9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every "meat-offering of theirs, and every ' sinoffering of theirs, and every " trespass-offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons.
10 ' In the most holy p/ace shalt thou eat it; every male shall cat it: it shall be holy unto
1 1 And this is thine; ^' the heave-offering of their gift, with all the wave-offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto ^ thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: ^ every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.
12 ^ All the "best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, '' the firstfruits of them which they sliall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee.
1.*? And> whatsoever is first ripe in the land, ■^ which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; '' every one that is clean in thine house shall cat of it.
14 " Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.
1 5 Every thing that openeth ^ the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless s the first-born of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.
from the root m^ lai-ah, to join to, couple, associate: hence Moses says, the Levites, llS' yillavu, shall l)e joined, or associated with the priests; they shall conjointly perform the whole of the sacred office, but the priests shall be principal, the Levites only their associates or assistants. For an explanation of many parts of this chapter, see the notes on several of the passages referred to in the margin.
Verse 15. The first-born of man — and the ftrstlin<: of unclean bea.$ls] Thus vain man is rankcil wuh the beasts that perish; and with the worst kinds of ihein too, those deemed unclean.
A. M. cir. 2533. 1 6.(Viid tliose that arc to be kn. kxoii. isr. redeemed from a month old slialt ""' ^°' thou redeem, ** according to thine estimation, for tlic money of five sliekcls, after the siiekel of tlie sanctuary, ' whicii is twenty gerahs.
1 7 '' But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shall not redeem; they are holy: ' thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the Lord.
Verse 16. Shalt thou redeem — -for the money of Jive shekels] Redemption of the first-born is one of the rites which is still practised among the Jews. According to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the following manner: — When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron: several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup containing sevenal pieces of gold and silver coin. The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the mother, says: 7s this thy son? — Mother. Yes. — Priest. Hast thou never had another child, male or female, a misrarriage or untimely birth.'—Mother. No. — Priest. This being the case, this child, as first-born, belongs to me. Tiren, turning to the father, he says; If it be thy desire to have this child, thou must redeem it. — Father. I present thee with this gold and silver for this purpose. — Priest. Thou dost tcish, therefore, to redeem the child? — Father. I do wish so to do. — The priest then, turning himself to the assembly, says: Very well; this child, as first-born, is mine, as it is written in Bemidbar, (Num. xviii. 16,) Thou shalt redeem the first-born of a month old for five shekels, hut I shall content myself with this in exchange. He then takes two gold crowns, or thereabouts, and returns the child to his parents.
Verse 19. 7/ is a covenant of salt] That is, an incorruptible, everlasting covenant. As salt was added to different kinds of viands, not only to give them a relish, but to preserve them from putrefaction and decay, it became the emblem of incorruptibility and permanence. Hence, a covenant of salt signified an everlasting covenant. We have already seen that, among the Asiatics, eating together was deemed a bond of perpetual fricndsliip; and as salt was a common article in all thoir repasts, it may be in reference to this circumstance that a perpetual covenant is termed a. covenant of salt; because the parties ate together of the sacrifice offered on the occasion, and the whole transaction was considered as a league of endless friendship. See the note on Lev. ii. 13.
Verse 20. I Mn thy part and llune inheritance] The principal part of what was offered to God was the portion of the priests, therefore they had no inheritance of land in Israel; independently of that they had a very ample provision for their support. The rabbins a 674
1 8 And the flesh of them shall A. M. cir. 2533.
be tlune, as the "■ wave-breast. An. Kxod. Ur. and as the right shoulder arc ''"•^- thine.
19" All the lieave-ofTerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer nnto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thcc, by a statute for ever: ° it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord, unto thee and to thy seed with thee.
20 And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither
say twenty-four gifts were given to the priests, and they are all expressed in the law. Eight of those gifts the priests ate nowhere but in the sanctuary: these eight are the following: —
1. The flesh of the sin-offering, whether of beastis or fowls. Lev. vi. 25, 26.
4. The remainder of the o.mer or sheaf, Lev. xxiii.
5. The remnants of the meat-offebings of the Israelites, Lev. vi. 16.
8. The LOG pf OIL offered by the leper. Lev. xiv
1. The breast and shoulder of the peace-offerings. Lev. vii. 31, 34.
5. The field of possession. Num. xxxv. These two were common.
3. The LAMB for the firstling of an a.ts, E.xod. iv 20; Num. xviii.
4. The restitution of that taken by violence from a stranger. Num. v. 8.
An. Exod. Isr. them: P 1 am thy part and thine '^"' ' inheritance among the children
21 And, behold, ' I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even ^ the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
22 '^ Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, ' lest they bear sin, " and die.
23 " But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.
24 " But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as a heave-offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, '^ Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them. When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer
One gift was due unto them from the sanctuary: — I. The skins of the btirnl-offei-ing, and all the skins of the other most holy things, Lev. vii. 8. In all 24.
Verse 2 1. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth] First, the Levites had the tenth of all the productions of the land.
3. They had 2,000 cubits of ground round each city. Total of the land they possessed, 53,000 acres.
4. They had the first-fruits and certain parts of all the animals killed in the land.
Canaan contained about 11,264,000 acres; therefore the portion possessed by the Levites was rather less than as one to two hundred and twelve; for
27 ^ And this your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshing-floor, and as the fulness of the wine-press.
28 Thus ye also shall offer a heave-offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave-offering to Aaron the priest.
29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave-offering of the Lord, of all the " best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it.
30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, '' then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine-press.
3 1 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it is " your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.
32 And ye shall '' bear no sin by reason of it, when 5^0 have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye " pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.
11,264,000 divided by 53,000, quotes only 213|j. — See Loivman, Dodd, &c. But though this was a very small proportion for a ivhole tribe that had consented to annihdate its political cvistence, that it might wait upon the service of God, and labour for the people's souls; yet let it he considered that what they possessed was the best of the land: and while it was a slender remuneration for their services, yet their portion was such as rendered them independent, and kept them comfortable; so that they could wait on the Lord's work without distraction. This is a proper paUern for the maintenance of the ministers of God: let them have a sufficiency for themselves and families, that there may be no distracting cares; and let them not be encumbered with nc/ies or worldly possessions, that they may not be prevented from taking care of souls. Verse 28. Thus ye also shall offer a heavc-offcring] As the Levites had the tithe of tlie whole land, they themselves were obliged to give the tithe of this tithe to the priests, so that this considerably lessened their revenue. And this tithe or tenth they were obliged to select from the best part of tlie substance they had received, ver. 29, &c. A portion of all must be given to God, as an evidence of his goodness, and their dependence on him. See the end of chap. XX.
The ordinance of the red heifer, 1,2. She shall be slain by Eleazai without the camp, and her Uooi sprin/cled before the tabernacle, 3, 4. Ifer lohole body and appurtenance shall be reduced to ashes, and while burning, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, shall be thrown into the fire, 5, G. The pnest, and he that burns her, to bathe themselves and be reputed unclean till the evening, 7, 8. Her ashes to be laid up for a water of purification, 9. How, and in what cases it is to be applied, 10-13. The law concerning him who dies in a tent, or who is hilled in the open field, 14—16. How the persons, tent, and vessels are to he purified by the application of these ashes, 17-19. The unclean person who does not apply them, to be cut off from the congregation, 20. This is to be a perpetual statute, 21, 22.
