55.<\/strong> as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides<\/em> ] Cf. Jos 23:13<\/span>, Eze 28:24<\/span>, and perhaps Jdg 2:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 55<\/span>. Shall be <\/B>pricks in your eyes<\/B><\/I>] Under these metaphors, the continual mischief that should be done to them, both in soul and body, by these idolaters, 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<\/I>?<\/P> <\/P> 1. IT has been usual among pious men to consider these Canaanites remaining<\/I> in the land, as emblems of indwelling sin<\/I>; and it must be granted that what those remaining Canaanites were to the people of Israel, who were disobedient to God, such<\/I> is indwelling sin<\/I> to all those who will not have the blood of the covenant to cleanse them from all unrighteousness. For a time, while conscience is tender, such persons feel themselves straitened in all their goings, hindered in all their religious services, and distressed beyond measure because of the law<\/I>-the authority<\/I> and power of sin<\/I>, which they find warring in their members: by and by the eye<\/I> of their mind becomes obscured by the constant piercings of sin, till at last, fatally persuaded that sin must dwell in them as long as<\/I> they live<\/I>, they accommodate their minds to their situation, their consciences cease to be tender, and they content themselves with expecting redemption where and when it has never been promised, viz., beyond the grave<\/I>! On the subject of the journeyings of the Israelites, the following observations from old Mr. Ainsworth<\/I> cannot fail to interest the reader.<\/P> <\/P> 2. “The TRAVELS of Israel through that great and terrible<\/I> wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and<\/I> drought, where there was no water<\/I>, De 8:15<\/span>, which was a land of deserts, and of pits, a land of drought, and of the<\/I> shadow of death, a land that no man passed through, and where no<\/I> man dwelt<\/I>, Jer 2:6<\/span>, signified the many troubles<\/I> and afflictions<\/I> through which we must enter into the kingdom of God, Ac 14:22<\/span>. The helps, comforts<\/I>, and deliverances<\/I> which God gave unto his people in their distresses, are examples of his love and mercy towards his followers; for he comforts them in all their tribulation, that as the sufferings of Christ abound in them, so their consolation also abounds in Christ, 2Co 1:5<\/span>. The punishments<\/I> which God inflicted upon the disobedient, who perished in the wilderness for their sins, happened unto them for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the<\/I> world are come<\/I>, 1Co 10:1-11<\/span>; Heb 3:17-19<\/span>; Heb 4:1-2<\/span>. By the names<\/I> of their encamping places, and histories adjoined, it appears how Israel came sometimes into straits<\/I> and troublesome<\/I> ways<\/I>, as at Pihahiroth<\/I>, Ex 14:2-3<\/span>; Ex 14:10<\/span>, c. and at Zalmonah<\/I>, Nu 2:1<\/span>; Nu 2:4<\/span>, c. sometimes into large<\/I> and ample room<\/I>, as at the plains of Moab<\/I>; sometimes to places of hunger<\/I> and thirst<\/I>, as at Rephidim<\/I> and Kadesh<\/I>, Ex 16:1-3<\/span>; Ex 17:1-3<\/span>; Nu 20:2-5<\/span>; sometimes to places of refreshing<\/I>, as at Elim<\/I> and Beer<\/I>, Ex 15:27<\/span>; Nu 21:16<\/span>; sometimes where they had wars<\/I>, as at Rephidim, Kadesh, Edrei<\/I>, Ex 17:8<\/span>; Nu 21:1<\/span>; Nu 21:33<\/span>; sometimes where they had rest<\/I>, as at Mount Sinai<\/I>: sometimes they went right forward<\/I>, as from Sinai<\/I> to Kadesh-barnea<\/I>; sometimes they turned backward<\/I>, as from Kadesh-barnea<\/I> to the Red Sea<\/I>: sometimes they came to mountains<\/I>, as Sinai, Shapher, Hor-Gidgad<\/I>; sometimes to valleys<\/I>, as Tahath<\/I>, c. sometimes to places of bitterness<\/I>, as Marah<\/I>; sometimes, of sweetness<\/I>, as Mithcah<\/I>.