CHAPTER XX _The Israelites come to Zin, and Miriam dies_, 1. _They murmur for want of water_, 2-5. _Moses and Aaron make supplication at the tabernacle, and the_ _glory of the Lord appears_, 6. _He commands Moses to take his rod, gather the congregation_ _together, and bring water out of the r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:2. _AND THERE WAS NO WATER FOR THE CONGREGATION_] The same occurrence took place to the children of Israel at _Kadesh_, as did formerly to their fathers at _Rephidim_, see Exodus 17:1; and as the _fathers_ murmured, so also did the _children_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:12. _BECAUSE YE BELIEVED ME NOT_] What was the offence for which Moses was excluded from the promised land? It appears to have consisted in some or all of the following particulars: 1. God had commanded him (Numbers 20:8) _to take the rod in his hand, and go and_ SPEAK TO THE ROCK,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:14. _SENT MESSENGERS - UNTO THE KING OF EDOM_] Archbishop Usher supposes that the king now reigning in Edom was _Hadar_, mentioned Genesis 36:39. _THUS SAITH THY BROTHER ISRAEL_] The Edomites were the descendants of Edom or Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel, from whom the Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:17. _WE WILL GO BY THE KING'S_ HIGH-_WAY_] This is the first time this phrase occurs; it appears to have been a public road made by the king's authority at the expense of the state.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:21. _THUS EDOM REFUSED TO GIVE ISRAEL PASSAGE THROUGH HIS_ _BORDER_] Though every king has a right to refuse passage through his territories to any strangers; yet in a case like this, and in a _time_ also in which _emigrations_ were frequent and universally allowed, it was both cru... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:26. _STRIP AARON OF HIS GARMENTS_] This was, in effect, depriving him of his office; and putting the clothes on his son Eleazar implied a transfer of that office to him. A transfer of office, from this circumstance of _putting the clothes_ of the late possessor on the person intende... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 20:28. _AND AARON DIED THERE_] Hence, as Dr. Lightfoot has justly observed, we have an "indisputable proof 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 remark of some of th... [ Continue Reading ]