Numbers 14:17

_AND NOW, I BESEECH THEE, LET THE POWER OF MY LORD BE GREAT, ACCORDING AS THOU HAST SPOKEN, SAYING,_ Let the power of my Lord be great - be magnified....

17._And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great. _He derives another ground of confidence from the vision, in which God had more clearly manifested His nature, from whence it appears how much he had profited by it, and what earnest and anxious attention he had paid to it. Hence, however, we derive a general piece of instruction, that there is nothing more efficacious in our prayers than to set His own word before God, and then to found our supplications upon His promises, as if He dictated to us out of His own mouth what we were to ask. Since, then, God had manifested Himself to Moses in that memorable declaration, which we have already considered, he was able to derive from thence a sure directory for prayer; for nothing can be more sure than His own word, on which if our prayers are based, there is no reason to fear that they will be ineffectual, or that their results sh...

11-19 Moses made humble intercession for Israel. Herein he was a type of Christ, who prayed for those that despitefully used him. The pardon of a nation's sin, is the turning away the nation's punishment; and for that Moses is here so earnest. Moses argued that, consistently with God's character, in his abundant mercies, he could forgive them....

The syntax of these verses is singularly broken. As did Paul when deeply moved, so Moses presses his arguments one on the other without pausing to ascertain the grammatical finish of his expressions. He speaks here as if in momentary apprehension of an outbreak of God’s wrath, unless he could perhaps arrest it by crowding in every topic of deprecation and intercession that he could mention on the instant....

EXPOSITION THE REBELLION AT KADESH (continued) (Numbers 13:1, Numbers 14:1). NUMBERS 14:1 AND THE PEOPLE WEPT THAT NIGHT. As the spies repeated their dismal tidings, each to the leading men of his own tribe, and as the report was spread swiftly through the tents (cf. Deuteronomy 1:27) with ever-increasing exaggerations, the lamentation became universal. NUMBERS 14:2 Murmured against Moses

AND NOW, I BESEECH THEE, LET THE POWER OF LORD BE GREAT,.... That is, appear to be great; the power of God is great, not only mighty, but almighty; it knows no bounds, nothing is impossible with him, he can do whatever he pleases, Psalms 147:5; his power, and the greatness of it, had been seen in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and in providing for them, protecting and defending them in the wilderness; and the request of Moses is, that it might appear greater and greater in bringing them into the land of promise; or else he means an exceeding great display of the grace and mercy of God in the forgiveness of the sins of the people; for as the power of God is seen in his forbearance and longsuffering with the wicked, Romans 9:22; much more in the forgiveness of the sins of

CHAPTER 14 The Rebellion of the People, Moses' Intercession and the Divine Sentence _ 1. The rebellion (Numbers 14:1)_ 2. The intercession of Moses (Numbers 14:11) 3. The divine sentence (Numbers 14:26) 4. The presumption of the people and the defeat (Numbers 14:40) The words of unbelief of the ten spies yielded an awful harvest among the people. The camp was transformed into a camp of despair, weeping and crying during the night. Outspoken rebellion against Moses and Aaron was heard on all sides. Worse than that took place; they accused Jehovah of deception. Such is unbelief. They

NUMBERS 14:11 (JE). YAHWEH'S THREAT _TO_ DISINHERIT THE PEOPLE, AND MOSES-' INTERCESSION FOR THEM. This section is derived from JE, as appears from the exemption of Caleb only (Numbers 14:24) from the sentence of exclusion from Canaan pronounced on the existing generation. Moses here shows the same self-effacement as in Exodus 32:11 f. [The plea that Yahweh should do nothing which would damage His reputation among the heathen emphasizes a motive for the Divine action which is specially prominent in Ezekiel. A. S. P.]. NUMBERS 14:14. THEY WILL TELL IT: literally, they will say; but what will be said is not re

MY LORD. Jehovah. One of the 134 alterations of the Sopherim. See App-32. Many codices, and first printed edition, read "Jehovah"....

LET THE POWER OF MY LORD BE GREAT— That this _power_ of the Lord refers to what follows, is evident to every reader. I cannot, therefore, help greatly approving the following version of Houbigant: _Wherefore, I beseech thee, let that magnificence of my Lord appear, which thou didst discover when saying,_ &c. The Samaritan renders it, _now let the virtue of the Lord be magnified._ The word כח _coach,_ which we render power, may very properly signify glory or honor; see Exodus 9:16 and then the Hebrew will literally be, _and now, I pray, let the glory of my Lord be magnified;_ see Calasio on the word כוח....