needs leaders. The Lord Jesus is our great Leader: He is head over all to the Church. But we need subordinate leaders also. No leaders means no rule, no discipline, no order; but anarchy, incompetence, confusion.
2. The labours of all and every one are required. In the battle Moses, Joshua, Aaron, Hur, and all the fighting men, were occupied, while the others were employed in guarding the women and children, the flocks and herds, and the baggage. In the Church there is work for every one, &c. This is a correction
(1) to those who think they can do nothing;
(2) to those who think they can do anything and everything. Every one should work, and every one should do his own work.
3. The Church succeeds in her efforts in proportion as the maintains her communication with Heaven. (Comp. Exo. 17:11.) Our great Intercessor ever prays. But much depends upon our own prayers. The praying church is the working church, and the conquering church.
4. The greatest men in the Church are dependent upon the help of the smallest men. Moses needed the aid of Hur. In these days ministers in some cases are left to pray alone, work alone, fight alone.
5. Success or failure often depends upon comparatively small and feeble men. If Hur had not been with Moses, Israel would probably have been defeated. Success in the enterprises of the Church depends upon every man doing his own work, however obscure and humble it may be.
6. The ultimate victory of the Church is certain. Jehovah is my banner. The battle is not ours but Gods. Battle of truth and right against error, &c. (e)
7. The victory will be ascribed to God in Christ. Joshua discomfited Amalek. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Unto Him be all the glory. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, &c. (Rev. 5:12-13).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Joshua led forth his men to the field; and Moses mounted the hill, accompanied by Aaron his brother, and by Hur, who is supposed to hare been his brother-in-law. Here Moses stood, and held up his hand on high, with the wonder-working rod therein. It was no doubt held up, in the first instance, as a kind of banner or signal, to be seen by the warring host below, and designed to operate as a continual incentive to their valour and prowess while engaged in the contest; and the sight of this symbol and instrument of the power which had worked so wondrously on their behalf, could not fail to nerve their arms with new vigour every time their eyes were turned towards it. Yet it needed but little reflection to assure them that, as is very manifest, there was no inherent virtue in the rod to produce this effect; and that it derived all its efficacy from the Divine appointment, as a visible symbol of that unseen succour and strength which God was pleased to minister to His militant servants fighting His battle, and maintaining the high glory of His name.John Kitto, D.D.
(b) Moses was eminently an intercessor with God for the people committed to his charge; and there can be no question that, in connection with these external and symbolical actions, fervent prayer for the Divine aid was offered; the uplifting of the rod being thus merely an accompaniment of the earnest intercessions which breathed from the lips and hearts of the venerable men upon the mountain. And even if this were not the case, the circumstances and the result are strikingly analagous to those of intercessory prayer, and suggestive of them.Ibid.
On the power of intercession, illustrations are given on pp. 183, 225.
(c) We notice here grouped together that hallowed combination of agenoies which ought never to be separatedthe dependence upon Heaven, with the use of appointed means. The rod in the hand of Moses and the sword in that of Joshna; the embattled host in the valley below, and the praying hand in the mount aboveall were necessary in the Divine economy to the victory of Israel over his foes. So must it be in our own conflict with the Amalek that lies ambushed within, to hinder our progress to the mount of God. We may expect no manifestation of the Lords power, no interference of His goodness, but as the result of a blessing upon our own zealous conflict with temptation. Prayer without active duty is mockery of God. He who entreats deliverance from the onset and power of evil, yet never makes an effort in his own behalf, nor strives against the sin that wars within him, draws nigh to God with his lips, but is wholly estranged from the fervour of that supplication that issues from the depths of the heart. Yet it was intended to be taught, and was most effectually taught by this example, that the uplifted hand of Moses contributed more to the safety of the Israelites than their own handshis rod more than their weapons of war; and accordingly their success fluctuates as he raises up or lets down his hands. In like manner will the Christian warfare be attended with little success, unless it be waged in the practice of unceasing earnest prayer. It will never be known on this side the Lords second coming, how much His cause, and the work of individual salvation, have been advanced by the effectual fervent prayer of righteous men. And it is surely a cheering reflection in the heat and burden of the day of battle, that while we are contending below, faithful servants of God have ascended the hill of spiritual prayer, and are imploring blessings upon our efforts.Ibid.
Another illustration on the Divine use of suitable means in accomplishing His designs, appears on p 539.
(d) For an illustration on this point, see p. 416. (b)
(e) Illustrations on the Certainty of the Christian Victory appear on pp. 416, 417.
ISRAEL AND AMALEK
(Num. 33:14)
The Israelites had been redeemed from Egypt, and were on their way to Canaan. This, therefore, is a picture of the Christian life, and is full of teaching to all believers. Taking it in this light, we see
I. The Christians example.
1. To fight.
(1) An aggressive fight. Go.
(2) To be done wisely. Choose you out men.
(3) Earnestly. Fight. Hard blows. No parley.
(4) Continually. War with Amalek from generation to generation.
2. To pray.
(1) For those who fight.
(2) Earnestly. Not growing weary. Hard blows and hard prayers.
(3) Confidently. The rod. Symbol of past mercies.
(4) Unitedly. Moses, Aaron, and Hur, &c. Promises given to two or three.
II. The Christians encouragement,
1. Christ, our Captain (Joshua).
(1) With us to cheer. Wellingtons presence on battle-field.
(2) With us to direct.
(3) With us to defend.
2. Christ, our Intercessor (Moses).
(1) He prays while we work.
(2) He prays continually. Never grows weary.
(3) He prays successfully.
III. The Christians prospect.
1. Of certain victory. The result is sure. Every foe shall be overcome.
2. Of certain glory. While Gods servants ascribe all the glory to Him (Exo. 17:15), He, nevertheless, delights to honour them (Ibid, 13).D. Macmillan.
IN THE DESERT OF SINAI: THE MORAL LAW
(Num. 33:15)
The Israelites were encamped in the desert of Sinai for the space of nearly a year (Exo. 19:1; Num. 10:11-12). Although we cannot attempt to consider their history during that time, yet we cannot pass over this encampment without a brief notice of two or three of its principal events. And here let us notice the Moral Law (Exo. 20:1-17).
The moral law which was delivered by Moses from Mount Sinai was distinguished by many peculiar and blessed characteristics.
I. It based its precepts upon the existence and authority of God.
To believe in God is not one of the ten commandments. This fact is presupposed in the preface to them, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c. This is the foundation of all that follows. And as God is the Lord their God, and has proved His right to issue His commands by His wonderful deeds in their behalf, so it is fitting that the first four precepts in the code should concern His own relation to the people of His choice, referring
(1) to the necessity of having no other God but Him;
(2) to the spiritual mode in which He, a spirit, must be worshipped;
(3) to the reverence in which His very Name should be regarded; and
(4) to the duty of devoting one whole day of the seven to His worship. The large space given to God in the ten commandments is quite in consonance with the theocratic nature of the Jewish economy. God in it was the leading thought, man secondary; whereas in the Christian dispensation, through the union of the two natures in Christ, it is hard to say which is made more prominent. It is, verily, the economy of the God-man.
II. It was a strict and stern, but far from being an unjust or cruel system.
It denied no enjoyment that was natural, and it inculcated no duty that was harsh. None of the commandments were grievous. All conduced at once to the happiness of man and to the glory of God. The first precept secured the Jews from the distraction of mind and heart connected with the worship of many gods. The second inculcated a form of worship less cumbrous and burdensome, as well as more spiritual, than idolatry. The third, in consecrating the name of God, taught His worshippers to reverence and love Him better. The fourth provided for them a day of grateful rest and refreshment amid their toils, and held out, typically, the prospect of a future and serener existence. The fifth was expressly sealed by a promise, that to those who obeyed it, their days should be long upon the land. The sixth, in forbidding murder, tended to prevent the misery which springs from it to all concerned, either as actors or sufferers, and to cherish that spirit of love and mutual forbearance which is productive of so much true happiness. The seventh commanded men to shun those ill-regulated passions and practices which create such remorse, satiety, hardness of heart, and family disturbance. The eighth secured the rights of property. The ninth taught the value of truthfulness, and the duty of regarding our neighbours good name as if it were our own. The tenth sought to crush, in the secret recesses of the heart, the seeds of all evil conduct, and thereby to cleanse and sweeten the inner nature.
III. It was singularly well suited to the age and to the people to whom it was promulgated.
That age was early, and that people was rude and child-like. The precepts of the law required, therefore, to be dogmatic, to be strict, to be free in their expression from all abstract terms and recondite reasonings, to be frequently repeated, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. All this we find characteristic of the law of Moses.
IV. Another evidence of the divinelywise applicability of this law to the Jewish people we find in certain circumstances which tended at once to guard, to sanction, to enforce, recommend, and to illustrate it.
One of these was the grandeur and terror connected with its announcement from Sinai. The tables of stone still remained, written by the very finger of God, and were cherished with the highest veneration. Moses, after he had finished the writings of the book of the law, deposited it with his people in the following remarkable words, he commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book, &c. (Deu. 31:25-26). The splendid appurtenances of the Jewish worship were meant to illustrate the principles of the law, moral as well as ceremonial, to the imperfectly developed minds of the people. Had the law gone forth naked, it would have had little effect upon such a people; but it went forth in beautiful costume and in dazzling armour, and did a great, although a temporary, work.
V. The system itself is the best proof of its Divine origin.
Its very defects and limitations, as well as its glories, showed it to be no human contrivance; its imperfections arose not from the miscalculations of weakness, but from the foresight of wisdom. Life and immortality were reserved for the illumination of Christ. But how wonderful, that without these ideas of rewards and punishments in a future life being very prominently brought before the minds of men, a national polity was not only possible, but continued for a long time powerful and prosperous!From Alpha and Omega, by G. Gilfillan, M.A.
IS THE DESERT OF SINAI; THE GOLDEN CALF
(Num. 33:15)
Let us see what instruction we can gather from this impressive portion (Exodus 32) of sacred history.
I. The circumstances of the Israelites were analogous to the circumstances of a large portion of mankind at the present day.
1. The Israelite had witnessed a terrific display of the Divine character. The attributes of sovereignty, justice, holiness, and truth, had been set forth in the most impressive manner, so as to come in contact not only with the thoughts, the feelings, but the very senses. Now there is something analogous to this in the experience of most at some period or other, especially of those who live under the sound of the Gospel. The hearer of the true Gospel lives in the atmosphere of Sinai, as well as of Calvary; he hears of the justice and truth of God, as well as of His mercy; and if he do not stand in awe of the sterner attributes, as well as rejoice in the milder, then you may be assured that he is hearing the Gospel to no purpose: he has not even begun to comprehend its true import.
2. The Israelites had just given their solemn affirmative response to Gods covenant, as it had been read to them by Moses; and they were bound by every consideration of honour, of gratitude, of duty, to obey it. In like manner, there are multitudes at this day, all over Christendom, who have professed not only a belief in the Divine testimony, but obedience to the Divine precepts.
II. The conduct of the Israelites in making and worshipping the calf, in those peculiar circumstances, was analogous to much that is passing in the world around us.
What rendered the conduct of the Israelites so exceedingly strange and criminal was, that it should have occurred amidst the awful scenes of Horeb. You have been sitting under the preaching of the Gospel from the time that you were able to understand it; its doctrines and precepts, its promises and threatenings, have been set before you in every variety of form, while you have always had the written Word within your reach, with every facility for studying and understanding it And what demonstrations have you made in these circumstances? Why, you have been guilty of idolatry just as truly as the Israelites were; you have worshipped gold just as truly as they did; and the fact that they chose the form of a calf, and you choose some other form, makes no difference as to the actual guilt in the eye of Heaven.
Time has been when Gods hand rested heavily upon you, and death, perhaps, came into your very chamber, and you saw some one carried to the grave for whom you felt that you could have given even your life. But this affliction found you a worshipper of the world, and it had no effect in rendering you permanently otherwise.
You have sometimes had your lot cast in the midst of the effusions of Gods Holy Spirit; and go where you might, the anxious enquiry on the one side, and the song of thanksgiving on the other, was falling upon your ear. But neither the one nor the other was heard to escape your lips. You had your golden calf, and that was enough for you.
III. The guilt of the Israelites in making and worshipping the golden calf was not a little enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under which the sin was committed; and there is a corresponding aggravation from a similar cause attending many of those idolatrous attachments which are often witnessed in our day.
Everything around them told of the Divine presence; everything that they saw and heard was adapted to dissuade them from this impious outrage. And yet they heeded it not,they became gross idolators within the sound of Jehovahs voice, within the very blaze of His glory.
Nor is the case dissimilar as it is often witnessed at the present day among ourselves. God speaks now by His Providence, by His Word, by His Spirit. He has spoken through the voice of your own conscience. You, not less than the Israelites, have been sinning while God has been very near to you. You, as truly as they, have been idolators amid scenes which ought to overwhelm you with a sense of the Divine presence; and whether this circumstance must not materially aggravate your guilt and condemnation, judge ye.
IV. God did not suffer this sin of the Israelites to go unpunished; neither can those who are guilty of a similar sin at the present day expect to escape punishment.
The first part of their punishment consisted in the destruction of their idol. Does not this conduct of God towards the Israelites illustrate a general principle of His administration?
Moses instituted a terrible work of death in respect to the idolators. Sometimes God performs a mighty retributive work in the sinners bosom through the power of conscience, and months and years of unmitigated inward torture seem to change life itself into a living death. Sometimes persons of this character are cut off in so sudden and striking a manner, that we can hardly suppress the conviction that there is something judicial in the circumstances of their death.
There are a thousand voices charging you to forsake your idols, and to make Jehovah your portion.W. B. Sprague, D.D.
IN THE DESERT OF SINAI: LESSONS FROM THE WORSHIP OF THE CALF
(Num. 33:15, with Exo. 32:1-5)
Human nature being the same, history is in principle constantly repeating itself. The facts of Bible history are recorded that we may get at underlying truths, such truths being Gods teaching to us. In the event to which reference is here made, we observe
I. The difficulty to human nature of faith in the unseen.
This Moses, we wot not what is become of him.
II. The impatience of man at Gods method of working.
Moses delayed in the mount. The people would not wait for the man with Gods Word.
III. That man will have a god.
Up, make us gods. They are often manufactured gods. The man who would be popular must make gods to go before the people. It is the ruin of a people when they worship false gods. It is the very height of folly, when men of science, art, or manufactures, say of their own works: These be thy gods, O Israel.
IV. The effect of slavish adherence to old ideas.
In one sense, at least, they were not out of Egyptthe sacred ox. See the importance of keeping the young from early impressions of error. Let none expose themselves to false teaching; it may bring them into bondage.
V. Their extravagant expenditure for the gratification of a fancy (Num. 33:2-3).
People often spend more in superstition than Christians for the truth. Christians spend far more for luxury, pleasure, fancy, than for Christ. Who amongst us is willing to do as much for Jesus as these people did to procure a golden calf?
VI. How art is desecrated to sinful purposes (Num. 33:4).
So in building at Babel; in worship at Babylon, and Ephesus, and Athens. Abundant proofs in our picture galleries and museums, and also in our modern theatres, gin palaces, &c.
VII. That if God is dishonoured, man is misled, humiliated, ruined.
When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.W. Whale.
IN THE DESERT OF SINAI: MOSESS COMMUNION WITH GOD IN THE MOUNT
(Num. 33:15, with Exo. 34:29-35)
There was a great deal of what was miraculous, no doubt, in this transaction, but there is much also that, properly improved, will tend to our spiritual edification.
I. The cause of that radiance which appeared in the face of Moses.
The converse which Moses held with God in the mount, was the cause of that glory which rested on his countenance. He ascended the mountain to hold intercourse with God, and while he talked with Him his face shone. In the account of this transaction, there are two particulars worthy of notice.
1. Moses offered sacrifices before ascending to hold communion with God (see Exodus 24). This indicates a great principle connected with all true religionthat religion has always rested on sacrifice (Gen. 4:4; Heb. 11:4). The Jewish religion, in all its ritual and services, rested upon this great principle. The distinctive feature of Christianity embraces the same principle. One of our great Christian privileges is to ascend the mountain and hold communion with God. But to be thus brought together, there must be something done on both sides: On the part of God there must be utterance given to the voice of mercy and love, there must be a way of access to His throne; on the part of man there must be faith. God in Christianity has made three great provisions to this enda sacrifice, a mediation, and spiritual influences.
(1) The sacrifice of Christ is the standing medium of communication and fellowship between God and man. The atonement has only been offered once, yet the effect is everlasting. In all His transactions with us, God has ever regard to the sacrifice of Christ; He never pardons a sinner, but through the atonement; He never adopts the prodigal, and invests him with the rights, privileges, and honours of a child, but through the atonement; He never confers spiritual joy, or any other blessing, upon the believer, but through the atonement.
(2) There is a provision of mediation. Mediation does not merely embrace the office of intercessor, but it is a great sublime scheme of spiritual and providential administration. Christ sits upon the throne; to Him all power in heaven and earth is given; it is exercised with reference to the great purposes of atonement.
(3) Spiritual influence also is a part of Christianity. This is inseparably connected with the great work of our Lord and Saviour. We might as well talk of Christianity without a Saviour, as of Christianity without the Holy Ghost.
These are the provisions which Christianity makes for our ascending the mount to hold communion with God; let us avail ourselves of them, and go up confidently with the blood of atonement to hear His voice, to taste His love, and to receive the fulness of joy.
2. Moses ascended the mountain alone. This opens to us another principle of religion: it is thisthat in all respects it is personal. Our devotional exercises are of this nature. It is true that we meet in public fellowship, but there is a sense in which the soul sits solitary in the midst of a mighty multitude. Our emotions are all personal. In His dealings with us God addresses us as individuals. Pardon, renewal, eternal life, are bestowed on individuals. These blessings are all personal. Duties are personal: one cannot discharge the duties of another. Enjoyments are personal. The closet is the place where we must test our religious character. There is something suspicious when our joy is only connected with public devotional exercises; but when we are alone and enjoy communion with God, then may we regard our feelings as genuine.
II. The nature of the light and glory which rested on the face of Moses.
There is a great mystery in this, but it was intended to be symbolical of a better glory. We shall pass over the symbolical meaning, and make some remarks of a practical bearing.
1. Intercourse with God will be productive of joy to the soul. There will be rapturous joy. How can it be otherwise when the Saviour first reveals Himself to the sinners heart? How can it be otherwise when a man finds himself adopted into the Divine family, a partaker of the love of God, and admitted to daily fellowship!
2. Intercourse with God must have the effect of expanding the capacity and of enlarging the soul. The religious man can enjoy every form of truth and knowledge in the world in common with the man who is solely devoted to its pursuits; but, unlike him, he has the infinite prospect of the glories of heaven and eternal life.
3. Intercourse with God will produce beauty of character. We cannot enjoy Divine grace, love, sanctification, and the privileges of the Christian state, but our internal purity will exhibit itself by a spotless life.
III. The conduct of Moses when he descended from the mount.
He put a vail on his face. Religion in this life is often vailed under circumstances which obscure its grandeur. For instance, what a contrast there exists betwixt the employments of many Christians and their enjoyments; by the one they are almost assimilated to the beasts of the earth, by the other they are allied to heaven. Poverty, dark providences, and affliction, often vail the spiritual state of good men.D., in One Hundred Sketches of Sermons.
ILLUSTRATION
The effect of the vision is so great that when Moses comes down from the mount, with the new tables of testimony in his hand, which God had inscribed with the commandments of the law, his face is seen to be shining. He has no need, in faint and feeble words, to tell with whom he had been conversing; his face becomes eloquent, and rays out the tidings. Even as the red cloud, which the evening sun has coloured, continues red after he has set, so there is a relict radiance on the face of Moses from that of God. The skin of his face shone, and it added to the effect, that he wist not that it shone. Beauty is never so beautiful as when unconscious. Strength is never so strong as when leaning on its right arm. Terror is never so terrible as when it forgets itself. The sun seems so glorious, and the moon so lovely, and the stars so pure, because we feel that they know not that they are. And thus the unconscious shining of the countenance of Moses struck awe into all beholders. They were afraid to come nigh unto him. He seemed insulated in the sea of glory still. It seemed Gods own face that they gazed at. Yet it was only from the terror of others that he learned his own glorious appearance. And after talking to the trembling Israelites for a time, he at last put on a veil, which shaded the splendours of his face, and which he only dropped when he entered into the tabernacle to meet with GodG. Gilfillan, M.A.
KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH
(Num. 33:16)
The history of the people at this encampment has already engaged our attention in chap. 11. See pp. 179212.
HAZEROTH
(Num. 33:17)
This encampment is remarkable as the scene of the sedition of Miriam and Aaron against Moses, and its punishment (chap. 12). See pp. 213227.
RITHMAH
(Num. 33:18)
The history of the people at this encampment was both momentous and mournful in a very great degree.
It is recorded in chaps. 13 and 14. See Explanatory Note on the verse, and pp. 228269.
NOTHING BUT NAMES
(Num. 33:19-36)
We have here the names of the places at which the people encamped during the years of penal wanderings. What took place at any of these stations we know not; and the places themselves, with the exception of Ezion Geber, are unknown. The paragraph is little more than mere names, and suggests the following reflections.
I. The tendency of sin to deprive life of any worthy significance.
In the history of this people there was little worth recording for 38 years. Sin is prone to rob life of all true and noble elements, of inspiration and helpfulness to good, of brave and earnest enterprize; and to bring people into such a state that they have no history to write, or no history worth writing.
II. The tendency of sin to retard progress.
Here are a number of journeys, but no advance towards their destination. There was movement without progress. The unbelief, cowardice, and rebellion of the people against God caused this (chap. 14). Sin takes the wheels off the chariots of human progress, so that they drag slowly and heavily along. Nay, it even completely arrests progress. This is true of communities. For the space of almost 38 years the progress of this nation was held back by their sins. It is true also of individuals.
III. The importance of remembering the losses which sin causes us.
For this reason there is some record of these seemingly fruitless yearsthese penal wanderings.
1. Such remembrance should promote humility. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, &c. (Deu. 8:2).
2. Such remembrance should restrain from sin. The recollection of the loss and injury which sin has caused us is calculated to cause us to abhor and avoid sin. And when it involves loss and trouble to a whole generation of people, the recollection of it is fitted to lead the coming generations to shun the sins of their ancestors (comp. Psa. 78:3-8).
IV. The mutability of earthly and temporal things.
When this itinerary was written, these seventeen places were well known; but at the present time of only one of them is anything whatever known of a certainty Places great and famous in days of yore, have vanished almost as completely.
Cities numberless,
Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Babylon, and Troy,
And rich Phniciathey are blotted out,
Half-razd from memory, and their very name
And being in dispute.H. K. White.
Therefore, love not the world, neither the things in the world, &c. (1Jn. 2:15-17). Seek those things which are above, &c. (Col. 3:1-2). (a)
V. The unsettled character of human life upon earth.
They departed from Rithmah and pitched at Rimmon-parez. And they journeyed from Rissah and pitched in Kehelathah. And they removed from Mount Shapher and encamped in Haradah, &c. Such is the character of the recorda record of removals, &c. And such is human life in this world. This is not your rest. Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (b)
The suggestions of this paragraph may be developed also with these two inquiries as the principal divisions.
I. Why have we here nothing but names?
II. Seeing that we have here nothing but names, why are these names recorded?
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) God has written it on every page of His creation that there is nothing here which lasis. Our affections change. The friendships of the man are not the friendships of the boy. Our very selves are altering. The basis of our being may remain, but our views, tastes, feelings, are no more our former self than the oak is the acorn. The very face of the visible world is altering around us: we have the gray mouldering ruins to tell of what was once. Our labourers strike their ploughshares against the foundations of buildings which once echoed to human mirthskeletons of men, to whom life once was dearurns and coins that remind the antiquarian of a magnificent empire. To-day the shot of the enemy defaces and blackens monuments and venerable temples, which remind the Christian that into the deep silence of eternity the Roman world has passed away. And so things are going. It is a work of weaving and unweaving. All passes. Names that the world heard once in thunder are scarcely heard at the end of centuriesgood or bad, they pass. A few years ago and we were not. A few centuries further, and we reach the age of beings of almost another race. Nimrod was the conqueror and scourge of his far-back age. Tubal Cain gave to the world the iron which was the foundation of every triumph of men over nature. We have their names now. But the philologist is uncertain whether the name of the first is real or mythicaland the traveller excavates the sand-mounds of Nineveh to wonder over the records which he cannot decipher. Tyrant and benefactor, both are gone. And so all things are moving on to the last fire which shall wrap the world in conflagration, and make all that has been the recollection of a dream. This is the history of the world, and all that is in it. It passes while we look at it. Like as when you watch the melting tints of the evening skypurple-crimson, gorgeous gold, a few pulsations of quivering light, and it is all gone:we are such stuff as dreams are made of.F. W. Robertson, M.A.
(b) For illustrations on this point, see pp. 163 (b), 409 (g).
FROM KADESH UNTO ABEL-SHITTIM IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB.
(Num. 33:37-49)
The history of the people in these journeys and encampments has already engaged much of our attention in our progress through this book. In the Explanatory Notes on the verses the chapters and verses are given for the history of each encampment.
THE EXPULSION OF THE CANAANITES
(Num. 33:50-56)
Consider
I. The imperative command.
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan, &c. (Num. 33:50-54).
1. To utterly expel the inhabitants of Canaan. When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you; and ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein. This command had been given to them previously in Exo. 23:31-33; Exo. 34:11-17; and it was repeated in a more severe form in Deu. 7:1-6. In this latter place they are commanded to utterly destroy them, and that without mercy. And both in Exodus and in Deut. one reason for this stern command is assigned, viz., that their presence in the land would be a source of peril to the Israelites, leading them to enter into social alliances with them and to conform to their idolatrous practices, and so awakening the anger of the Lord against them to their own destruction.
Learn: The sin and peril of evil associations. (a)
2. To completely destroy all idolatrous objects and places. Destroy all their picturesidols of stoneand destroy all their molten Imagesor idols cast from copperand quite pluck down all their high places (comp. Exo. 23:24; Exo. 34:13-15; Deu. 7:5; Deu. 12:2-3). Nothing was to be preserved for the gratification of antiquarian tastes, or as curious relics of foreign customs. There must be an utter destruction of all and everything that had been associated with idolatry; because such things were offensive to God and perilous to man. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, &c. (Exo. 20:3-5).
Learn: The heinousness of the sin of idolatry in the tight of God. (b)
3. To equitably divide the land. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families, &c. (Num. 33:54). We have already noticed this in Num. 26:53-56 (see pp. 502, 503).
4. The authority by which they were to do these things. They had the authority of Jehovah their God. He gave them the command; and He assigned this reason for it: for I have given you the land to possess it. He is the great Proprietor of all things. The earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. He has a right to do what He will with His own. But in addition to this, the iniquity of the Amorites was now full. The filthiest abominations were practised amongst them, they were sunk in the grossest immoralities. For the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee (Deu. 9:4). So utterly depraved were the Canaanites that it is said that the land itself vomited them out (Lev. 18:24-25). (c)
II. The solemn warning.
But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass, &c. (Num. 33:55-56). They are here solemnly warned that, if they failed to obey the Divine commands now given to them,
1. Those whom they spared would become their tormentors. Those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye shall dwell. Under these metaphors, says Dr. A. Clarke, the continual mischief that should be done to them, both in soul and body, by these idolators, is set forth in a very expressive manner. What can be more vexatious than a continual goading of each side, so that the attempt to avoid the one throws the body more forcibly on the other? And what can be more distressing than a continual pricking in the eye, harassing the mind, tormenting the body, and extinguishing the sight? That which we are willing should tempt us, we shall find will vex us.
2. The God whom they disobeyed would disinherit them. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them. This solemn warning was repeated by Joshua (Jos. 23:13): but Israel disregarded it, and reaped the bitter result Subsequent history proves, as Scott remarks, that these denunciations were real prophecies, which have been wonderfully accomplished, even to this day. During many ages, the remnant of the devoted nations were extremely troublesome to the Israelites, even as pricks in the eyes and thorns in the side, which would be a constant and almost intolerable torture: and at length, as they persisted in imitating their idolatries and atrocious crimes, they were punished as the Lord proposed to punish the Canaanites; being expelled from their country with tremendous slaughter, first by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and at length more completely by the Romans.
Learn:
The importance of zeal and thoroughness in waging war against those Canaanites of the heart, our indwelling sins. If we show any quarter to our sinful propensities, they will gather strength by indulgence, mar the comfort of our lives, and perhaps be pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides when we lie upon a death-bed. If we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out; if we be not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls. (d)
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) This lesson is illustrated on pp. 308, 428.
(b) All sin is hateful to God, and none but the cleansed, perfect soul shall stand before Him in the presence of His glory; nor any in whom iniquity hath dominion shall stand accepted in the presence of His grace; but yet no particular sin is so hateful to Him as idolatry is. For this is not only a trespassing against His laws, but a disclaiming or rejecting His very sovereignty itself. To give a prince irreverent language, and to break his laws, is punishable; but to pull him out of his throne, and set up a scullion in it, and give him the honour and obedience of a king, this is another kind of matter, and much more intolerable. The first commandment is not like the rest, which require only obedience to particular laws in a particular action; but it establisheth the very relations of sovereign and subject, and requires a constant acknowledgment of these relations, and makes it high treason against the God of heaven in any that shall violate that command. Every crime is not treason; it is one thing to miscarry in a particular case, and another thing to have other gods before and besides the Lord, the only God. Now, this is the sin of every worldling: he hath taken down God from the throne in his soul, and set up the flesh and the world in His stead; these he valueth, and magnifleth, and delighteth in; these have his very heart, while God that made it and redeemed him is set light by.Richard Baxter.
(c) While, on the one hand, the donation of this land to the Israelites was an act of the Lords free favour, the denial of it to the Canaanites was no less an act of His retributive justiceof such justice as it behoved the moral Governor of the world to administer against a people laden with iniquity. Gen. 15:13-16 is a passage which proves this clearly. Abraham is there informed that, before his posterity would receive that goodly heritage, a long period of four hundred years must elapse, great part of which would be spent by them under oppression in a land which was not theirs. Eventually they should be brought forth with great substance; and in the fourth generation they shall come hither again. Why is this return so long deferred? Why not until the fourth generation? Hear the reason: For the iniquity of the Amorites it not yet full.