2 This is the ordinance of the law which tlie Lord hatli commanded, saying. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer w'ithout spot, wherein is no blemish, ' and upon which never came yoke:
3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her *■ forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and ■= sprinkle of her
Verse 2. Speah unto the children of Israel that they bring thee, cj-c] The ordinance of the red heifer was a sacrifice of general application. All the people were to have an interest in it, and therefore the people at large are to provide the sacrifice. This JewLsh rite certainly had a reference to things done under the Gospel, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has remarked: " For if," says he, " the blood of bulls and of goats," alluding, probably, to the sin-offerings and the scape-goat, " and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God!" Heb. ix. 13, 14. As the principal stress of the allusion here is to the ordinance of the red heifer, we may certainly conclude that it was designed to typify the sacrifice of our blessed Lord.
1..V heifer was appointed for a sacrifice, probably, in opposition to the Egyptian supcr-stition which held these sacred, and actually worshipped their great god- Jess Isis under this form; and lliis appears the more likely because males in general were preferred for sacrifice, yet here the female is chosen.
3. It was to be a red heifer, because red bulls were sacrificed to appease tlie evil demon Typhon, worshipped among the Egyptians. See Spencer.
3. The heifer was to be without spot — having no mixture of any other colour. Plutarch remarks, De
5 And one shall bum the heifer in his sight; "• her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall lie bum:
6 And the priest shall take ^ cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
7 ' Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and aftenvard he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
8 And he that burnetii her shall wash his
Iside el de Osiride, that if there was a single hair in the animal either white or black, it marred the sacrifice. See Calmet, and see the note on chap. viii. 7.
4. Without blemish — having no kind of imperfection in her body; the other, probably, applying to the hair or colour.
5. On which never came yoke, because any animal which had been used for any common purpose was deemed improper to be offered in sacrifice to God. The heathens, who appear to have borrowed much from the Hebrews, were very scrupulous in this particular. Neither the Greeks nor Romans, nor indeed the Egyptians, would offer an animal in sacrifice that had been employed for agricultural purposes. Of this we have the most positive evidence from Homer, Porphyry, Virgil, and Macrobius.
Just such a sacrifice as that prescribed here, does Diomede vow to offer to Pallas. — Iliad, lib. x.,ver. 291.
" So now be present, O celestial maid; So still continue to the race thine aid; A yearling heifer falls beneath the stroke. Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke, With ample forehead and with spreading horns, Whose tapering tops refulgent gold adorns." Altered from Pope In the very same words Nestor, Odyss.,Iib. iii., ver 382, promises a similar sacrifice to Pallas.
An. Exod. Isr. flesli in Water, and shall be un- ''^^' ^°' clean until the even.
9 And a man that is clean shall gather up f tlie ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel ^ for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
10 And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
1 1 ' He that toucheth the dead body of any ^ man shall be unclean seven days.
1 2 ' He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, ■" defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and tliat soul shall be cut oif from Israel: because " the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; " his uncleanness is yet upon him.
14 This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15 And every i" open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
16 And 1 whosoever toucheth one that is
The Romans had the same religion with the Greeks, and consequently the same kind of sacrifices; so Virgil, Georg. iv., ver. 550.
Quatuor eximios prffistanti corpore tauros Ducit, et inlacta lotidera cervice _;Mt)encas.
" From his herd he culls
For slaughter four the fairest of his bulls; Four heifers from his female stock he took, AIl/ai>, and all unknowing of the yoke." — Dryden.
It is very likely that the Gentiles learnt their first sacrificial rites from the patriarchs; and on this account we need not wonder to find so many coincidences in the sacrificial system of the patriarchs and Jews, and all the neighbouring nations.
Verse f). For a water of separation] That is, the ashes were to be kept, in order to be mi.\ed with water, ver. 17, and sprinkled on those who had contracted any legal defilement.
17 And for an unclean person they shall take of the ' ashes '^ of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and ' running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
1 8 And a clean person shall take '^ hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
1 9 And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: ^ and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath ^ defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
21 And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.
22 And ^ whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and ^ the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
A''erse 1 1. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.] How low does this lay man! He who touched a dead beast was only unclean for one day, Lev. xi. 24, 27, 39; but he who touches a dead man is unclean for seven days. This was certainly designed to mark the peculiar impurity of man, and to show his sinfulness — seven times worse than the vilest animal! O thou son of the morning, how art thou fallen!
Verse 12. He shall purify himself icilh it] n XDnn' yilhchalta bo, literally, he shall sin himself with it. This Hebrew form of speech is common enough among us in other matters. Thus to fleece, to bark, and to skin, do not signify to add a fleece, another hark, or a skin, but to take one away; therefore, to sin him.':elf in the Hebrew idiom, is not to add sin, but to take it away, to purify. The verb NDP chata signifies to miss the mark, to sin, to purify from sin, and to make a sin-offering. See tlie note on Gen. xiii. 13.
The Hebrews gener-.iily sacrificed males, no matter of what colour; but here a heifer, and a heifer of a red colour, is ordered. The reason of these circumstances is not very well known.
" The rabbins, with all their boldness," says Calmet, " who slick at nothing when it is necessary to explain what they do not understand, declare that the cause of this law is entirely unknown; and that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not find it out."
Several fathers, as well modem as ancient, profess to understand the whole clearly. 1. The red heifer ■with them signifies the flesh of otir Lord, formed out of an earthly substance. 2. 'Reingioilhout spot, &LC., the infinite holiness of Christ. 3. The sex of the animal, the infirmity of our flesh, with which he clotlied himself 4. The red colour, his passion. 5. Being unyoked, his being righteous in all his conduct, and neveT under the yoke of sin. 6. £/ea::ar'i sacrificing the heifer instead of Aaron, ver. 3, signifies the change of the priesthood from the family of Aaron, in order that a new and more perfect priesthood might take place. 7. The red heifer being taken without the camp (ver. 3) to be slain, points out the crucifixion of our Lord without the city. 8. The complete consuming of the heifer by fire, the complete offering of the whole body and soul of Christ as a sacrifice to God for the sin of man: for as the heifer was without blemish, the whole might be offered to God; and as Christ was immaculate, his whole body and soul were made a sacrifice for sin. 9. As the fire of this sacrifice ascended up to God, so it points out the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord. 10. And as the ashes of this victim communicated a legal purity to those who were defiled, so true repentance, signified by those ashes, is necessary for the expiation of the offences committed after baptism. A great part of this is true in itself; but how little evidence is there that all these things were intended in the ordinance of the red heifer? See on chap. viii. 7.
The Israelites come to Zin, and Miriam dies, 1. They murmur for want of loater, 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 rock, 7, 8. Moses takes thi rod, gathers the Israelites together, chides with them, and smites the rock twice, and the waters flow out plenteously, 9-11. The Lord is offended with Moses and Aaron because they did not sanctify him in the sight of the children of Israel, 12. The place is ca/M Meribah, 13. Moses sends a friendly message to the king of Edom, begging liberty to pass through his territories, 14—17. The Edornites refuse, 18. The Israelites expostulate, 19. The Edomites still refuse, and prepare to attack them, 20, 21. The Israelites go to Mount Hor, 23. Aaron is commanded to prepare for his death, 23, 24. Aaron is stripped on Mount Hor, and his vestments put on Eleazar his son; Aaron dies, 25-28. The people mourn for him thirty days, 29.