<\/P> <\/P> 3. “The SINS which they committed in the wilderness were many and great; as open IDOLATRY by the calf, at Horeb, Num 32:3<\/span>; Num 32:4<\/span>, and with Baal-peor<\/I>, Nu 25:16-18<\/span>. UNBELIEF, at Kadesh<\/I>, Nu 14:11<\/span>; and afterwards PRESUMPTUOUS BOLDNESS in the same place; MURMURING against God sundry times, with tempting of Christ, (as the apostle speaks, 1Co 10:9<\/span>) CONTENTION and REBELLION against their governors often; lusting for flesh<\/I> to fill their appetites, and loathing<\/I> manna<\/I>, the heavenly food; WHOREDOM with the daughters of Moab, and many other provocations; so that this complaint is after made of them, How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve<\/I> him in the desert<\/I>! Ps 78:40<\/span>. All sorts of persons sinned against God; the multitude<\/I> of people very often; the mixed multitude<\/I> of strangers among them, Nu 11:4-6<\/span>. The princes<\/I>, as the ten spies, Dathan, Abiram<\/I>, c. The Levites<\/I>, as Korah<\/I> and his company Miriam<\/I> the prophetess, Nu 12:1-2<\/span>; Aaron<\/I> the priest with her, besides his sin at Horeb, Ex 32:1-4<\/span>; and at the water of Meribah<\/I>, Nu 20:24<\/span>. Moses also himself at the same place, for which he was excluded from the land of Canaan.<\/P> <\/P> 4. “The PUNISHMENTS laid on them by the Lord for their disobedience were many. They died by the sword of the enemy<\/I>, as of the Amalekites<\/I>, Ex 17:9-11<\/span>, and of the Canaanites<\/I>, Nu 14:45<\/span>; and some by the sword of their brethren<\/I>, Ex 32:25-29<\/span> Some were burned with fire<\/I>, Nu 11:1<\/span>; Nu 16:35<\/span>; some died with surfeit<\/I>, Nu 11:34<\/span>; some were swallowed up alive in the earth<\/I>, Nu 16:31-34<\/span>; some were killed with serpents<\/I>, Nu 21:6<\/span>; many died of the pestilence<\/I>, Nu 16:46<\/span>, and Nu 5:25<\/span>; and generally all that generation which were first mustered, after their coming out of Egypt, perished, Nu 26:64-65<\/span>. God consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror, Ps 78:33<\/span>.<\/P> <\/P> 5. “Nevertheless, for his name’s sake, he magnified his MERCIES unto them and their posterity. He had divided the sea<\/I>, and led them through on dry land, drowning their enemies, Ex 14:27-28<\/span>. He led them with a cloud by day<\/I>, and a pillar of fire by night<\/I>, continually. He gave them manna<\/I> from heaven daily. He clave the<\/I> rock<\/I>, and gave them water for their thirst. He fed them with quails<\/I>, when they longed for flesh. He sweetened<\/I> the bitter<\/I> waters<\/I>. He saved them from the sword of their enemies. He delivered them from the fiery serpents and scorpions. Their raiment waxed not old upon them, neither did their foot swell for forty years, De 8:4<\/span>. He delivered them from the intended curse of Balaam, and turned it into a blessing, because he loved them, Nu 22:13<\/span>; Nu 22:38<\/span>; De 23:5<\/span>. He came down from Mount Sinai, and spake with them from heaven, and gave them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and gave also his good Spirit to instruct them, Neh 9:13<\/span>; Neh 9:20<\/span>. In the times of his wrath he remembered mercy; his eye spared them from destroying them, neither did he make an end of them in the wilderness, Eze 20:17<\/span>; Eze 20:22<\/span>. He gave them kingdoms and nations, and they possessed the lands of their enemies; and he multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land promised unto their forefathers. Neh 9:22-9:23<\/span>. Now whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope, Ro 15:4<\/span>.” Let him that readeth understand.”<\/P><\/p>\n Pricks in your eyes, <\/B>i.e. both vexatious and pernicious, for the eye is a tender part, and a wound there is very mischievous. <\/P> <\/p>\n 55. But if ye will not drive out theinhabitants of the land from before you<\/B>No associations were tobe formed with the inhabitants; otherwise, “if ye let remain,they will be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides”thatis, they would prove troublesome and dangerous neighbors, enticing toidolatry, and consequently depriving you of the divine favor andblessing. The neglect of the counsel against union with theidolatrous inhabitants became fatal to them. This earnest admonitiongiven to the Israelites in their peculiar circumstances conveys asalutary lesson to us to allow no lurking habits of sin to remain inus. That spiritual enemy must be eradicated from our nature;otherwise it will be ruinous to our present peace and futuresalvation.