These last words are important for more than one reason. First, they exclude all human right of the Hebrews to Palestine; for if such a right had existed, why, for its being enforced, should the filling up of the iniquity of the Amorites be required? Secondly, if the cause why Abrahams descendants were not now, but after a long interval, to obtain possession of the Promised Land, was, that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full, it is thereby equally intimated that this filling up of their in quity would justify, if not demand, the Divine judgment, which under existing circumstances would have been unjust-in the same way as God, before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by His immediate decree, first of all permitted the abandoned depravity of the inhabitants most notoriously to manifest itself.
When the time was fully come, the Canaanites became a doomed peopledoomed to expulsion or extermination by the Israelites, to whom was committed the sword of judgment, and who were the destined inheritors of the land of which the Canaanites had by that time proved themselves unworthy. This solemn doom is expressed in the Hebrew by a peculiar word (cherem), which is always applied to such devotement to destruction in vindication of the Divine justice; and this is the term constantly applied to the Canaanites, as to a people who, by their enormities, had dishonoured the moral government of God, and were, therefore, to be constrained, by the judgment inflicted upon them, to glorify that government, and thereby to set forth the great truth, that there is a pure and holy Ruler of the nations.
Then, again, the Israelites, favoured as they were for their fathers sake, were apprised that even they held the land by no other tenure than that which the Canaanites were to be destroyed for infringing. Over and over again were they warned, that if they fell into the same dreadful transgressions for which the Canaanites had been cast out, they would subject, themselves to the same doombe like them destroyedlike them cast out of the good land which they had defiled. We are not left altogether in the dark as to the nature of the abominations which pervaded the land, and which cried to God to show Himself as one abhorring iniquity, and to prove that the world was not left fatherless of His care. In one place, the sacred text, after enumerating various cases of unchastity and impiety of the vilest kind, goes on to say, Defile not yourselves in any of these things, for in all these things the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. And the land is defiled; therefore do I visit the iniquity of the land upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants (Lev. 18:24-25). In another place, the Israelites are solemnly warned against imitating the conduct of their predecessors, lest they incur the same penalties: Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them. Thou Shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God; for every abomination to the Lord which He hateth have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt in the fire to their gods (Deu. 12:30-31), What more emphatic testimony can be required than this?John Kitto, D.D.
God is Sovereign of the universe. He has a right to dispose of any part of it as He will. God is also infinitely just. He governs His Kingdom in strictest accordance with justice. To punish the guilty is a just act. The Canaanites were guilty. By a long continued course of rebellion and abominable crime, they had become not only altogether corrupt, but absolutely hopeless. Their iniquity became full. Then God drove them out to make room for His own people.
A great truth is sometimes either forgotten or ignored by the sentimental school of philosophers, that the punishment of the wicked is as indispensable a part of moral government as the reward of the good. The remarks of Kalisch on this subject are admirable: If we survey the Biblical system with regard to this subject, we are surprised by its grandeur and comprehensiveness. The Canaanites themselves were not the original inhabitants of the land; they settled there after having destroyed most of the earlier tribesthe Rephaim, the Emim, the Anakim, and others. They had therefore had a personal experience of how God punished wantonness and impiety; but they were not warned by it: they gradually fell into the same vices and crimes; and they were doomed to suffer the same extreme judgment. But whilst the measure of their iniquity was filling, God reared in a foreign land the future occupants of their abode: the degeneracy of the Canaanites kept pace with the increase and development of the Israelites. However great and awful the former might hare been, the God of mercy protracted and delayed long the day of judgment; and however glorious Abrahams merit was, on account of which his descendants were destined to possess Canaan, the God of justice did not accelerate their deliverance from the oppression in Egypt, which they had deserved by their faithlessness. The Israelites, regenerated by their trials in the desert, were the instruments of chastisement to the Canaanites; as, later, the Assyrians and Babylonians, though unconscious of their, office and mission, were used as the rod of destruction against the Israelites. This is the only view in which the occupation of Palestine by the Hebrews can be regarded according to the Biblical allusions.J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D.
(d) Use sin as it will use you; spare it not, for it will not spare yon: it is your murderer, and the murderer of the world: use it, therefore, as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills yon; and though it kill your bodies, it shall not be able to kill your souls; and though it bring you to the grave, as it did your Head, it shall not be able to keep you there.Richard Baxter.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
V. REVIEW OF THE ROUTE FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN (Num. 33:1-49)
A. EGYPT TO SINAI (Num. 33:1-15)
TEXT
Num. 33:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2. And Moses wrote their going out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3. And they departed from Rameses in the first month; on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptains. 4. For the Egyptians buried all their first born, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. 5. And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. 6. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. 7. And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. 8. And they departed from before Pi-Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and sent three days journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. 9. And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. 10. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. 11. And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. 12. And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. 13. And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. 14. And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. 15. And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
PARAPHRASE
Num. 33:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt, with their armies, under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2. And Moses wrote their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their starting places. 3. And they left Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the passover the children of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4. while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born whom the Lord had struck down among them; and God executed judgment upon their gods as well. 5. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and camped in Succoth. 6. And they journeyed from Succoth, and camped in Etham, which is at the edge of the wilderness. 7. And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon and they camped before Migdol. 8. And they journeyed from before Pi-hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days journey into the wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah. 9. And they journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there. 10. And they journeyed from Elim and camped by the Sea of Reeds. 11. And they journeyed from the Sea of Reeds and camped in the wilderness of Sin. 12. And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and camped at Dophkah. 13. And they journeyed from Dophkah and camped at Alush. 14. And they journeyed from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. 15. And they journeyed from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
COMMENTARY
At the word of the Lord, Moses set down the progressive list of journeys, actually, stations, at which the Israelites encamped from the time of leaving Egypt until they reached Canaan. Forty-one names appear in the list, if we include the final mention of Moab. Eleven names appear en route to Sinai, twenty-one on the way to Kadesh, and the final eight on the way to Moab. Many of the places are, understandably, unidentifiable. There can be no way of placing them, since they were never permanent settlements. Many familiar names appear on the list, such as Succoth, the wilderness of Sin and of Sinai, Ezion-geber, Kadesh, Mt. Hor, and the locations in Moab. Many others are totally strange, making it impossible to trace the journey with more than spotty accuracy.
Two dates are mentioned in the process of this listing: Israel left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, the death of Aaron is noted on the first day, fifth month, in the fortieth year after the exodus. To what purpose is this detailing? The primary lesson gained certainly is in the demonstration of the leading hand of God in the entire period. Most of the details used to embellish the listed stations are to be found in the introductory portion, i. e., Num. 33:3-8. As was so often done by the Old Testament chroniclers and prophets, the people are reminded of the significance of their history, especially the devastating death of the Egyptian first-born. Of special interest is the fact that the account calls our attention to the burial of the Egyptian dead. Funerary rites were especially important in Egypt, and the concentration of these people upon the rites afforded Israel an excellent period during which to move away on their journey. We are also reminded that the mighty works of the Lord were performed as judgment upon the gods of Egypt. The contrasting picture is obvious: the gods of Egypt had been directly assaulted in the plagues, and their powers to protect the people were bluntly refuted when the firstborn were slain, Israel would point to this fact repeatedly in the future.
QUESTIONS AND RESEARCH ITEMS
599.
Why is it impossible to identify many of the journeys listed in this chapter?
600.
What does the term mean here?
601.
How does this section demonstrate the continuing leading hand of God?
602.
How did the Egyptian custom of taking care to bury their dead work in favor of the Israelites?
603.
Consult a good Bible encyclopedia, and learn how the plagues God sent upon Egypt were direct blows against that nations gods.
604.
What conclusions would we have expected the Egyptians to reach concerning their gods at the death of their firstborn?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXXIII.
(1) These are the journeys of the children of Israel . . . The word which is rendered journey appears to denote primarily the breaking up of the encampments, which lasted for very different periods, and which, during the protracted wanderings in the wilderness, may have been of the average duration of a twelvemonth. The list of the encampments is expressly said to have been written by Moses, and it served as a permanent memorial, on the one hand, of the sin and rebellion of the nation, and, on the other hand, of the faithfulness and long-suffering of God in leading and sustaining His people throughout their sojourn in the wilderness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE ITINERARY OF THE ISRAELITES, Num 33:1-49.
Having reached the Land of Promise, and taken possession of its eastern portion, it is proper that the history of the desert wandering should close with a list of encampments as a permanent memorial for after ages of the grace and faithfulness of Jehovah, who led his people safely “in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord did lead him.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1). Summary Of The Journey From Egypt To The Plains of Moab.
Num 33:1-2
‘These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Yahweh, and these are their journeys according to their goings out.’
We are informed here what the list of place names is all about. They describe the journey of the children of Israel who left Egypt in their hosts, under the hand of Moses and Aaron (note the attempt to rehabilitate Aaron), travelling from Egypt to the plains of Moab, and they were written down by Moses. ‘Their goings out’ signifies where they broke camp. Each place was to be seen as a temporary stopping point where the Dwellingplace was set up and from which they then set out on their journey towards the land promised to their forefathers.
As Christians we must never settle down comfortably anywhere. This world is not our home. We are just passing through. Each stage in our lives, especially those of our spiritual blessings, is a place from which we are to set out for the next thing that God has for us. That does not mean that we should be restless, but rather simply ready to be obedient, fulfilling His will at each place, but always ready to move on when commanded to further and further blessings.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 33:1-56 Israel’s Forty-two Encampments – In Num 33:1-56 we read a list of the many places that the children of Israel encamped, forty-two locations being listed to be exact. Michael Wilcock draws an analogy between the forty-two months that God hides the woman in the wilderness (Rev 12:1-17) and the forty-two encampments of Israel in the wilderness. [39]
[39] Michael Wilcock, The Message of Revelation, in The Bible Speaks Today, ed. John R. W. Stott (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, c1975, 1986), 118.
Israel’s time of camping was as important an event as their time of marching. There were times to camp as well as times to march, and both were always under the direction of the Lord, by the moving of the cloud by day and the fire by night. It was during these times of camping that the children were taught the Words of the Law. They planned, trained and sharpened their skills and weapons for war.
It was in this camp that they experienced God’s presence. It was a time of rest and strengthening. It was a time of growing strong in the ways of God.
Num 10:35-36, “And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.”
Without this training, they would not be ready for the war. The children of Israel were an army whether they were marching or camping.
Num 33:4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
Num 33:4
Num 33:9 And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there.
Num 33:9
Num 33:16 And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibrothhattaavah.
Num 33:16
Num 11:34-35, “And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.”
Num 33:39 And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.
Num 33:39
Deu 34:1, “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,”
Deu 34:7, “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died : his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
From Egypt to the Plains of Moab
v. 1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
v. 2. And Moses wrote their goings out, v. 3. And they departed from Rameses, v. 4. For the Egyptians buried all their first-born, which the Lord had smitten among them, v. 5. And the children of Israel departed from Rameses, v. 6. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness, v. 7. And they removed from Etham, and turned again, v. 8. And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, v. 9. And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim, v. 10. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea, v. 11. And they removed from the Red Sea, and encamped in the Wilderness of Sin, v. 12. And they took their journey out of the Wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.
v. 13. And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush, v. 14. And they removed from Alush, and encamped in Bephidim, where was no water for the people to drink, v. 15. And they departed from Bephidim, and pitched in the “Wilderness of Sinai, v. 16. And they removed from the Desert of Sinai, v. 17. And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah v. 18. And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah, v. 19. And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Bimmon-parez.
v. 20. And they departed from Bimmon-parez, and pitched in Libnah.
v. 21. And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah.
v. 22. And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehel-athah.
v. 23. And they went from Kehela-thah, and pitched in Mount Shapher.
v. 24. And they removed from Mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah.
v. 25. And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth.
v. 26. And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
v. 27. And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah.
v. 28. And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah.
v. 29. And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah.
v. 30. And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth.
v. 31. And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan.
v. 32. And they removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad.
v. 33. And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah.
v. 34. And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah.
v. 35. And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Ezion-gaber, v. 36. And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh, v. 37. And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in Mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
v. 38. And Aaron, the priest, went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, v. 39. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in Mount Hor.
v. 40. And King Arad, the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel, v. 41. And they departed from Mount Hor, v. 42. And they departed from Zaimonah, and pitched in Punon.
v. 43. And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth, v. 44. And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab, v. 45. And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad, v. 46. And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim.
v. 47. And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, v. 48. And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the Plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, v. 49. And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the Plains of Moab,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
ITINERARY OF THE WANDERINGS (Num 33:1-49).
Num 33:1
These are the journeys. The Hebrew word is rendered by the Septuagint, which means “stages” or “stations.” It is, however, quite rightly translated “journeys,” for it is the act of setting out and marching from such a place to such another which the word properly denotes (cf. Gen 13:3; Deu 10:11).
Num 33:2
And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord. The latter clause ( ) may be taken as equivalent to an adjective qualifying the noun “goings out,” signifying only that their marches were made under the orders of God himself. It is more natural to read it with the verb “wrote;” and in that case we have a direct assertion that Moses wrote this list of marches himself by command of God, doubtless as a memorial not only of historical interest, but of deep religious significance, as showing how Israel had been led by him who is faithful and true faithful in keeping his promise, true in fulfilling his word for good or for evil. The direct statement that Moses wrote this list himself is strongly corroborated by internal evidence, and has been accepted as substantially true by the most destructive critics. No conceivable inducement could have existed to invent a list of marches which only partially corresponds with the historical account, and can only with difficulty be reconciled with ita list which contains many names nowhere else occurring, and having no associations for the later Israelites. Whether the statement thus introduced tells in favour of the Mosaic authorship (as usually accepted) of the rest of the Book is a very different matter, on which see the Introduction.
Num 33:3
They departed from Rameses. Hebrew, Raemses. See on Exo 1:11; Exo 12:1-51 :87. The brief description here given of the departure from Egypt touches upon every material circumstance as related at large in Exo 11:1-10 :41. In the sight of all the Egyptians. The journey was begun by night (Exo 12:42), but was of course con-tinned on the following day.
Num 33:4
Buried all their first-born, which the Lord had smitten among them. Literally, “were burying those whom the Lord had smitten among them, viz; all the first-born.” The fact that the Egyptians were so universally employed about the funeral rites of their first-bornrites to which they paid such extreme attentionseems to be mentioned here as supplying one reason at least why the Israelites began their outward march without opposition. It is in perfect accordance with what we know of the Egyptians, that all other passions and interests should give place for the time to the necessary care for the departed. Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. See on Exo 12:12, and cf. Isa 19:1. The false deities of Egypt, having no existence except in the imaginations of men, could only be affected within the sphere of those imaginations, i.e; by being made contemptible in the eyes of those who feared them.
Num 33:6
Etham. See on Exo 13:20.
Num 33:7
Pi-hahiroth. Hebrew, “Hahi-roth,” without the prefix. See on Exo 14:2.
Num 33:8
In the wilderness of Etham. This is called the wilderness of Shur in Exo 15:22, nor is it easy to explain the occurrence of the name Etham in this connection, for the Etham mentioned in Exo 15:6 lay on the other side of the Red Sea. We do not, however, know what physical changes have taken place since that time, and it is quite possible that at Etham there may have been a ford, or some other easy means of communication, so that the strip of desert along the opposite shore came to be known as the wilderness of Etham.
Num 33:9
Elim. See on Exo 15:27.
Num 33:10
Encamped by the Red Sea. This encampment, like those at Dophkah and at Alush (Num 33:13), is not mentioned in the narrative of Exodus. The phraseology, however, used in Exo 16:1; Exo 17:1 leaves abundant room for intermediate halting-places, at which it is to be presumed that nothing very noteworthy happened Nothing whatever is known of these three stations.
Num 33:15
The wilderness of Sinai. See on Exo 19:1.
Num 33:17
Kibroth-hattaavah Hazeroth. See on Num 11:34, Num 11:35.
Num 33:18
Rithmah. Comparing this verso with Num 12:16 and Num 13:26, it would appear as if Rithmah were the station “in the wilderness of Paran” from which the spies went up, and to which they returneda station subsequently known by the name of Kadesh. There are two difficulties in the way of this identification. In the first place we should then only have three names of stations between Sinai and the southern border of Palestine, on what is at least eleven days’ journey. This is, however, confessedly the case in the historical narrative, and it admits of explanation. We know that the first journey was a three days’ journey (Num 10:33), and the others may have been longer still, through a country which presented no facilities for encamping, and possessed no variety of natural features. In the second place, Rithmah is not Kadesh, and cannot be connected with Kadesh except through a doubtful identification with the Wady Retemat in the neighbourhood of Ain Kudes (see note at end of Num 13:1-33). It is, however, evident from Num 12:16, as compared with Num 13:26, that Kadesh was not the name originally given to the encampment “in the wilderness of Paran.” It seems to have got that nameperhaps owing to some popular feeling with respect to an ancient sanctuary, perhaps owing to some partial shifting of the campduring the absence of the spies. Rithmah, therefore, may well have been the official name (so to speak) originally given to the encampment, but subsequently superseded by the more famous name of Kadesh; this would explain both its non-appearance in the narrative of Numbers, and its appearance in the Itinerary here.
Num 33:19
Rimmon-parez. The latter part of the name is the same as parats or perets, which commonly signifies a breaking out of Divine anger. This place may possibly have been the scene of the events related in Num 16:1-50, Num 17:1-13, but the Targum of Palestine connects them with Kehelathah.
Num 33:20
Libnah. Hebrew (“whiteness”) may perhaps be the same as the Laban (, “white”) mentioned in Deu 1:1. So many places, however, in that region are distinguished by the dazzling whiteness of their limestone cliffs that the identification is quite uncertain. The site of this, as of the next eight stations, is indeed utterly unknown; and the guesses which are founded on the partial and probably accidental similarity of some modern names (themselves differently pronounced by different travelers) are utterly worthless. Of these eight names, Kehelathah and Makheloth seem to be derived from , “an assembling,” and thus give some slight support to the supposition that during the thirty-eight years the people were scattered abroad, and only assembled from time to time in one place. Rissah is variously interpreted “heap of ruins,” or “dew;” Shapher means “fair,” or “splendid;” Haradah, or Charadah, is “terror,” or “trembling” (cf. 1Sa 14:15); ,Tahath is a “going down,” or “depression;” Tarah is “turning,” or “delay;” Mithcah signifies “sweetness,” and may be compared (in an opposite sense) to Marah.
Num 33:30
Hashmonah. This is possibly the Heshmon of Jos 15:27, since this was one of the “uttermost cities toward the coast of Edom, southward.” The name, however (“fruitfulness”), was probably common on the edge of the desert. Moseroth. This is simply the plural form of Moserah (“chastisement”), and is no doubt the place so called in Deu 10:6 (see note at end of chapter).
Num 33:31
Bene-Jaakan. The full name is given in Deu 10:6 as Beeroth-beni-Jaakan, “the wells of the children of Jaakan.” Jaakan, or Akan, was a grandson of Seir, the legendary tribe father of the Horites of Mount Seir (Gen 36:20, Gen 36:27; 1Ch 1:42). The wells of the Beni-Jaakan may well have retained their name long after their original owners had been dispossessed; or a remnant of the tribe may have held together until this time.
Num 33:32
Hor-ha-gidgad. The MSS. and Versions are divided between Chor. (:cave.”) and Her (“summit,” or “mountain”). Gid-gad is no doubt the Gudgodah of Deu 10:7.
Num 33:33
Jotbathah. The meaning of this name, which is apparently “excellent,” is explained by the note in Deu 10:7 “Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.” It would be difficult to find such a land now in the neighbourhood of the Arabah, but there are still running streams in some of the wadys which open into the Arabah towards its southern end.
Num 33:34
Ebronah, or “Abronah,” a “beach,” or “passage,” called “the Fords” by the Targum of Palestine. It is conjectured that it lay below Ezion-geber, just opposite to Elath, with which place it may have been connected by a ford at low tide, but this is quite uncertain.
Num 33:35
Ezion-gaber, or rather “Etsion-geber,” the “giant’s backbone.” This can hardly be other than the place mentioned in 1Ki 9:26; 2Ch 8:17 as the harbour of King Solomon’s merchant navy. At this later date it was at the head of the navigable waters of the Elanitic Gulf, but considerable changes have taken place in the shore line since the age of Solomon, and no doubt similar changes took place before. It was known to, and at times occupied by, the Egyptians, and the wretched village which occupies the site is still called Aszium by the Arabs. The name itself would seem to be due to some peculiar rock formationprobably the serrated crest either of a neighbouring mountain or of a half-submerged reef.
Num 33:36
The wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. See on Num 20:1.
Num 33:37
Mount Hor. See on Num 20:22.
Num 33:38
In the fortieth year in the first day of the fifth month. This is the only place where the date of Aaron’s death is given. It is in strict accordance with the Divine intimation that Israel was to wander forty years in the wilderness (Num 14:33, Num 14:34), that period being understood, according to the usual mercy of God, which shortens the days of evil, to include the time already spent in the wilderness.
Num 33:39
An hundred and twenty and three years old. He had been eighty-three years old when he first stood before Pharaoh, forty years before (Exo 7:7).
Num 33:40
And king Arad heard of the coming. See on Num 21:1. The introduction of this notice, for which there seems no motive, and which has no assignable connection with the context, is extremely perplexing. It is not simply a fragment which has slipped in by what we call accident (like Deu 10:6, Deu 10:7), for the longer statement in Num 21:1-3 occupies the same position in the historical narrative immediately after the death of Aaron. It is difficult to suppose that Moses wrote this verse and left it as it stands; it would rather seem as if a later hand had begun to copy out a statement from some earlier documentin which it had itself perhaps become misplacedand had not gone on with it.
Num 33:41
Zalmonah. This place is not elsewhere mentioned, and cannot be identified. Either this or Punon may be the encampment where the brazen serpent was set up; according to the Targum of Palestine it was the latter.
Num 33:42
Punon. Perhaps connected with the Pinon of Gen 36:41. The Septuagint has , and it is identified by Eusebius and Jerome with Phaeno, a place between Petra and Zoar where convicts were sent to labour in the mines. Probably, however, the march of the Israelites lay further to the east, inasmuch as they scrupulously abstained from trespassing upon Edom.
Num 33:44
Oboth Ije-abarim. See on Num 21:11.
Num 33:45
Dibon-gad. This encampment may have been the same as that previously called by the name of Nabaliel or Bamoth (Num 21:19, and see on Num 33:34). Several stages are here passed over in the Itinerary. At a time when the conquest and partial occupation of large districts was going on, it would be hard to say what regular stages were made by the host as such (see note at end of chapter).
Num 33:46
Almon-diblathaim. Probably the same as the Beth-diblathaim mentioned in Jer 48:22 as a Moabitish town contignous to Dibon, Nebo, and Kiriathaim. The name, which signifies “hiding-place of the two circles” or “cakes,” was doubtless due either to some local legend, or more probably to the fanciful interpretation of some peculiar feature in the landscape.
Num 33:47
The mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. The same locality is called “the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward the waste,” in Num 21:20 (see note there, and at Num 27:12). Nebo is the name of a town here, as in Num 32:3, Num 32:38, and in the later books; in Deuteronomy (Deu 32:49; Deu 34:1) it is the name of the mountain, here included in the general designation Abarim.
Num 33:48
In the plains of Moab. See on Num 22:1.
Num 33:49
From Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim. Beth-jesimoth, “house of the wastes,” must have been very near the point where Jordan empties itself into the Dead Sea, on the verge of the salt desert which bounds that sea on the east. It formed the boundary of Sihon’s kingdom at the south-west corner. Abel-shittim, “meadow of acacias,” is better known by the abbreviated name “Shittim” (Num 25:1; Mic 6:5). Its exact site cannot be recovered, but the Talmud states that it was twelve miles north of the Jordan mouth. Probably the center of the camp was opposite to the great fords, and the road leading to Jericho.
Note on the Two Lists of Stations Between Egypt and the Jordan
There can be no question that the chief interest of the Itinerary here given is due to its literary character as a document containing elements at least of extreme and unquestioned antiquity. At the same time it is a matter of some importance to compare it with the history as given at large in Exodus and Numbers, and to note carefully the points of contact and divergence. It is evident at first sight that no pains have been taken to make the two lists of stages agree, each list containing several names which the other lacks, and (in some cases) each having a name of its own for what appears to be the same place. With respect to the latter point, the explanation usually given seems quite natural and satisfactory: the names were in many cases given by the Israelites themselves, and in others were derived from some small local peculiarity, or belonged to insignificant hamlets, so that the same encampment may very well have received one name in the official record of the movements of the tabernacle, and retained another in the popular recollection of the march. With respect to the former point, it may fairly be argued that the narrative only records as a rule the names of places where something memorable occurred, and indeed does not always mention the place even then, while the Itinerary is simply concerned with the consecutive encampments as such. It would be more correct to say that the narrative is essentially fragmentary, and does not purport to record more than certain incidents of the wanderings.
We have, therefore, no difficulty in understanding why the Itinerary gives us the names of three stations between Egypt and Mount Sinai not mentioned in Exodus. There is much more difficulty with the ensuing notices, because the name of Kadesh only occurs once in the list, whereas it is absolutely necessary, in order to bring the narrative into any chronological sequence, to assume (what the narrative itself pretty clearly intimates) that there were two encampments at Kadesh, separated by an interval of more than thirty-eight years. It has accordingly been very generally agreed that the Rithmah of the Itinerary is identical with the nameless station “in the wilderness of Paran,” afterwards called Kadesh in the narrative. This is of course an assumption which has only probabilities to support it, but it may fairly be said that there is nothing against it. The retem, or broom, is so common that it must have given a name to many different spotsa name too common, and possessing too few associations, to stand its ground in popular remembrance against any rival name (see note on verse 18). It has been argued by some that the whole of the twenty-one stages enumerated in verses 16-35 were made on the one journey from Sinai to Kadesh; and as far as the mere number goes there is nothing improbable in the supposition; the “eleven days” of Deu 1:2 are no doubt the days of ordinary travelers, not of women and children, flocks and herds. It is true that the supposition is commonly connected with a theory which throws the whole historical narrative into confusion, viz; that Israel spent only two years instead of forty in the wilderness; but that need not cause its rejection, for the whole thirty-eight may be intercalated between Deu 1:36 and Deu 1:37 of the Itinerary, and we could explain a total silence concerning the wanderings of those years better than we can the mention of (only) seventeen stations. The only serious difficulty is presented by the name Ezion-geber, which it is very difficult not to identify with the place of that name, so well known afterwards, at the head of the Elanitic Gulf; for it is impossible to find the last stage towards Kadesh at a spot as near to Sinai as to any of the supposed sites of Kadesh.
It is of course possible that more than one place was known as the “giant’s backbone;” but, on the other hand, the fact that at Moseroth Israel was near Mount Hor, and that they made five marches thence to Ezion-geber, is quite in accordance with the site usually assigned to it. It must remain, therefore, an unsettled point as to which nothing more can be said than that a balance of probabilities is in favour of the identification of Rithmah with the first encampment at Kadesh. Proceeding on this assumption, we have thereafter eleven names of stations concerning which nothing is known, and nothing can be with any profit conjectured. Then come four others which are evidently the same as those mentioned in Deu 10:6, Deu 10:7. That this latter passage is a fragment which has come into its present position (humanly speaking) by some accident of transcription does not admit of serious debate; but it is evidently a fragment of some ancient document, possibly of the very Itinerary of which we have only an abbreviation here. Comparing the two, we are met at once with the difficulty that Aaron is said to have died and been buried at Moserah, whereas, according to the narrative and the Itinerary, he died on Mount Hor during the last journey from Kadesh. This is not unnaturally explained by assuming that the official name of the encampment under, or opposite to, Mount Hor, from which Aaron ascended the mountain to die, was Moserah or Moseroth, and that the Israelites were twice encamped thereonce on their way to Ezion-geber and back to Kadesh, and again on the last march round Edom, to which the fragment in Deuteronomy refers. There remain, however, unexplained the singular facts
1. That the station where Aaron died is called Moserah in Deu 10:6, whereas it is called Mount Hor not only in the narrative, but in the Itinerary, which nevertheless does give the name Moseroth to this very station when occupied on a previous occasion.
2. That the fragment gives Bene-Jaakan, Moseroth, Gudgod, and Jotbath as stages on the last journey, whereas the Itinerary gives them (the order of the first two being inverted) as stages on a previous journey, and gives other names for the encampments of the last journey. There is no doubt room for all four, and more besides, between Mount Hor and Oboth; but it cannot be denied that there is an appearance of error either in the fragment or in the Itinerary.
A further objection has been made to the statement that Israel marched from Ezion-geber to Kadesh, both on the score of distance and of the apparent absurdity of returning to Kadesh only to retrace their steps once more. It is replied
(1) that the return to Kadesh for the final move may have been hurried, and no regular encampment pitched;
(2) that when Israel returned to Kadesh it was still in expectation of entering Canaan “by the way of the spies,” and in ignorance that they would have to treat with Edom for a passagemuch more that they would have to come down the Arabah once again.
Lastly, with respect to the names which occur after Ije-abarim, we have again an almost total want of coincidence with this peculiarity, that the narrative gives seven names where the Itinerary only gives three. It must, however, be remembered that the whole distance from the brook of Arnon, where the Israelites crossed it, to the Arboth Moab is only thirty miles in a straight line. Over this short distance it is quite likely that the armies of Israel moved in lines more or less parallel, the tabernacle probably only shifting its place as the general advance made it desirable. That the two accounts are based on different documents, or drawn from different sources, is likely enough; but both may nevertheless be equally correct. If one record was kept by Eleazar, and another by Joshua, the apparent disagreement may be readily explained.