A''erse 1. Then came the children of Israel, c^-c] This was the first month of the fortieth year after their departure from Egypt. See chap, xxxiii. 38, comp.ared with ver. 28 of this chapter, and Deut. i. 3. The transactions of thirty-seven years Moses passes by, because he writes not as a historian but as a legislator; and gives us particularly an account of tlie laws, ordinances, and other occurrences of the first and last years of their peregrinations. The year now spoken of was the last of their journeyings; for from the going out of the spies, chap, xiii., unto this time, was about thirty-eight years, Deut. i. 22, 23, ii. 14.
Desert of Zin] Calmet contends that this is not the same desert mentioned Exod. xvi. 1, where Isr-iel had their eighth encampment; that in Exodus being called in the original j'D sin, this here ['i' tsin: but this is no positive proof, as letters of the same organ are frequently interchanged in all languages, and particularly in Hebrew.
Kadesh; and '' Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2 ' And there was no water for the congregation: ^ and they gathered them-
And Miriam died there] Miriam was certainly older than Moses. When he was an infant, exposed on the river Nile, she was intrusted by her parents to watch the conduct of Pharaoh's daughter, and to manage a most delicate business, that required much address and prudence. See Exod. ii. It is supposed that she was at the time of her death one hundred and thirty years of age, having been at least ten years old at her brother's birth. The Catholic writers represent her as a type of the Virgin Mary; as having preserved a perpetual virginity; as being legislatrix over the Israelitish women, as Moses was over the men; and as having a large portion of the spirit of prophecy. Eusebius says that her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of Petra, in his time. She appears to h.ave died about four months before her brother Aaron, chap, xxxiii. 38, and eleven before her brother Moses; so that these three, the most eminent of human beings, died in the space, of one year!
^"^ 3 And the people " chode with
Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died ' when our brethren died before the Lord!
4 And? why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and ^ they fell upon their faces: and ' the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.
8 ^ Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and ' thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod ™ from before the ' Lord, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the con-
tioii] The same occurrence took place to the children of Israel at Kadesh, as did formerly to their fathers at Rephidi/n, see Exod. xvii. 1; and as the fathers murmured, so also did the children.
Verse 12. Because ye believed me not] What was the olTence 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 (ver. 8) to take Ike rod in his hand, and go and SPEAK to thk bock, and it should give forth water. It seems Moses did not think speaking would be sufficient, therefore he smote the rock without any command so to do. 2. He did this (icke, which certainly in this case indicated a great perturbation of spirit, and want of attention to the presence of God. 3. He permitted his spirit to he carried away by a sense of the people's disobedience, and thus, being protjoked, he was led to speak unadvisedly with his lips: Hear now, ye RKBRi,s,yeT. 10. 4. He did not acknowledge GOD in the miracle which was about to be gregation together before the rock, a.m. 2553. and he said unto them, "Hear An.Exod.lsV. now, ye rebels; must we fetch * '
1 1 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and ° the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
Aaron, Because Pye believed me not, to "i sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
1 3 ■■ This is the water of " Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.
14 ' And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, ^ Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travel that hath " befallen us:
15'" How our fathers went down into Egypt, " and we have dweh in Egypt a long time; y and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:
1 6 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,
WTought, but took the honour to himself and Aaron: " Must WE fetch you water out of this rock V Thus it plainly appears that they did not properly believe in God, and did not honour him in the sight of the people; for in their presence they seem to express a doubt whether the thing could be possibly done. As Aaron appears to have been consenting in the above particulars, therefore he is also excluded from the promised land.
Verse 14. Sent messengers — unto the king of Edom] Archbishop Usher supposes that the king now reigning in Edom was Hadar, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 39.
Thus sailh thy brother Israel] The Edomites were the descendants of Edom or Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel, from whom the Israelites were descended.
Verse 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.
nor to the left, until we have passed thy
18 And Edom said unio hiin. Thou shall not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
19 And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high-way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, " then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.
20 And he said, '^ Thou shall not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
2 1 Thus Edom " refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel ' turned away from him.
22 And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from s Kadesh, '' and came unto Mount Hor.
Verse 2 1. 7%ui 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 cruelty and oppression in Edom to refuse a passage to a comparatively unarmed and inoffensive multitude, who were all their own near kinsmen. It appears however that it was only the Edomites of Kadesh that were thus unfriendly and cruel; for from Deut. ii. 29 we learn that the Edomites who dwelt in Mount Seir treated them in a hospitable manner. This cruelty in the Edomites of Kadesh is strongly reprehended, and threatened by Ihe Prophet Obadiah, ver. 10, &c.
Verse 26. Strip Aaron of his garments] This was, in effect, depriving him of his office; and pulling 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 intended to succeed him, was called investing or investment, (clothing;) as removing a person from an office was termed dtvcsling or unclothing. Among the Catholics, and in the Church of England, this same method is used in degrading ecclesiastics. Hence such a degradation is termed by the common people stripping a 7nan of his gown.
Verse 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
Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast A. M. 2!i.';3. of the land of Edom, saying. An.' Exod. uV.
unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because '' ye rebelled against my ' word at the water of Meribah.
25 " Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor:
26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.
27 And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into Mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation.
28 " And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and ° Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.
29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron " thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
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 the fathers here is worthy of attention; " Neither Jloses the representative of the law, nor Miriam the representative of the prophets, nor Aaron the representative of the priesthood and its sacrificial rites, could bring the Israelites into possession of the promised land. This was reserved for Joshua, who was in name and conduct the lively type of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." He alone can bring those who believe in his name into that rest which remains for the people of God.
There are some observations made by Dr. Lightfoot on this and some of the preceding ckapters which should be more generally known.
" The place where the people murmured upon the return of the spies was Kadesh- Barnca, chap. xiii. 26; x.wii. 8; Deut. i. 19. This place was called Rithmah before, (chap. x.\xiii. 18, compared with chap..\ii. 16, and xiii. 20,) and was so called probably from the juniper trees that grew there; but is now named Kadesh, beoausc the Lord was there sanctified upon the people, as chap. xx. 13; and Barnca, or the wandering son, because here was the decree made of their long wandering in the wilderness. They continued a good space at Kadesh before they removed; for so said Moses, Ye abode in Kadesh many days; or as the Hebrew, According to the days that ye had mads abode, namely, at Sinai, ver. 6. And so thev speak one whole year there, for so they had done at Sinai, And whereas God commands them at their murmuring to turn back to the Red Sea, (Deut. i. 40,) his meaning was, that at their next march, whensoever it was, they should not go forward unto Canaan, but back again towards the Red Sea, whence they came; (but see on Deut. i. 1.) And they did so, for they wandered by many stations and marches from Kadesh- Bamea till they came to Kadesh-Barnea again, seven or eight and thirty years after they had first left it. These marches, mentioned in chap, xxxiii., were these: From Kadesh or Rithmah to Rimmon Parez, to Libnah, to Rissah, to Kehelathah, to Mount Shapher, to Haradah, to Makheloth, to Tahath, to Tarah, to Mith- cah, to Hashmonah, to Moseroth, to Benejaahan, to Horhagidgad, to Jolhathah, to Ehronah, to Ezion^ Gaber, to Kadesh again, in the fortieth year. And though it was only eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-Barnea, (Deut. i. 2,) they made it above thrice eleven years' journey '." Had they trusted in God, and obeyed him, their enemies long ere this would have been discomfited, and themselves quietly established in possession of the promised inheritance. But they grieved the Spirit of God, and did not believe his promise; and it would have been inconsistent with the whole economy of grace to have introduced unbelievers into that rest which was a type of the kingdom of God.
