Numbers 20:14

_AND MOSES SENT MESSENGERS FROM KADESH UNTO THE KING OF EDOM, THUS SAITH THY BROTHER ISRAEL, THOU KNOWEST ALL THE TRAVAIL THAT HATH BEFALLEN US:_ Moses sent messengers ... unto the king of Edom. The Edomite monarchy was elective, not hereditary-the electoral body being, as Kurtz (vol. 3:, p. 340) suggests, the Alluphim or 'dukes' of the clan (cf. Genesis 36:1 with Exodus 15:15). The encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, because it was close to Teman, which was the northern extremity of Idumea, and adjacent to Palestine (Joshua 15:1; Ezekiel 25:13), being another name for mount Paran. 'Now, if the

Numbers 20:14._Thou knowest all the travel that hath befallen us. _This preface was well calculated to conciliate favor, when the sons of Jacob, descended from the same blood, familiarly approached the Edomites: for their connection ought to have rendered them hospitable. But there are two principal points whereby Moses endeavored to influence the mind of the king of Edom, so that he should grant them a passage through his dominions. The first is derived from the ordinary feelings of humanity; for nature dictates that aid should be extended to the wretched, who are unjustly oppressed. In this view, he says, that the afflictions which they had endured were notorious; viz., that as sojourners in Egypt they had been tyrannically harassed and oppressed. In saying that “the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers,” although they were not, at that time, endowed with capacity for estimating the

14-21 The nearest way to Canaan from the place where Israel encamped, was through the country of Edom. The ambassadors who were sent returned with a denial. The Edomites feared to receive damage by the Israelites. And had this numerous army been under any other discipline than that of the righteous God himself, there might have been cause for this jealousy. But Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing; and now the hatred revived, when the blessing was about to be inherited. We must not think it strange, if reasonable requests be denied by unreasonable men, and if those whom God favours be affronted by men....

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 Israelites were descended....

Compare the marginal reference. It appears from comparing Numbers 20:1 with Numbers 33:38, that the host must have remained in Kadesh some three or four months. No doubt time was required for re-organization. In order to gain the banks of Jordan by the shortest route they had to march nearly due east from Kadesh, and pass through the heart of the Edomite mountains. These are lofty and precipitous, traversed by two or three narrow defiles. Hence, the necessity of the request in Numbers 20:17. THY BROTHER - An appeal to the Edomites to remember and renew the old kindnesses of Jacob and Esau...

EXPOSITION THE LAST MARCH: FROM KADESH TO HOR (Numbers 20:1). NUMBERS 20:1 THEN CAME THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, EVEN THE WHOLE CONGREGATION. The latter words are emphatic here and in Numbers 20:22, and seem intended to mark the period of reassembly after the dispersion of nearly thirty eight years. Probably a portion of the tribes had visited Kadesh many times during those years, and perhaps it had never been wholly abandoned. INTO THE DESERT OF ZIN, _i.e; _if the western site be maintained for Kadesh, the Wady Murreh. See th

AND MOSES SENT MESSENGERS FROM KADESH UNTO THE KING OF EDOM,.... This country was sometimes governed by kings, and sometimes by "dukes", see Genesis 36:14. At the time of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, we read of the dukes of Edom, Exodus 15:15, and here, thirty nine years after, of a king of Edom, but who he was is not certain. Bishop Usher takes him to be the same with Hadar, the last of the race of kings mentioned in Genesis 36:39, to him Moses sent messengers with a request, which follows after a preamble to it; who were the messengers is not said; the place from whence they were sent is Kadesh, a city on the borders of the land of Edom; but not Kadeshbarnea, Aben Ezra says, though some are of opin

10. AT KADESH IN THE FORTIETH YEAR: MURMURING AND CONQUEST CHAPTER 20 _ 1. The death of Miriam (Numbers 20:1)_ 2. The murmuring of the people (Numbers 20:2) 3. The divine instruction (Numbers 20:6) 4. Moses' and Aaron's failure (Numbers 20:9) 5. Edom's refusal (Numbers 20:14) 6. The death of Aaron (Numbers 20:23) Between the nineteenth and twentieth chapter lies the unrecorded period of almost 38 years, th

ISRAELS ABORTIVE APPEAL TO EDOM (JE). Israel's desire to cross Edom was due to the wish to attack Canaan on the E. instead of on the S., where they had met with defeat (Numbers 14:45). As Kadesh was W. of Edom, the encompassing of the country (Numbers 21:4) involved a march from Kadesh to the SE. NUMBERS 20:16. BORDER: The term here means territory (_cf. Numbers 22:36_). Numbers 20:19. without. else: better, it is no great matter (of annoyance)....

BEFALLEN US. "found us". Figure of speech _Prosopopoeia._ App-6....