HOMILETICS
Num 33:1-49
THE JOURNEY HOME
We have here a brief summary of the stages by which Israel traveled onwards from Egypt to Canaan; spiritually, therefore, we have an epitome of the Church’s progress, or of the progress of a soul, through this world to the world to come. Hence it follows that all the lessons, encouragements, and warnings which belong to these forty years weave themselves about this Itinerary, which might to the careless eye seem a bare list of names. “Per has (mansiones) currit verus Hebraeus, qui de terra transire festinat ad coelum,” says Jerome. And in this connection it can hardly be an accident that as there are forty-two stations in this list, so there are forty-two generations in the first Gospel from Abraham (the starting-point of the faithful) to Christ (in whom they find rest). And, again, it may be more than a coincidence that the woman in the Apocalypse who represents the Church militant (Rev 12:1-17) was in the wilderness forty-two months. In all three cases (as certainly in the last) it is likely that the number forty-two was designedly chosen because it is 12 X 3, and 3, or the half of 7, is the number which expresses trial, probation, and imperfection. Consider, therefore
I. THAT THIS ITINERARY WAS WRITTEN “BY THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD,” NO DOUBT AS A MEMORIAL UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OF THEIR TRIALS AND OF HIS FAITHFULNESS. Even so it is the will of God that every Church and every soul should keep in memory the stages of its own spiritual progress, for these are full of holy memories and needful lessons, all being eloquent of our own insufficiency and of his goodness. No one, being in plenty and at rest, should ever forget the straitness and the trial through which the good hand of God hath led him.
II. THAT THE TWO ENDS OF THIS ITINERARY ARE PLAINLY FIXED, THE ONE IN THE GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT “AFTER THE PASSOVER:” THE OTHER ON THE VERGE OF JORDAN IN FULL VIEW OF CANAAN. Even so all spiritual life histories begin with the redemption from bondage through the blood of the Lamb, and end with the sure hope of immortality on the verge of the river of death.
III. THAT THE INTERMEDIATE STAGES ARE TO A GREAT EXTENT UNCERTAIN, SOME QUITE UNKNOWN, AND OTHERS MATTER OF DISPUTE. Even so, while we know whence all Christian progress leads men at the first, and whither it being, s men at the last, yet the intermediate course (sometimes a very long one) is for the most part strangely indiscernible, its points of contact with the outer world having little meaning or interest save for the travelers themselves. Just as maps help us little to follow the forty-two stages, so do religious theories give us small assistance in tracing the actual course of a soul through the trials and perplexities of real life.
IV. THAT WITH EXCEPTION OF THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE ONLY FIXED POINTS IN THE ITINERARY ARE SINAI, KADESH, AND HORWHERE THE LAW WAS GIVEN, WHERE PROGRESS WAS RESUMED AFTER LONG DRIFTING TO AND FRO, WHERE AARON DIED. Even so there are in the history of most souls these three conspicuous epochs to be Doted:
(1) where the obligation to obey the higher law of God’s will came upon them;
(2) where after much drawing back and consequent failure a new call to advance was heard;
(3) where the old outward associations, upon which they had all along leaned, failed them, and yet left them none the weaker.
V. THAT THE FEW NOTES OF EVENTS APPENDED TO CERTAIN NAMES OF PLACES (ELIM, REPHIDIM, HOR) SEEM TO BE SELECTED ARBITRARILY. Some other places certainly had, and many others probably had, more interesting associations for the Israelites. Even so it is not only or chiefly those passages which attract attention and secure comment in the history of a Church or of a soul which are of deep interest and profound importance to itself; names and facts which have no associations for others may for it be full of the deepest meaning.
And note that all the stations named in this list have their own signification in the Hebrew, but the spiritual teaching founded on such signification is too arbitrary and fanciful to be seriously dealt with.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Num 33:1-49
THE JOURNEYINGS OF THE ISRAELITES
Reading through this record, which looks, on the first appearance of it, much like a page from a gazetteer, we are made to feel
I. HOW LITTLE WE SHOULD KNOW OF THE EXPERIENCES OF ISRAEL IN THEIR WANDERINGS IF WE HAD BEEN TOLD NO MORE THAN THIS. A period of forty years has to be covered; and though by one kind of narration it takes four books, full of solemnity and variety, abounding in matters of stirring interest, and often going into the minutest detail, in order to indicate sufficiently the events of the period, yet by another kind of narration the period can be comprised in forty-nine short verses. All the way through these verses it is assumed that a particular aspect of the course of Israel is being presented, and that a full, edifying, and satisfying narrative is to be sought elsewhere. Consider what great omissions there are. We do indeed see something of the manner of starting, but even here there is hardly anything to explain how Israel came to leave Egypt. It is said that they passed through the midst of the sea, but nothing is said of the wonderful and glorious manner in which the passage was effected. There is nothing of all the law-giving at Sinai; nothing of the tabernacle, the ark, the offerings, and the priestly office; nothing of the great manna mercies; nothing even of the cloud and trumpets, though they had so much to do with the journeys; nothing of the rebellion which was the great cause of this long wandering. If it was a mere record of places we could better understand it, but there are just enough of additional matters introduced to perplex us as to why some are inserted and others omitted. How clear it becomes, in the light of an artless record like this, that we shall err if we allow ourselves to look too constantly on the books of the Old Testament as being the literature, the classic literature, of the Hebrews! That they are literature is of course true, but it is so small a part of the truth concerning them, that if we allow it to become too prominent, it will hide much more important truth. Moses was evidently not a man to care about the niceties and elaborations so dear to fastidious writers. His hands were too full of guiding and governing. If what he wrote was written in a way to glorify God, that was sufficient. We find in the Pentateuch not history, but the rough, yet authentic and unspeakably precious, materials of history. A man with the requisite interest and knowledge may analyze, select, and combine these materials into a history from his own point of view, but thanks be to God that he took a meek, humble, and unselfish Moses, who had no views of his own to assert, and who thought of no monumentum aere perennius, and made him his pen to write something a great deal more important than the history of any nation, namely, the dealings of God with his own typical people, and through them with the world at large.
II. Though this is such a brief and apparently artless record, little more than a copy of names from a map, yet HOW MUCH IT WOULD TELL US, EVEN IF WE HAD BEEN TOLD NO MORE. If this were but the sole surviving fragment of the four books, it would nevertheless indicate the presence of God, and that in very remarkable ways. It would indicate the authority of Jehovah over Israel. Moses and Aaron are spoken of as the leaders of Israel (Num 33:1), yet only leaders under God; for Moses wrote this very record at the commandment of God (Num 33:2), and Aaron went up into Mount Hor to die at the commandment of God (Num 33:38). We should also learn something of the punitive power of God. We should feel ourselves in the presence of some terrible sin, some terrible suffering, and some crowning blow which had come upon Egypt. We should learn that God was able to vindicate his majesty and glory against the arrogance of idolatry (Num 33:4). We should learn that human life was at the sovereign disposal of God, for he controls the death of the first-born and the death of Aaron. And from what we thus plainly see of God’s presence in certain places, we might infer that he was also in the places where we see him not. We might infer that if he was in the midst of the Israelites when they left Egypt, and in their midst forty years after, then he must have been with them all the time between. Thus, though in these forty-nine verses we are told nothing whatever, in a plain, direct way, of human character, we are yet brought face to face with very suggestive intimations concerning the character of God. From the human point of view the record is indeed a very barren one; but this only helps to show how when man becomes scarcely visible, unless as a mere wanderer, the glory of God shines brilliantly as ever.
III. We have thus tried to imagine this passage as being the sole surviving fragment of the four books which deal with the wanderings. But we know in reality that it is only a sort of appendix to the record of notable and solemn proceedings already given. It may even seem as if it would not have been much missed if it had been left out. As we think over it, however, we become conscious that A DISTINCT AND PECULIAR IMPRESSION IS BEING PRODUCED ON OUR MINDS. Reading through the Book of Numbers, we wander with Israel from the day they leave Sinai down to the day they enter the plains of Moab by Jordan; and now in this passage we are all at once lifted as it were into an exceeding high mountain, and get a bird’s-eye view of the wandering, shifting life of Israel during these forty years. It is well to be brought face to face with something that will remind us of the shifting character of human life, Even the lives that seem most stationary, as far as local circumstances are concerned, are full of change. It is not because a man is born, lives, and dies in one locality, perhaps even in one house, that his life is to be reckoned a settled one. Wherever we are, however rooted and grounded in appearance, we see one generation going and another coming, ourselves being’ a part of what we see. Here, in the record of these journeyings, was something true for all Israel; Moses and Aaron were brought down to the same level with the humblest of their followers. There are certain necessary outlines of change in the course of every human being who lives to the allotted termbirth, unconscious infancy, the common influences of childhood, the time to choose a temporal occupation, the day when father dies and when mother dies, the dropping away of kindred, companions, and friends, and so on till death comes at last. There is so much of life lived and so much of biography written under the fascinating glamour of mere mundane interests, that it is a good thing to go where, along with God himself, we may look down on the changing scenes of earth from the dwarfing and humbling heights of eternity. There is a time to listen to the botanist and the expert in vegetable physiology, while they discourse to us on the wonders of the leaf; there is a time to see what the painter can do with it, and what the poet; but from all these we must turn at last to God’s own Isaiah, and hear him drawing out the great final lesson, “We all do fade as a leaf.”Y.
Num. 33:50-34:29
EXPOSITION
THE CLEARANCE, THE BOUNDARIES, AND THE ALLOTMENT OF CANAAN (chapter 33:50-34:29).
Num 33:50
And the Lord spake. It is quite obvious that a new section begins here, closely connected, not with the Itinerary which precedes it, but with the delimitation which follows. The formula which introduces the present command is repeated in Num 35:1, and again in the last verse of Num 36:1-13, thus giving a character of its own to this concluding portion of the Book, and to some extent isolating it from the rest.
Num 33:51
When ye are passed over Jordan. Previous legislation had anticipated the time when they should have come into their own land (cf. Num 15:2; Le Num 23:10), but now the crossing of the river is spoken of as the last step on their journey home.
Num 33:52
Ye shall drive out. The Hebrew word (from ) is the same which is translated “dispossess” in the next verse. The Septuagint has in both eases , supplying (like the A.V.) the word “inhabitants” in Num 33:53. The Hebrew word, however, seems to have much the same sense as the English phrase “clear out,” and is, therefore, equally applied to the land and the occupants of it. No doubt it implies extermination as a necessary condition of the clearance. Their pictures. . Septuagint, , (their outlooks, or high places). The Targums of Onkelos and Palestine have “the houses of their worship;” the Targum of Jerusalem has “their idols.” The same word occurs in Le Num 26:1, in the phrase , which is usually rendered “a stone image,” i.e; a stone shaped into some likeness of man. If so, by itself has probably the same meaning; at any rate it can hardly be “a picture,” nor is there the least evidence that the art of painting was at all practiced among the rude tribes of’ Canaan. The same word, maskith, is indeed found in Eze 8:12 in connection with “gravings” (from ; cf. Isa 22:16; Isa 49:18 with Eze 4:1; Eze 23:14) on a wall; but even this belonged to a very different age. Their molten images, , “images cast of brass.” Septuagint, . The word tselem is only elsewhere used in the Pentateuch for that “likeness” which is reproduced in Divine creation (Gen 1:26, Gen 1:27; Gen 9:6) or in human generation (Gen 5:3); in the later books, however (especially in Daniel), it is freely used for idols. On “massakah,” see on Exo 32:4; Isa 30:22. Their high places. . See on Le 26:30. The Septuagint translates Bamoth in both places by , and of course it was not the high places themselves, which were simply certain prominent elevations, but the monuments (of whatever kind) which superstition had erected upon them, which were to be plucked down. As a fact, it would seem that the Jews, instead of obeying this command, appropriated the Bamoth to their own religious uses (cf. 1Sa 9:12; 1Ki 3:2; Psa 78:58, &c.). The natural result was, as in all similar cases, that not only the Bamoth, but very many of the superstitions and idolatries connected with them, were taken over into the service of the Lord.
Num 33:53
I have given you the land. “The earth is the Lord’s,” and no one, therefore, can dispute his right in the abstract to evict any of his tenants and to put others in possession. But while the whole earth was the Lord’s, it is clear that he assumed a special relation towards the land of Canaan, as to which he chose to exercise directly the rights and duties of landlord (see on Deu 22:8 for a small but striking instance). The first duty of a landlord is to see that the occupancy of his property is not abused for illegal or immoral ends; and this duty excuses, because it necessitates, eviction under certain circumstances. It is not, therefore, necessary to argue that the Canaanites were more infamous than many others; it is enough to remember that God had assumed towards the land which they occupied (apparently by conquest) a relation which did not allow him to overlook their enormities, as he might those of other nations (see on Exo 23:23-33; Exo 34:11-17, and cf. Act 14:16; Act 17:30). It was (if we like to put it so) the misfortune of the Canaanites that they alone of “all nations” could not be suffered to “walk in their own ways,” because they had settled in a land which the Lord had chosen to administer directly as his own earthly kingdom.
Num 33:54
Ye shall divide the land by lot. These directions are repeated in substance from Num 26:53-56. Every man’s inheritance. Not only the tribe, but the family and the household, was to receive its special inheritance by lot; no doubt in such a way that the final settlement of the country would correspond with the blood relationships of the settlers.
Num 33:55
If ye will not drive out the inhabitants. As was in fact the case (Jdg 1:1-36). The warning is here given for the first time, because the danger was now near at hand, and had indeed already shown itself in the matter of the Midianitish women and children. Pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides. Natural symbols of dangerous annoyances. Possibly the thickets which fringe the Jordan supplied them with present examples. In Jos 23:13 we have “scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes,” which sounds somewhat more artificial. In Jdg 2:3, where this warning is quoted, the figure is not expressed at all: “they shall be in your sides.”
Num 33:56
I shaft do unto you as I thought to do unto them, i.e; I shall execute by other hands upon you the sentence of dispossession which ye shall have refused to execute upon the Canaanites. The threat (although in fact fulfilled) does not necessarily involve any prophecy, since to settle down among the remnants of the heathen was a course of action which would obviously and for many reasons commend itself to the Israelites. Indolence and cowardice were consulted by such a policy as much as the natural feelings of pity towards vanquished and apparently harmless foes. The command to extirpate was certainly justified in this case (if it could be in any) by the unhappy consequences of its neglect. Israel being what he was, and so little severed in anything but religion from the ancient heathen, his only chance of future happiness lay in keeping himself from any contact with them. On the morality of the command itself, see on the passages referred to, and on the slaughter of the Midianites. As a fact, the extirpation of the conquered did not offend the moral sense of the Jews then any more than it did that of our heathen Saxon ancestors. Where both races could not dwell in security, it was a matter of course that the weaker was destroyed. Such a command was therefore justified at that time by the end to be attained, because it was not contrary to the moral law as then revealed, or to the moral sense as then educated. Being in itself a lawful proceeding, it was made a religious proceeding, and taken out of the category of selfish violence by being made a direct command of God.
Num 34:2
Into the land of Canaan. Canaan has here its proper signification as the land (roughly speaking) between Jordan and the sea (so in Num 32:32; Jos 22:11, 82). Nor is there any clear instance of its including the trans-Jordanic territories. In the prophets the word reverts to its proper (etymological) meaning, as the “flat country” along the Mediterranean coast (cf. Isa 19:18; Zep 2:5; Mat 15:22). This is the land that shall fall unto you. These words should not be placed in a parenthesis; it is a simple statement in the tautological style so common in these books. With the coasts thereof, or, “according to its boundaries,” i.e; within the limits which nature and the Divine decree had set to the land of Canaan.
Num 34:3
Then your south quarter. Rather, “and your south side.” From the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom. This general preliminary definition of the southern frontier marks the “wilderness of Zin” as its chief natural feature, and asserts that this wilderness rested “upon the sides” () of Edom. The wilderness of gin can scarcely be anything else than the Wady Murreh, with more or less of the barren hills which rise to the south of it, for this wady undoubtedly forms the natural southern boundary of Canaan. All travelers agree both as to the remarkable character of the depression itself and as to the contrast between its northern and southern mountain walls. To the south lies the inhospitable and un-cultivatable desert; to the north the often arid and treeless, but still partially green and habitable, plateau of Southern Palestine. The expression, “on the sides of Edom,” can only mean that beyond the Wady Murreh lay territory belonging to Edom, the Mount Seir of Deu 1:2, the Seir of Deu 1:44; it does not seem possible that Edom proper, which lay to the east of the Arabah, and which barely marched at all with the land of Canaan, should be intended here (see on Jos 15:1, and the note on the site of Kadesh). And your south border. This begins a fresh paragraph, in which the southern boundary, already roughly fixed, is described in greater detail. Shall be the utmost coast of the salt sea eastward. Rather, “shall be from the extremity () of the salt sea eastward” (cf. Jos 15:2). The easternmost point in this boundary was to be fixed at the southernmost extremity of the Salt Sea.
Num 34:4
Shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim. It is not at all clear what can mean in this sentence. The A.V; which follows the Septuagint and the Targums, does not seem to give any sense, while the rendering, “to the south side of the ascent,” does not seem grammatically defensible. Moreover, it is quite uncertain where the “ascent of Akrabbim,” i.e; the “Scorpion-pass,” or “Scorpion-stairs,” is to be placed. Some travelers have recognized both place and name in a precipitous road which ascends the northern cliffs towards the western end of the Wady Murreh, and which the Arabs call Nakb Kareb; others would make the ascent to be the steep pass of es Sufah, over which runs the road from Petra to Hebron; others, again, identify the Scorpion-stairs with the row of white cliffs which obliquely cross and close in the Ghor, some miles south of the Salt Sea, and separate it from the higher level of the Arabah. None of these identifications are satisfactory, although the first and last have more to be said in their favour than the second. Possibly the ascent of Akrabbim may have been only the Wady Fikreh, along which the natural frontier would run from the point of the Salt Sea into the Wady Murreh. Pass on to Zin. It is only here and in Jos 15:3 that the name Zin stands by itself; it may have been some place in the broadest part of the Wady Murreh which gave its name to the neighbouring wilderness. From the south to Kadesh-barnea. Here again we have the expression , of which we do not know the exact force. But if Kadesh was in the neighbourhood of the present Ain Kudes, then it may be understood that the frontier, after reaching the western end of the Wady Murreh, made a detour to the south so as to include Kadesh, as a place of peculiarly sacred memory in the annals of Israel. It is indeed very difficult, with this description of the southern frontier of Canaan before us, to believe that Kadesh was in the immediate neighbourhood of the Arabah, where many commentators place it; for if that were the case, then the boundary line has not yet made any progress at all towards the west, and the only points given on the actual southern boundary are the two unknown places which follow. Hazar-addar. In Jos 15:3 this double name is apparently divided into the two names of Hezron and Addar, but possibly the latter only is the place intended here. A Karkaa is also mentioned there, which is equally unknown with the rest.
Num 34:5
The river of Egypt, or “brook () of Egypt.” Septuagint, . It was a winter torrent which drained the greater part of the western half of the northern desert of the Sinaitic peninsula. It was, however, only in its lower course, where a single channel receives the intermittent outflow of many wadys, that it was known as the “brook of Egypt,” because it formed the well-marked boundary between Egypt and Canaan. So far as we are able to follow the line drawn in these verses, it would appear to have held a course somewhat to the south of west for about half its length, then to have made a southerly deflection to Kadesh, and from thence to have struck north-west until it reached the sea, almost in the same latitude as the point from which it started.
Num 34:6
And as for the western border. The Hebrew word for “west” () is simply that for “sea,” because the Jews in their own land always had the sea on their west. Thus the verse reads literally, “And the sea boundary shall be to you the great sea and boundary; this shall be to you the sea boundary.” It would seem very unlikely that the Jews familiarly used the word “yam” for “west” after a residence of several centuries in a country where the sun set not over the sea, but over the desert. Nothing can of course be proved kern the use of the word here, but it cannot be overlooked as one small indication that the language of this passage at any rate is the language of an age subsequent to the conquest of Canaan (see on Exo 10:19; Exo 26:22, and Num 2:18) The line of coast from the brook of Egypt to the Leontes was upwards of 160 miles in length.
Num 34:7
Ye shall point out for you, i.e; ye shall observe and make for, in tracing the boundary. Septuagint, . Mount Hor. Not of course the Mount Hor on which Aaron died, but another far to the north, probably in Lebanon. The Hebrew , which the Septuagint had rendered in Num 20:1-29, it renders here , taking as simply another form , as it probably is. Her Ha-har is therefore equivalent to the English “Mount Mountain ;” and just as there are many “Avon rivers” on the English maps, so there were probably many mountains locally known among the Jews as Hor Ha-hat. We do not know what peak this was, although it must have been one clearly distinguishable from the sea. There is, however, no reason whatever for supposing (contrary to the analogy of all such names, and of the other Mount Hor) that it included the whole range of Lebanon proper.
Num 34:8
From Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath. Literally, “from Mount Hor point out (, as in the previous verse) to come to Hamath,” which seems to mean, “from Mount Hor strike a line for the entrance to Hamath.” The real difficulty lies in the expression , which the Septuagint renders , “as men enter into Hamath.” The same expression occurs in Num 13:21, and is similarly rendered by the Septuagint. A comparison with Jdg 3:3 and other passages will show that “Ibo Chamath” had a definite geographical meaning as the accepted name of a locality in the extreme north of Canaan. When we come to inquire where “the entrance to Hamath” was, we have nothing to guide us except the natural features of the country. Hamath itself, afterwards Epiphancia on the Orontes, lay far beyond the extremest range of Jewish settlement; nor does it appear that it was ever conquered by the greatest of the Jewish kings. The Hamath in which Solomon built store cities (2Ch 8:4), and the Hamath which Jeroboam II. “recovered” for Israel (2Ki 14:28), was not the city, but the kingdom (or part of the kingdom), of that name. We do not know how far south the territory of Hamath may have extended, but it is quite likely that it included at times the whole upper valley of the Leontes (now the Litany). The “entrance to Hamath” then must be looked for at some point, distinctly marked by the natural features of the country, where the traveler from Palestine would enter the territory of Hamath. This point has been usually fixed at the pass through which the Orontes breaks out of its upper valley between Lebanon and anti-Lebanon into the open plain of Hamath. This point, however, is more than sixty miles north of Damascus (which confessedly never belonged to Israel), and nearly a hundred miles north-north-west from Dan. It would require some amount of positive evidence to make it even probable that the whole of the long and narrow valley between Lebanon and anti-Lebanon, widening towards the north, and separated by mountainous and difficult country from the actual settlements of the Jews, was yet Divinely designated as part of their inheritance. No such positive evidence exists, and therefore we are perfectly free to look for “the entrance to Hamath” much further to the south. It is evident that the ordinary road from the land of Canaan or from the cities of Phoenicia to Hamath must have struck the valley of the Leontes, have ascended that river to its sources, and crossed the watershed to the upper stream of Orontes. The whole of this road, until it reached the pass already spoken of leading down to the Emesa of after days, and so to Hamath, lay through a narrow valley of which the narrowest part is at the southern end of the modern district of el Bekaa, almost in a straight line between Sidon and Mount Hermon. Here the two ranges approach most nearly to the bed of the Litany (Leontes), forming a natural gate by which the traveler to Hamath must needs have entered from the south. Here then, very nearly in lat. 88 80′, we may reasonably place the “entrance to Hamath” so often spoken of, and so escape the necessity of imagining an artificial and impracticable frontier for the northern boundary of the promised land. Zedad. Identified by some with the present village of Sadad or Sudad, to the south-east of Emesa (Hums); but this identification, which is at best very problematic, is wholly out of the question if the argument of the preceding note be accepted.
Num 34:9
Ziphron. A town called Sibraim is mentioned by Ezekiel (Eze 47:16) as lying on the boundary between Damascus and Hamath, and there is a modern village of Zifran about forty miles north-east of Damascus, but there is no probable ground for supposing that either of these are the Ziphron of this verse. Hazar-enan, i.e; “fountain court.” There are of course many places in and about the Lebanon and anti-Lebanon ranges to which such a name would be suitable, but we have no means of identifying it with any one of them. It must be confessed that this “north border” of Israel is extremely obscure, because we are not told whence it started, nor can we fix, except by conjecture, one single point upon it. A certain amount of light is thrown upon the subject by the description of the tribal boundaries and possessions as given in Jos 19:1-51, and by the enumeration of places left unconquered in Jos 13:1-33 and Jdg 3:1-31. The most northerly of the tribes were Asher and Naphtali, and it does not appear that their allotted territory extended beyond the lower valley of the Leontes where it makes its sharp turn towards the west. It is true that a portion of the tribe of Dan afterwards occupied a district further north, but Dan-Laish itself, which was the extreme of Jewish settlement in this direction, as Beersheba in the other, was southward of Mount Hermon. The passage in Jos 13:4-6 does indeed go to prove that the Israelites never occupied all their intended territory in this direction, but as far as we can tell the line of promised conquest did not extend further north than alden and Mount Hermon. “All Lebanon toward the sunrising” cannot well mean the whole range from south to north, but all the mountain country lying to the east of Zidon. One other passage promises to throw additional light upon the question, viz; the ideal delimitation of the Holy Land in Eze 47:1-23; and here it is true that we find a northern frontier (Eze 47:15-17) apparently far beyond the line of actual settlement, and yet containing two names at least (Zedad and Hazar-enan) which appear in the present list. It is, however, quite uncertain whether the prophet is describing any possible boundary line at all, or whether he is only mentioning(humanly speaking at random)certain points in the far north; his very object would seem to be to picture an enlarged Canaan extending beyond its utmost historical limits. Even if it should be thought that these passages require a frontier further to the north than the one advocated above, it will yet be impossible to carry it to the northern end of the valley between Lebanon and anti-Lebanon. For in that case the northern frontier will not be a northern frontier at all, but will actually descend from the “entrance of Hamath” in a southerly or south-westerly direction, and distinctly form part of the eastern boundary.
Num 34:11
Shepham is unknown. Riblah cannot possibly be the Riblah in the land of Hamath (Jer 39:5), now apparently Ribleh on the Orontes. This one example will serve to show how delusive are these identifications with modern places. Even if Ribleh represents an ancient Riblah, it is not the Riblah which is mentioned here. On the east side of Ain, i.e; of the fountain. The Targums here imply that this Ain was the source of Jordan below Mount Hermon, and that would agree extremely well with what follows. The Septuagint has , and there is in fact more than one fountain from which this head-water of Jordan takes its rise. Immediately before the Septuagint has where we read Riblah. It has been supposed that the word was originally , a transliteration of “Har-bel,” the mountain of Bel or Baal, identical with the Harbaal-Hermon (our Mount Hermon) of Jdg 3:3. The Hebrew being differently pointed, and the final taken as the suffix of direction, we get ; but this is extremely precarious. Shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward. Literally, “shall strike () the shoulder of the sea,” &c. The line does not seem to have descended the stream from its source, but to have kept to the east, and so to have struck the lake of Galilee at its north-eastern corner. From this point it simply followed the water-way down to the Salt Sea. The lands beyond Jordan were not reckoned as within the sacred limits.
Num 34:15
On this side Jordan near Jericho. Literally, “on the side () of the Jordan of Jericho.” It was not of course true that the territory which they had received lay eastward of Jericho, but it was the case that the tribe leaders had there asked and received permission to occupy that territory, and it was in this direction that the temporary settlements of Reuben anti Gad lay, perhaps also those of half Manasseh.
Num 34:17
Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. As the ecclesiastical anti military heads respectively of the theocracy (see on Num 32:28).
Num 34:18
One prince of every tribe. This was arranged no doubt in order to insure fairness in fixing the boundaries between the tribes, which had to be done after the situation of the tribe was determined by lot; the further subdivision of the tribal territory was probably left to be managed by the chiefs of the tribe itself. Of these tribe princes (see on Num 13:1; Jos 14:1), Caleb is the only one whose name is known to us, and he had acted in a somewhat similar capacity forty years before. This may of itself account for the tribe of Judah being named first in the list, especially as Reuben was not represented; but the order in which the other names follow is certainly remarkable. Taken in pairs (Judah and Simeon, Manasseh and Ephraim, &c.), they advance regularly from south to north, according to their subsequent position on the map. Differing as this arrangement does so markedly from any previously adopted, it is impossible to suppose that it is accidental. We must conclude either that a coincidence so apparently trivial was Divinely prearranged, or that the arrangement of the names is due to a later hand than that of Moses.
Num 34:20
Shemuel. This is the same name as Samuel. Of the rest, every, one except the last occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament as the name of some other Israelite.
HOMILETICS
Chapter 33:50-34:29
THE HOLY LAND
In this section we have, spiritually, the promised inheritance of the saints, the kingdom of heaven, with the conditions under which it is to be received and enjoyed. No one can overlook the correspondence (which is fundamental and far-reaching) between their “holy land” and ours; between that “rest” which awaited them in Canaan, and that “rest” into which we do now enter. The kingdom of heaven is the spiritual antitype of Canaan. But that kingdom is (practically considered) twofold: it is heaven, or rather rest in heaven, only reached by crossing the stream of death; it is also (and in the Scripture much more often) the rest of the new life in Christ, which yet is neither absolute nor independent of our continued striving’ against sin (cf. Mat 5:3, “theirs is the kingdom;” Luk 17:21 b; Rom 14:17; Col 3:3; Heb 4:3 a). To this latter aspect (the kingdom as a spiritual and moral state) belong the lessons of this section, for the most part. Consider, therefore
I. THAT THE ONE GREAT DUTY OF ISRAEL IN TAKING POSSESSION OF HIS OWN LAND WAS WHOLLY TO DISPOSSESS THE NATIVES, AS BEING ENEMIES OF GOD AND OF HIS WORSHIP. Even so the one condition on which we inherit that kingdom which (in its present aspect) is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, is that we put to death the deeds of the flesh, and crucify the old man, and wage a war of extermination against all the sinful affections which have made their home in our human life.
II. THAT ISRAEL WAS FURTHER REQUIRED TO ABOLISH ALL THEIR MONUMENTS OF IDOLATRY, HOWEVER PLEASING AND INTERESTING. Even so all the devices and imaginations of the natural man, however attractive, which are contrary to the sole worship and service of the living God must be wholly, and without exception, destroyed.