Arad, a king of the Canaanites, attacks Israel, and makes smne prisoners, 1. They devote him and his people to destruction, 2; which they afterwards accomplished, 3. They journey from Hor, and are greatly discouraged, 4. They murmur against God and Moses, and loathe the manna, 5. The Lord sends fery serpents among them, 6. They repent, and beg Moses to intercede for them, 7. The Lord directs him to make a brazen serpent, arid set it on a pole, that the people might look on it and be healed, 8. Moses does so, and the people who beheld the brazen serpent lived, 9. They journey to Oboth, Ije-abarira, Zared, and Arnon, 10-13. A quotation from the book of the wars of the Lord, 14, 15. From Arnon they come to Beer, 16. Their song of triumph, 17—20. Moses sends messengers to the Amorites for permission to pass through their land, 21, 22. Sihon their king refuses, attacks Israel, is defeated, and all his cities destroyed, 23-26. The poetic proverbs made on the occasion, 27—30. Israel possesses the land of the Amontes, 31, 32. They are attacked by Og king of Bashan, 33. They defeat him, destroy his troops and family, and possess his land, 34, 35.
A ND when ^ King Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, lieard tell that Israel came '' by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners.
2 " And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then * I will utterly destroy their cities.
3 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites: and
Verse 1. The way of the spies] □■"triN atharim. Some think that this signifies the way that the spies took when they went to search the land. But this is impossible, as Dr. Kennicott justly remarks, because Israel had now marched from Meribah-Kadesh to Mount Hor, beyond Ezion-Gaber, and were turning round Edom to the south-east; and therefore the word is to be understood here as the name of a
Verse 3. The Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel] The whole of this verse appears to me to have been added after the days of Joshua. It is certain the Canaanites were not utterly destroyed at the time here
4 And ' they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to s compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much *■ discouraged ' because of the way.
5 And the people * spake against God, and against Moses, ' Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any wa ter, and "" our soul loatheth this light bread.
spoken of, for this did not take place till after the death of Moses. If, instead of utterly destroyed them, D">n'l vaiyacharem, we translate they devoted them to utter destruction, it will make a good sense, and not repugnant to the Hebrew; though some think it more probable that the verse was added afterwards by Joshua or Ezra, in testimony of the fulfilment of God's promise; for Arad, who is mentioned as being destroyed here, is mentioned among those destroyed by Joshua long after, (see Josh. xii. 14:) but this is quite consistent with their being devoted to destruction, as this might be fulfilled any time after. See the note on Lev. xxvii.
6 And " tlie Lord sent " fiery
serpents among tlie people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 i" Therefore liie people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for i we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee: ' pray mito the Lord, that he take away the serpents from
word of excessive scorn; as if they had said, This innutritive, unsubstantial, cheat-stomach stuff.
Verse 6. Fienj serpen! s] D' 2'\ZT\ U'ur\i'r\ hannechashim hasscraphim. 1 have observed l)cfore, on Gen. iii., that it is difficult to assign a name to the creature termed in Hebrew nachash; it has different significations, but its meaning here and in Gen. iii. is most difficult to be ascertained. Seraphim is one of the orders of angelic beings, Isa. vi. 2, 6; but as it comes from the root 'y\U saraph, which signifies to burn, it has been translated _/icr^ in the text. It is likely that St. Paul alludes to the seraphim, Heb. i. 7: Who malielh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of PiRE. The animals mentioned here by Moses may have been called fiery because of the heat, violent inflammation, and thirst, occasioned by their bite; and consequently, if serpents, they were of the prester or dipsas species, whose bite, especially that of the former, occasioned a violent inflammation through the whole body, and a fiery appearance of the countenance. The poet Lucan has well e,\pressed this terrible effect of the bite of the prester, and also of the dipsas, in the ninth book of his Pharsalia, which, for the sake of those who may not have the work at hand, I shall here insert.
Of the mortal effects of the bite of the dipsas in the deserts of Libya he gives the following description: —
" Signiferum juvenem Tyrrheni sanguinis Aulum Torta caput retro dipsas calcata momordit. Vix dolor aut sensus dentis fuit: ipsaque lati Frons caret invidia: nee quidquam plaga minatur. Ecce subit vims tacitum, carpitque medullas Ignis cdax, cahdaque incendit viscera tabe. Ebibil humorem circum vitalia fusum Pestis, et in sicca linguam torrere palato Coepit: defessos iret qui sudor in artus Non fuit, alque ocnlos lacrymarum vena refugit."
Aulus, a noble youth of Tyrrhene blood. Who bore the standard, on a dipsas trod; Backward the wrathful serpent bent her head, And, fell with rage, the unheeded wrong repaid. Scarce did some little mark of hurt remain. And scarce he found some little sense of pain. Nor could he yet the danger doubt, nor fear That death with all its terrors threatened there. When lo '. unseen, the secret venom spreads. And every nobler part at once invades; Swift flames consume the marrow and the brain, And ihe scorched entrails rage with burning pain; Upon his heart the thirsty poisons prey, And drain the sacred juice of life away.
8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And ° Moses made a serpent of brass, and
No kindly floods of moisture bathe his tongue,
But cleaving to the parched roof it hung;
No trickling drops distil, no dewy sweat.
To ease his weary limbs, and cool the raging heat.
The effects of the bite of the prester are not less terrible: —
" Nasidium Marsi cultorem torridus agri Percussit prester: illi rubor igneus ora Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figura, Miscens cuncta tumor toto jam corpore major: Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra Efflatur sanies, late toUente veneno."
A fate of different kind Nasidius found, A buT-ning prester gave the deadly wound; And straight, a sudden fame began to spread, And paint his visage with a glowing red. With swift expansion swells the bloated skin, Naught but an undistinguished mass is seen; While the fair human form lies lost within. The pufly poison spreads, and heaves around. Till all the man is in the monster drowned.
Bochart supposes that the hydrus or chersydnis is meant; a serpent that lives in marshy places, the bite of which produces the most terrible inflammations, burning heat, fetid vomitings, and a putrid solution of the whole body. See his works, vol. iii., col. 421. It is more likely to have been a serpent of the prester or dipsas kind, as the wilderness through which the Israelites passed did neither afford rivers nor marshes, though Bochart endeavours to prove that there might have been marshes in that part; but his arguments have very little weight. Nor is there need of a water serpent as long as the prester or dipsas, which abound in the deserts of Libya, might have abounded in the deserts of Arabia also. But very probably the serpents themselves were immediately sent by God for the chastisement of this rebellious people. The cure was certainly preternatural; this no person doubts; and why might not Ihe agent be so, that inflicted the disease 1
Verse 9. And Moses made a serpent of brass] vrM nrnj nechash nechosheth. Hence we find that the word for brass or copper comes from the same root with nachash, which here signifies a serpent, probably on ao-
10 And the children of Israel set forward, and ' pitched in Oboth.
1 1 And they journeyed from Oboth, and " pitched at " Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising.
12" From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared.
count of the colour; as most serpents, especially those of the bright spotted kind, have a very glistening appearance, and those who have brown or yellow spots appear something like burnished brass: but the true meaning of the root cannot be easily ascertained.
On the subject of the cure of the serpent-bitten Israelites, by looking at the brazen serpent, there is a good comment in the book of Wisdom, chap. xvi. 4—13, in which are these remarkable words: "They were admonished, having a sign of salvation, (i. e., the brazen serpent,) to put them in remembrance of the commandments of thy law. For he that turned himself towards it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by thee, that art the Saviour of all." To the circumstance of looking at the brazen serpent in order to be healed, our Lord refers, John iii. 14, 15: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The brazen serpent was certainly nu ti/pe of Jesus Christ; but from our Lord's words we may learn, 1. That as the serpent was lifted up on the pole or ensign, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. 2. That as the Israelites were to look at the brazen serpent, so sinners must look to Christ for salvation. 3. That as God provided no other remedy than this looking- for the wounded Israelites, so he has provided no other way of salvation than faith in the blood of his Son.