<\/P><\/p>\n But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you<\/strong>,…. Should be remiss and careless about it, and indifferent to it, and not make use of the proper means to get rid of them, but, on the contrary, make covenants with them, and intermarry among them; or, however, become friendly to them, and suffer them to dwell among them:<\/p>\n then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them<\/strong>; sparing their lives, and permitting them to dwell among them:<\/p>\n shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides<\/strong>; which figurative expressions show that they should be very troublesome and distressing to them, even in their most tender and nearest concerns, and dearest relations, and which are explained and more properly expressed as follows:<\/p>\n and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell<\/strong>; among other things by their wicked conversation, and by drawing them into sin through their ill examples, and so bring the displeasure of God upon them, and punishment for their evil doings.<\/p>\n 55 But if ye will not drive out. We have elsewhere seen why God’s wrath was so greatly aroused against those nations, that He desired them to be exterminated. Even in Abraham’s time gross indulgence of sin had begun to prevail there, as we gather from God’s word, when He said that “their iniquity was not yet full.” After they had abused the forbearance of God Himself for 400 years, who will deny that their destruction was the just and reasonable reward of their long obstinacy? Still, in cutting them off, God had regard to His elect people, in order that they might be separated from the heathen, and never turn aside to foreign superstitions. But the punishment which is here threatened the Israelites deserved twice over by their remissness, for they neither performed their duty in executing God’s vengeance, and, as far as in them lay, they detracted from His grace. He had conferred upon them no common honor, when He appointed them to be His ministers for executing His judgments. It was therefore base supineness in them to be remiss on this point. But again, He had given them the whole land; when, then, they contented themselves with part of it, and neglected the rest, their perverse ingratitude betrayed itself by their indifference. Besides, they had willfully entangled themselves in deadly nerds, by mixing with heathen nations, from whom they had been separated by God, lest they should imitate their habits, and corrupt religious ceremonies. God, therefore, threatens that these nations shall be as prickles to pierce their eyes, and thorns in their sides. That this was fulfilled, the Book of Judges affords the clearest and most ample testimony, although, even to the days of David, this punishment was constantly in course of infliction upon their eyes and sides. Thus, also, is their untamable headstrongness proved, since such a solemn admonition had no effect in causing (227) them to go forwards, no less in the open punishment of iniquity, than in a course of victory and success. <\/p>\n (227) “Pour les faire marcher vertueusement parmi leur vietoires, a punir les crimes dont ils estoyent juges;” to cause them to advance virtuously amidst their victories, in punishing the crimes of which they were the judges. — Fr. <\/p>\n 55<\/strong>. <\/strong> If ye will not drive out<\/strong>, etc. If Israel should be perversely disobedient, Jehovah threatens to withdraw from them his help. Exo 23:22-23<\/span>. <\/p>\n Pricks in your eyes <\/strong> Joshua, (Num 23:13<\/span>,) in repeating this, says, “scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes,” and adds, “they shall be snares and traps unto you.” These strong metaphors portray the infliction of the most painful injuries by the un-exterminated Canaanites.