Numbers 20:17

_LET US PASS, I PRAY THEE, THROUGH THY COUNTRY: WE WILL NOT PASS THROUGH THE FIELDS, OR THROUGH THE VINEYARDS, NEITHER WILL WE DRINK OF THE WATER OF THE WELLS: WE WILL GO BY THE KING'S HIGH WAY, WE WILL NOT TURN TO THE RIGHT HAND NOR TO THE LEFT, UNTIL WE HAVE PASSED THY BORDERS._ We will go by the king's high way - probably Wady el-Ghuweir (Robinson), through which ran one of the great lines of road, constructed for commercial caravans, as well as for the progress of armies. The engineering necessary for carrying this road over marshes or mountains, and the care requisite for protecting it from the shifting sands, led to its being under the special care of the state. Hence, the expression, "the king's highway," which is of great antiquity (Numbers 21:22; Isaiah 40:3;...

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 20:17. _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....

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

LET US PASS, I PRAY THEE, THROUGH THY COUNTRY,.... That being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were: WE WILL NOT PASS THROUGH THE FIELDS, OR THROUGH THE VINEYARDS; to harm them, and injure any man in his private property, by gathering the fruit of them, if the season of the year for it, or by trampling them down: NEITHER WILL WE DRINK OF THE WATER OF THE WELLS; which private persons had dug, for the watering of their fields and vineyards, and for other uses, at least without paying for it; or only of the waters of the rivers, common to all passengers; from hence it appears, that the country of Edom was not then such a barren country as in later times, and as travellers c now report it is; Malachi 1:3 WE WILL GO BY THE KING'S HIGHWAY; not the way in which the king used to walk, or which he

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)....

WELLS. Hebrew. _beer._ See note on Genesis 21:19....

_Permission to pass through Edom refused_. The Edomites occupied territory to the south of the Dead Sea, westward as far as Kadesh (Numbers 20:16) and southward as far as the eastern arm of the Red Sea (Numbers 21:4). The Israelites having failed long before to enter Canaan from the south, did not attempt it again (see, however, n. on Numbers 21:1-3), but proposed to enter it from the east. And if they could pass straight through Edom, their route would be greatly shortened. Edom's refusal forced them to work round the south of the hostile country, and then northwards along its eastern border....

C. PASSAGE REFUSED THROUGH EDOM vv. 14-21 TEXT 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: 15. How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers: 16. And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border. 17. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders. 18. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with th