_Five events at the close of the forty years wanderings_ Numbers 20:1a, arrival at the wilderness of Zin (P); Numbers 20:1 b, the death of Miriam (E); Numbers 20:2, the striking of the rock at Meribah (P); Numbers 20:14, permission to pass through Edom refused (J E); Numbers 20:22, the death of Aar... [ Continue Reading ]
_and Miriam died there_ At what period this took place is not stated. The event has no connexion with the following narrative.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The striking of the rock at Meribah_. Many characteristics of language indicate that this is mainly the work of P. In Exodus 17:1-7 there is another account (E) of the striking of the rock, the place being similarly named Meribah. It is probable that these are two traditions of the same event. In E... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the people strove_ The root of the verb (_rîbh_) is also that of the word _Merîbhâh_(-the place of strife"), the name of the place being thus explained by means of a play on words; cf. Numbers 20:13. _when our brethren died before_ JEHOVAH] in the revolt of Korah (ch. 16).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take the_ STAFF] Moses here receives no directions as to what he is to do with the staff: perhaps some clauses which originally contained them have been lost. -The staff" is spoken of as a definite well-known object. In E Moses is represented as using a staff given him by God (Exodus 4:17; Exodus 4... [ Continue Reading ]
As in Numbers 20:8, part of the narrative seems to have been lost. The sin which Moses and Aaron committed is not clearly defined. In Numbers 20:10 they appear to shew _anger_; and that is alluded to in Psalms 106:32 f. In Numbers 20:11 Moses is said to have struck the rock twice. He may have been c... [ Continue Reading ]
Had Moses and Aaron shewn a true faith they would have been the means of exhibiting God's holiness before the eyes of the people. By their unbelief they detracted from it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he was sanctified in them_ The verb is from the same root as that of Kadesh (-sacred"), and there is perhaps an intentional play on the name. The expression means -he proved, or vindicated, himself as holy," in spite of the sin of Moses and Aaron. _in them_ Either in the waters, i.e. by his miracl... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy brother Israel_ Edom was a Semitic tribe, closely connected with Israel by blood. In Genesis 25:21-26 Esau (Edom) and Jacob (Israel) are represented as twin brothers. _the travail_ lit. -the weariness"; the hardships of the long weary journey.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Permission to pass through Edom refused_. The Edomites occupied territory to the south of the Dead Sea, westward as far as Kadesh (Numbers 20:16) and southward as far as the eastern arm of the Red Sea (Numbers 21:4). The Israelites having failed long before to enter Canaan from the south, did not... [ Continue Reading ]
_the king's_ WAY] A main trade-route through the country. In modern Palestine such a route is known by the name of _darb es-sulṭân_or -Sultan's way.... [ Continue Reading ]
_without_doing _anything_else] lit. -it is not a matter"; i.e. it is not a matter that can cause you any injury or annoyance; it is a mere nothing that we ask.... [ Continue Reading ]
_mount Hor_ The site is unknown: but it is stated to be -by the border of the land of Edom" (Numbers 20:23), and -on the edge" of it (Numbers 33:37). In spite of this, tradition (found as early as Josephus and repeated by Jerome and Eusebius) places it near Petra; and this view is represented in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The death of Aaron_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his garments_ the official high-priest's vestments, with which Eleazar was robed, in token of his succession to the office; cf. Deuteronomy 10:6.... [ Continue Reading ]