<\/p>\n Num 33:55<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> God here declares to the Israelites, that if they mix themselves with the Canaanites, whom they suffered to remain in the land, those Canaanites should be the instruments, in his hand, to chastise them, and should cause them evils as dolorous in their kind as those which arise from a thorn in the eye, or poignard in the side. See Eze 28:24<\/span>. Joshua intimated the same threatening to them before he died, Jos 23:13<\/span> of which an angel put them in mind, Jdg 2:3<\/span>. And so it came to pass, as we read there, Num 33:13<\/span> and throughout that whole book. <\/p>\n Num 33:55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that 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 dwell.<\/p>\n Ver. 55. Shall be pricks in your eyes.<\/strong> ] The eye is the tenderest part, and soon vexed with the least mote that falls into it. These Jebusites preserved, should be notorious mischiefs to them; as the Jesuits at this day are to those Christian states that harbour them. Shall we suffer those vipers to lodge in our bosoms till they eat out our hearts? Sic notus Ulysses?<\/em> Jesuits, like bells, will never be well tuned till well hanged. Among much change of houses in foreign parts, they have in France two famous for the accordance of their names, the one called the Bow at Nola, the other the Arrow, la Fleche,<\/em> given them by Henry IV, whom afterwards they villanously stabbed to death. Their apostate Ferrier played upon them in this distitch: – <\/p>\n “ Arcum Nola dedit, dedit illis alma sagttram<\/p>\n Gallia; quis funem, quem meruere, dabit! ”<\/p>\n “Nola the bow, and France the shaft did bring;<\/p>\n But who shall help them to a hempen string?”<\/p>\n not drive out. Alas! they did not. Compare Jos 13:13; Jos 15:63; Jos 16:10. Jdg 1:19, Jdg 1:21, Jdg 1:28, Jdg 1:29, Jdg 1:30-36; Jdg 2:1-5. See App-25. <\/p>\n pricks. Compare Jos 23:13. = for pricks. Compare Eze 28:24. Jdg 2:3. <\/p>\n shall be pricks: Exo 23:33, Deu 7:4, Deu 7:16, Jos 23:12, Jos 23:13, Jdg 1:21-36, Jdg 2:3, Psa 106:34-36, Eze 28:24 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Jos 9:24 – the Lord Jos 13:13 – expelled Rom 6:12 – Let not<\/p>\n Num 33:55. If ye will not drive out the inhabitants Those of them whom ye suffer to remain in the land through your cowardice, slothfulness, or friendship toward them, shall be a great plague to you, and bring sore calamities upon you; see Eze 28:24. Joshua intimates the same to them before he died, Num 23:13. Of this also an angel puts them in mind, Jdg 2:3. And so it came to pass, as we read there, (Num 33:14,) and throughout that whole book. Shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides Both vexatious and pernicious. Whosoever, by neglecting, through the Spirit, (to be sought by prayer,) to mortify the deeds of the body, and to crucify the flesh, with its sinful lusts, shall permit sinful tempers and desires to remain in his heart, will one day find by experience that these evil dispositions will be to his soul what the ancient inhabitants of Canaan were to the Israelites; they will be as pricks in his eyes, and thorns in his flesh A continual source of trouble and vexation, depriving him of true peace and comfort. But is it our privilege to be delivered from these corrupt passions and inclinations? Certainly it is, as much as it was the privilege of the Israelites to be delivered from the Canaanites. For Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, (Tit 2:14,) might sanctify and cleanse his church, and render it without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, Eph 5:26-27. And God promises, by Ezekiel, (Eze 36:25,) From all your filthiness and idols will I cleanse you. And faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it for all those that earnestly call upon, firmly confide in, and perseveringly seek him in the way he has appointed.<\/p>\n But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that 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 dwell. 55. as pricks in your … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 33:55”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"