4. That as he who looked at the brazen serpent was cured and did live, so he that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life.
5. That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God healed the people, so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men. May not all these things be plainly seen in the circumstances of this transaction, without making the serpent a type of Jesus Christ, (the most exceptionable that could possibly be chosen,) and running the parallel, as some have done, through ten or a dozen particulars 1
Verse 12. They — pitched in the valley of Zared.] T't ^r\i nachal zared. This should be translated the brook Zared, as it is in Deut. ii. 13, 14. This stream ii3B its origin in the mountains eastward of Moab, and
for ^ Arnon is the border of Moab, between
14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, y What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,
15 And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, ^ and " lietli upon the border of Moab.
1 6 And from thence they went *> to Beer: that
Verse 13. Arnon] Another river which takes its rise in the mountains of Moab, and, after having separated the ancient territories of the Moabites and Ammonites, falls into the Dead Sea, near the mouth of Jordan.
Verse 1 4. The look of the wars of the Lord] There are endless conjectures about this book, both among ancients and moderns. Dr. Lightfoot's opinion is the most simple, and to me bears the greatest appearance of being the true one. " This book seems to have been some book of remembrances and directions, written by Moses for Joshua's private instruction for the management of the wars after him. See Exod. xvii. 14-16. It may be that this was the same book which is called the book of Jasher, i. e., the book of the upright, or a directory for Joshua, from Moses, what to do and what to expect in his wars; and in this book it seems as if Moses directed the setting up of archery, see 2 Sam. i. 18, and warrants Joshua to command the sun, and expect its obedience. Josh. x. 13."
What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon] This clause is impenetrably obscure. All the versions, all the translators, and all the commentators, have been puzzled with it. Scarcely any two agree. The original is n31D3 DHI HN elh vaheb besuphah, which our translators render, ivhat he did in the Red Sea, following here the Chaldee Targum; but not satisfied with this version, they have put the most difficult words in English letters in the margin, Vaheb m Suphah. Calmet's conjecture here is ingenious, and is adopted by Houbigant; instead of 2ni vaheb, he reads 111 zared. Now a I zain may be easily mistaken for a 1 vau, and vice versa; and a n ^e for a T resh, if the left limb happened to be a little obliterated, which frequently occurs, not only in MSS., but in printed books; the 3 beth also might be mistaken for a T daleth, if the ruled line on which it stood happened in that place to be a little thicker or blacker than usual. Thus then 2ni vaheb might be easily formed out of ^^i zared, mentioned ver. 12; the whole might then be read. They encamped at the brook Zared, and they came to Suphah, and thence to the brook Arnon. Take the passage as we may, it is evidently defective. As I judge the whole clause to have bee»
A. M. 2553. is the well whereof the Lord An. Exod. isr. spakc uiito Moses, Gallier the **■ people together, and I will give
18 The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by tJie direction of ' the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they loent to Mattanah:
19 And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
20 And from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the B country of Moab, to the top of '' Pisgah, which looketh ' toward '' Jeshimon.
2 1 And ' Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amoriles, saying,
22 ™ Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: hut we will go along by the king's high-way, until we be past thy borders.
a common proverb in those days, and Vaheb to be a jjroper name, I therefore propose the following translation, which I believe to be the best: From Vahcb unto Siiph, and unto the streams of Arnon. If we allow it to have been a proverbial expression, used to point out extensive distance, then it was similar to that well known phrase. From Dan even unto Beersheba.
A'erse 17. Spring up, O well, cj-c] This is one of the most ancient war songs in the world, but is not easily understood, which is commonly tlie case with all very ancient compositions, especially the poetic. See the remarks Exod. xv. 1, &c.
A'erse 18. The princes digged the well — tcith their staves.] This is not easily understood. Who can suppose that the princes dug this well with their staves? And is their any other idea conveyed by our translation? The word lIDn chapharu, which is translated they digged, should be rendered they searched out, which is a frequent meaning of the root; and □nj>'tyD3 bemishanotham, which we render luilh their staves, should be translated on their borders or confines, from the root i>cy shaan, to lie along. With these corrections the whole song may be read thus: —
The well, the princes searched it out. ti™ i. it. ™wm. The nobles of the people have digged it. ( Thuwuih. By a decree, upon their own borders. < ''"'™'
This is the whole of the quotation from what is called the book of the wars of the Lord. Uut see Dr. £ennicotCs remarks at the end of this chapter.
23 " And Sihon would not suffer A. M. 2553. Israel to pass through his border: An. Exod."i8r. but Sihon gathered all his people ''°'
together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: " and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
24 And P Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.
25 And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the '^ villages thereof.
26 For Heshbon luas the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.
27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
28 For there is ^ a fire gone out of Heshbon,
It appears therefore that the territory now taken from Sihon by the Israelites was taken from a former king of Moab, in commemoration of which an epikedion or war song was made, several verses of which, in their ancient poetic form, are here quoted by Moses.
Verse 27. They that speak m proverbs] D'^B^'Dn hammoshelim, from wD mashal, to rule, to exercise authority; hence a weighty proverbial saying, because admitted as an axiom for the government of life. The moshelim of the ancient Asiatics were the same, in all probability, as the Poet<e among the Greeks and Latins, the KjUu shaara among the Arabs, who were esteemed as Divine persons, and who had their name from oU) shaara, he inew, understood; whose poems celebrated past transactions, and especially those which concerned the military history of tlieir nation. These poets were also termed vj|><!^ u^5»uo sahcbi deewan, companions or lords of the council of state, because their weighty sayings and imiversal knou-ledge were held in the highest repute. Similar to these were the bards among the ancient Druids, and the Sennachies among the ancient Celtic inhabitants of these nations.
The ode from the 27th to the 30th verse is composed of three parts. The^r^^ takes in verses 27 and 28; the second ver. 29; and the third verse 30.
The first records with bitter irony the late insults of Sihon and his subjects over the conquered Moabites.
The second expresses the compassion of the Israelites over the desolations of Moab, with a bitter sarcasm agamst their god Chcmosh, who had abandoned his votaries in their distress, or was not able to rescue them out of the hands of their enemies.
A. M. 2553. a flame from the city of Sihon: An.Exod. Isr. it hath Consumed ' Ar of Moab, ***■ and the lords of the high places
29 Wo to thee, Moab! thou art undone, 0 people of ' Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even " unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto ' Medeba.
3 1 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
32 And Moses sent to spy out ■" Jaazer, and
The third sets forth the revenge taken by Israel upon the whole country of Sihon, from Heshhon to Dibon, and from Nophah even to Medeba. See Isa. XV. 1, 2.
The whole poem, divided into its proper hemistichs, as it stands in Kennicott's Hebrew Bible, is as follows: —
Come ye to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt; The city of Sihon, let it be established.
Verse 28. For from Heshbon tlie fire went out, And a flame from the city of Sdion: It hath consumed the city of Moab, With the lords of the heights of Arnon.
Verse 29. Part II. Alas for thee, O Moab! Thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh! He hath given up his fugitive sons And his daughters into captivity. To the king of the Amorites, Sihon.
