Numbers 10:31

_AND HE SAID, LEAVE US NOT, I PRAY THEE; FORASMUCH AS THOU KNOWEST HOW WE ARE TO ENCAMP IN THE WILDERNESS, AND THOU MAYEST BE TO US INSTEAD OF EYES._ Leave us not, I pray thee. The earnest importunity of Moses to secure the attendance of this man, when he enjoyed the benefit of the directing cloud, has surprised many. But it should be recollected that the guidence of the cloud, though it showed the general route to be taken through the trackless desert, would not be so special and minute as to point out the places where pasture, shade, and water were to be obtained, and which were often hidden in obscure spots by the shifting sands. Besides, sever detachments were sent off from the main body. The services of Hobab, not as a single Arab, but as a prince of a powerful clan, would have been exceedingly useful; and as a guide they must have been as invaluable as they were urgently required;...

31._And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee. _Moses perseveres and urges what he had just said, that Hobab should be a sharer in the prosperity which God had given his people reason to expect. _“To this end” _(he says) “thou hast known all our stations in the desert,” which words commentators do not appear to have observed or understood; for they translate them simply, “for thou hast known,” as if Moses desired to retain Hobab to be of use to himself, whereas there is more than one causal particle here; (10) and thus it is literally, _“Since, for this cause, _thou hast known all our resting-places,” etc. Its meaning, then, is as follows, that Hobab was ill-advised for his own interest; for he had borne many inconveniences, for this reason, that he might at sonic time or other receive his recompense; as if it were said, Wherefore hast thou hitherto endured so many inconveniences whilst dir...

29-32 Moses invites his kindred to go to Canaan. Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan, should ask and encourage their friends to go with them: we shall have none the less of the joys of heaven, for others coming to share with us. It is good having fellowship with those who have fellowship with God. But the things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. Moses urges that Hobab might be serviceable to them. Not to show where they must encamp, nor what way they must march, the cloud was to direct that; but to show the conveniences of the place they marched through, and encamped in. It well consists with our trust in God's providence, to use the help of our friends....

Verse Numbers 10:31. _THOU MAYEST BE TO US INSTEAD OF EYES._] But what need had they of Hobab, when they had the pillar and fire continually to point out their way? Answer: The cloud directed their _general_ _journeys_, but not their _particular_ excursions. Parties took several journeys while the grand army lay still. (See Numbers 13, Numbers 20, Numbers 31, Numbers 32, c.) They therefore needed such a person as Hobab, who was well acquainted with the desert, to direct these particular excursions to point them out watering places, and places where they might...

THOU MAYEST BE TO US INSTEAD OF EYES - A proverbial expression still in use in the East. Hobab would indicate the spots where water, fuel, and pasture might be found, or warn them of the dangers from hurricanes, and point out localities infested by robbers....

EXPOSITION THE INVITATION TO HOBAB (Numbers 10:29-4). NUMBERS 10:29 HOBAB, THE SON OF RAGUEL, MOSES' FATHER-IN-LAW. It is not quite certain who this "Hobab" was. The name occurs only here and in Judges 4:11. The older opinion, followed by the A.V; identified Hobab with Jethro, and Jethro with Reuel the "priest of Midian," and father of Zipporah, Moses' wife. It is, of course, no real objection to this opinion that Hobab is here called the "son of Reuel;" for the name may quite well have been an hereditary one, like Abimelech and so many others. Nor need the multiplicity of nam

AND HE SAID,.... That is, Moses, he replied to Hobab, unwilling to take him at his word and go without him: LEAVE US NOT, I PRAY THEE; or "not now"; as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; at this present time, under our present difficulties, while we are in the wilderness; though Jarchi says the particle נא signifies beseeching or supplication: FORASMUCH AS THOU KNOWEST HOW WE ARE TO ENCAMP IN THE WILDERNESS; that this will be our case, that we shall be obliged, before we get to the promised land, to pitch our tents in the wilderness, in our passage through it; and thou knowest which are the best and most convenient places for that purpose, and therefore must entreat thee to go with us: AND THOU MAYEST BE TO US INSTEAD OF EYES; not to show the way, as Aben Ezra notes, or guide and direct them in the road through the wilderness; for the cloud by day and the fire by night were of that...

THOU MAYEST But see (Exodus 13:21); (Exodus 13:22); What need had Moses of Hobab's eyes? Compare (Jeremiah 17:5)....

MOSES-' REQUEST TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW. This section and the next (derived from JE) are parallel to, and not the sequel of, Numbers 10:11; for whereas in Numbers 10:12 the Israelites have reached Paran, in Numbers 10:33 they are only starting from Sinai. Moses-' father-in-law, called here (J) and in Judges 4:11 (_mg.)_ Hobab, is named in Exodus 3:1; Exodus 4:18 (E) Jethro, and in Exodus 2:18 * R

B. AN INVITATION TO HOBAB vv. 29-32 TEXT Numbers 10:29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses-' father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. 30. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. 31. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. 32. And it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. PARAPHRASE Numbers 10:29. And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses-' father-in-law, We are traveling to the p