III. THAT THE COMMAND TO EXTERMINATE SEEMED HARD, AND WAS UNGRATEFUL (NO DOUBT) TO MOST IN ISRAEL. Why be so extreme? Why not enough to conquer, without extirpating? Why not enough to possess the best of the land, without labouring to clear all the corners? What harm could feeble remnants of heathen do? could they not even make them useful? Even so it seems hard that Christian people may make no compromise with, and show no toleration for, what is sinful and selfish in human life. Why need we be perfect? Shall nothing be allowed to the old Adam? May we never be content? If leading on the whole a Christian life, why weary ourselves about small points of moral excellence? Many things not exactly right may be very useful; may they not be turned to account?
IV. THAT AS A FACT THE COMMAND TO EXTIRPATE WAS NOT OBEYED. Many were left unmolested out of indolence and cowardice when the first rush of conquest was passed; many were spared out of unwillingness to go to extremes with them. Even so most Christian people leave considerable portions of their own lives (which God hath given them for a prey, Jer 45:5) under the dominion of passions, emotions, motives which are not Christian. They overcome the tyrannies of sin, but leave the remnants of sin unsubdued; in other words, they subdue their evil passions and desires, but shrink from destroying them. E.g; how few have their temper entirely under control! Thus the kingdom of heaven is never truly theirs, because of the sins which they have been too indolent or too self-confident to dislodge.
V. THAT AS A FACT THE OTHER COMMAND WAS NOT OBEYED WHOLLY; SOMETIMES GRAVEN IMAGES WERE SERVED, SOMETIMES HIGH PLACES TURNED TO THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD, TO THE GREAT DETRIMENT AND DANGER OF THE TRUE FAITH. Even so the vain devices and perverted imaginations of the natural man have not been discarded by the servants of Christ in many cases; too often they have been either adopted in their blank disloyalty to Christ (as, e.g; that “covetousness which is idolatry”), or else adapted to religious ends (as many forms of will-worship, material and mental) to the detriment of that singleness of eye and heart which God requires.
VI. THAT THE REMNANTS OF THE HEATHEN, IF SPARED, WERE TO BECOME PRICKS AND THORNS (i.e; CONSTANT AND DANGEROUS ANNOYANCES) TO THEM, AND WOULD VEX THEM. Even so if we leave the remnants of sin in the new life which God has given us to lead, these will surely become a continual source of unhappiness and danger. This is why most Christians are more or less restless, dissatisfied, uneven in temper, uncertain in behaviour, having little “peace” and less “joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is simply that they have not obeyed the call to make a clearance of old bad habits and evil tempers; do not recognize the sinfulness of little sins; think it does not matter; will not take the trouble necessary to hunt them down; have learnt by experience to tolerate them. No more than this, but no less. They can never be made happy save through patient, prayerful toil to root the remnants of sin out of their hearts and lives.
VII. THAT THE END OF SUCH UNFAITHFULNESS, IF NOT AMENDED, WAS TO BE EXPATRIATION. Both races could not dwell in the land; if Israel would not drive out the heathen, he must be driven out himself. Even so if Christian people will not labour by grace to take complete possession in God’s name of their own lives, the end will be that they will lose them altogether. Either grace must make a full end of our sins, or our sins will make an end of grace, because God will withdraw it. There may not be any willful toleration of moral evil in ourselves, nor urging of excuses for its continuance.
Consider again, with respect to Canaan
I. THAT ISRAEL WAS TO POSSESS IT, BECAUSE GOD HAD GIVEN IT TO THEM; IT WAS HIS, AND HE CHOSE TO DO SO; NO SUCH TITLE WAS EVER GRANTED TO ANY PEOPLE. Even so we are to take possession (by patient well-doing) of the kingdom of heaven, not because it can be earned, but because God hath freely given it to us, whom he hath chosen. This kingdom, therefore, whether as within us or as above us, is ours by a most absolute and indefeasible title.
II. THAT THE GRANT OF CANAAN TO ISRAEL IMPLIED ALL NECESSARY SUCCOUR IN CONQUERING AND OCCUPYING IT, else had the name of God been disgraced. Even so the fact that God hath given to us the kingdom of heaven is pledge positive that we shall receive strength to overcome every hindrance and obstacle, if we be faithful.
III. THAT THE DIVISION OF THE LAND WAS SO ORDERED THAT EQUALITY SHOULD AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BE PRESERVED, AND FAVOURITISM MADE IMPOSSIBLE. Even so God hath so ordered his kingdom that none has cause to envy other, and none can complain of partiality; since all shall inherit heaven alike, and yet heaven itself shall be diverse according to the growth of each in grace (cf. Mat 20:13-15 and Mat 20:23 with Luk 19:15-19 and Mat 25:21-23).
IV. THAT THE HOLY LAND WAS DELIMITED BEFORE THEY ENTERED, BUT THE BOUNDARIES ARE TO A CONSIDERABLE EXTENT UNKNOWN. Even so the kingdom of heaven is defined and described in manifold ways in the word of God, and yet it is hard to know how far it extends, and where the boundary runs between that which is of nature and that which is of grace. And as those frontiers could only be traced by such as were locally familiar with the places named, so the extent of the kingdom can only be known by such as are familiar by experience with every part of it.
V. THAT THE LIMITS MARKED DOWN WERE APPARENTLY THE NATURAL LIMITS OF CANAAN, WITHOUT ANY RESERVATIONS (such as Philistia, Phoenicia, &c.). Even so God hath given to us to possess the whole life of man which may be lived in holiness, according to the utmost possible expansion of our human nature in all its fullness.
VI. THAT THE LAND ACTUALLY OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL WAS BOTH LARGER AND SMALLER THAN THAT DELIMITED; not reaching so far from south to north, yet not so strait from west to east. Even so it is certain that Christian life, as lived, does not agree with the ideal in the New Testament. It does not reach so far, not attain its full measure, in one way, while it occupies additional space in another way. And as the additional breadth gained by the trans-Jordanic settlement, while not commanded, was yet (it seems) allowed of God, so the unexpected developments of Christianity (as in the way of civilization, with its varied gifts), although quite outside anything to be gathered from the New Testament, must yet be held allowed of God.
VII. THAT KADESH, OF FAMOUS MEMORY, WAS SPECIALLY INCLUDED IN THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER. Even so the experiences of our pilgrimagethe “sanctuaries’ of our trial timewill be part of our eternal inheritance; nothing “holy” will be lost to us.
VIII. THAT THE LAND WAS ALLOTTED TO THE PEOPLE BY ELEAZAR THEIR PRIEST AND JOSHUA THEIR CAPTAIN. Even so our inheritance is in all particulars assigned to us by him who is at once the High Priest of our profession and the Captain of our salvation.
IX. THAT TOGETHER WITH THEM THERE ACTED PRINCES FROM EACH TRIBE, THAT JUSTICE MIGHT BE MANIFESTLY DONE TO ALL. Even so it would appear that in the judgment of the last day respect will be had even to human ideas of justice; and, moreover, that in some way not yet explained men will themselves act as assessors in that judgment (see 1Pe 4:6, where seems to mean “in accordance with human ideas [of justice];” and 1Co 6:2, 1Co 6:3, which seems clearly to refer to the final judgment).
And note that the order of the tribes as here given is very different from any previous list; for two are absent, and the precedence of the rest is determined after a peculiar law by their subsequent position in the Holy Land. So the Divine order in which Churches or individuals stand is different front any founded on earthly or visible considerations, being in accordance with God’s foreknowledge of their heavenly place.
HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT
Verse 50-56
NO COMPROMISE WITH IDOLATRY
I. THE COMMAND GIVEN. The Israelites were to he delivered from complicity with the immoral idolatry of Canaan by such extreme measures as these.
1. The idolaters were to be utterly driven out, and in some cases exterminated. On no account were covenants to be made with them (Exo 34:12-17).
2. The idols were to be broken to pieces; even the precious metals on them were not to be spared (Exo 23:24, Exo 23:30-33; Deu 7:25, Deu 7:26).
3. The high places, groves, altars, pillars, &c. were to be destroyed (Exo 34:13; Deu 12:2, Deu 12:3).
4. Works of art, “pictures,” &c; were doomed if tainted by idolatry.
5. The very names of the idols were to he consigned to oblivion, and all curious antiquarian inquiries as to the idolatries of the land were discouraged (Deu 12:3, Deu 12:30, Deu 12:31). Our missionaries have had to urge similar precepts on converts from heathenism; e.g; in Polynesia. And these precepts suggest applications to all Christians who have “escaped the pollutions of the world” and its spiritual idolatries, but who are still surrounded by them. No “covenants” are to be made with men of the world which would compromise the servants of Christ, or mar their testimony against the evil deeds of the would (2Co 6:14; Eph 5:11). Apply to marriages with the ungodly, and to other close alliances of interest. Illustrate from Jehoshaphat’s history (2Ki 8:18 : 2Ch 18:1; 2Ch 19:2). Even things lawful in themselves may have to be abandoned; whether money, in order to conquer “covetousness, which is idolatry”, or pleasures which may have associations of evil clinging to them (1Co 6:12), or even past helps to devotione.g; 2Ki 18:4, Popish images, &c. To look back with strong desire even towards things elegant and attractive in themselves, but infected to us by the spirit of worldliness, may be fatal (Luk 17:32; 2Co 6:17). The Church of God has the duty of possessing the whole land, “the world” (1Co 3:22); but to do this they must “dispossess the inhabitants,” i.e; they must make no compromise with the spirit of the men of the world. Worldliness is a spirit rather than a course of outward conduct. We must “use the world as not abusing it.”
II. THE MOTIVES URGED.
1. The peril of perpetual unrest (verse 55). Just so if Christians seek to make compromises with the sins and idolatries of the world they are called to overcome (1Jn 5:4), and become subject to its maxims and fashions, there can be no true rest. The joy of entire obedience can never be known (Psa 19:11). Compromise is perpetual conflict, with the conviction of being on the losing side. We are wounded in the tenderest part (“pricks in our eyes”) and vexed in the secret chamber of conscience (“thorns in our sides”).
2. The peril of being regarded as “conformed to the world,” and therefore treated as “enemies of God” (verse 56; Psa 106:34-42; Rom 12:2, Php 3:18, Php 3:19; Jas 4:4; 2Pe 2:20-22). From such guilty compromises we may be delivered through Christthrough his atonement (Gal 1:4), intercession (Joh 17:15), example (Joh 16:33; Joh 17:16), and Spirit (Rom 8:2; 1Co 2:12).P.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Verse 50-56
HOW TO DEAL WITH THE CANAANITES: AN URGENT WARNING
It is assumed here that Israel will conquer the Canaanites; probably by this time the people had grown to somewhat of confidence, by reason of their recent successes over Sihon, Og, and Midian. But it was a thing of the first importance, when the victory was gained, to follow it up in the right way. Victories have been gained, and then worse than lost by want of wisdom to use them aright. Here we have a plain, strict, and severe command concerning the very first thing to be done upon the defeat of the Canaanites. They themselves were to be driven from the land, and all the instruments of idolatry utterly destroyed. The need of this command will be clearly seen if we consider
I. THE GREAT OBJECT WHICH WAS BEFORE THE MIND OF GOD IN GIVING THE COMMAND. This is alluded to in verse 54. Canaan was ever under the eye of God as being the destined inheritance of Israel; it had been counted as such even from the time of Abraham. The sadness of the threat against Israel in the day of its apostasy lay in this, that it was a threat of disinheriting (Num 14:12). And that which had been so long preparing for Israel, which even while the Canaanites were dwelling in it had been under the peculiar supervision of God, was become at last an inheritance of great value. It was to be cultivated to the full, and would then richly repay for all the cultivation. Such interest did God show in giving this land to the Israelites in all its fullness, that he was about to portion it by lot. Each tribe in particular was to feel that the place of its habitation had been chosen by God. Hence the need of leaving no precaution unemployed to make this favoured land secure. It must be guarded from every kind of danger, however remote, improbable, and practically innocuous it may seem. If Israel lost this inheritance, there was no other place for it, no other possession on which it could advance with the certainty of conquest and, what was even more important, with the consciousness of being engaged in a righteous cause. In Canaan, as long as it kept its allegiance to God, Israel was the rightful possessor; but everywhere else it was a lawless, unblessed invader. That which is of inestimable value, and which once gone cannot be replaced, must first of all be founded in security and surrounded with the same. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psa 11:3). The security of the people was threatened by all that threatened the honour of God. And it was a distinct dishonour to his name to allow idolaters to remain in the land openly to practice their vicious and degrading rites. Moreover, there was every chance that the people themselves would be subtly and gradually drawn to idolatry. Recollect all these perils, and then you will see good reason why God made a stringent demand for such a sweeping treatment of the Canaanites. The cause of a world’s redemption was bound up with the safety of Israel’s inheritance. And we also have an inheritance (Mat 19:29; Mat 25:34; Act 20:32; Act 26:18; Rom 8:17 : Gal 3:29; Eph 1:11, Eph 1:14; Eph 3:6; 1Pe 1:4) far transcending that Canaan which was so much in the eyes of the Israelites. If it is worth anything at all, it is worth everything; worth all the self-denial, perseverance, complete submission to God, and patient waiting which are necessary for the attaining of it. We must not leave unexpelled from our life or undestroyed from our circumstances anything that may imperil the inheritance. Walk with no companion, engage in no business, cultivate no taste or recreation, if there be in them the slightest chance of peril to the inheritance. It is a glorious thing to conquer temptation in actual conflict, but it is better still so to watch and pray as not to enter into temptation at all.
II. THE GREAT TEMPTATION ON THE PART OF ISRAEL TO REST SATISFIED WITH AN IMPERFECT CONQUEST. Not of course that Israel thought it imperfect. Israel was anxious in its own way to have the conquest and possession complete. But God alone had the requisite wisdom and foresight to direct the people into real security.
There were many temptations to what he knew was a premature cessation of hostilities. The Canaanites would in due time make attempts at compromises and partial surrenders, even as Pharaoh had made like attempts when his people were smitten by the plagues. There was the temptation that came from the weariness of long waiting. A complete expulsion involved much delay. We are tempted even in the affairs of this life to premature conclusions through sheer impatience. We want to pluck the fruit long before it is ripe. Moreover, the Israelites, many of them at least, would wish to make slaves of the Canaanites. They were not entering Canaan with the steward-feeling in their hearts. The promise was sufficiently fulfilled in their estimate when they got the land to do as they liked with it. The tribes crossing Jordan had the same carnal views concerning their possession as Reuben and Gad concerning the land which they had chosen. There was the temptation coming from self-confidence; that of supposing an enemy enfeebled to be practically the same as an enemy destroyed. There might be the temptation also to show a human, ignorant, undiscerning pity, as contrasted with a Divinely wise severity. Such utter expulsion as God demanded could easily be made to look unreasonable, and indeed nothing better than sheer tyranny. It takes much patient inquiry to discover that what may be kind on the surface is cruel underneath; kind at the present, cruel in the future; kind to the few, cruel to the many; kind for time, utterly ruinous for eternity. There was no reasonable pity in leaving those who were utterly corrupt to become the plentiful sources of idolatrous infection to the people of Jehovah. There was also the temptation that came from a very imperfect sympathy with the purposes of God. During their wanderings the Israelites had shown again and again their lack of apprehension and appreciation with respect to Jehovah. What then of hearty aversion from idolatry could be expected when its subtle perils came upon them? Only those who were filled with an abiding sense of the holiness and majesty of God could estimate the dangers of idolatry and take the precautions needful to guard against them.
III. THE EARNEST WARNING IN WHICH GOD SPECIFIES THE RESULTS OF NEGLIGENCE.
1. The earlier result (verse 55). These Canaanites, however fairly they speak, and with whatever leniency they be treated, will turn out pricks and thorns in the end. “Those which ye let remain of them.” One, even though he be a child, and seem easily moulded to other ends, may be the cause of measureless mischief. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Behold how great a mass of matter a tiny flame will kindle. A Canaanite, a real Canaanite, worshipping his idols, must be a bad man. Just as a true, believing connection with God leads into all purity and virtue, so a groveling before idols makes a man vicious; and not only vicious, but the viciousness is upon a sort of principle and rule. Those who change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, change at the same time much besides. It is one of the unspeakable miseries of idolatry that it changes vices into virtues, and idolaters do the most wicked things for conscience’ sake. Hence the Canaanite could not but hurt the Israelite; it was his very nature so to do. He might undertake allegiance and amity, but by the very necessity of the case he must prove in the end a prick in the eye and a thorn in the side. Therefore let Israel uproot with a timely and unsparing severity all that would end in pricks and thorns. Study the nature of things in their germs. Stop evil if you can at the very beginning. Consider, in connection with this expulsion of the Canaanites and the dangers of idolatry, the whole of the first chapter of Romans.
2. The later result (verse 56). Leave the Canaanites unexpelled, and the end will be the expulsion of Israel. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jas 4:17). In the light of this threatening, how clearly it is seen that what made the Canaanites so offensive in the sight of God was their idolatry! For centuries they had been pursuing their hideous practices in that very land where a holy and righteous God had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And if the Israelites by a disobedient leniency fell into idolatry, their state would be even sadder and more dishonourable than that of Canaan, because the fall would be from such privileges. Note that God placed this expulsion of the Canaanites as a work of obedience for the people to perform. If they failed in obedience he would not by some miracle expel the Canaanites himself. “As I thought to do unto them.” The land in itself was no more than any other land on the face of the earth. It was the peoplethe holy people of Godwho sanctified the land, and not the land the people. And if they disobeyed God in the presence of all these idols, with their associated abominations, then the holy became unholy, and the Canaanites might as well stay there as remove anywhere else (Pro 8:20, Pro 8:21; Pro 20:21; Ecc 7:11; Rev 21:7).Y.
Num 34:1-15
THE LORD APPOINTS BOUNDARIES FOR THE PROMISED LAND
I. CONSIDER THESE BOUNDARIES ACCORDING TO THE EXTENT OF WHAT THEY INCLUDED. The territory was a very limited one, geographically speaking. The promised land, intended to typify the large privileges of the believer, and the heavenly and everlasting inheritance, was not a continent, nor even a considerable part of a continent. The Lord would teach Israel, and through them all his people, the difference between bigness and greatness, between quantity and quality, between mere superficial extent and the inexhaustible wealth that comes out of a really good ground. A square mile in the land that the Lord hath blessed is better than all the sands of Sahara. There was no legitimate room in Israel for men of Alexander’s spirit, weeping because there were no more worlds to conquer. The scene that God thus mapped out was large enough to give impressive and beautiful illustrations of his ways, and to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness worthy of bearing such names to all who received his will in the fullness of it. Though only a limited territory, it was for that reason all the more compact; and at a very short notice the whole nation could gather to any point for purposes of worship or defense. Outsiders, who did not know how blessed was the nation whose God was the Lord, might count the land only a little one among the thousands of the whole earth. All depends on what we mean when we speak of the lives of certain people as limited, poor, narrow, and unprivileged. Such words may only reveal our ignorance, our erroneous principles of judgment, and not the real state of affairs. It should ever be part of the brightest radiance of God’s glory in the eyes of his people that he can welcome the poor and the lowly to his choicest blessings and to the sweetest pleasures he can confer upon the human heart. Their poverty and lowliness do not unfit them for these things. Paul, who had to work with his own hands, and who said that having food and raiment he was therewith content, was also able to say, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom 11:33). No lord of broad acres he, no partaker of luxurious repose among intellectual pleasures, but still he knew of the peace that passeth all understanding, the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and something of the breadth, and length, and depth and height of that love of Christ which passeth knowledge. We had need be very sure of our competency before we begin to pronounce judgment on the compass and depth of a true believer’s life.
II. CONSIDER THE EXACTNESS OF THESE BOUNDARIES. The country was carefully defined, and could give no occasion for boundary disputes. And all Christians have a carefully-defined life marked out for them. Even external circumstances are more under our control than at first seems to be the case. Many such circumstances indeed we cannot control, but many also depend on the spirit in which we regard the will of God. For instance, it could hardly be said that God marked out their territory for Reuben and Gad. For his own wise purposes he allowed their choice, but it was no true choice of his. If we have only a thoroughly trustful spirit, a spirit of stewardship towards God, we may all have the profit and comfort of feeling that we are working within the channels and limits that he would choose for our life. Social station makes no difference in this respect. The path of a pious king is just as strictly fixed as that of the humblest of his subjects. The farthest planet that circles round the sun has its path just as much marked out as the nearest one, though it travels a far longer distance.
III. CONSIDER THE EFFICACY THESE BOUNDARIES WERE MEANT TO HAVE IN THE WAY OF EXCLUSION. We see God clearly providing one necessary part in the means whereby to drive out and dispossess the Canaanites. He fixed the line beyond which they were to be driven, and within which they were not allowed to return and dwell. The lines between the Church and the world are not to be tampered with by such as value all that is most precious in spiritual possessions. Let the world have its own principles and assert them in its own field of action and in its own way. Let the men of the world act as men of the world, and transmit their much-belauded policy of life from generation to generation of such as believe in their principles. They go by what men are and by what they cynically assume men must be, for they do devoutly believe the fact that what is born of the flesh is flesh, even though they can make nothing of Christ’s reference to the fact. But let us ever claim and preserve a place, and earnestly defend it, where the supercilious egotism of worldly wisdom shall find no entrance. Let our territory be fenced round with “Thus saith the Lord,” and let us watch with a jealous vigilance the slightest encroachment on it. We also believe that what is born of the flesh is flesh, and that we must go by what men are; but then we regard in addition what men ought to be, and recollect that what is born of the spirit is spirit. Blessed is he who feels marked out in his own heart the boundary which Paul specifies when he says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Gal 5:17); Canaanite against Israelite, and Israelite against Canaanite. It availed a man nothing to live within Israelite borders if he had a Canaanite heart. Of old idolaters were rigorously excluded from a certain well-marked territory, and the typical significance of this is that idolatries themselves must be driven out of the regenerate heart, and kept out of it by all the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.
IV. CONSIDER THE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WESTERN BORDER (Num 34:6). The great sea was there, the open pathway of nations, the symbol, and to a large extent the avenue, of Israel’s connection with the whole world. For though Israel had destroyed Amorite and Midianite, and was laid under command to drive out the Canaanite, yet in the seed of Abraham all families of the earth were to be blessed. From Canaan there was a path of blessing by a landward way to many lands beside, but by sea there was a way to every island also. Consider the place in respect of Christian privileges and influences which the island England occupies among the nations. The seaward aspect of Israel suggests to us the blessings that we, and indeed many peoples beside, have gained from her. Notice also the element of reference to the sea which this seaward boundary of Canaan has brought into the Scriptures. The Scriptures were written by men who felt the power of the ocean. Men within reach of the sea could then hear the whole of nature praise God. They could not only say, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad,” but also, “Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof” (Psa 96:11). How could David have given Psa 104:1-35. its completeness without a sight of the sea? And thus we find Haggai contrasting the great elements, first of the heavens and the earth, and then of the sea and the dry land (Hag 2:6). It helped David to think of the omnipresence of God, as he imagined himself dwelling in the uttermost parts of the sea, and feeling even there that mighty grasp guarding and sustaining him (Psa 139:9, Psa 139:10). And it served also to remind men how in after days the Lord would famish all the gods of the earth, and men would worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen (Zep 2:11). Truly it was by no accident, but by a deep and gracious design, that the land of promise had the great sea for one of its borders.Y.
Num 35:1-34
EXPOSITION
THE LEVITICAL CITIES, AND CITIES OF REFUGE, AND LAWS AS TO HOMICIDE (Num 35:1-34).
Num 35:1
And the Lord spake. Cf. Num 33:50; Num 36:13.
Num 35:2
That they give unto the Levites cities to dwell in. This legislation forms the natural sequel and complement of the Divine decrees already promulgated concerning the Levites. Separated from the rest of the tribes from the time of the first census (Num 1:49), excluded from any tribal inheritance (Num 18:20), but endowed with tithes and offerings for their maintenance (Num 18:21, &c.), it was also necessary that they should be provided with homes for themselves and their cattle. They might indeed have been left to exist as they could, and where they could, upon the provision made for them in the law. But, on the one hand, that provision was itself precarious, depending as it did upon the piety and good feeling of the people (which must often have been found wanting: cf. Neh 13:10; Mal 3:8, Mal 3:9); and, on the other, it is evident that the Levites were intended, as far as their family and social life was concerned, to share the ordinary comforts and enjoyments of Israelites. Nothing could have been more foreign to the Mosaic ideal than a ministry celibate, ascetic, and detached from this world’s wealth, such as readily enough sprang up (whether intended or not) under the teaching of the gospel (cf. Luk 10:4; Luk 12:33; Act 20:34, Act 20:35; 1Co 7:7, 1Co 7:25, 1Co 7:26; 1Co 9:18, 1Co 9:27; 2Co 6:10; 2Ti 2:4). Suburbs. The Hebrew word undoubtedly means here a pasture, or a paddock, an enclosed place outside the town into which the cattle were driven by day to feed. It is possible that the A.V. may have used the word “suburbs” in that sense. To keep cattle to some extent was not only a universal custom, but was well-nigh a necessity of life in that age.
Num 35:3
For their cattle. , “for their great cattle,” i.e; oxen, camels, and any other beasts of draught or burden. For their goods. “For their possessions,” which in this connection would mean their ordinary “live stock,” chiefly sheep and goats; the word itself () is indeterminate. For all their beasts. an expression which apparently only sums up what has previously been mentioned.
Num 35:5
Ye shall measure from without the city ( ) two thousand cubits. These directions are very obscure. Some have held that the country for 1000 cubits beyond the walls was reserved for pasture (according to Num 35:4), and for another 1000 cubits for fields and vineyards, so that the Levitical lands extended 2000 cubits in all directions. This is reasonable in itself, since 2000 cubits is only half a mile, and rather more than a square mile of land would not seem too much for pastures, gardens, &c. for a town with at least 1000 inhabitants. The smallest tribe territories seem to have comprised some 300 square miles of country; and if we take the Levitical towns as averaging 1000 cubits square, their forty-eight cities would only give them seventy-three square miles of territory. There is, however, no notice of anything being given to the Levites except their “suburbs,” so that this explanation must be at best very doubtful. Others have argued for a plan according to which each outer boundary, drawn at 1000 cubits’ distance from the wall, would measure 2000 cubits, plus the length of the town wall; but this is far too artificial, and could only be considered possible as long as it was confined to a paper sketch, for it presupposes that each city lay four-square, and faced the four points of the compass. If the first explanation be untenable, the only alternative sufficiently simple and natural is to suppose that, in order to avoid irregularities of measurement, each outer boundary was to be drawn at an approximate distance of 1000 cubits from the wall, and each of an approximate length of 2000 cubits; at the angles the lines would have to be joined as best they might. In Le 25:32-34 certain regulations are inserted in favour of the Levites. Their houses might be redeemed at any time, and not only within the full year allowed to others; moreover, they returned to them (contrary to the general rule) at the year of Jubilee. Their property in the “suburbs” they could not sell at all, for it was inalienable. It is difficult to believe that these regulations were really made at Mount Sinai, presupposing, as they do, the legislation of this chapter; but if they were actually made at this time, on the eve of the conquest, it is easy to see why they were subsequently inserted in the chapter which deals generally with the powers of sale and redemption.
Num 35:6
And among the cities. Rather, “and the cities.” . The construction is broken, or rather is continuous throughout Num 35:6-8, the accusative being repeated. Six cities for refuge. See below on Num 35:11.
Num 35:7
Forty and eight cities. The Levites numbered nearly 50,000 souls (see on Num 26:62), so that each Levitical city would have an average population of about 1000 to start with. There seems no sufficient reason for supposing that they shared their towns with men of the surrounding tribe. Even if the provision made for their habitation was excessive at first (which does not appear), yet their rate of increase should have been exceptionally high, inasmuch as they were not liable to military service. It is possible that mystical reasons led to the selection of the number forty-eight (12 x 4, both typical of universality), but it is at least equally probable that it was determined by the actual numbers of the tribe.
Num 35:8
And the cities which ye shall give shall be, &c. Rather, “And as to the cities which ye shall give from the possession of the children of Israel, from the many ye shall multiply, and from the few ye shall decrease.” What seems to be a general rule of proportionate giving is laid down here, but it was not carried out, and it is not easy to see how it could have been. From the large combined territory of Judah and Simeon nine cities were indeed surrendered (Jos 21:1-45), but all the rest, great and small, gave up four apiece, except Naphtali, which gave up three only. As the territory of Naphtali was apparently large in proportion to its numbers, this was probably for no other reason than that the tribe stood last on the list. Every one. Hebrew, . It was in fact each tribe that surrendered so many cities, but since the tribal inheritance was the joint property of all the tribesmen, every man felt that he was a party to the gift. No doubt it was the Divine intention to foster in the tribes as far as possible this local feeling of interest and property in the Levites who dwelt among them (compare the expression “their scribes and Pharisees” in Luk 5:30). The dispersion of the Levites (however mysteriously connected with the prophecy of Gen 49:5-7) was obviously designed to form a bond of unity for all Israel by diffusing the knowledge and love of the national religion, and by keeping up a constant communication between the future capital and all the provinces. According to the Divine ideal Israel as a whole was “the election” ( ) from all the earth, the Levites were the of Israel, and the priests the of Levi. The priestly family was at present too small to be influential, but the Levites were numerous enough to have leavened the whole nation if they had walked worthy of their calling. They were gathered together in towns of their own, partly no doubt in order to avoid disputes, but partly that they might have a better opportunity of setting forth the true ideal of what Jewish life should be.
Num 35:11
Ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you. God had already announced that he would appoint a place whither one guilty of unpremeditated manslaughter might flee for safety (Exo 21:18). The expression there used does not point to more than one “place,” but it is not inconsistent with several. Probably the right of sanctuary has been recognized from the earliest times in which any local appropriation of places to sacred purposes has been made. It is an instinct of religion to look upon one who has escaped into a sacred enclosure as being under the personal protection of the presiding deity. It is certain that the right was largely recognized in Egypt, where the priestly caste was so powerful and ambitious; and this is no doubt the reason (humanly speaking) for the promise in Exo 21:13, and for the command in the following verse. Inasmuch as the whole of Canaan was the Lord’s, any places within it might he endowed with rights of sanctuary, but it was obviously suitable that they should be Levitical cities; the Divine prerogative of mercy could nowhere be better exercised, nor would any citizens be better qualified to pronounce and to uphold the rightful decision in each case.