Verse 30. Part III. But on them have WE lifted destruction, From Heshbon even to Dibon; We have destroyed even to Nophah, The fire did reach to Medebah.
Verse 35. So they smote him, and his sons] There IS a curious note of Dr. Lightfoot here, of which I should thmk it wrong to deprive the reader.
"Sihon and Og conquered, A. M. 2553. Of the life of Moses, 120. From the Exodus, 40. It is now SIX and twentij generations from the creation, or from Adam to Moses; and accordingly doth Psa. cxxxvi. rehearse the durableness of God's mercy.■•■(.r and tweniij times over, beginning the story with the creation, and endmg it in the conquest of Sihon and Og. The numerals of the name nin' Jehovah amount to the sum of SIX and twenty.''''
33 "^ And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle ^ at Edrei.
34 And the Lord said unto Moses, ^ Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and " thou shall do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
35 * So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.
On some diflSculties in this chapter Dr. Kennicott makes the following observations; —
" This one chapter has several very considerable difficulties; and some verses, as now translated, are remarkably unintelligible. A true state of this chapter is not, however, to be despaired of; and it has in it some circumstances which merit more than common attention. It contains the history of the last part of the travels of the Israelites in their way to the promised land; beginning with them at Mount Hor, the thirty-fourth encampment, and concluding with them, as in their forty-second and last encampment, near Jordan, in the country which they had acquired by conquest over Sihon, king of the Amorites.
" It begins with saying — that A";;!"- Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the south, (in the land of Canaan, chap, xxxiii. 40,) attacked Israel and was defeated, and that Israel destroyed their cities; and that, after destroying tliese Canaanite cities, and consequently after being in a part of Cannaan, a part of the very country they were going to, on the ivest of the Dead Sea, they returned towards the Red Sea, and near the eastern tongue or gulf of the Red Sea, on the south of JB(fo»n, marched round£f/om to the east of theZJearfSea, in order to enter Canaan from the east side of Jordan!
" This surprising representation of so vast and dangerous a march, quite unnecessarily performed, is owing to two circumstances. The first is, (chapter xxi. 1,) the Canaanites heard that Israel was coming b)' the way of the spies, meaning, by the way the spies went from Kadesh-Barnea into Canaan. But this being impossible, because Israel had now marched from Meribah-Kadesh to Mount Hor, beyond Ezion-gaber, and were turning round Edom, to the south-east; it is happy that the word rendered spies, in our version, is in the Greek a proper name, (Alharim,) which removes that difficulty: and the other difficulty (verses 2, 3) is removed by the Greek version likewise, according to which, the vow made, with the facts subsequent, does not signify destroying the Canaanite cities, but devoting them to destruction at some future time. See Wall's Crit. Notes.
Critical remarks on several
d:fficulties in this chapter.
" It proceeds with sayini;, that after defeating the Canaaniles at Mount Hor, they journeyed from Mount Hor by the watj of the Red Sea, (in the road from Amman, Midian, &c., to the eastern gulf of tlie Ucd Sea,) to compass the land of Edom; that on their murmuring for want both of bread and of water they were punished by fiery serpents, after whieli they marched to Obolh, and thence to Ijc-aharim in the wilderness, east ofMoah. The encampments of tlie Israelites, amounting lo forty-two, are recorded all together, in historical succession, in chap, xxxiii., where Ijeabarim is the 38th; Dibon-gad, 39; Almon-Dihla- Ihaim, 40; mountains of Abarim, 41; and the plains of Moab, by Jordan, 42. This regular detail in chap, xxxiii. has occasioned great perplexity as to chap, xxi., where, after the stations at Obolh and Jje-ahnrim, in verses 10 and 11, we have, in verses 19 and 'JO, the words Matlanah, Nahalict, and Bamoth; which are usually considered as the proper names of three places, but widely different from the three proper names after Jje-abarim in the catalogue at chap, xxxiii.
" But there is, in reality, no inconsistency here. In the plain and historical catalogue (chap, xxxiii.) the words are strictly the proper names of the three places; but here the words Matlanah, yahaliel, and Bamoth follow some lines of poetry, and seem to form a continuation of the song. They evidently express figurative and poetical ideas. The verbs journeyed from and pitched in are not found here, though necessary to prose narration: see verses 10 and 11 here, and chap, xxxiii. Lastly, verse 20th, (in this 21st chapter,) usually supposed to e.xpress the last encampment, does not. Pisgah signifies a hill; and the Israelites could not encamp on the top of any single hill, such as this is described. Balak took Balaam to the top of Pear, which loohclh loicard Jeshimon, (chap, xxiii. 28,) which Peor undoubtedly was in Moab. He took him to another hill in Moab, when he took him (chap, xxiii. 14) to the top of Pisgah, in the field of Zophim. And if the Pisgah or hill in chap. xxi. 20, was in the country of Balak, it could not point out the last encampment, which was not in Balak's country, but north of Arnon.
" The word Matlanah probably alludes to a place distinguished by some gift or blessing from God. Fagius says: Nomen loci, ab evcntu aqnarum quas Dominus ibi dedit, sic appellati; nJiTD nam significal domim — ' The name of the place was so called, from the circumstance of the waters which the Lord gave there; for Matlanah signifies a gift-'' Sx'Snj Nahalicl is torrenles Dei; i. e., great.streams, particularly seasonable or salutary. And nin:3 Bamoth (ver. 28) may point out any high places of signal benefit in the country of Moab, or it may answer to the last station but one, which was the mountains of Abarim. If, therefore, these words were meant to express jioelically some eminent blessing, what blessing was so likely to be then celebrated as copious streams of water? And after they had wandered nearly forty years through many a barren desert, and after (compare Deut. viii. 15) having passed through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and drought, wlicre there was no water, it is no wonder they should shout for joy at finding water in plenty, and finding it
almost on the banks of,4r;ion, the last river they were to pass, in their way to their last station, east of Jordan. No wonder they should sing in poetic rapture, that after the wilderness was {Matlanah) the gift of God;
I meaning the great ivcll in Moab, dug by public autho rity; and no wonder that, after such a gift, there were
I (Nahalicl) blessed streams, by which they passed, till they came to (Bamoth) the high places from which, perhaps, these streams descended. And the thank-^giving ends, where the blessing was no longer wanted, on their coming down into the valley, along the banks of Arnon, which was then the north boundary of Moab.
" The Israelites had spent no less than thirty-eight years in coming from Kadesh-Barnea to their encampment north of Zared. Here, at \.\\\a fortieth station, they were commanded to pass through Moab by "^y Ar, the chief city; but were not to stop till they came to the valley on the south of Arnon. At this last station but one they probably continued no longer than was necessary for sending messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, at Heshbon, and receiving his answer. They then crossed the Arnon; and having vanquished Sihon and Og, took possession of the forty-second and last encampment.
"This one chapter has Mree pieces of poetry, either fragments or complete; and poetry, seldom found in a historical narrative, may be here accounted for from the exuberance of joy which must have affected these wearied travellers, when arriving thus happily near their journey's end. What occurs first is in ver. 14; and has often been called the fragment of an old Amorite song. But it may have been Amorile or Moabite, or either or neither, for the subject matter of it, as it is generally understood, if indeed it can be said to be understood at all. The words 2T\\ HN, pjlX D'Snjn HNl n3l33 usually supposed to contain this fragment, do not signify, as in our English version. What he did m the Red Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon. Wiliiout enumerating the many interpretations given bv others, I shall offer a new one, which seems to make good sense, and a sense very pertinent. " Observe first, that there must have been a place called Suph, near the conflux of the Arnon and Jordan; because Moses, whilst in that last station, begins Deuteronomy with saying, he was on this side (i. e., east) of Jordan, over against Suph. By this word is not here meant the Red Sea; partly, because that has every where else the word for sea before it, and partly, because of the great distance of the Red Sea now from Moses. The single word, therefore, signifies here some place in itself obscure, because no where mentioned but in these two passages. And yet we cannot wonder that Moses should mention it twice, as the word Suph, introduced in speaking of the two last encampments, recalled to mind the Sea of Suph, so glorious to Israel, near the beginning of their march towards Canaan.
