Numbers 20 - Introduction
_THE DEATH OF MIRIAM: THE WATER OF MERIBAH: THE KING OF EDOM REFUSES THE ISRAELITES A PASSAGE THROUGH HIS DOMINIONS; THE DEATH OF AARON UPON MOUNT HOR._ _Before Christ 1452._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE DEATH OF MIRIAM: THE WATER OF MERIBAH: THE KING OF EDOM REFUSES THE ISRAELITES A PASSAGE THROUGH HIS DOMINIONS; THE DEATH OF AARON UPON MOUNT HOR._ _Before Christ 1452._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL— From Kadesh, where we left the Israelites, ch. Numbers 13:27 Numbers 14:25. They continued to wander in the desarts of Arabia thirty-seven years, and found there seventeen different encampments, ch. 33: After which, all that generation of murmurers being dead, Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION— Here, almost all the commentators say, God permitted the water which flowed from the rock in Horeb, and followed the Israelites through the wilderness, to fail them; and that with a design to try them, as he had tried their forefathers. But in our notes o... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE THE ROD— The celebrated rod, wherewith Moses had wrought so many miracles in Egypt, and which, it is probable, had been laid up somewhere in the sanctuary; because it is said, Numbers 20:9 _he took it from before the Lord:_ from which expression, Le Clerc and others understand it to have been A... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR NOW, YE REBELS— See ch. Numbers 17:10. What we render, _Must we fetch you water out of this rock?_ the Vulgate renders, _Can we, or are we able to fetch you,_ &c. which Houbigant follows: _an poterimus vobis aquam de ista petra extrahere?_ as much as to say, "What a strange demand! What! do you... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE YE BELIEVED ME NOT— Various have been the inquiries as to what the fault of Moses and Aaron was for which they were excluded the promised land. Some imagine that their manner of speaking to the people, _Hear, ye rebels,_ &c. was culpable; and that it is to this the Psalmist refers, when he s... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE WATER OF MERIBAH— So called from _chiding_ or _strife;_ and in Deuteronomy 32:51 distinguished from the other _Meribah_ at Horeb, by the name of Meribah Kadesh. Here _God was sanctified in them; i.e._ glorified his power, goodness, and truth, in the eyes of the Israelites, by this signal... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SENT MESSENGERS— The kingdom of Edom, founded by the posterity of Esau, was originally governed by dukes; Genesis 36:15 but at this time it was governed by kings. The learned Usher is of opinion, that the king, to whom Moses now sent, was Hadar, the same with him mentioned Genesis 36:39. H... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SENT AN ANGEL— We have, in various parts of the preceding commentary, shewn, that this was the _great Angel of the Covenant,_ or the Messiah. See Exodus 3:2; Exodus 14:19; Exodus 14:31. The word _fields,_ in the next verse, means the cultivated lands; and the whole offer of the Israelites is, th... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT DOING ANY THING ELSE— The Hebrew is _only, not a word:_ to which the different versions give different senses. The meaning seems to be, "It is not a mere promise, or verbal declaration; but we will perform what we say." Houbigant renders it, _Nulla erit concertatio; there shall be no contest... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS EDOM REFUSED TO GIVE ISRAEL PASSAGE— Grotius censures this conduct of the Edomites, as contrary to equity and the law of nations; by which the highways, as well as the seas and rivers of all countries, ought to be free for all who have a mind to pass through them upon just occasions; insomuch,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL—CAME UNTO MOUNT HOR— A mountain, or chain of mountains, on the east border of the land of Edom, ch. Numbers 33:37 which, probably, had its name from _Hori,_ the first possessor of it, Genesis 36:30 and is called, Deuteronomy 10:6. _Mosera._ Dr. Shaw thinks it is very probable,... [ Continue Reading ]
AARON SHALL BE GATHERED UNTO HIS PEOPLE: FOR, &C.— See Genesis 25:8. It is an indisputable proof, as Bishop Patrick well observes, that the earthly Canaan was not the utmost felicity at which God's promises to the Israelites aimed, since the best men among them were excluded from it: the subsequent... [ Continue Reading ]
STRIP AARON, &C.— This implied a solemn divesting Aaron of his office, and appointing Eleazar his successor in dignity and employment. The garments here mentioned were the robes of the high priest's office; see Isaiah 22:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
_NUMBERS 20:28_. A_ND AARON DIED THERE_— And there he was also buried; Deuteronomy 10:6 for it was the ancient custom to bury persons of eminence in high places. See Joshua 24:30; Joshua 24:33.Judges 2:9. This event fell out in the fortieth year after they came from Egypt, on the first day of the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MOURNED FOR AARON THIRTY DAYS— For such was the usual time of mourning for great persons: they mourned so long for Moses. Deuteronomy 34:8. Hence, probably, arose the custom among the Greeks, which Plutarch mentions: when any one lost an intimate friend, he offered a sacrifice to Apollo; and th... [ Continue Reading ]