Num 35:12
From the avenger. Hebrew, . Septuagint, . In all other passages (twelve in number) where the word occurs in this sense it is qualified by the addition “of blood.” Standing by itself, it is everywhere else translated “kinsman,” or (more properly) “redeemer,” and is constantly applied in that sense to God our Saviour (Job 19:25; Isa 63:16 &c.). The two ideas, however, which seem to us so distinct, and even so opposed, are in their origin one. To the men of the primitive age, when public justice was not, and when might was right, the only protector was one who could and would avenge them of their wrongs, and by avenging prevent their repetition. This champion of the injured individual, or rather family,for rights and wrongs were thought of as belonging to families rather than to individuals, was their goel, who had their peace, their safety, above all, their honour, in his charge. For no sentiments spring up quicker, and none exercise a more tyrannous sway, than the sentiment of honour, which in its various and often strangely distorted forms has always perhaps outweighed all other considerations in the minds of men. Now the earliest form in which the sentiment of honour asserted itself was in the blood-feud. If one member of a family was slain, an intolerable shame and sense of contumely rested upon the family until blood had been avenged by blood, until “satisfaction” had been done by the death of the manslayer. He who freed the family from this intolerable pain and humiliationwho enabled it to hold up its head, and to breathe freely once morewas the goel; and in the natural order of things he was the nearest “kinsman” of the slain who could and would take the duty upon him. To these natural feelings was added in many cases a religious sentiment which regarded homicide as a sin against the higher Powers for which they too demanded the blood of the guilty. Such was the feeling among the Greeks, and probably among the Egyptians, while among the Hebrews it could plead Divine sanction, given in the most comprehensive terms: “Your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man; whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6). The moral difficulties of this proclamation need not here be considered; it is enough to take note that the Divine law itself recognized the duty as well as the lawfulness of private blood-revenge when public justice could not be depended on. The goel, therefore, was not merely the natural champion of his family, nor only the deliverer who satisfied the imperious demands of an artificial code of honour; he was a minister of God, in whose patient efforts to hunt down his victim the thirst for vengeance was to some extent at least superseded by, or rather transmuted into, the longing to glorify God (compare the difficult case of Rev 6:10). It was not merely human feelings of great reach and tenacity which were outraged by the immunity of the manslayer; it was still more the justice of God which received a grievous wound. Just because, however, God had made the cause of the slain man his own, and had sanctioned the avenging mission of the goel, he could therefore regulate the course of vengeance so as to make it run as even as possible with true justice. It was not indeed possible to distinguish ab initio between the homicide which deserved and that which did not deserve capital punishment. Such distinction, difficult under any circumstances, was impossible when vengeance was in private hands. But while the goel could not be restrained from immediate pursuit unhindered by investigation or compunction (lest his whole usefulness be paralyzed), the manslayer might have opportunity to escape, and to be sheltered under the Divine mercy until he could establish (if that were possible) his innocence. No better instance can be found of the way in which the King of Israel adopted the sentiments and institutions of a semi-barbarous age, added to them the sanctions of religion, and so modified them as to secure the maximum of practical good consistent with the social state and moral feelings of the people. No doubt many an individual was overtaken and slain by the goel who did. not deserve to die according to our ideas; but where perfection was unattainable, this error was far less dangerous to that age than the opposite error of diminishing the sanctity of human life and the awfulness of Divine justice. The congregation. Hebrew, . This word is used frequently from Exo 12:3 to the end of this chapter, and again in Joshua and the last two chapters of Judges. It is not found in Deuteronomy, nor often in the later books. In every case apparently eydah signifies the whole nation as gathered together, e.g; as represented by all who had an acknowledged right to appear, for of course 600,000 men could not gather together in any one place. The force of the word may be understood by reference to its use in Jdg 20:1; Jdg 21:10, Jdg 21:13, Jdg 21:16. Another word () is also used, less frequently in Leviticus and Numbers, but more frequently in the later books, for the general assembly of the people of Israel. No distinction of meaning can be drawn between the two words, and it cannot, therefore, be maintained that the “congregation” of this verse means the local elders of Jos 20:4. The regulations there laid down are not inconsistent with the present law, but are quite independent of it. They refer to a preliminary hearing of the case as stated by the fugitive alone in order to determine his right to shelter in the mean time; which right, if accorded, was without prejudice to the future judgment of the “congregation” on the whole facts of the case (see below on verse 25).
Num 35:13
Six cities. See on Deu 19:8, Deu 19:9, where three more are apparently ordered to be set aside upon a certain contingency:
Num 35:14
Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan. According to Deu 4:41-43. Moses himself severed these three cities, Bezer of the Reubenites, Ramoth of the Gadites, and Golan of the Manassites. Those verses, however, seem to be an evident interpolation where they stand, and are hardly consistent with previous statements if taken literally. It is tolerably clear that the two tribes had only formed temporally settlements hitherto, and that their boundaries were not defined as yet; also that the Levitical cities (to which the cities of refuge were to belong) were not separated until after the conquest. It is likely that Deu 4:41-43 is a fragment, the real meaning el which is that Moses ordered the severance of three cities on that side Jordan as cities of refuge, for which purposes the three cities mentioned were afterwards selected.
Num 35:16
With an instrument of iron. There is no reasonable doubt that has here (as elsewhere) its proper meaning of iron. The expression must be held to include both weapons and other instruments; the former may have been mostly made of bronze, but where iron is used at all it is sure to be employed in war.
Num 35:17
With throwing a stone, wherewith he may die. Literally, “with a stone of the hand, by which one may die,” i.e; a stone which is suitable for striking or throwing, and apt to inflict a mortal wound.
Num 35:18
A hand weapon of wood. A club, or other such formidable instrument.
Num 35:19
When he meeteth him, i.e; outside a city of refuge.
Num 35:20
But if. Rather, “and if” (). The consideration of willful murder is continued in these two verses, although chiefly with reference to the motive. It is to be understood that the deliberate intent was present in the former cases, and a new case is added, viz; if he smite him with his fist with fatal consequences.
Num 35:22
Without enmity without laying of wait. These expressions seem intended to limit mercy to cases of pure accident, such as that quoted in Deu 19:5. Neither provocation nor any other “extenuating circumstances” are taken into account, nor what we now speak of as absence of premeditation. The want of these finer distinctions, as well as the short and simple list of farm injuries given, show the rudeness of the age for which these regulations were made.
Num 35:25
The congregation () shall restore him to the city of his refuge. It is perfectly plain from this (and from Jos 20:6) that the general assembly of all Israel was to summon both homicide and avenger before them with their witnesses, and, if they found the accused innocent, were to send him back under safe escort to the city in which he had taken refuge. He shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest. No doubt his family might join him in his exile, and his life might be fairly happy as well as safe within certain narrow limits; but under ordinary circumstances he must forfeit much and risk more by his enforced absence from home and land. It is not easy to see why the death of the high priest should have set the fugitive free from the law of vengeance, except as foreshadowing the death of Christ. No similar significance is anywhere else attributed to the death of the high priest; and it was rather in its unbroken continuance than in its recurring interruption that the priesthood of Aaron typified that of the Redeemer. To see anything of a vicarious or satisfactory character in the death of the high priest seems to be introducing an element quite foreign to the symbolism of the Old Testament. The stress, however, which is laid upon the fact of his decease (cf. Num 35:28), and the solemn notice of his having been anointed with the holy oil, seem to point unmistakably to something in his official and consecrated character which made it right that the rigour of the law should die with him. What the Jubilee was to the debtor who had lost his property, that the death of the high priest was to tile homicide who had lost his liberty. If it was the case, as commonly believed, that all blood feuds were absolutely terminated by the death of the high priest, might this not be because the high priest, as chief minister of the law of God, was himself the goel of the whole nation? When he died all processes of’ vengeance lapsed, because they had really been commenced in his name.
Num 35:26
Without the border of the city, i.e; no doubt beyond its “suburbs.”
Num 35:30
By the mouth of witnesses, i.e; of two at least (cf. Deu 17:6).
Num 35:31
Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer. The passion for vengeance is both bad and good, and is therefore to be carefully purified and restrained; but when the desire for vengeance can be appeased by a money payment, it has become wholly bad, and is only a despicable form of covetousness which insults the justice it pretends to invoke. Such payments or “ransoms” are permitted by the Koran, and have been common among most semi-civilized peoples, notably amongst our old English ancestors.
Num 35:32
That he should come again to dwell in the land. No one might buy off the enmity of the avenger before the appointed time, for that would give an unjust advantage to wealth, and would make the whole matter mercenary and vulgar.
Num 35:33
The land cannot be cleansed. Literally, “there is no expiation () for the land.” Septuagint, . By these expressions the Lord places the sin of murder in its true light, as a sin against himself. The land, his land, is defiled with the blood of the slain, and nothing can do away with the guilt which cleaves to it but the strict execution of Divine justice upon the murderer. Money might satisfy the relatives of the slain, but cannot satisfy his Maker.
Num 35:34
For I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. Therefore the murderer’s hand is raised against me; the blood of the slain is ever before my eyes, its cry for vengeance ever in my ears (of. Gen 4:10; Mat 23:35; Rev 6:10).
HOMILETICS
Num 35:1-34
THE DWELLING OF THE FAITHFUL: THE REDEEMER: THE SANCTITY OF LIFE
There are in this chapter three things closely connected historically, and therefore closely consecutive in the narrative, but distinct in their spiritual application. We have, therefore, separately to consider
I. THE PROVISION WHICH GOD MAKES FOR HIS OWN, AND THEIR DISPERSION;
II. THE REFUGE SET BEFORE HIM THAT IS GUILTY OF BLOOD;
III. THE SANCTITY OF LIFE.
I. In the regulations made for the habitation of the Levites and their cattle we have some sort of precedent for religious endowments; but this precedent loses all value in argument when we consider that the old dispensation was essentially temporal, which ours is not; moreover, the Levites do not correspond to the clergy, but rather to the inner circle of the faithful, who are more emphatically the “salt of the earth.” Consider, therefore, as to the habitation of the Levites
1. That it was the will of God to disperse them as widely as possible throughout Israela thing which might have been looked upon as a punishment to them (Gen 49:7), but was really for the common good. Even so it is his will that his own, who are more especially his own, should be scattered far and wide among the mass of imperfect or nominal Christians; not gathered together in one corner of Christendom, but everywhere found as the few among the many. And note that this is the very law of “salt,” which must be scattered and diffused to exercise its antiseptic functions.
2. That the Levites, although dispersed, yet lived in communities, and this no doubt that they might set forth the life of holiness according to the law. Even so there is, beside the law of dispersion, a counter-law of aggregation for “the spiritual,” which makes mightily for holiness. For Christianity is a life, and life is complex, and therefore can only be lived by many who agree. There should be centers of high religious influence everywhere, but those centers should be strong.
3. That the allotments of the Levites, though Sufficient, were far from being extensive, on any understanding of the text. Even so, for those who would be an example to Christ’s flock, sufficiency is the rule, and nothing more (1Ti 6:8). God does not design poverty for his own (Luk 12:31), unless voluntarily embraced (Luk 12:33), but assuredly not wealth (Luk 6:24).
4. That the object aimed at in the allotment of their cities was to give each tribe, and even each tribesman, a personal and local interest in the Levites. Even so it is the will of God that those who specially follow after him should be identified as strongly as possible with those around them, in order that these may love and reverence them. Every Christian land has its “saints,” by whom it is the more edified in that it feels them to be specially its own.
Consider also, mystically
1. That the Levitical cities numbered forty-eight, i.e; 12 x 4the first being the symbol of the universal (apostolicsee Rev 21:14) Church, the second of the whole earth (Mat 8:11; Rev 21:13), the whole signifying diffusion throughout the world. Even so the religious life is universal in all parts of the Church of God, even in those which seem to us most remote.
2. That the enclosures round the Levitical cities measured the same every waylay foursquare as far as possible. Even so it is the ideal of the religious life that it be not one-sided, or unequal, but attain its full-development in all directions; if not it must be starved to some extent.
II. The law of refuge from the goel is one of the most striking, and yet difficult, of the foreshadowings of the gospel. It is complicated, in the spiritual interpretation, by the fact that Christ is the Victim with whose blood our hands are stained, and our only Refuge, while he is also typified as Redeemer by the goel, and as Messiah by the anointed priest. Consider, however
1. That the law presupposed and provided for a state of blood-guiltiness, which brought after it the sentence of death (Gen 9:6). Even so the gospel presupposes that all have sinned, and have become guilty of the death of Christ, who died for our sins, and have incurred the sentence of eternal death. David said, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness” (Psa 51:14), but he had already incurred it (2Sa 12:9); and so have we (cf. Heb 6:6; Heb 10:29).
2. That it provided for such blood-guiltiness as was unwittingly incurred. Even so Christ’s excuse for us is that we “know not what we do” (Luk 23:24), and our hope is that we have not willfully and deliberately preferred sin as such (Act 3:17; 1Ti 1:13).
3. That it presupposed that the avenger was on foot to take the life of the manslayer. Even so the gospel testifies by its very offers of mercy that the Divine justice is surely gone forth with the edict of death against every soul that hath sinned, and that it is a mere matter of time when that justice shall overtake the sinner (Gen 3:3; Eze 18:4; Rom 3:9, Rom 3:19, &c.).
4. That it pleased God to open a door of safety to the fugitive without staying the avenger. For the mission of the goel was very needful for that age, and yet it was the will of God to spare the unwitting homicide. Even so it has pleased God in a wonderful manner to provide a refuge for the sinner without compromising the Divine justice. The wrath of God against sin and the necessary punishment of sin are declared by the very means which bring salvation to the sinner (Rom 3:26, &c.).
5. That this refuge was so distributed in six cities, three on each side Jordan, that it was everywhere accessible. Even so the sinner’s refuge in Jesus Christ is everywhere and by all accessible, if they will without delay flee into it (Heb 6:18, &c.). And note that whereas almost all other religious privilege and promise was concentrated at Jerusalem, this refuge was distributed to all quarters of Jewish settlement, intimating that salvation in Christ is attainable wherever men call upon his name (Rom 9:33, &c.).
6. That in order to be safe the manslayer must flee to the city of refuge, which was a Levitical city (not a solitary post or a mere sanctuary), and there must take up his abode among the Levites. Even so the sinner who desires to escape from the sentence of Divine justice must flee for refuge unto Christ to take hold on his merits; but in doing so he does ipso facto find a home in the society of the truly faithful, and in that society he will abide. The life of one that is escaped from wrath is not a solitary-walk with God, but a dwelling in a populous city (Act 2:42; Col 3:15; Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23; cf. Psa 31:21, &c.).
7. That the manslayer must never stir outside his refuge at risk of his life; if he did, the goel was at liberty to slay him. Even so the sinner must never quit his refuge in Christ for one hour, lest he perish; neither may he (which is part of the same thing) withdraw from the society of the faithful, for that is his (outward) protection. At whatever risk and less of things temporal, he must abide under the shelter of the atonement.
Consider again, with respect to the death of the high priest, and the staying of blood-feuds
1. That the high priest typified Christ, not in that he died by virtue of individual mortality, but in that he lived by virtue of official immortality (see on Num 20:28; Heb 7:24, Heb 7:25); wherefore it is contrary to the whole analogy of Scripture to attribute any power of atonement to the death of the high priest.
2. That the high priest was not only the mediator and intercessor for Israel, but was also the chief minister of the law of God, and therefore the avenger of all iniquity against Israel, especially of all blood-guiltiness; in a word, he represented Divine justice as well as Divine compassion.
3. That the death of the high priest, which set the escaped manslayer free from all constraints and restrictions, must be taken to represent the passing away (as far as we are concerned) of the law of God as directed against sin. But this will only be when sin itself shall have wholly ceased, i.e; at the resurrection of the just; then, and only then, will all restraints, all constraints, all necessities for sacrifice and renunciation, all penalties for forsaking the society of the faithful, be for ever abolished as no longer needful.
Consider also, in connection with this
1. That the word goel is translated avenger, kinsman, and redeemer; the same personage sustaining in fact all these characters, and that by a natural law due to the circumstances of the age.
2. That our Lord is unquestionably our God, in that he is our Kinsman, who has made himself our nearest blood relation, and in that he is our Redeemer, who hath redeemed for us our forfeited possession in the kingdom of heaven.
3. That he is also our Goel in that he is in readiness to avenge as Judge all wrongs done unto the temporal or spiritual lives of his own. This is indeed little considered, but is certainly true, since he alone wields all power in heaven and in earth (see Mat 28:18; Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13, where the “Word of God” is evidently the personal Word; Luk 18:7; 2Th 1:6; Rev 6:10; Rev 19:2, &c.).
4. That the work and office of Christ as Avenger and Defender of his own will cease and determine with the final end of all wickedness, and then he will be Goel no longer in this sense (see 1Co 15:24-28 compared with Rev 7:17, &c.). And this change, whereby the Avenger will be wholly swallowed up in the Kinsman and Redeemer, seems to be symbolized by the death of the high priest (see above).
III. The laws of manslaughter here declared have rather a moral than a spiritual value. The one thing which they uphold as a principle is the sanctity of human life, and the duty of inflicting capital punishment for murder, as laid down in Gen 9:1-29. It is difficult to see that this duty is less under the gospel, because the bringing in of the gospel has not changed the fundamental relations of man to his Maker as based upon creation; rather it would seem to have added to the sanctity of human life by adding to the ties which knit that life to the life of God (cf. Act 9:4, Act 9:5; 1Co 6:15; 2Pe 1:4). Whatever may be held, however, as touching the duties of civil governors, we may consider
1. That the sin against God involved in murder is enormous, and this guilt is incurred by every one that hateth his brother (1Jn 3:15).
2. That the guilt of murder lay before God in the intention to kill, wherefore murders also proceed out of the heart (Mar 7:21).
3. That it was laid upon the congregation to show by prompt and righteous procedure that they had no sympathy with the murderer.
4. That in the absence of such vindication of justice the land was polluted with blood in the eyes of God, who dwelt therein.
5. That there is a crime which is murder, but is worse than any killing of the body, i.e; the destroying of the soul by leading it into sin.
6. That it is laid upon all the faithful to show their horror and detestation of this crime by their treatment of seducers and tempters (1Co 5:11; Eph 5:11; 2Ti 2:21; 2Jn 1:11).
7. That indulgence and sympathy extended to destroyers of souls that have not repented brings down the wrath of God upon a Church, and makes it hateful in his eyes (see Isa 1:21, &c.).
8. That this sinful indulgence of seducers is excused by human considerations, in forgetfulness that God is in the midst of his people, and that every sin so lightly excused or ignored stares him in the face (2Co 6:16; Rev 2:1).
9. That if the blood of Abel cried to him from the ground, and if the land of Canaan could not be cleansed from the blood of its slain, how much more will he be moved by that destruction of immortal souls which is wrought by the wicked lives and solicitations of bad Christians I
HOMILIES BY W. BINNIE
Num 35:1-8
THE LEVITES TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN CERTAIN CITIES THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE LAND
Unlike the other tribes, the Levites were to have no inheritance in the land. The names of Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben figure on the map of Palestine, each giving name to a province or county of its own; but the map knows no tribe of Levi. The Lord was the inheritance of this tribe. For their subsistence the Levites were to depend partly on the tithe, partly on certain dues and perquisites, supplemented by the free-will offerings of the faithful. But although they were landless, it was never the Lord’s will that they should be houseless. A vagabond ministry could not have failed to be a scandalous ministry. Accordingly, the law here provides dwellings for the sacred tribe in forty-eight Levitical cities.
I. In this law TWO POINTS CLAIM NOTICE.
1. That the forty-eight cities, although denominated “Levitical cities,” were not denoted exclusively to members of this tribe. For example, Hebron, which was perhaps the most noted of the forty-eight, being the city of refuge for what was afterwards the whole kingdom of Judah, formed part of the inheritance of Caleb the Kenezite (Jos 14:14). Doubtless many families of Judah would also be found among the residents; for the city belonged to Judah. What the Levites obtained was not, in any instance, exclusive possession of the city, but certain houses within the walls, and certain pasture grounds (“glebe lands”) adjoining. The houses and glebes thus set apart became the inalienable inheritance of the respective Levitical families. They were as strictly entailed as the lands which constituted the patrimony of the other families in Israel. If at any time they were sold for debt, they reverted to the family at the Jubilee.
2. The Levitical cities were scattered up and down the whole country. The arrangement was a remarkable one. At first sight, indeed, it looks awkward and unnatural. For were not the Levites set apart to do the service of the sanctuary? Would it not have been more convenient to have had them located where they would have been within easy reach of the sanctuary? In the ideal arrangement sketched in Ezekiel’s vision, the Levitical families are seen located in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The circumstance that the law ordained an arrangement so different was meant, I cannot doubt, to suggest to the Levites that they had other duties to discharge in Israel besides doing the service of the sanctuary. It was the will of God that they should, in their several districts, be the stated teachers of the people in the Divine law (Deu 33:10; Mal 2:4-8). This office and calling of the Levites being so honourable, it has often been thought strange that their dispersion throughout Israel should have been predicted by Jacob as a curse upon the tribe for their father’s sin (Gen 49:7). In itself it was honourable; nevertheless the words of the patriarch were fulfilled in the end. When the ten tribes revolted from the house of David, they fell away also from the sanctuary; and the Levites dwelling within those tribes had to choose between forfeiting their cities or being cut off from the sanctuary. In either case they found how bitter it was to be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel.
II. WHAT MAY WE LEARN FROM THIS LAW?
1. It has been usual to see in the distribution of the Levites over the whole land a type, and prelude of the arrangement which, in Christendom, assigns to every parish and every congregation its own pastor. The apostles “ordained elders in every city.” Ministers of the gospel are not to be massed together in the great cities, but to be scattered everywhere, so that no family in God’s Israel may be beyond reach of one “at whose mouth they may seek the law.” Of the institutions which have co-operated to make society what it is in the Christian nations, it would not be easy to name one which has been more influential for good than this.
2. The arrangement may be regarded as representing the principle according to which the lot of Christ’s people in this world is ordered. The faithful do not live apart from other men in towns and provinces of their own. Separation from the world, in this literal sense, has been often the dream of Christian reformers, and not seldom have societies been organized for the purpose of realizing it. But the well-meant schemes have in every case failed. They were bound to fail, for they ran counter to our Lord’s great prayer and rule: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (Joh 17:15). Nor is the reason of the rule doubtful. Christ’s people are the salt of the earth; and salt, to do its work, must be mingled with that which it is to preserve. The godly must be content to have ungodly persons, more or fewer, for neighbours so long as they abide in this world. An unmixed “congregation of the righteous” belongs to the felicities of the world to come. But if Christ’s people are like the Levites in regard to dispersion, they are like them also in respect to the provision made for their brotherly communion. As the Levites dwelt in their cities with other Levites, so Christians are to be gathered into Churches for mutual comfort and for common work. “We believe in the communion of saints.”B.
Num 35:9-29
THE MANSLAYER AND THE CITIES OF REFUGE
The law of sanctuary, as it is here laid down, never fails to remind the devout reader of the refuge which God’s mercy has provided in Christ for those who, by their sin, have exposed themselves to the vengeance of the law. This way of regarding the matter can be thoroughly justified. At the same time it is well to bear in mind that the law was framed, in the first instance, for a humbler purpose.
I. THE ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF REFUGE CONSIDERED AS A PART OF THE MOSAIC CRIMINAL LAW. In primitive and barbarous states of society the execution of vengeance for murder was devolved by ancient custom on the next kinsman of the murdered man. The goel, the redeemer and kinsman, was also the avenger of blood. The custom is sufficiently harsh and barbarous, and gives rise to blood-feuds and untold miseries. Yet, for the states of society in which it originated, it cannot be dispensed with. There are at this day tribes without number, especially in the East, in which the sanctity of human life is guarded only by fear of the avenger of blood. Accordingly, the law of Moses does not abolish the custom; the next kinsman was still held bound to take vengeance for blood. The aim of the Mosaic jurisprudence was to conserve what was good in the ancient custom, and at the same time to impose such a check upon it as would prevent its abuse. This twofold design was accomplished in the following way:
1. Certain cities were made sanctuary cities (Exo 21:13). The avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer to the gate of the city of refuge; might kill him, if he could, before reaching the gate; but at the gate he had to halt and sheathe his sword.
2. Although the gate of the city of refuge was open to every manslayer, the city did not suffer the willful murderer to laugh at the sword of justice. It gave provisional protection to all, but only to save them from the blind and indiscriminating anger of the avenger of blood. The refugees were sheltered only till they had stood a regular trial (Num 35:12). If it should be proved to the satisfaction of the congregation that the accused person had been guilty of murder, he was to be delivered up to the avenger of blood to be killed.
3. If, on the contrary, it should be found that the manslayer meant no harm, that it was a case of accidental homicide, the city of refuge was to afford him inviolable sanctuary. The law did not (as with us) suffer him to go home free. Accidental homicide is often the result of carelessness. To teach men not to trifle with the sanctity of life, the manslayer, although no murderer, had to confine himself to the city of his refuge. But so long as he abode within its walls he was safe.
II. THE ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF REFUGE CONSIDERED AS A TYPE. That it had a typical reference might be gathered (were there nothing else) from the direction that the manslayer was to continue in the sanctuary city “until the death of the high priest;” a meaningless provision if the statute had been only a piece of criminal law. Considered as a type, the ordinance represents
1. Our condition as sinners. We are exposed to the vengeance of God’s law, and the stroke may fall upon us at any moment. A condition in which there can be no solid peace.
2. What Christ is to those who are found in him. He is their High Priest, whose life is the security for their life; who “is able to save to the uttermost, seeing he ever liveth” (Heb 7:25). And he is their Refuge, insomuch that for them the one thing needful is that they be found in him (Rom 8:1, Rom 8:38, Rom 8:39; Php 3:8, Php 3:9).
3. How we may obtain the salvation which is in Christ. It is by fleeing into him for refuge and thereafter abiding in him continually. In him we are safe, out of him we are lost. This way of salvation is such as renders inexcusable those who neglect it. The cities of refuge were so distributed that no manslayer had far to run before reaching one. There were three on each side of Jordan; of the three, in each case, one lay near the north border, one near the south border, and one in the middle. Every city was the natural center of its province and accessible from every side. They were so situated that no fugitive required to cross either a river or a mountain chain before reaching his refuge. How strikingly is all this realized in Christ our refuge!B.
Num 35:30-34
WHY THE MURDERER MUST BE PUT TO DEATH
This passage brings up a subject not often discussed in the pulpit. Yet it surely is a subject which comes home to the business of us all. In a country like ours the administration of justice, the execution of vengeance on evil-doers, is a duty in which every one has to bear a part. We may not all be officers of justice, but we must all act as informers, or witnesses, or jurymen. It is of high importance, therefore, that every member of the community should be well instructed regarding the principles which lie at the foundation of the criminal law, and, in particular, should know why and on what authority the community lays hold upon evil-doers and inflicts on them the punishment of their crimes.
I. Observe THE OCCASION of the statute here delivered. It is an appendix to the law regarding the cities of refuge. That law was designed to shield the involuntary homicide from the avenger of blood. The intention was good; but good intentions do not always prevent dangerous mistakes. It often happens that good men in labouring to cast out one evil open the door to a greater evil. A follower of John Howard may so press the duty of humanity towards prisoners as to deprive the prison of its deterrent power. So in Israel there was a danger that the care taken to restrain the avenger of blood from touching the involuntary manslayer might have the effect of deadening the public sense of the enormity of murder, and weakening men’s resentment against the murderer. The design of the statute before us is to prevent so mischievous a result.
II. What then are THE PROVISIONS OF THE STATUTE?
1. The ancient law which condemned the murderer to death is solemnly reaffirmed (verse 30; compare with verses 16-21 and Gen 9:6). To be sure, the extreme penalty ought not to be executed without extreme circumspection. The unsupported testimony of one witness is not to be held sufficient to sustain a charge of murder. Nevertheless, if there is sufficient evidence, the sword must strike, the murderer must not be suffered to go free.
2. The death penalty may not be commuted into a fine (verse 31). In regard to this point the Mosaic law dithers from many, perhaps from most other primitive codes; for they suffered the murderer to compound with the kinsmen of his victim by paying a fine in cattle or in money. The law of Moses suffered no such composition. The murderer must be put to death. Even the restraint to which the law subjected the involuntary manslayer was not suffered to be relaxed by a money payment. In all cases affecting the sanctity of life pecuniary compositions are utterly forbidden.
III. THE REASON OF THIS STATUTE is carefully explained (verses 33, 34). The reason lies in these three principles:
1. “Blood defileth the land” (cf. Psa 106:38). That sin defiles the sinner, that murder especially defiles the conscience of the murdererthese are facts patent to all. It is not so often observed that crime perpetrated in a city defiles the whole city. The whole community has a share in the guilt. Hence the remarkable law laid down in Deu 21:1-9 for the expiation of an uncertain murder.
2. The proper expiation of murder is by the death of the murderer. “The land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it.” Justice is satisfied, the honour of the law vindicated, when the murderer is put to death, and not otherwise. To accept a pecuniary satisfaction for blood is simply to pollute the land.
3. In this whole matter the paramount consideration ought to be the honour of God. Murder is criminal beyond all other offences, because it is the defacement of the image of God in man. Murder must not go unavenged, because it defiles the laud before God. Let these principles be carefully weighed. They set in a clear light the true and adequate reason for inflicting punishment on evil-doers. The true reason is neither the reformation of the criminal (for the sword must strike although there should be no hope of reformation) nor the protection of society. These are important objects, and not to be overlooked; but the proper reason of punishment is the vindication of righteousness, the executing of vengeance on the man who doeth evil (Rom 13:4).