" Moses had now led Israel from the Red Sea (o the river Arnon, through many dreadful dangers, partly from hostile nations, partly from themselves; such dangers as no other people ever experienced, and such as no people could have surmounted, without the signal
I favour of the Almighty. And here, just before the
, battles with Sihon an Og, he reminds them of Pha-
in the plains of Moahi
raoh, &c.; and he asserts, that in the history of the wars it shall be recorded that Jehovah, who had triumphantly hrought Israel through the Sea of Suph, near Egypt, at first, had now conducted him to Suph, near Arnon; that
Jehovah went with him to Suph, And he came to the streams of Arnon.
" This version removes the difficulties urged by Hobbes, page 266, fol. 1750; by Spinoza, page 108, 4to., 1670; and retailed in a deistical pamphlet called The Doubts of the Infidels, page 4, 8vo., 1781.
" The general meaning of the next piece of poetry seems to be this: that at some distance from the city of ^r, by which the Israelites were to pass, (Deut. ii. 18,) they came to a well of uncommon size and magnificence, which seems to have been sought out, built up, and adorned for the public, by the rulers of Moab. And it is no wonder that, on their arrival at such
a well, they should look upon it as a blessing from Heaven, and speak of it as a new miracle in their favour.
17. Then Israel sang this song: —
18. The well! princes searched it out; The nobles of the people have digged it; By their decree, by their act of government. So, after the wilderness, was Mattanah!
19. And after Mattanah were Nahaliel! And after Nahaliel were Bamoth!
20. And after Bamoth was the valley; Where, in the country of Moab, Appeareth the top of Pisgah, Which is over against Jeshimon.
See Dr. KENNicoTT'si?en!arAs upon Select Passages in the Old Testament.
The Israelites pitch in the plains of Moab, 1. Balak, king of Moab, is greatly terrified, 2—1; and sends to Balaam, a diviner, to come and curse them, 5, 6. The elders of Moab tahe a reward and carry it to Balaam, 7. He inquires of the Lord, and is positively ordered not to go with them, 8—12. He communicates this to the ciders of Moab, 13. They return to Balah with this information, 14. He sends some of his princes to Balaam toith promises of great honour, 15—17. He consults God, and is permitted to go, on certain conditions, 18—20. Balaam sets off, is opposed by an angel of the Lord, and the Lord miraculously opens the mouth of his ass to reprove him, 21-30. Balaam sees the angel, and is reproved by him, 31—33. He humbles himself, and offers to go back, 34; but is ordered to proceed, on the same conditions as before, 35. The king of Moab goes out to meet him, 3G. His address to him, 37. Balaam's firm answer, 38. Balak sacrifices, and takes Balaam to the high places of Baal, that he may see the whole of the Israelitish camp, 39-^41.
A ND =" the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan by Jericho.
2 And '' Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
3 And "^ Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they icere many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
■4 And Moab said unto ^ the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are
Verse 1. And pitched in the plains of Moab'] They had taken no part of the country that at;)rf.sert< appertained to the Moabites; they had taken only that part which had formerly belonged to this people, but had been taken from them by Sihon, king of the Amorites.
Verse 5. To Pefhor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people] Dr. Kennicott justly remarks, that " the description now given of Balaam's residence, instead of being particular, agrees
5 ' He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to ^ Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the s face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
with any place in any country where there is a river; for he lived by Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people. But was Pethor then near the Nile in Egypt I Or in Canaan, near Jordan? Or in Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates, and belonging to the Ammonites? This last was in fact the case; and therefore it is well that twelve Hebrew MSS. (with two of Dc Rossi's) confirm the Samaritan te.xt here in reading, instead of n;' ammo, his people, ]10j} Amnion, with the Syriac and Vulgate versions." Houbigant properly contends for this reading; and necessity urges the propriety of adopting it
It should therefore stand thus: by the river of the land of the children of Amman; and thus it agrees with Deut. xxiii. 4.
Verse 6. Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people] Balaam, once a propliet of the true God, api)ears to have been one of the Moshelim, (see chap, xxi. 27,) who had added to his poetic gift that of sorcery or divination. It was supposed that jirophets and sorcerers had a power to curse persons and places so as to confound all their designs, frustrate their counsels, enervate their strength, and fill them with fear, terror, and dismay. See Gen. ix. 25; Psa. cix. 6, 20; Josli. vi. 26; Jer. xvii. 5, 6.
Macrohius has a whole chapter De carmine quo evocari solcbant dii tutelarcs, el aut urbes, aut cxercitus devoveri. " Of the incantations which were used to induce the tutelary gods lo forsake the cities, &c., over which they presided, and to devote cities and whole armies to destruction." See Saturnal., lib. iii., cap. ix. He gives us two of the ancient forms used in reference to the destruction of Carthage; the first, to call over the protecting deities, was pronounced by the dictator or general, and none other, when they began the siege. It is as follows, literatim et punctatim:—
" Whether it be god or goddess, under whose protection the people and city of Carthage are placed; and thee, especially, who hast undertaken to defend this city and people; I pray, beseech, and earnestly entreat that you would forsake the people and city of Carthage, and leave their places, temples, sacred things, and city, and depart from them: and that you would inspire this people and city with fear, terror, and forgetfulness: and that, coming out from them, you would pass over to Rome, to me, and to mine: and that our places, temples, sacred things, and city may be more agreea!)le and more acceptable to you: and that you would preside over me, the Roman people, and my soldiers; that we may know and perceive it. If ye will do this, I promise to consecrate to your honour both temples and games."
The second, to devote the city to destruction, which it was sui)posed the tutelary gods had abandoned, is the following: — we may smite them, and that I Aiv.Exod. uV. may drive them out of the land: '*"•
" Dis. Pater. Vejovis. Manes., or by whatsoever name you wish to be invoked, 1 pray you to fill this city of Carthage with fear and terror; and to put that army to flight which I mention, and which bears arms or darts against our legions and armies: and that ye may take away this army, tliose enemies, those men, their cities and their country, and all who dwell in those places, regions, countries, or cities; and deprive them of the light above: and let all their armies, cities, country, chiefs, and people be held by you consecrated and devoted, according to those laws by which, and at vvliat time, enemies can be most effectually devoted. I also give and devote them as vicarious sacrifices for myself and my magistracy; for the Roman people, and for all our armies and legions; and for the whole empire, and that all the armies and legions which are employed in these countries may be preserved in safety. If therefore ye will do these things, as I know, conceive, and intend, then he who makes this vow wheresoever and whensoever he shall make it, I engage shall sacrifice three black sheep to thee, O mother Earth, and to thee, O Jupiter." " When the execrator mentions the earth, he stoops down and places both his hands on it; and when he names Jupiter, he lifts up both his hands to heaven; and when he mentions his rou; he places his hands upon his breast." Among the ancient records, Macrobius says he found many cities and people devoted in this way. The Romans held that no city could be taken till its tutelary god had forsaken it; or if it could be taken, it would be unlawful, as it would be sacrilegious lo have the gods in captivity. They therefore endeavoured to persuade the gods of their enemies to come over to their party. Virgil intimates that Troy was destroyed, only because the tutelary gods had for saken it; —
A. M. 2553. for I wot that he whom thou An. Exod. isr. blcssest IS blessed, and he whom • thou cursest is cursed.
7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with ' the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
8 And he said unto them, '' Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.
9 ' And God came unto Balaam, and said. What men are these with thee?