IV. In conclusion, DOES NOT ALL THIS SHED WELCOME‘ LIGHT ON THE ATONEMENT OF OUR BLESSED LORD? The death of Christ for our sins accomplished many great and precious purposes. It was an affecting proof of his sympathy with us. it was a revelation of the Father’s love. But these purposes do not contain the proper and adequate reason of our Lord’s sufferings. He died for our sins. It was necessary that our sins should be cleansed, that expiation or atonement should be made for them. They might have been expiated in our blood. But, blessed be God, his mercy has found out another way. By a blessed exchange Christ has become sin for us; he has borne our sins and made atonement for them. This was the end of his sufferingsto satisfy the justice of the Father for our sins, so that his righteousness might not be dishonoured although we should go free.B.
HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT
Num 35:9-34
THE CITIES OF REFUGE
The laws in regard to the cities of refuge and manslaughter suggest truths on the following subjects. We see in them
I. A TOLERATION OF WHAT GOD NEITHER HAS APPOINTED NOR APPROVES. The old custom of blood-avenging by the goel, though open to grave abuses, was not altogether proscribed. The laws given by God to Moses were not always absolutely the best, though, relatively to the state of the people, the best they could endure. Other illustrations are found in the laws relating to divorce, polygamy, and slavery. These examples of a wise conservatism suggest lessons for parents, who have to “overlook” (Act 17:30) the times of ignorance of their children, and for missionaries, who may have for a time to tolerate inevitable evils in converts whose consciences are not yet trained. As God dealt with the Jews during their childhood as a nation, so does he in mercy deal with his sinful children during their education in this life (Psa 19:12; Psa 130:3, Psa 130:4).
II. AN EDUCATION BY MEANS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE PAST. God tolerated the old custom, but not in its entirety. He modified it, and thus carried on the education of the nation. On the one hand, the cities of refuge were not like the asyla of the Greeks and Romans, for willful murderers were led forth from them to justice (verse 30). On the other band, the homicide by accident was safe under certain conditions (verse 12, 25-28). So too now God discriminates between willful sins (Heb 10:26-31, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39) and sins of ignorance and imprudence, which may bring after them serious disabilities, but do not doom to destruction.
III. A PREFIGURATION OF SPIRITUAL TRUTH IN THE FUTURE. The cities of refuge, if not strictly a type, are an illustration of Christ, the sinner’s refuge. The rules prescribed by Jews in regard to the road being kept in good condition, finger-posts being provided, &c; suggest various applications.
1. The cities of refuge were near every portion of the land, and Christ is within reach of every one of us.
2. The way was to be made plain; and the word of the truth of the gospel is plain, so that “he that readeth it may run” straight to the refuge.
3. Every manslayer, native or foreign, received the shelter of the refuge; and sinners of every degree of guilt and every nation have no safety except in Christ.
4. Within the city, and “in Christ,” there is no condemnation.
5. To quit the refuge, and to “go away” from Christ, is to meet destruction.
6. A murderer had but the appearance of safety within the city, and the willful sinner can find no shelter from the wrath of God even when professing to believe in Christ.P.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Num 35:1-8
GOD PROVIDES PLACES FOR THE LEVITES TO DWELL IN
God had laid upon the tribe of Levi many and onerous services, such as gave full occupation for their time (Num 1:1-54, Num 3:1-51, Num 4:1-49, Num 8:1-26, Num 28:1-31, Num 29:1-40); he had also made abundant provision for their support in the matter of food (Num 18:1-32.); it remained that he should give a clear indication of where they were to find a place of abode in Canaan. If their particular place of settlement was important to the other tribes, it was surely of peculiar importance to the tribe which in a representative aspect stood nearer to God than any of the rest. Levi, with all its solemn responsibilities, would assuredly not have been tolerated in such an assertion of self-will as came from Reuben and Gad. As we examine the mode of settlement indicated in this passage, we perceive how God points out the golden mean between too much concentration and too much diffusion.
I. THE LEVITES WERE SO SETTLED AS TO AVOID THE GREAT EVILS CONSEQUENT ON UNDUE CONCENTRATION. They might have had the tabernacle fixed up in a certain tribal allotment of their own, and then what would have happened? Those living at a distance from the territory of Levi would have been debarred from many privileges belonging to those in immediate proximity. God is no respecter of persons. He did all that was possible to put every tribe in Israel in a position of religious equality. The proportion of land and the proportion of Levitical service was to be according to the needs of each tribe.
1. Thus, by a judicious diffusion, the unity of the nation was promoted. Different circumstances require different means for the same end. While the Israelites were encamped in the wilderness, the tribe of Levi was all together, in the midst of the camp, and immediately around the tabernacle. But when the Israelites became distributed in Canaan, the Levites were distributed also, thus acting still as a principle of unity, although in a different way. And this distribution had been made all the more necessary since two tribes and a half had chosen to dwell on the east of Jordan. That the Israelites themselves were not supremely conscious of the need of unity had been shown only too clearly by the conduct of Reuben and Gad. Much more was wanted than to lie side by side within the same borders. A mere geographical unity was a mockery, a delusion, and a snare.
2. This judicious diffusion also helped in promoting the knowledge of all that needed to be known in Israel. The Levites were privileged to becomeand the privilege was a very high onethe guides, instructors, counselors, and monitors of the people. That which God had made known to Moses needed to be brought down very patiently and carefully to individual, private, daily life. The Levites had ample opportunities to explain the commandments of God and the significance of the types, the rites and ceremonies, and the great historic commemorations. And as the history of Israel grew, there grew with it opportunities to stimulate and warn by pointing out the mingled glory and shame of the nation’s career, and the lessons to be learnt front considering the men who had been conspicuous in that career (2Ch 35:3). But these opportunities of instruction only came because God had sufficiently distributed the instructors throughout the land. If a house is to be fully lighted up there must be a light in every room. Those who are already instructed must be where they can firmly lay hold of the ignorant, for the ignorant in the things of God need not only to be instructed, but first of all thoroughly wakened out of sleep.
3. This diffusion also indicated the service which all Israel was to render to the world. What Levi was to Israel, that Israel was to become to all mankind. Levi was diffused through the whole nation, and only kept its individuality as a tribe in proportion as it kept its fidelity to God. Other tribes were distinguished by their territory; Levi by being specially engaged in the holy service of the tabernacle and the temple. Thus what a benefit has been producedmore real perhaps than exactly appreciatedby the dispersion of Israel among all nations to bear their own peculiar, solemn, and pathetic testimony to Israel’s God, and to the historic verity of the Old Testament! Thus also does God make his own gracious and comprehensive arrangements to diffuse believers in his Son throughout the world, according to the spiritual needs of the world. In one sense they are rigorously separated from the world, even as Israel was by the hard and fast lines of the national borders; in another sense they are meant to be so diffused that wherever there is a dark place, there the light of the truth as it is in Jesus may brightly shine. The gospel is debtor to all nations and all ranks, to both sexes and to all ages. We find the true Israelite in every society where a man has any right to be at all among the highest and the lowest; in Parliaments, in courts of justice, in commerce, in literature, in science, and in art.
II. CARE WAS ALSO TAKEN IN THE SETTLEMENT OF THE LEVITES THAT THE NECESSARY DIFFUSION SHOULD NOT BE PUSHED TOO FAR. They were to be distributed through all Israel, but not according to the free choice of the individual Levite. Forty-eight cities, with sufficient accompanying land, were set apart for them. Thus, by fixing a limit of diffusion, God conferred a benefit both on them and on the whole people. Those who are engaged in a special work of such incalculable importance as the work of the Levites was, need to be where they can frequently counsel, comfort, and encourage one another. It was not good for the Levites to be alone. To be isolated was in itself a sore temptation. And though the work of God is only truly done where there is individual consecration, energy, and initiative, yet he is not a wise Christian who sets lightly by the advantage he gains from frequent recourse to those like-minded with himself. A certain measure of coherence among the Levites was needed for a healthy and profitable state of the official life. You shall have a fire blazing brightly in the grate, and if you leave it so it will go on for a long time giving out its flame, heat, and light. But take the pieces of coal and range them separately on the hearth, and very quickly the glowing fragments will become a dull red and soon die out altogether. The limits which God fixes are wise and loving limits; he ever keeps us from all the dangers of extremes. The Levites were neither to be too much separated from the people nor too much mingled with them.Y.
Num 35:9-34
THE CITIES OF REFUGE
We in our modern English life have an experience of the stability of social order, of general submission to a national law, and of confidence in the strict administration of justice, which causes this provision for the cities of refuge to come on us in a very unexpected way. We are not unprepared to read the other announcements which come at the close of this Booki.e; the strict injunction to expel the Canaanites, the allotment of the inheritance, and the Divine marking out of the boundaries of the land; but this appointment of the cities of refuge is like a great light suddenly lighted up to reveal to us the peculiar social state of Israel.
I. We are brought face to face with A TIME WHEN THERE WAS NO GENERAL AND SECURE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. God had to make provision here for a strong feeling which had evidently grown up through many centuries. This provision pointed back to those unsocial days when the only effectual avengers of murder were the kinsmen of the slain person. The punishment of the murderer had come to be regarded as a family duty, because no one else would concern himself with it. And in the course of time what had begun in necessity ended in a conventional sense of honour, and of the obligations of kinship, which there was no way of escaping. Private revenge, whatever its abuses, whatever the dark instigations to it in the heart of the avenger, was in a certain sense imperatively necessary when there was no efficient public tribunal of justice. Thus we see how much of the barbaric element still remained in Israel. It is a matter of common agreement among us that a man must not take the law into his own hands, but in ancient Israel every man seems to have done it without the slightest hesitation.
II. We have here another illustration of THE ALLOWANCE THAT WAS MADE FOR HARDNESS OF HEART ON THE PART OF ISRAEL. When the Pharisees came to our Lord, tempting him with a question concerning divorce, he replied, “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives” (Mat 19:8). So here we may say that Moses, because of the hardness of heart in Israel, provided these cities of refuge. It was no manner of use to tell the goel, the blood avenger, not to pursue the manslayer. If he had neglected to do so he would have rested under heavy reproach all the days of his life. Moses knew well how deeply fixed was this institution of blood revenge. Had he not himself, in his patriotic zeal, taken the law into his own hand some eighty years before, and slain the Egyptian? God might indeed have forbidden this blood revenge altogether, but the command would have been a dead letter. He did a more efficacious thing in providing these cities of refuge. The existence of them was incompatible with the continuance in undiminished vigour of the practice of blood revenge. By appointing them God recognized the necessity out of which the practice had arisen. He allowed all that might be good and conscientious in the motive of the avenger. If the person pursued were really guilty of willful murder, he could not escape; the city of refuge was no refuge for him. The line between murder and accidental homicide was very plainly drawn. Under such a system as God had established in Israel he could not but protect the unfortunate man who was fleeing from a passionate, unreasoning pursuer, and secure for him a fair inquiry. Everything was done to secure the best interests of all. God could not but honour his own solemn and exalted command, “Thou shalt not kill.”
III. An illustration also of THE UNDESERVED CALAMITIES WHICH MAY COME UPON A MAN IN A WORLD WHERE SIN REIGNS EVEN UNTO DEATH, One man slaying another unwittingly deserves our deepest pity and sympathy. We have heard of those to whom such a misfortune had come having to walk softly all the days of their life because of the unintended act. They could not get it out of their minds. Yet here, in addition to possible grief of heart, there was a serious, a long, perhaps a life-long, disadvantage. The homicide, however really innocent he might be, had to flee for his life and stay in the city of refuge till the death of the high priest. Thus we have another proof of the manifold power which death has to disturb the world. These inconveniences to the manslayer could not all at once be removed. We live in a world where we not only may in a spirit of love bear one another’s burdens, but some of them we must bear as a matter of necessity. The unwitting homicide had to bear the consequences of his fellow-man being mortal. Yet at the same time we are made to see how God was surely advancing to break the power of death. The lot of the manslayer was greatly mended by the institution of these cities of refuge. We may well believe that in the course of time their character became so recognized that this particular obligation of the goel would fall into disuse; the nation would come to accept the security, the superiority, and the rightness of public justice.
IV. Consider the points in connection with the institution of cities of refuge which show THE RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE WHICH GOD WAS SEEKING TO TEACH THE PEOPLE. The path of Israel from Egypt to Canaan had indeed been marked by much of violent death. The overwhelming of Pharaoh’s army, all the sudden visitations of Divine wrath upon Israel, the slaying in battle of the Amalekites, Amorites, and Midianitesthese had made God to seem as if he were continually girt with the horrid instruments of the executioner. But for all these acts, dreadful as they were, there was a reasona Divine, and therefore sufficient, reason. Whatever was done Was done judicially. If the circumstances and times of the Israelites are taken into account, sufficient cause will appear for the frequency with which God had recourse to violent death in the carrying out of his punitive purposes. Then, with respect to murder, it was the feeling of the time that a murderer must not be suffered to live. Putting the murderer to death was the only effectual way in those semi-savage times of teaching respect for life. Respect for life was taught to the avenger by putting the city of refuge between him and the unwitting homicide. Respect for life was taught also by the inconvenience, to say the least of it, to which the homicide was put. It was taught by the requiring of more than one witness to establish a capital charge. And we also need more respect for human life than we often, show. We should not take it so recklessly and exultingly in war; we should not take it under an insufficient plea of necessity on the gallows. There is a lamentable way of speaking of the brutal and hardened members of society, the class from which murderers so often come, as if they were little better than vermin. Many seem to think that it is a matter of no great consequence whether a man be hanged or not. True, he has to die at last; but surely there is a great difference between death when it comes in spite of the attempts of physician and attendants to ward it off, and when it comes by our deliberate infliction of it. We have all sorts of institutions and instruments to defend life by land and by sea; we have one hideous instrument, the gallows, to take it away. And as we see God advancing men, by the appointment of these cities of refuge, from the “wild justice” of private revenge to a calm reliance on public justice, so we may hope that the spirit of love and the spirit of Christ will more and more prevail amongst us, till at last the gallows will be banished, if not into utter oblivion, at all events into antiquarian obscurity.
V. CONSIDER HOW THESE CITIES OF REFUGE WERE TO BE LEVITICAL CITIES, It was fitting that the Levites should have charge of these cities, since the Levites belonged to no tribe in particular, but to the whole nation. They were removed from the temptation which would otherwise have come, if the city of refuge had belonged to the same tribe as the blood avenger. Unless the city of refuge was made really efficacious, it was no city of refuge at all. Giving Levi the charge of these cities also prevented jealousies between tribes. It conferred too on the homicide certain privileges he might not otherwise have had; he gained opportunities of Levitical instruction. God can make his own abiding compensations to those who fall into calamity by no fault of their own. None can really hurt us but ourselves in that which is inward, permanent, and of real importance.
VI. CONSIDER HOW THE DEATH OF THE HIGH PRIEST AFFECTED THE POSITION OF THE UNWITTING MANSLAYER. He was then free from any further disability and need of confinement. The death of the high priest had a great expiatory effect. According to the value of the types, he was holier than all the unblemished beasts, and his death counted for very much indeed in its cleansing efficacy. Thus we see, by this reference to the death of the high priest, how God regarded his own honour as a holy God. Blood defiled the land, even when spilt unwittingly, and nothing less than the death of the high priest could cleanse away the stain. Nothing less could do it, but this did it quite sufficiently.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Num 33:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israelwith their armies As the journey of the Israelites, from their departure out of Egypt to their arrival in Canaan, was a continued succession of miracles, in which the interposition of Providence was most wonderfully displayed, God thought it proper that Moses should transmit to posterity a journal of their extraordinary travels: in executing which commission, he here recapitulates the principal stages of this long journey, and sets them all before the reader in one view, that those who will take the pains to examine things may be satisfied by what a train of miracles such a multitude of people were fed, supported, and defended for forty years, amidst a barren and inhospitable desart. Jer 2:6. Deu 29:6. There is no event more memorable, and we may safely say, that, after the history of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is nothing which gives us higher ideas of the Divine Providence, and of its care and dominion over second causes, than this. Dr. Beaumont observes, that “these journeys or removings figured the unstayed state of the church under Moses law otherwise than under the gospel of Christ, where we which have believed do enter into rest; Heb 4:3 by which our immoveable state is prophesied, Isa 33:20 and the accomplishment thereof is shewed by the apostle. Heb 12:27-28. Compare with these forty-two stations the forty-two generations from Abraham to Jesus, by whom we have entrance into the kingdom of God; as Joshua carried the people over Jordan into Canaan after these forty-two removings.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
TENTH SECTION
The Review of the Encampments
Num 33:1-49
1These are the Journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt 1with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. 4For the Egyptians 2buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. 5And the children of Israel 3removed from Rameses, and 4pitched in Succoth. 6And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham which is in the edge of the wilderness. 7And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol. 8And they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days journey in the wilderness of Etham, and 9pitched in Marah. And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. 10And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. 11And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. 12And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. 13And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. 14And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. 15And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. 16And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at 5Kibroth-hattaavah. 17And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. 18, 19And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmon-parez. 20And they departed from Rimmon-parez, and pitched in Libnah. 21And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah. 22And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah. 23, 24And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher. And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah. 25And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth. 26And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath. 27And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah. 28And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah. 29And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah. 30And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth. 31And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan. 32And they removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad. 33And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. 34And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. 35And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Ezion-gaber. 36And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. 37And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of 39Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. And Aaron was a hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. 40And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. 41And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. 42And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. 43And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. 44And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in 6Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab. 45And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad. 46And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim. 47And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. 48And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. 49And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto 7Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.
[Where the A. V. uses departed, removed, took their journey, went interchangeably, the Hebrew text has but one word. This uniformity ought to be reproduced in the translation by invariably reading departed. The same is true respecting the word in the Hebrew text variously rendered encamped and pitched in the A. V. It should invariably be rendered encamped.Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
We found ourselves obliged under chap. 21 to discuss the whole subject of the successive encampments, and must here refer the reader to that place. [See also, with relation to geographical matters and the time required for the journey from Sinai to Kadesh, pp. 73, 74, 78, 79, 80, 102.Tr. ]
Num 33:1-2. This introduction forms the superscription of the list of the removals and decampments of the children of Israel according to their hosts under the guidance of Moses. Moses, now in the plains of Moab, was to prepare this list at the command of Jehovah, undoubtedly that it might be a monument of the great guidance of Jehovah and of His covenant faithfulness, which had now brought the people to the border of Canaan. It is a retrospect of the journey through the wilderness, in which richest memories must attach to many stations, inspiring humiliation and praise.
Num 33:3-15. From Rameses to Sinai.The notice is new which states that the Egyptians were actually employed in burying their firstborn when the Israelites departeda circumstance that must have contributed to facilitate their departure. Therewith was connected, that Jehovah executed judgment, not only on the children of the Egyptians, but also on their idols, i.e., therefore, on the false religious confidence in their gods. From Rameses, see on Exo 12:37; Exo 14:8. From Succoth to Etham, see Exo 13:20. Pi-hahiroth, see Exo 14:2. Marah, see Exo 15:23. Elim, see Exo 15:27. Desert of Sin, see Exo 16:1. Dophkah and Alush are passed over in Exodus. Rephidim, see Exo 17:1. Sinai, see Exo 19:1.
Num 33:16-31. From Sinai to Kadesh (Bene-Jaakan, see under chap. 21).
Graves of LustHazerothRithmahRim-mon-parezLibnahRissahKehelathahmount ShapherHaradahMakhelothTahathTarahMithcahHashmonahMoserothBene-Jaakan. As in this list Kadesh is comprehended under the name Bene-Jaakan, so, according to Num 33:36, Ezion-Gaber must be sought under one of the foregoing names. As the Israelites, no doubt, first came to the mountains at Ezion-Gaber, one may conjecture that mount Shapher (the beautiful mountain) is that name; and that Tahath [a depression] indicates some low ground of the Arabah.
Num 33:32-35; Num 33:41-43. From Kadesh to Ezion-Gaber (Oboth). Hor-hagidgadJotbathahEbronahEzion-Gaber. Or, what is the same thing, Hor-ZalmonahPunonOboth. [See Dr. Langes mode of establishing this result under chap. 21; also Translators note below.Tr.].
Num 33:36-40. A parenthesis relating to the death of Aaron and to king Arad. We read in the pluperfect: they had departed from Ezion-Gaber, and had encamped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh. And (now) they departed (again) from Kadesh and encamped at Hor, the mountain on the border of the land of Edom. Hereupon the death of Aaron is related, just as after the statement of Num 20:22-29. That we have here a parenthesis appears from the quite fragmentary notice about king Arad, Num 33:40. See Deu 10:6; from Bene-Jaakan they came to Mosera, where Aaron died. Num 20:23; from Kadesh they came to mount Hor, where Aaron died. Here in the list: from Bene-Jaakan to Hor-hagidgad; or also from Kadesh to mount Hor [see Translators note belowTr.].
Num 33:44-49. From Oboth to the plains of Moab.limDibon-gadAlmon-diblathaimmountains of Abarimplains of Moab (Beth-je-simoth to Abel-shittim). According to Keil and the usual supposition, the encampment in the wilderness of Zin, i. e., Kadesh (Num 33:36) is to be understood of the second arrival at Kadesh. See on the contrary at Num 20:21. Two arrivals at Kadesh are only to be thought of with respect to the army that went out from Kadesh and attacked the Canaanites, and then, when repulsed to Hormah, settled again at Kadesh. On the various hypotheses regarding the encampments comp. Keil on chap. 33, especially the notes, p. 378 [p. 247 sqq. Clarks translationTr.] and Knobel, p. 33.
[It seems expedient to add here such considerations as will adjust the view of the Translator given under chap. 14. (p. 7880 above) with relation to the explanations of the list of encampments given by Dr. Lange under chap. 21.
The reasons adduced by Dr. Lange do not compel the conclusion that Bene-jaakan must be identical with Kadesh. The obvious intent of chap. 33 is to give a consecutive list of encampments; and this forms so strong a presumption against Dr. Langes interpretation that nothing short of a compelling reason can justify it. Verses 1, 2 show, that in this chapter we have a distinct document, or a monument, as Dr. Lange justly entitles it. It must then be complete and self-interpreting. A pluperfect rendering, such as Dr. Lange proposes at Num 33:36, must be justified in the document itself. Such a monument is not to be read as those familiar with the events might be supposed to read it, or even with the aid of statements drawn from other contemporary records. Being intended for posterity, it must have been composed so as to occasion no confusion in the reading. It is, therefore, unreasonable to suppose that in six or more instances the same movement and spots are signified by totally different names; that the same course is twice described, as Dr. Lange supposes, in Num 33:32-35; Num 33:41-43, and that the same verbal form, properly translated by the aorist, is suddenly, without notice in the narrative itself, to be taken in a pluperfect sense.
The reasoning of Dr. Lange under 21. shows that Moseroth must be locally much the same as Hor. Deu 9:6 makes this probable. But a formal table or log like our chapter 33 must not be modified by less formal notices of other narratives, even of our own book of Numbers, much less by such sporadic notices as those that appear in Deuteronomy. Granting the locally approximate identity of Moseroth, Hor and Hor-hagidgad, then the movement from Moseroth to Bene-jaakan and the return from Bene-jaakan to Hor-hagidgad, Num 33:31-32, only means a change of locality within narrow limits. This would only be consistent with the name wandering, always given in Scripture to this emigration, and especially to this period of it, and particularly with the language of Deu 1:19. Thus, as stated p. 80, the presence of the Israelites in that region amounted to a virtual occupancy of the land. The different names of the narrative mark distinct places, though some of them may have been very near each other. When such was the case, they might be used interchangeably in such a narrative as Deuteronomy without involving any confusion for those to whom Deuteronomy was addressed, since they were familiar with the scenes.
Thus from Moseroth to Bene-jaakan may have been in the direction from Hor to Kadesh; and, consequently, from Bene-Jaakan to Moseroth would be part of the route from Kadesh to Hor. But we need not conclude from that, that Bene-Jaakan must be identical with Kadesh, or even near Kadesh. It might have been near Mt. Hor. In the statement of Deu 10:6, which is without geographical connection in the preceding context, Moses may have named Bene-jaakan and Moseroth as well-known land-marks, by which to describe the course of the movement, and by which to define the date of the incident there referred to. If it be conjectured, with Dr. Lange and others, that Hor and Hor-hagidgad and Gudgodah are the same locality, of which also Moseroth is another name, then Deu 10:6-7, itself distinguishes between Moseroth and Gudgodah or Hor, as well as does Num 33:30-33. They are therefore the same with a difference. What the difference was may elude detection. We may conjecture that Bene-jaakan, Moseroth, Hor-hagidgad, Jotbathah lay in the order named on the route the Israelites followed from Kadesh to the southern extremity of Mt. Seir. If nothing else, at least their having been once encampments would make them familiar landmarks to the Israelites. That they had been encampments, proves that they afforded convenience for a halt. On the final march they may have been taken again as halting places for a night or longer, though not for a regular encampment according to the regulations of chap. 2. In other places, then, beside the present chapter, when the mention of places is only for the purpose of localizing an event in time or place, or for the purpose of stating the course of the march (not the encampment), the narrative might mention names that, for some reason not known to us, served popularly to mark the event. Thus Bene-jaakan may have been a halting-place (not encampment) just before proceeding to Mount Hor, where Aaron died; and Moserah (Deu 10:6 a singular; in Num 33:30 we have Moseroth, the plural of the same word, which may or may not indicate a distinction) may have become a more popular name by which to refer to the time and place where Aaron died. In Deu 2:8 see a similar variation in names, viz. Elath and Ezion-gaber, instead of those in Num 33:42-44. In this case, Elath and Ezion-gaber need not be regarded as encampments, though they might have been stopping-places, and we can easily see that they would better serve as descriptive land-marks than the encampments in that region, which only while encampments may have received a local habitation and a name The same may be said of the (supposed, discrepant) names mentioned in Num 21:12 sqq. A short halt without encampment would suffice for the incident related, Num 21:16-18. It is not to be supposed that the encampments mentioned in this chapter name all the halts that the host made. It was impossible, e. g., to make the move from Kadesh to Hor without two or more halts. This distinction between halts, and encampments made according to the regulations of chap. 2, was proposed by Kurtz (Hist, of the Old Gov., iii., p. 384 sq., Clarks translation), and is applied by Keil, p. 246 (Clarks translation). It is ignored by Dr. Lange, whose method implies that he rejects it. Kurtz says: The list in Numbers 33 is purely statistical. The purpose of the author was to give a full and particular account of the actual stationsthat is, the places of encampment in which the Israelites prepared for a lengthened staynot merely forming a regular encampment, but also erecting the Sanctuary. The writer in Numbers 10-22, does not pretend to give anything like a complete account of the various places of encampment, and therefore many names are wanting in the latter which are found in the former. His purpose is purely historical, and not in any sense statistical. And this is to our mind an explanation of the fact that he mentions more places of encampment [halting places] between Ije-Aba-rim and Arboth Moab than we find in Numbers 33; places, that is, in which there was not a complete camp formed, including the erection of the Sanctuary.
Thus the position already maintained against Dr. Lange seems amply justified, viz., that the narrative of chap. 33 is to be taken in its simple and prima facie sense, i. e., as an accurate list of all the regular encampments of the Israelites, in which the names are given consecutively and in their order, and without repetition or confusion. The conjectural explanation just given, of the apparent discrepancy between the mention of names in 33 and elsewhere, is not to be pressed as the actual solution of the problem. It is only offered in order to show, that it is as easy to adhere to the obvious sense of the narrative as to take some other course. But the explanation has the additional advantage, that it relieves us of all necessity of dealing with the different mention of names as discrepancies. The parallelism of names, treated by Dr. Lange under chap. 21 and above in this chapter, remains an interesting subject of investigation. But it is seen that it does not involve the question of reconciling discrepancies.
The process by which Dr. Lange would identify Jotbathah and Zalmonah, and Abronah and Punon (see under Num 21:10-20), is used with equal success by others (e.g., Keil and Bib. Com.) to establish the identity of Rithmah, Num 33:18, and Kadesh, Num 13:26. We may suppose from this that the method is of doubtful value.
Until the places are identified on the map, and the mention of names is shown to be irreconcilable, there is no question of discrepancy to discuss. Whoever desires to see in briefest form the latest results in the efforts to locate the names of the present list from Hazeroth to the plains of Moab can consult the (Speakers) Bib. Com. in loc., Smiths Bib. Dict., Wilderness of the Wanderings. As said above under chap. 14, only two places are identified beyond doubt, viz., Ezion-gaber and Mt. Hor (though the latter is debated by Dr. Lange; see under 21.). About several others there is reasonable certainty, (e. g., Ije-abarim, see Dr. Lange under Num 21:10-20, and Dibon-gad, Dhiban, the ancient Aroer, about three miles north of the Arnon, Smiths Bib. Dict., s. v., where the Moabite stone was discovered in 1868. Palmer, Desert of the Exod. chap. 24; H. B. Tristram, The Land of Moab, chaps. 5, 6. But until more definite results are reached, it does not seem expedient, in a commentary like the present, to review the representations of Dr. Lange under chap. 21, though many efforts at exploration have been made since he wrote them, and there is reason for modifying some of them.Tr.].
Footnotes:
[1]according to.
[2]were burying.
[3]departed.
[4]encamped.
[5]That is, the graves of lust.
[6]Or, heaps of Abarim.
[7]Or, the plains of Shittim.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter contains the account of the journeying of Israel from Egypt to Canaan; and once more the LORD’S command is repeated, that the people be sure to drive out the Canaanites from the land.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
As Moses wrote the goings of Israel, by the express appointment of the LORD, we may venture to pronounce this Chapter to be a very interesting Chapter. And as no event in history, in the annals of any one nation, is or can ever be so truly worthy notice, from the constant succession of miracles, which accompanied the LORD’S Israel through every stage of their eventful journey: it certainly merits the Reader’s attention the more. And was it not, on this account that the HOLY GHOST was pleased to give it in charge to Moses particularly, to mark down the several stages of the way, that the people in perusing over the same, might call to mind the wonderful mercies of the LORD, who had fed, and sustained, and led, so great an army forty years together, through an inhospitable, barren wilderness. But, my soul, while looking at Israel’s journey, call to mind thine own. How hath a gracious GOD led thee through the several spiritual as well as temporal stages of thy pilgrimage! And how hath JESUS, and his HOLY SPIRIT, marked thy way all the stages through. Surely with little less than a series of miracles from beginning to end. Reader! compare these things with your own experience, and then say whether mercy and goodness hath not been following of you all the days of your life. Psa 23:6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Journeys of Israel
Num 33:1-49
This chapter gives a very graphic and instructive picture of a much larger scheme of journeying. The local names may mean nothing to us now, but the words “departed,” “removed,” “encamped,” have meanings that abide for ever. We are doing in our way, and according to the measure of our opportunity, exactly what Israel did in this chapter of hard names and places mostly now forgotten. Observe, this is a written account: “And Moses wrote their goings out.” The life is all written. It is not a sentiment spoken without consideration and forgotten without regret: it is a record a detailed and critical writing, condescending to geography, locality, daily movement, position in society and in the world. It is, therefore, to be regarded as a story that has been proved, and that will bear to be written and rewritten. Who would write again a mere dream? Who would spend ink upon so vapoury a thing as a nightmare? If Israel had passed through the Red Sea in some distorted dream, would Moses have cared to make actual history of it at least, in form and expression, for there is no hint in all the story that the man is parabolising or drawing upon a vivid and masterful imagination? The whole experience has been long past, and here it is recalled and set down with a firm hand, without hesitancy or staggering. Here it stands like stern history, plain fact, something that did actually and positively occur. Men may write about miracles so frequently as to divest them of the element which first touched surprise and awakened suspicion through the medium of the imagination. We may read of miracles until we lose their pomp and their meaning. But life is a miracle: every day is a sign from heaven. We have outgrown the infantile mind which could only see miracles in form and hear them in noise and be amazed at them in tumult and earthquake and varied violence, and now we see the meant-miracle, the ever-intended wonder, of life coming out of death, light springing upon darkness and chasing it away with victorious power, as if one bright beam could slay a million nights. So now, in the absence of startling phenomenon and tumult and vision apocalyptic, we see in quietness itself a miracle, in light a token, in summer the wonderworking power of the loving God. Life is twice written. We have amongst us what are termed, by some stretch of imagination occasionally encroaching upon the impossible, “biographers.” It is a complimentary term. Biography is, in the deepest and truest sense, impossible. A man cannot write his own life: he can but hint at it, and the only surprise he can feel, when he has finished the page, is amazement at its emptiness. Yet it is good for a man to put down the facts of his life. His birthplace should be dear to him, as also the place where he fought his early battles, and won his first victories, and opened his first gates, and saw his first chances, and struggled in the agony of his first prayers, and seized with the hand of faith the first blessings of heaven meant for his soul’s nurture and strengthening; and it is good to continue the page, fill it up, turn it over, and to go on to the new page, and charge the whole book with memories intended to express amazement and thankfulness. The one perfect Biographer is God. Every life is written in the book that is kept in the secret places of the heavens. All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Nothing is omitted. The writing is plain so plain that the blind man may read the story which God has written for his perusal. Who would like to see the book? Who could not write a book about his brother that would please that brother? Without being false, it might yet be highly eulogistic and comforting. But who would like to see his life as sketched by the hand of God? “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
What a monotony there is in this thirty-third chapter. This will be evident to the eye. The reader sees but two words or three, and all the rest are difficult terms or polysyllables unrelated to his life. The terms are “departed,” “removed,” “went.” It is almost pathetic to see how the writer tries to vary his expressions and cannot. Verse after verse he uses the word “departed;” then verse after verse he uses the word “removed;” here and there he said “they went,” but back again he comes to “departed,” and then to “removed,” and back to “went.” “They removed… and pitched,” that is the little story. Is it not so with us too? How dull the days are. How full of tedious similitude is the succession of events. We want variety; we cry for amusement; we sigh for change; we propose rearrangements and re-combinations that we may at least please the eye with what seems to be a varying picture. Very few words are needed for the record of most lives; as to outward and actual event, very few words are needed at all. If you have in any language, say, five thousand words, you can really conduct the business of life upon about five hundred of them. There are great stores of words that are locked up in the prisons of lexicons: they are only wanted now and then, and they are, therefore, but occasionally liberated. The language of actual life is a narrow language which may be learned in a very brief time. So with our daily life: we rise, we sit, we retire; we eat and drink, and bless one another in the name of God; and go round the little circle, until sometimes we say, Can we not vary all that and add to it some more vivid line? Has no friend of ours the power of flushing this pale monotony into some tint of blood? Then we fall back into the old lines: we “depart” and “remove” and “pitch;” we “pitch” and “depart” and “remove;” we come and go and settle and return; until there comes almost unconsciously into the strain of our speech some expressive and mournful sigh. “Few and evil have been the days of thy servant.”
Yet, not to dwell too much upon this well-ascertained fact, we may regard the record of the journeys of Israel as showing somewhat of the variety of life. Here and there a new departure sets in, or some new circumstance brightens the history. For example, in the ninth verse we read “And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees.” Sweet entry is that! It occurs in our own secret diaries. Do we not dwell with thankfulness upon the places where we find the waters, the wells, the running streams, the beautiful trees, and the trees beautiful with luscious fruitage? It is a dull life that has nothing in it about the fountain, and the palm tree, and the beautiful day that seemed to throw its radiance upon a hundred other days and give them some glint of celestial beauty. The pleasant lines are not many, but when they do come they are the more pleasant because of their infrequency. We all remember the beautiful garden in the May-time, when the whole scene was one blossom. How we hastened home to write the story of the garden-day, when everything seemed to be in vernal glee, in high spirits, bird outvying bird in sparkles of music, note after note shot out like star after star into the willing and hospitable space; and the birthday and the wedding-day, and some holy time, quiet like an anticipated Sabbath; and the time of victory in prayer, when we received the answers in the very act of offering the supplications, times of enlargement and vital communion with God. Then comes the fourteenth verse: “And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water.” Such are the changes in life. We have passed through precisely the transitions here indicated. No water; nothing to satisfy even the best appetences of the mind and spirit; all heaven one sheet of darkness, and the night so black upon the earth that even the altar-stairs could not be found in the horrid gloom; if there was water, it had no effect upon the thirst; if there was bread, it was bitter; if there was a pillow, it was filled with pricking thorn. When we were at Elim, we said we should always be glad: the plash of the fountain and the shade of the palm tree would accompany us evermore; and yet, behold, at Rephidim there “was no water for the people to drink.” How singular is Providence! apparently, so contradictory; apparently, so wanting in consistency. Why is there not one great deep river flowing all the globe around a belt of blessing?’ Why these arid places the wildernesses without fountains, these deserts unblest with a flower? Why? In that “Why” there is no suspicion, nor is there one accent of distrust, but there certainly is an expression of wonder. It is so in all departments of life say, even, in life intellectual. Sometimes the mind has it all its own way; it can see heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God; as for language, it knows all the languages of the earth claims them, absorbs them, repeats them so as to astound every man with the music of the tongue in which he was born. At other times, that same life seems nothing, has no language, no vision, no touch of God’s presence or hint of God’s blessing. We go from Elim to Rephidim in that department of life. There is another variety of the story; the thirty-eighth verse presents it: “And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord, and died there.” Is that line wanting in our story? All men do not die on mountains. Would God we may die upon some high hill! It seems to our imagination nearer heaven to die away up on the mountain peaks than to die in the low damp valleys. Granted, that it is but an imagination. We need such helps: we are so made that symbol and hint and parable assist the soul in its sublimest realisation of things divine and of things to come. There is a black margin upon every man’s diary, here a child died, there a sweet mother said good-bye, there a strong father the man who was never tired, the tower of strength said he must go home.
This, also, presents a focalised life: all the lines are tending to one point. So it is in our own story. What is that point? the modern teacher might say. It is a grave. That is only intermediately so; that is but atheistically so. We are moving to the tomb to the one black gate that keeps us out of the city of light; and we will, in God’s strength, unlock it, break it, triumph over it and all the strength it represents, and join the blood-washed throng of holy victors on the other side. We will not finish the song with the word “tomb,” it is no poetry whose ultimate syllable is in the grave. We are moving if in Christ, washed by his blood, pardoned through his propitiation, to the land of light and summer and blissful immortality. “Every beating pulse we tell leaves the number less;” every night we “pitch our moving tent a day’s march nearer home.” Whilst we look at the various localities and their relation to one another upon the map now moving north, now south, now east, now west, we say, What is the meaning of this tumultuous movement? It is only so broken up within a small compass, measured by heaven’s meridian, the direction is in one line, at the end of which burns all the warmth and light of heaven.
And yet, there is an unwritten life. This cannot be all: there must be some reading between the lines. Life was never an affair of such grim and unfamiliar polysyllables: between the lines, there must have been loving, praying, weeping, suffering, rejoicing, wedding, dying, fierce word, and word of benediction. This is but a river-map: all the cities have to be filled in and all the city-life to be created. Still, wherein it is but an outline it is like our own story as we ought to tell it or represent it to others. No man knoweth the spirit of a man but the spirit itself that is within the man, and that spirit has revelations for which there is no language visions that cannot be syllabled and printed to the eye and apprehension of outside observers and critics.
Selected Note
A visit to Mount Hor ( Jebel Harn, “Mount of Aaron”), or at least a distant view of its wild precipices and ravines, helps to make the visit to Petra memorable. Here it was that Aaron, the priest laden with years and weary with the toil of the desert-wandering, was “gathered to his people.” Even Scripture has few more solemn and majestic pictures than this of the two aged men brothers in heart and sacred service ascending with the youthful Eleazar to this wild mountain-top. “In his full priestly dress” walked Aaron to his burial. He knew it; and so did all in that camp, who now, for the last time, reverently and silently looked upon the venerable figure of him who these forty years had ministered unto them in holy things. There were no farewells. In that typical priesthood, all depended on the unbroken continuance of the office, not of the person. And hence on the mountain-top, Aaron was first unclothed of his priestly robes, and Eleazar his son formally invested with them. Thus the priesthood had not for a moment ceased when Aaron died. Then, not as a priest, but simply as one of God’s Israel, was he “gathered unto his people.” But over that which passed between the three on the mount has the hand of God drawn the veil of silence. And so the new priest Eleazar came down from the solemn scene on Mount Hor to minister amidst a hushed and awe-stricken congregation. “And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.” The traditionary tomb of the high-priest is shown to visitors in a vault below a small chapel, which evidently occupies the place of a more imposing structure, and is built out of its ruins. The Bedawin still holds the name of Aaron in great veneration. A singular custom of theirs is to sacrifice a kid or sheep to his memory, in sight of Mount Hor, raising a heap of stones where the blood of the animal has fallen. These heaps are seen all through the neighbouring valley.
Pictures from Bible Lands, by Samuel G. Green, D.D.
Prayer
Almighty God, kindle a light in our hearts that can never go out: the light of Christian confidence, the glory of Christian hope; may we walk amidst its beauty, and enjoy its nourishment and warmth. We need the comfort of heaven: we pine for a blessing from on high; we shall know it when we receive it, for none can resemble it in all-tenderness and sufficiency and inspiration. Withhold not thy regard from us, and let thine attention be the outlook of love. We may not say this in our own name, for it is valueless in heaven. We have fallen: we have done the things we ought not to have done; we have forfeited all right of speech with the throne. But Jesus is our Daysman: he is able to lay his hands upon both of us, and to bring us together in happy communion. There is one Advocate with the Father, and he is the Son of man. He pleads our cause; he bears our name as well as thine; and he will plead for us with all the agony of blood, and with all the tenderness of love. He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for us. We are strong in confidence: we are bold at the Cross. The Cross has turned the throne of judgment into a throne of mercy, and now we come before the King, clothed with the righteousness of his Son, and there plead for such blessing as our poor life continually needs. We thank thee for the sacred Book, and that it is written in many places in our mother-tongue. We know it here and there; sometimes we are quite familiar with it: it falls upon us like a remembered song of youth, which made us glad and hopeful in the early time. Here it is a mountain we cannot climb, a cloud we cannot penetrate, a deep river we dare not touch; but oftentimes it is a hill covered with flowers, a cloud bright with chastened light, and a screen that makes glad the city of our life. Help us to read it with the heart, to answer it with the will, and to be found always commenting upon it with the eloquence of an obedient life. Pity us wherein we are weak; have mercy upon us wherein we have forfeited our lives; continue thy blessing unto us wherein we have begun to do right under the guidance of thy Spirit; and, at last, give us an abundant entrance among the heroic band who fought thy fight, O Christ, in thy strength, and won their every victory in thy name. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
IX
ISRAEL’S SIN AND PHINEHAS’ ACT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND OTHER THINGS
Numbers 25-36
The twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers on many accounts is one of the most remarkable chapters of the Old Testament. In its notable character it is equal to the chapters on Balaam. Here are the children of the Promised Land with their pilgrimage ended. They have reached the banks of the Jordan. They are encamped there just over against Jericho. Nothing to do but go over and possess the land when God tells them. Just at this time Balak, the king of Moab, brings Balaam to curse them by divinations. Having failed in that, he makes the horrible suggestion that the Moabitish and Midianitish women be used as instrumentalities to cause Israel to sin and go into idolatry. Among the women mentioned was a princess, daughter of one of the five kings of Midian. They did what they did under the prompting of their religious instruction and they succeeded.
Very many of the people were seduced from their allegiance to God and not only sinned in a bodily respect but sinned in idolatrous worship and the heads of the people did not interfere to stop it. A plague went out from God on account of it. Moses, discovering the fearful demoralization of the people, gives the commandment that all the heads of the tribes shall be hanged up, either for active participation in this matter or for not using their authority to repress this very great disloyalty to God. It is as when a regiment has rebelled through connivance of its officers. There is the responsibility of leadership in a case of this kind and in military matters any officer, no matter bow high his grade, who would stand idle and see his troops go into rebellion without an effort to stay it, would be shot by the most summary process of court martial.
So Moses commands the leaders to be killed and hung up in the sight of the people. Whoever was hanged on a tree was accursed. Having disposed of the chiefs, he ordered the judges, you remember when two sets of seventy were appointed to help Moses in administrative and judicial affairs, to put to death every man who had committed a sin in that way. But the plague did not stop, though the chiefs of the nation were hanging on a tree, all the judges punishing every man with death, all the people weeping before the tabernacle. “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe.”
Just at this time a son of one of the princes of the tribes comes openly into the camp with a princess of one of the five kings of Midian, in the sight of Moses and Eleazar; in sight of the weeping people; in full view of the dead hanging up and others dying, and brings his irreligious debauchery right into the very presence of God. Whereupon Phinehas, son of Eleazar, without command from anyone, without being especially appointed officer, in his holy wrath for God’s sake and bearing in his heart that indignation against sin that God bears, and God says of him, “Having my zeal,” takes a spear and goes into the tent and thrusts both of them through and kills them.
The most remarkable part of the transaction is in what God says. He uses language just like he uses when he said Abraham believed in Jehovah and it was counted to him for righteousness. As Abraham’s faith was counted to him for righteousness, the zeal of Phinehas so perfectly expressed God’s wrath against sin that it is reckoned unto him for eternal righteousness.
But that is not the strangest part of it, but that this display through Phinehas of the wrath of God against sin made an atonement for his sin. You strike a use of the word “atonement” there which stalls the commentators and theological seminary professors. Offhand I am going to give you my explanation of it. It is the most remarkable scripture in the Bible. Surely atonement for sin cannot be made which does not placate the wrath of God against sin.
A good many sentimentalist preachers tell you that the sole object of Christ’s work was to reconcile men to God, that God was already reconciled and did not have to be placated. This scripture is unquestionably the strongest in the Bible to show that Christ’s sacrifice was both toward God and toward men, toward God in that the sinner’s bodily and spiritual death for sin took place and otherwise there could have been no atonement. Hence Phinehas, in a very high sense, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The everlasting priesthood is promised to him. The covenant of peace is promised to him.
When we come to the study of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will see an expression in the casting out of the money-changers from the temple, where Jesus takes a scourge and scourges out of God’s house those who are defiling that house, whereupon it is stated that the scripture was fulfilled, “The zeal for thy house shall eat me up.” Such a shame against the sanctity of that house must be punished or it can never be forgiven. There must be a penal sanction to law. We see it repeated again when he comes to cleanse the temple the second time, and then when he comes to die that death of the cross, under the wrath of God, forsaken of the Father, unsaved from the sword of divine justice, unsaved from the lion, Satan, who goeth about to devour, unsaved from the bite of the serpent, that is, to placate by expiation the death penalty of sin. Now, Phinehas could in a typical way represent that.
What was the use for these people to come there and weep before the tabernacle with such an impious, presumptuous, daring sin committed right in the presence of God and nobody rebuking it? It wouldn’t do simply to hang a few of the officers. It wouldn’t do for the judges to put one or two, here and there, to death. There had to be some signal, sudden, utter display of divine wrath and that was furnished by Phinehas. If Phinehas had had a motive that was not exactly correspondent to God’s idea of wrath against sin, he would have been a murderer.
The only trouble about it is that men began to imagine long afterwards that they stood in the place of Phinehas and could kill those whom they thought to be violators of the law, and with inferior motives and without an express sanction of God, they committed sin. The case of Phinehas in that respect stands alone. Samuel, when he hacked to pieces the king, David when he said that the seven sons of Saul must be hanged on a tree to make atonement, represent somewhat the idea But it is not said with reference to them that it was imputed to them for righteousness.
In the case of Jesus, instead of striking the sinner that committed the sin, Jesus let God strike him after the sinner’s sins had been put on him. “Save me from the sword; save me from the lion. If it be possible let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” There never could have been any forgiveness of sin that was not based upon a penal sanction. The justice of God must be vindicated in some way. People will tell you that you are not punished because you have sinned but to keep other people from sinning. But sin is demerit and merits death. “The wages of sin is death.” And that death must come to the sinner himself, or it must come to the one upon whom his transgressions have been laid. See Psa 106:28-31 .
We turn now to Numbers 26-27 and include with them Num 36 . In this case you have the second numbering of the people. They are just ready to enter the Holy Land, and with the exception of the death of Moses, which came as a result of another principle, there is fulfilled the death threatened to all the grown men that came out of Egypt. This great sin committed on the banks of the Jordan was by the new generation and 24,000 of them perished in the plague. They did not number quite so many as in the first enumeration; then 603,550, now only 601,730. The only thing worthy of mention you can do for yourself. Take the numbers for each tribe as given in the two enumerations and put them down opposite each other. Some you will find have increased. The tribe of Simeon with others has fearfully decreased. You have the reason, viz.: this tribe suffered more than any other in this plague.
This enumeration is not merely for war, but the basis of the land allotment. The tribe which has the most men will get the most land. The daughters of a certain man who died want to know if their name is to perish in Israel and they are to be without inheritance. They are to have their father’s inheritance, and in Num 36 it shows how to safeguard the father’s part of the inheritance to the tribe, by permitting them to marry only in their own tribe.
In this chapter is the announcement to Moses that on account of his sin he is to die. He asks that a successor be appointed and Joshua is appointed. We come to the Numbers 28-29, which are upon one point unlike any other chapters. While they refer to a great many things in the previous books of Exodus and Leviticus, there is nothing like those two chapters anywhere else. They commence at the beginning of the year and show what offerings are to be made day by day, week by week, moon by moon, year by year, seventh year by seventh year, and Jubilee by Jubilee. These chapters constitute the basis of the poem of Keble, “The Christian Year,” as it is called by the Episcopalians, derived from the Old Testament, a matter that Paul condemns thus in the letter to the Colossians: “Ye observe months, days, weeks, seasons; touch not, taste not, handle not.” God nailed all that system to the cross of Christ.
The only thought in Num 30 that needs to be dwelt on is the bringing up of the vow question again. If a daughter makes a vow before she has attained to full age, it cannot be exacted of her, if her father does not sanction it. A wife cannot make a vow without her husband’s sanction. This chapter discusses the principle upon which the exceptions are made, and you can read it.
Num 31 is devoted to the war against Midian. God commanded Moses to make a holy war against Midian, who, acting on the suggestion of Balaam, had through their chief women brought about this great sin, when Israel had committed no provocation. This war is unlike other wars because of the number. Only 1,000 men from each tribe, or 12,000, are sent out to conduct the war. A priest, not a general, commands them. They suffer no loss. The destruction wrought is God’s destruction. God has condemned Midian for their awful sin and they are smitten. The spoils of the war are devoted to God because it was God’s war, not man’s. Everybody that looks at it will say that it was God’s war.
As they were encamped by the Jordan and ready to pass over, it was intensely important that they leave the rear safe. Midian is smitten clear to the Euphrates. Sihon and Og had been destroyed and Moab and Ammon and Edom are incapable of war. A vast portion of territory lying on the east of the Jordan is captured. That brings us to Num 32 . This captured land is the best pasturage in the whole country; two tribes and a half express the desire that they be allotted that eastern portion. Moses is very indignant because he understands that they mean this, that while the whole nation has captured this territory these tribes propose to stay over here and leave the other tribes to capture the remainder of the country. But they explain that they simply wanted to safeguard their women and children and villages and send their army on across the Jordan to fight with the others. So the allotment is made to Reuben, Gad, and one-half of the tribe of Manasseh.
In Num 33 there is only one thing to which your attention needs to be called. That chapter is devoted to the whole itinerary from Egypt to the Jordan. God tells Moses to impress one fact upon the minds of the people: “No terms can be made with these inhabitants of the land, for the territory was originally yours when the division was made in the days of Peleg, after the flood. But they took possession of the country.” God has not cast them out because their iniquity was not full. But their iniquity is full now and they are going to be cast out and “you are the executors of the divine will and if you leave corners around I give you warning that they will be thorns in your side forever. When you make war they will rise up in your rear. When you relax in watchfulness, they will lead you into sin.”
I preached a sermon on that once, in which I took the matter spiritually thus: Take a Christian who is regenerated, but he stops trying to expel the old inhabitants. He says, “I am all right if I am a Christian. That is enough.” He does not continue his war against the sinful nature. A large part of him he does not seek to bring under subjection through sanctification. Then he is going to have a thorn in the flesh. Say you take an occasional spree. Whenever you quit making a fight on the lower nature, you are going to be badly fooled. By careful analysis anyone can find out his weak point. Woe to the man who does not make war on that besetting sin. I do not say he will be lost in hell, but he will get some hard falls and be badly hurt.
Num 34 is devoted to a description of the border. You can take a map and trace it out. No particular skill is required.
Num 35 is devoted to two points well worthy of special study. It is a provision for the forty-eight Levite cities who were to have no part of the land for an inheritance, and also for the six cities of refuge; three east of the Jordan and three west. You ought carefully to note the purpose of these cities of refuge and how the roads are to be kept open.
QUESTIONS
1. Having failed to turn Jehovah against Israel by divination, how did Balaam turn Israel against Jehovah?
2. What penalty did Jehovah visit upon them and how many died?
3. What two efforts were made to stay the plague and the results?
4. What act of presumption was committed just at this time, the act of Phinehas and the result?
5. Expound the remarkable reference to Phinehas and particularly bring out the atonement idea in connection with his zeal.
6. Give result of second census. How many tribes had fewer than at first? Why the great difference in the tribe of Simeon?
7. What question came up respecting Zelophehad’s daughters and how settled?
8. Give the law of inheritance in Israel.
9. What announcement here made to Moses and his request?
10. What specially qualified Joshua for this place?
11. Describe the ceremony of the appointment and what the signification of the laying on of hands?
12. Try your hand on forming the calendar for the Jewish Holy Year.
13. What exceptions here to the law of vows previously given?
14. The war against Midian the character of it, why made, how unlike other wars and what was done with the spoils?
15. Give an account of the settlement of the territory east of the Jordan.
16. What terms were they to make with the inhabitants of the land?
17. What was the penalty for violating this command?
18. What right did the Israelites have thus to deal with the inhabitants?
19. Apply the case of these people in their new relation to the individual Christian.
20. Bound the Land of Canaan as promised to Israel. (See Atlas.)
21. What provision was made for the Levites in the land?
22. How many cities of refuge? Name and locate them. What was their purpose?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
journeys. Hebrew pullings up: i.e. of the tent-pegs, or the breakings up of the camps.
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 33
Now in chapter thirty-three you have a summary of their exodus out of Egypt. Moses sort of wrote down all of the places where they had stopped as they made this journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. And for the most part it’s just a lot of names that you don’t recognize; some of them are new, some of them are the first time we see them, some of them we remember from our journey in the book of Exodus.
Now in verse fifty-one of chapter thirty-three the Lord commanded Moses,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all of the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. ( Num 33:51-53 )
Now God wanted all of the artifacts destroyed because the pictures, for the most part, were extremely lewd, lascivious. The molten images, for the most part, were their gods that they worshipped, which were in many cases grotesque and exaggerated sexual features. And the high places where they offered the sacrifices unto their gods and they went through their religious rights were ordered utterly destroyed lest there remain that polluting influence in the land because, again, whatever a man sows that he also’s gonna reap. And if you are planting in your mind the images of sexual lasciviousness then you’re gonna be reaping to your flesh. God wanted all of those things to be obliterated, to be wiped out, and so he ordered them to utterly destroy the pictures, the molten images, and the places of worship, the high places that were in the land.
And you’re to divide the land by lots for the inheritance ( Num 33:54 )
In other words, dividing off the land and then casting lots to see which tribes would get which area. And then the tribes were to divide up the land and to divide it up to the families. In other words, each family within the tribe was to be given its land grant. And so this is the dividing out of the land, giving a portion of the land to everybody, each family getting its own land grant and this land was to then remain in those families perpetually.
Now in verse fifty-five the Lord warns them,
But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that these which you let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land where you’re dwelling. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them. ( Num 33:54-55 )
In other words, these people will drag you down and ultimately I will have to destroy you out of the land, even as I destroyed them out of the land.
Sin always has a polluting influence. When I was a kid my mom used to always tell me about the one rotten apple in the barrel. How it can spoil the whole barrel and how it is important to choose your friends and to select them, because you get one who’s bad whose influence can be bad on the entire group. So, God ordered them to drive out the people completely lest that they would vex them.
Now, Israel failed to obey the Lord in this. A lot of times we think we know better than God. We think that we can handle it. We think that God really doesn’t understand the case completely or he doesn’t understand us completely. And yet that rule might apply, you know, to others but surely it doesn’t apply to me. And we learn to our own dismay and shame the folly of disobedience and we discover that God knew us better than we knew ourselves and we realize how foolish it was for us to not to completely obey God.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
An account of the wanderings of the people in the wilderness was written by Moses at the express command of God. It appears as a bare and uninteresting list of names and yet it tells the story of a people guided by God through discipline. In the course of it there are occasional glimpses of light, revelations of varying experiences but of unvarying guidance. Through shadow and through sunshine, through trial and through triumph, by ways that were gracious, they were led with unceasing faithfulness by God.
Thus we are taught that even though He chastise, He continues to conduct and when through our own unbelief we have to pass through the paths of the wilderness He never forsakes us.
This account is followed by a record of the solemn charge to the people in view of their approaching possession of the land. They were to enter by divine appointment and the purpose of which was to be a manifestation of God and of the perfection of His government. Therefore, when they entered the land, every trace of false worship was to be swept away wherever it was found. Moreover, the land was to be divided equitably among them.
The charge was accompanied by warnings uttered in simple terms and yet most solemn and searching. To tolerate and allow to remain what God had ordered to be driven forth would be to retain that which in itself would be a source of continual difficulty and suffering. The most solemn word of all was the last uttered. “And it shall come to pass, that, as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto YOU.” In these words is revealed an abiding principle, that God’s election to blessing is never of persons without reference to conduct, but rather of character which expresses itself in obedience to His will.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Itinerary of the Wanderings
Num 33:1-37
This record of ineffectual marches is full of pathetic interest and warning. If these halting-places had been in the straight line of march for the Land of Promise there had been little room for regret. But they were not. They recall journeys that need never to have been taken. The tribes crossed and re-crossed the desert, marking time while the bodies of the murmurers fell in the Wilderness and were wrapped about with the desert sands.
Such is the doom of unbelief. To effect nothing, to miss the rest of God, and to perish on the threshold of achievement-such is the experience of the soul described in Jam 1:6. God has given us in Christ the promise of rest, victory and satisfaction; let us enter upon our inheritance!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
9. The Encampments in the Wilderness
CHAPTER 33:1-49
1. The first stage: From Egypt to Sinai (Num 33:1-15)
2. The second stage: From Sinai to Kadesh (Num 33:16-17)
3. The third stage: From Rithmah to Kadesh– The 38 years wandering (Num 33:18-36)
4. The fourth stage: From Kadesh to the plain of Moab– The fortieth year (Num 33:37-49)
The chapter shows most blessedly how the eye of God follows the journeys and wanderings of His people and how He keeps record of them. Nothing escapes His watchful eye. And He leads His people in spite of their failures to the promised goal. Notice the long list of encampments of their wanderings with no history. Many lessons must be written here which Gods people have not been able to understand. The Hebrew names given in this long list of stations shed much light on what may have taken place.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
with their armies: Exo 12:37, Exo 12:51, Exo 13:18
under the hand: Jos 24:5, 1Sa 12:8, Psa 77:20, Mic 6:4
Reciprocal: Exo 6:26 – armies Num 1:3 – by their Deu 10:6 – took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 33:1-2. These are the journeys of Israel As the peculiar providence of God remarkably appeared in the protection and miraculous preservation of the Israelites, from the time they left Egypt till they came to the borders of Canaan, so Moses was particularly commissioned to preserve a history of them for the benefit of posterity. In execution of this commission, he wrote their goings out Kept an account of their journeys, and of all the remarkable occurrences in the way, for his own satisfaction and the instruction of others. And he here recapitulates the principal stages of their long journey, and sets them all before the reader in one view, that those who would take the pains to examine might be satisfied that it was only by a train of unprecedented miracles that such a multitude of people had been fed and preserved every day, for forty years together, in a barren and unhospitable desert, Jer 2:6; Deu 29:6. These are their journeys It is to be observed that Moses only mentions those places where they encamped for some time, passing by others where they only halted for a little refreshment.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
To understand this chapter, the map must be carefully consulted; reference must also be made by the margin to the principal places. Some of them were no more than a rock, or a well; others were small towns. The Septuagint, and especially in the 10th of Deuteronomy, varies in the orthography from the Hebrew.
Num 33:1. The journeys; the mansions, or resting places. Some divines have spiritualized these names very curiously, to illustrate our journey to heaven.
Num 33:2. Moses wrote; for writing was then in common use. It is ridiculous to see every art approaching perfection, and to suppose that writing was unknown till Moses entered the desert.
Num 33:4. Upon their gods. Upon their temples, as well as upon their great men, whose firstborn and cattle were destroyed.
Num 33:11. Sin; afterwards called Sinai, the final i being added, which signifies ten, from the decalogue or ten commandments. They stayed here eleven months.
Num 33:18. Rithmah. Kadesh-barnea was nigh to this place, from which Moses sent the twelve spies. Here the men of war received their sentence to die in the wilderness; and many are the calamities of sin. From this time they seem to have rested thirty eight years, and little is said of their history.
Num 33:31. Bene-Jaakan. From this place, having turned their backs of God, they turned their backs of Canaan, and took a southern course on the west of Edom, to Ezion-gaber near the Red sea.
REFLECTIONS.
The wanderings and windings of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land, are allowed by all christian writers to be a figure of our pilgrimage through this world to heaven. The Lord began by taking vengeance on the Egyptian gods, and power. So on the cross he commenced our redemption by vanquishing death, and all his power.
In the revolts, the murmurings, the guidance of the cloud, the kind supplies of heaven in the manna and the water, we see a portrait of our own stubbornness, and of Gods gracious indulgence and care, as has already been illustrated under the several heads of this history. Happy at last to have come in sight of the land.
In Num 33:50 we have a new revelation to drive out all the inhabitants, and consequently neither to spare the parents nor the children, who did not flee from the sword. Children are benefited by the covenant made to their fathers, and it seems inseparable from a mysterious providence that they should suffer temporally, in many views, when their fathers forfeit the covenant protection of God. Heaven had waited four hundred years for their repentance, and they still grew worse. Their iniquities were now full. Hence they were doomed to die, that justice might be glorified; that Israel might not be corrupted with their doings; and that their land might, according to promise, be given to Abrahams seed.
If Israel spared the guilty Canaanites, it was said, they would be pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides; and so the event proved. Strike then, oh my soul, a fatal blow at the risings of anger, pride, and low desire. Crucify the flesh, with all its affections and lusts. Pray God to create in thee a clean heart, lest he do unto thee as he thought to do unto those old inhabitants whom he destroyed. The man who basely spares his sin, in the issue, shall neither be spared by his sin, nor by his God.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Numbers 33 – 34
The first of these sections gives us a wonderfully minute description of the desert wanderings of the people of God. It is impossible to read it without being deeply moved by the tender love and care of God so signally displayed throughout the whole. To think of His deigning to keep such a record of the journeyings of His poor people, from the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan – from the land of death and darkness to the land flowing with milk and honey. “He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” He went before them, every step of the way; He travelled over every stage of the wilderness; in all their afflictions He was afflicted. He took care of them like a tender nurse. He suffered not their garments to wax old, or their feet to swell, for these forty years; and here He retraces the entire way by which His hand had led them, carefully noting down each successive stage of that marvellous pilgrimage, and every spot in the desert at which they had halted. What a journey! What a travelling companion!
It is very consolatory to the heart of the poor, weary pilgrim to be assured that every stage of his wilderness journey is marked out by the infinite love and unerring wisdom of God. He is leading His people by a right way, home to Himself; and there is not a single circumstance in their lot, or a single ingredient in their cup, which is not carefully ordered by Himself, with direct reference to their present profit and their everlasting felicity. Let it only be our care to walk with Him, day by day, in simple confidence, casting all our care upon Him, and leaving ourselves and all our belongings absolutely in His hands. This is the true source of peace and blessedness, all the journey through. And then, when our desert wanderings are over – when the last stage of the wilderness has been trodden, He will take us home to be with Himself for ever.
“There with what joy reviewing
Past conflicts, dangers, fears-
Thy hand our foes subduing,
And drying all our tears-
Our hearts with rapture burning,
The path we shall retrace,
where now our souls are learning,
The riches of Thy grace.”
Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The selfsame hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their habitation. Alas! they never took possession of the land as given of God. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took but a part, and that for a time. But, blessed be God, the moment is approaching when the seed of Abraham shall enter upon the full and everlasting possession Of that fair inheritance, from which they are for the present excluded. Jehovah will assuredly accomplish all His promises, and lead His people into all the blessings secured to them in the everlasting covenant – that covenant which has been ratified by the blood of the Lamb. Not one jot or tittle. shall fail of all that He has spoken. His promises are all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. All praise to the father, and unto the Son, and to the holy Spirit!
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Num 33:1-49. The Itinerary of the Israelites between Egypt and the Jordan (P)The time covered is rather more than forty years (Num 33:3; Num 33:38), and there is probably an artificial correspondence between the number of the years and the number of the stations, which, excluding the terminus (the plain of Moab), amount to Num 33:40. The names in Num 33:5-15 designate stations on the march from Egypt to Sinai; those in Num 33:16-36 places visited during the forty years wanderings; and those in Num 33:37-49 stations on the march from Kadesh to the Jordan. The writer seems to assume that Kadesh was reached at the end (not the beginning) of the wanderings, and that Israel did not compass but crossed Edom. The citation in 2 of Moses authority for the itinerary can at most imply that the writer used some writing which he attributed to Moses.
Num 33:8. Read, from Pi-hahiroth (Num 33:7, Exo 14:2; Exo 14:9).
Num 33:31. Moseroth . . . Bene-jaakan: the Moserah and Beeroth Bene-jaakan of Deu 10:6 (in reverse order)Hor-haggidgad: the Gudgodah of Deu 10:7.
Num 33:35. Ezion-geber: this was at the N. end of the Gulf of Akabah, and at a later date a Hebrew seaport (1Ki 9:26*).
Num 33:40. This parenthetic notice about the king of Arad lacks a conclusion.
Num 33:45. Iyim: the Iye-abarim of Num 33:44.Dibon-gad: the name reflects the occupation of Dibon by the Gadites (Num 32:34).
Num 33:49. Abel Shittim: the Shittim of Num 25:1.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE REVIEW OF ISRAEL’S JOURNEY FROM EGYPT
(vs.1-49)
Just as, at the judgment seat of Christ, there will be a review of all our history here on earth, so we find now a review of Israel’s journey from the time they left Egypt. It is noted that Moses wrote the record of these things at the command of the Lord (v.2) and it is quite evident that Moses was the writer of all of Numbers and also of Deuteronomy except the last chapter, or at least the last nine verses of that chapter.
Israel left Rameses the day after the passover, when Egypt was engaged in the monumental task of burying their firstborn (vs.3-4). They encamped at Succoth first, and then Etham before coming to Pi Hahiroth and Magdol, still within Egypt on the shore of the Red Sea. Then they crossed the Red Sea and began the long journey through the wilderness. It appears they moved and encamped 44 times in these years. This is much more than people usually move from one house to another in a period of forty years. It is amazing that God brought so tremendous a company with their livestock and other possessions through that long period of travel by the hand of one chosen leader! Why did they not disperse and go in whatever direction each one pleased, as people normally would? The only answer is in the overruling power of God.
GOD’S COMMAND TO FULLY POSSESS CANAAN
(vs.50-56)
Since Israel was near the time of entering Canaan, the Lord gave plain directions to Moses that the time of entering Canaan, the Lord gave plain directions to Moses that when Israel crossed the Jordan, they must drive out all the inhabitants of the land, to destroy all their engraved stones — objects of idolatry — and molded images, as well as their high places, places of the idol worship (vs.50-53) The land had become saturated with idolatry, the iniquity of the inhabitants was full. It may sound like heartless cruelty to thus totally destroy these people, but God knew they were living in satanic slavery and death in such a case was mercy.
The land was to be divided by lot, in sizes comparative to the size of families, but the locations left to God’s decision. For “the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Pro 16:33). The tribes were not to be intermingled, however, but all the individuals to remain within the boundaries of their own tribes (v.54).
Israel is warned, however, that if they failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land, those inhabitants would become “irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell” (v.55). Israel might be inclined to show leniency to these people, having a false sense of what is true kindness, but when God had spoken, then disobedience in this way would recoil on their own heads. In fact, God would make Israel suffer in the way He intended to deal with their enemies (v.56). It is a lesson for us. If we allow evil spirits to keep us from the proper enjoyment of the heavenly possession that God has provided for us, we shall suffer in this life as though we were enemies of God. Thank God, this does not involve the question of eternity, but present governmental results of disobedience will be painful. Let us dispossess every enemy who seeks to hinder our practical possession of that which God has ordained to be the possession of those redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
33:1 These [are] the {a} journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
(a) From which they departed, and where they came.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Warning and encouragement of the younger generation chs. 33-36
God gave the final laws governing Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land (Num 33:50 to Num 36:13). However, first, Moses recorded at God’s command this list of places from which the Israelites had set out on their journey from Egypt to Canaan. This is the only statement in Numbers that directly claims Mosaic authorship, though the whole book assumes it (cf. Exo 17:14; Exo 24:4; Exo 34:28; Deu 31:9; Deu 31:22; Deu 31:24). This list constitutes a memorial to the grace and faithfulness of God in thus far fulfilling His promises to the patriarchs. As a reminder of God’s care of His people, it would have been a great encouragement as the Israelites looked forward to taking their final step into the land.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Review of Israel’s journey from Egypt 33:1-49
Forty-two stations appear in the list. Eighteen do not appear elsewhere in the record of the journey (Num 33:13; Num 33:19-29), and four mentioned previously are absent in this chapter (cf. Num 11:3; Num 21:19). Obviously this is a selective list. What was God’s criterion for including what He did here? As one studies this account of Israel’s experiences since leaving Egypt, certain patterns begin to emerge. For example, similar events recurred with regularity such as judgment by death, victory over enemies, provision of water and food, and opposition from within Israel. [Note: For a further development of the cycles of Israel’s experience discernible in the six groups of seven stations, see G. Wenham, Numbers, pp. 217-19.] Evidently Moses intended this record to help the Israelites recognize first, their failure to learn from their past, and second, God’s continuing faithfulness in spite of this inability.
Archaeologists have not yet discovered many of the sites named. They were probably only camping places in the desert.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
After introductory comments (Num 33:1-2), Moses gave a list of 12 important places where Israel stopped from Egypt to Mt. Sinai (Num 33:3-15). Note that he did not describe the march by identifying the places where Israel stopped but by citing them as places from which they set out (Num 33:2). This emphasizes the importance of the goal of their journey: the Promised Land. They set out from these places on their trek to the land.
Moses described the journey from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh and from Kadesh back to Kadesh next (Num 33:16-36). This includes the period of 38 years in which Israel wandered while the older generations died out. From the comparatively small number of sites mentioned it is probable that Israel stayed at some locations for long periods of time. The nation was probably at rest much more than it was in transit during these years.
Some scholars believe Israel reversed directions after leaving Mt. Hor (Num 20:23) and marched north to bypass Edom at its north end rather than its south. [Note: E.g., Aharoni, p. 51.] This view depends on identifying Punon and Oboth (Num 33:42-44; cf. Num 21:10-11) with modern Feinan and el-Weibah, both of which are on Edom’s west side rather than the east. These identifications are not sure, however. Deu 2:8 says the Israelites turned at Elath and Ezion-geber, which are at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Therefore this view seems unlikely. [Note: Wood, Israel’s United . . ., p. 36, n. 11.]
The last leg of the journey was from Kadesh, the second time, to the plains of Moab (Num 33:37-49; cf. chs. 20-21). [Note: See Z. Kallai, "The Wandering-Traditions from Kadesh-Barnea to Canaan: A Study in Biblical Historiography," Journal of Jewish Studies 33:1-2 (Spring-Autumn 1982):175-184.]
"His [Aaron’s] death [Num 33:38-39] came at a great age-a mark of God’s blessing in his life. By the mercy of the Lord, his time was extended to the very last year of Israel’s desert experience; his own sin (Numbers 20) kept him from living into the time of the conquest of the land." [Note: Allen, "Numbers," p. 989.]
"Within the list of encampments are two short narratives that focus on the work of Moses (Num 33:2-3) and Aaron (Num 33:38-39). . . . Both narratives have the same comment that Moses (Num 33:2) and Aaron (Num 33:38) obeyed ’the command of the LORD.’ Thus one of the purposes of this list within the larger strategy of the book appears to be to give a brief review of the work of these two great leaders. God used them and their obedience to lead the people in the wilderness for the forty years." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 419.]
"One impression cannot escape the student who has followed the account of Numbers up to this point, that is, the long-suffering grace of God in preserving a people as He had originally promised, through all the experiences of this vast number of places." [Note: Jensen, p. 119.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE WAY AND THE LOT
Num 33:1-56; Num 34:1-29
1. THE itinerary of Num 33:1-49 is one of the passages definitely ascribed to Moses. It opens with the departure from Rameses in Egypt on the morrow after the passover, when the children of Israel “went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.” The exodus is made singularly impressive in this narrative by the addition that it took place “while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them.” The Divine salvation of Israel begins when the dark shadow of loss and judgment rests on their oppressors. The gods of Egypt are discredited by the triumph of Jehovahs people. They can neither save their own worshippers nor prevent the servants of another from obtaining liberty.
From Rameses, the place of departure, to Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab, forty-two stations in all are given at which the Israelites pitched. Of these about twenty-four are named either in Exodus, in other parts of the Book of Numbers, or in Deuteronomy. Some eighteen, therefore, are mentioned in this passage and nowhere else. Of the whole number, comparatively few have as yet been identified. The Egyptian localities, at least Rameses and Succoth, are known. With the exit from Egypt, at the crossing of the Red Sea difficulty begins. Our passage says that the Israelites went three days journey into the wilderness of Etham; Exodus calls it the wilderness of Shur. Then Marah and Elim bring the travellers, according to chapter 33, to the Red Sea, the Yam Suph. Ordinarily, this is supposed to be the Gulf of Suez, alongside which the route would have lain from the day it was crossed. There are, however, the best reasons for believing that this “Red Sea” is the eastern gulf, the Elanitic, as it must be Num 14:25, where, after the evil report of the spies, the Divine command is given: “Tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” From this identification of the Yam Suph many things follow. And one is the rejection of the ordinary opinion regarding the position of Sinai. The mountain of the law-giving is always described as situated in Midian. Now, Midian is beyond Elath, on the eastern side of the Yam Suph, not in the peninsula between the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah. Elim and Elath, or Eloth, appear to be names for the same place, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. We have therefore to look for Sinai either among the southern hills of Seir or those lying more southward still, towards the desert. In Deborahs song (Jdg 5:4-5) occur the following verses:
“Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir, When Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yea, the clouds dropped water; The mountains flowed down at the presence of the Lord, Even yon Sinai at the presence of the Lord. the God of Israel.”
In the same direction the “Prayer of Habbakkuk” points: {Hab 3:3; Hab 3:7}
“God came from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of His light I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.”
The tradition which places Sinai in the south of the peninsula between the two gulfs “is of later origin than the lifetime of St. Paul, and can claim no higher authority than the interested fancies of ignorant cenobites. It throws into confusion both the geography and the history of the Pentateuch, and contradicts the definite statements of the Old Testament.” So the most recent inquiry.
If Mount Sinai was somewhere to the south of Edom, the journey thence to Kadesh by way of Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, localities mentioned both in Num 11:11 ; Num 11:33, may have had other stations; and these may be named in Num 33:19 of our passage and onward. But identification of the places is exceedingly doubtful till we come to Ezion-geber, in the Arabah, and Mount Hor. Deu 10:1-22 places the scene of Aarons death at Mosera, which seems to be the same as Moseroth, and is there given along with other stations named in the itinerary-Bene-jaakan, Gudgodah (Hor-haggidgad), Jot-bathah. And this seems to prove that these localities were in or near the Arabah, Moseroth being in the region of Mount Hor. But where Kadesh is to be found between Rithmah and Moseroth, and under what name, it is impossible to say. Keil argues for Rithmah itself. Palmer reckons twenty stations to the first arrival at Kadesh. His map, however, shows a Mount Sheraif, which may be the same as Shepher, not far from Gadis, which he identifies with Kadesh. For the rest we are left in great ignorance, relieved only by this, that at the most there are but eighteen stations given, more probably thirteen, for the whole thirty-seven years between the first arrival at Kadesh and the death of Aaron at Mount Hor; and five or six of these were on the Arabah. During the whole of that long period there were only a few removals of the tabernacle, and those apparently within a limited area near Kadesh.
A list of names with only three historical notes appears a singular memorial of the forty years. Time was, no doubt, when the places named were all well known, and any Israelite desiring to satisfy himself as to the route by which his forefathers went could make it out by help of this passage. To us the interest of the subject is partly the same as that which might have been found by a Hebrew, say, of the time of Hezekiah, for whom the verification of the wilderness journey might be a help to faith. But the impossibility of identifying the localities shows that there are matters in the history of Israel which are of no particular importance now. There is more danger in seeking to gratify mere curiosity, than profit in any possible discoveries. Why should not the mountain of the law-giving be hid in the shadows as well as the grave in which Moses was laid? Why should not the places at which Israel encamped be to us mere names, since, if we could identify them, it might only be to add fresh difficulties instead of clearing away those that exist? The Israelites who entered Canaan had not seen all the way by which Jehovah led His people. When they crossed the Jordan, present duty was to engage them, not the mere names that belonged to the past. They were to forget the things behind, and stretch forward to the things which were before. And duty is the same still. Our backward glance, especially on the actual path from one spot of earth to another by which men have gone in trial and anticipation, must not hinder the efforts called for by the circumstances of our own time. The way of the desert, especially, may well lie half obliterated in the distance, since we know the spiritual fruit of the dealings of God with Israel, and can bear it with us as we follow our own road.
The ideas of change and urgency are in our passage. The wilderness journey was taken by a people on whom Divine influences had laid hold, who of themselves would have remained content in Egypt, but were not suffered, because God had some greater thing in store for them. The urgency throughout was His. And so is that which we ourselves feel hurrying us from change to change, from place to place. We may not be in the wilderness, but in a spot of shelter and comfort; and it may be no house of bondage, but a vantage-ground for generous effort. Even when we are thus happily settled, as we imagine, the call comes, and we must strike our tents. At other times our own anxiety anticipates the command. But we know that always, whether we pass into sterner conditions of life or escape to more pleasant circumstances, the times and changes that happen to us are of Gods appointing, that His providence urges us toward a goal. And this means that our reaching the goal must be by His way, although properly we endeavour to find it for ourselves.
The number of the stations at which Israel encamped in the course of forty years can scarcely be taken as representing the number of changes from dwelling to dwelling any pilgrim through this world shall have to make. But if we think of halting-places and movements of thought, we shall have a fruitful parallel. From the twentieth to the sixtieth year-may we not say?-is the time of journeying that takes the mind from its first freedom to comparative rest. Not far on the Divine law-giving impresses itself on the conscience; and hence a direct road may appear to lead into the peace of obedience. But the stations successively reached, Kibroth-hattaavah, Hazeroth, Rithmah, and the rest, represent each a peculiar difficulty encountered, a barrier to our steady progress towards the settled mind. St. Paul indicates one he found when he says: “I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Another halt is imposed when it is found that the law appears to forbid what is according to nature; still another when obedience requires separation from those who have been valued friends and pleasant companions. These hindrances left behind as the soul, still confiding and hopeful, is urged on towards the goal, a great trial like that of Kadesh follows. We are not far from the frontier of promise; and anticipations are formed of many delights for heart and life. Is not obedience to bring felicity, an easy salvation from doubt and fear? But it becomes plain that there are enemies to faith and peace beyond the border as well as in the region already crossed. Complete conformity to the Divine will has not been achieved. Will it ever be achieved? We begin to doubt the result of law-keeping. There is perhaps a backward look to Sinai, implying a question whether God spoke there, or beyond Sinai, to the old traditional way of life. And so another term of difficult inquiry begins.
In this way many find themselves held for a long period of middle life. Their minds move from one point to another without seeming to make any progress. But neither does rest come. It is seen that partial obedience, a measure of nearness to the perfection once dreamed of, will not suffice. Then arises the question whether obedience can ever save. There is return almost to Sinai itself, at least to a place from which its peak is seen and the mind is confirmed as to the inexorability of law. So the urgency of the Divine will is felt, and the way is fixed. If the soul would make its own way into peace, it is driven back. For, perhaps, it would have the difficulty solved by taking the way of a Church, accepting a creed-as Israel would have passed through the territory of Edom. This also is forbidden. Trusted helpers fall by the way, as Aaron died at Hor, and there is sorrowful delay. But movement is enforced; and, finally, it is by a road that reveals Sinai and the law in quite another aspect, showing vital faith, not mere obedience, to be the means of salvation, our progress is made. Round the borders of Edom, not by trust in creed or Church, but by confidence in God Himself, the soul must advance. Then strength comes. Point after point is reached and passed. Self-righteousness, pride, and Phatisaism-Amorites of the mountain land-are overcome. At length through the faith of Christ peace is found, the peace that is possible on this side of the river.
It is our high privilege to be urged and led on thus by Him who knows the way we should take, who tries us that we may come forth purified as gold. Without Divine pressure we should content ourselves in the desert and never see the real good of life. So many lose themselves because they will not admit that to be of the truth is necessary to salvation. There is a way of thinking, or rather refusing to think, of spiritual verities which keeps the soul unaware of the purpose God would carry into effect, or indifferent to it. The mind refuses its duty; and in the midway of life the spiritual goal fades from view. To guard against this taking place in the case of any one is the office of the Gospel ministry. If evangelical preaching does not keep thought awake and attentive to Divine inspirations, if it does not speak to those who are in every stage of perplexity, at every possible camping-ground, it fails of its high purpose.
2. Commandment is given that when the Israelites pass over Jordan they shall use effectual means for establishing themselves as the people of Jehovah in Canaan. They are, for one thing, to drive out before them all the inhabitants of the land. Nothing is here said of putting them all to the sword; only they are not to be left even in partial occupation. The plan of Israels settlement in its new territory requires that it shall be subject to no alien influence, and shall have the field entirely to itself for the development of customs, civilisation, and religion. And in this there is nothing either impossible or, as the ideas of the time went, strange and cruel. We do not need to take refuge in the command of God and defend it by saying that He had absolute right over the lives of the Canaanites. The tides of war and population were continually flowing and receding. When the Israelites reached Canaan, they had the same right as others to occupy it, provided they could make their right good at the point of the sword. Yet for their own special consciousness the command given by Moses in Jehovahs name was most important. It was only as His people they were to advance, and as His people they were to dwell separate in Canaan.
To drive out all the inhabitants of the land was, however, a difficult task; and even Moses might not intend the order to be literally obeyed. We have seen that he did not require the destruction of the Midianites to be absolute. In the wars of conquest in Canaan cases of a similar kind would necessarily arise. When a tribe was driven out of its cities many would be left behind, some of whom would conceal themselves and gradually venture from their hiding-places. The command was general, and could scarcely be supposed to require the putting to death of all children. And again, as we know, there were fortresses which for a long time defied attempts to reduce them. The Israelites were not so faithful to God that Moses could expect their success to be insured by supernatural aid. It is the constant purpose they are to have in view, to sweep the land clear of those presently in occupation. As they establish themselves, this will be carried out; and if they fail, allowing any of the tribes to remain, these will be as pricks in their eyes and as thorns in their sides:
The will of God that Israel, called to special duty in the world, was to keep itself separate, is here strongly emphasised. It was the only way by which faith could be preserved and made fruitful. For the Canaanites, already civilised and in many of the arts superior to the Hebrews, had gross polytheistic beliefs imbedded in their customs, and a somewhat elaborate cultus which was observed throughout the whole land. “Figured stones,” which by their shape or incised emblems conveyed religious ideas; molten images, probably of bronze, like those found at Tel el Hesy, which were for household use, or of a larger size for tribal adoration; “high places” crowned by altars and sacrificial stones, were especially to be destroyed. The tendency to polytheism required to be carefully guarded against, for the gods of Canaan represented the powers of nature, and their rites celebrated the fruitfulness of earth under the lordship of Baal or Bel, and the mysterious processes of life associated with the influence of Astarte, the moon. The divinities of Egypt also appear to have had their worshippers; and, indeed, the mixed population of the land had drawn from every neighbouring region symbols, rites, and practices supposed to propitiate the unseen powers on whose favour human life must depend. Israel could prosper only by rejecting and extirpating this idolatry. Allowed to survive in any degree, it would be the cause of physical suffering and spiritual decay.
The command thus ascribed to Moses was again one which he must have known the Israelites would find difficult to carry out, even if they were cordially disposed to obey it. The sacred places of a country like Canaan tend to retain their reputation even when the rites fall into disuse; and however expeditiously the work of sweeping away the original inhabitants might be done, there was no small danger that knowledge of the cult as well as veneration for the high places would be learned by the Hebrews. The command was made clear and uncompromising so that every Israelite might know his duty; but the difficulty and the peril remained. And as we know from the Book of Judges and subsequent history, the law, especially in regard to the demolition of high places, became practically a dead letter. Jehovah was worshipped at the ancient places of sacrifice; and so far were even pious Israelites of the next few centuries from thinking they did wrong in using those old altars, that Samuel fell in with the custom. It was true in regard to this commandment as it is with regard to many others, -the high mark of duty is presented, but few aim at it. Expediency rules, the possible is made to suffice instead of the ideal. There is reason to believe, not only that the images and stone symbols of Canaan were venerated, but that Jehovah Himself was worshipped by many of the Hebrews under the form of some animal. And the Canaanites became to those who fraternised with them as pricks in their eyes. Spiritual vision failed; faith fell back on the coarse emblems used by the old inhabitants of the land. Then the vigour of the tribes decayed and they were judged and punished.
3. The boundaries of the land in which the Israelites were to dwell are laid down in chapter 34; but, as elsewhere, there is difficulty in following the geography and identifying the old names. The south quarter is to be “from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom”-that is to say, it is to include the region of Zin near Kadesh and extend to the mountains of Seir. The “ascent of Akrabbim” is apparently the Ghor rising southwards from the Dead Sea. The line then runs along the Arabah for some distance, say fifty miles, across by the south of the Azazimeh hills and of Kadesh Barnea towards the stream called the river or brook of Egypt, which it followed to its debouchment in the Mediterranean. The western boundary was the Mediterranean or Great Sea for a distance of perhaps one hundred and sixty miles. The northern boundary is exceedingly obscure. They were to keep in view a “mount Hor” as a landmark; but no two geographers can be said to agree where it was. The “entering in of Hamath” is also a locality greatly disputed. Most likely it was some well-known part of the road leading along the Leontes valley to that of the Orontes. If we take the mount Hor here indicated to be Hermon, a line running west and striking the Mediterranean somewhere north of Tyre would be a natural boundary, and would correspond fairly with the actual partition and occupation of the country. It is certain, however, that both the Philistines and Phoenicians, especially the latter, were so strongly established in the southern and northern parts of the seaboard that any attempt to dispossess them was soon discovered to be futile. And even in the limited central range from Kedesh Naphtali to Beersheba the settlement was only effected gradually.
The Canaan of the Divine promise marked out, yet never fully possessed, is a symbol of the region of this life which those who believe in God have assigned to them, but never entirely enjoy. There are boundaries within which there is abundant room for the development of the life of faith. It is not, as the world reckons, a district of great resources. As Canaan had neither gold nor silver, neither coal nor iron mines, as its seaboard was not well supplied with harbours, nor its rivers and lakes of great use for inland navigation, so we may say the life open to the Christian has its limitations and disabilities. It does not invite those who seek pleasure, wealth, or dazzling exploits. Within it, discipline is to be found rather than enjoyment of earthly good. The “milk and honey” of this land are spiritual symbols, Divine sacraments. There is room for the development of life in every branch of study and culture, but in subordination to the glory of God, and for the testimony that should be borne to His majesty and truth.
Many of us affect to despise so narrow a range of thought and endeavour, and persist in believing that something more than discipline may be looked for in this world. Is there not a proper kingdom of humanity better than any kingdom of Cod? May not the race of men, apart from any service paid to an Unseen God, attain dignity of its own, power, gladness, magnificence? It is supposed that by rejecting all the limitations of religion and refusing the outlook to another life the united labour of men will make this life free and this earth a paradise. But it remains true that men must limit their hopes with regard to their own future here as individuals and the future of the race. We must accept the boundaries God has fixed, on one side the swift Jordan, on the other the Great Sea. There are seemingly rich fields beyond, wide regions that invite the tastes and senses, but these are no part of the souls inheritance; to explore and reduce them would bring no real gain.
The range that lies open to us as servants of God, and affords ample space for the discipline of life, is often not used and therefore not enjoyed. When people will not accept the inevitable fixed limits within which their time and vigour can be occupied to the best advantage, when they look covetously to districts of experience not meant for them, as Israel did at certain periods of her history, their life is spoiled. Discontent begins, envy follows. Where in seeking and reaching moral gains, purity, courage, love, there would have been a continual sense of adequate result and encouraging prospect, there is now no gain, no pleasure. The appointed lot is despised, and all it can yield held in contempt. How many there are who, with a full river of Divine bounty on one side their life, and the great ocean of the Divine faithfulness ebbing and flowing on the other, with the pastures and olive-groves of the Word of God to nourish their soul, with access to His city and sanctuary, and an outlook from summits like Tabor and Hermon to a transfigured life in the new heavens and earth, speak nevertheless with scorn and bitterness of their heritage! They might be reaching “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” but they remain graceless and discontented to the end. Israel, understanding its destiny and using its opportunities aright, might well say-and so may every one who knows the truth as it is in Jesus Christ-“the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” But this gladness of heart has its root in believing content. The restricted land is full of Gods promise: “Thou maintainest my lot.” The security of Jehovahs word encompasses the man of faith.