10 And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,
1 1 Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure ™ I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt
Excessere omnes, adytis arisque rclictis, Dii, quibus imperium hoc steterat.
" All the gods, by whose assistance the empire had hitherto been preserved, forsoolv their altars and their temples." And it was on this account that the Greeks employed all their artifice to steal away the Palladmm, on which they believe the safety of Troy depended.
Tacitus observes that when Suetonius Paulinus prepared his army to cross over into Mojia, (Anglesea,) where the Britons and Druids made their last stand, the priestesses, with dishevelled hair, white vestments, and torches in their hands, ran about like furies, devoting their enemies to destruction; and he farther adds that the sight, the attitude, and horrible imprecalions of these priestesses had such effect on the Roman soldiers, that for a while they stood still and suffered themselves to be pierced with the darts of the Britons, without making any resistance. Tacit. Ann.,
1. xiv., c. 29. Many accounts are related in the Hindoo Pooran of kings employing sages to curse their enemies when too powerful for them, — Ward's Customs.
The Jews also had a most horrible form of execration, as may be seen in Buxtorf's Talmudical Lexicon under the word Dlil. These observations and authorities, drawn out in so much detail, are necessary to cast light on the strange and curious history related in this and the two following chapters.
Verse 7. The rexeards of divination] Whoever went to consult a prophet took with him a present, as it was on such gratuitous offerings the prophets lived; but here more than a mere present is intended, perhaps every thing necessary to provide materials for
13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you.
14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.
1 5 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they.
16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, " Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:
17 For I will promote thee imto very gi-eat honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto mc: p come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
18 And Balaam an.swered and said unto the servants of Balak, 1 1f Balak would give me
the incantation. The drugs, &c., used on such occasions were often very expensive. It appears that Balaam was very covetous, and that he loved the wages of unrighteousness, and probably lived by it; see 2 Pet. ii. 15.
Verse 8. I loill bring you word again, as the Lord shall speali] So it appears he knew the true God, and had been in the habit of consulting him, and receiving oracles from his mouth.
Verse 12. Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people] That is, Thou shalt not go with them to curse the people. With them he might go, as we find he afterwards did by God's own command, but not to curse the people; this was wholly forbidden. Probably the command. Thou shalt not go, refers here to that lime, viz., the first invitation: and in this sense it was most punctually obeyed by Balaam; see
Verse 14. Balaam refuseth to come with us.] " Observe," says Mr. Ainsworth, " Satan's practice against God's word, seeking to lessen the same, and that from hand to hand, till he bring it to naught. Balaam told the princes less than God told him, and they relate to Balak less than Balaam told them; so that when the answer came to the king of Moab, it was not the loord of God, but the word of man; it was simply, Balaam refuseth to come, without ever intimating tliat God had forbidden him." But in this Balaam is not to blame; he told the messengers in the most positive manner, Jehovah refuseth to give me leave to go with you, ver. 13; and more explicit he could not be.
Verse 18. / camiol go beyond the tvord of the Lord my God] Balaam knew God too woll to suppose he could reverse any of his purposes; and he respected
19 Now therefore, I pray you, 'tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more.
20 'And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him. If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but " yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.
2 1 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
22 And God's anger was kindled because he went: ' and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
23 And " the ass saw the angel of the Lord p'anding in the wa}', and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a
him too much to attempt to do any thing without his permission. Though he was covetous, yet he dared not, even when strongly tempted both by riches and honours, to go contrary to the command of his God. Many make all tlie professions of Balaam, without justifying them by their conduct. " They pretend," says one, " they would not do any thing against the word of God for a house full of gold, and yet will do it for a handful.'"
Verse 19. What the Lord will say unlo me more.^ He did not know but God might make a farther discovery of his will to him, and therefore he might very innocently seek farther information.
A''erse 20. If the inen come — go icith them] This is a confirmation of wliat was observed on the twelfth verse; though we find his going was marked with the Divine displeasure, because he wished, for the sake of the honours and rewards, to fulfil as far as possible the will of the king of Moab. Mr. Shuckford observes that the pronoun Xin hu is sometimes used to denote a person's doing a ihtn:^ out of his own head, without regard to the directions of another. Thus in the case of Balaam, when God had allowed him to go with the messengers of Balak, if Iheij came in the morning to call him; because he was more liasty than he ought to have been, and went to them instead of staying till they should come to Aim, it was said of him, not "|7n O ki hatach, that he ivent, but Nin iSin "3 hi holech hu, i. e., he went of his own head — without being called; a 690
25 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.
26 And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the le*^
27 And when the ass saw tlie angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
28 And the Lord ^ opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
29 And Balaam said unto the ass. Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, ' for now would I kill thee.
30 ^ And the ass said unto Balaam, Awinot I thine ass, * upon which thou hast ridden *" eversince/wasthineuntothisday? was lever wont to do so mito thee? And he said, Nay.
and in this, Mr. Shuckford supposes, his iniquity chiefly lay. — Connex., vol. iii., p. 115. How many are restrained from sinning, merely through the fear of God! They would gladly do the evil, but it is forbidden on awful penalties; they wish the thing were not prohibited, for they have a strong desire to do it.
Verse 23. And the ass saw the angel] When God granted visions, those alone who were particularly interested saw them, while others in the same company saw nothing; see Dan. x. 7; Acts ix. 7.
Verse 26. And the angel — stood in a narrow place] In this carriage of the angel, says Mr..\insworlh, the Lord shows us the proceedings of his judgments against sinners: First, he mildly shakes his rod at them, but lets them go untouched. Secondly, he comes nearer, and touches them with an easy correction, as it were wringing their foot against the wall. Thirdli/, when all this is ineffectual, he brings them into such straits, that they can neither turn to the right hand nor to the left, but must fall before his judgments, if they do not fully turn to him.
A'erse 28. The Lord opened the mouth of the ass] And where is the wonder of all this? If the ass had opened her own mouth, and reproved the rash prophet, we might well be astonished; but when God opens the mouth, an ass can speak as well as a man. It is worthy of remark here, that Balaam testifies no surprise at this miracle, because he saw it was the Lords doing. Of animate and inanimate things receiving for a short
A. M. 2553. 3 1 Then the Lord = opened An. Exod. Isr. the eycs of Balaam, and he saw *"■ the angel of the Lord standing
in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand and he '' bowed down his head, and ^ fell flat on his face.
32 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out ' to withstand thee, because thy way is s perverse before me:
33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.
34 And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, *• I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it ' displease thee, I will get me back again.
35 And the angel of the Lord said unto Balaam, Go with the men: '' but only the word ihat I shall speak unto thee, that thou shall speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
time the gift of speech, the heathen mythology furnishes many fictitious examples, with which I do not deem it proper to occupy the reader's time.
A''erse 33. Surely now also I had slain thee] How often are the meanest animals, and the mast trivial occurrences, instruments of the preservation of our lives, and of the salvation of our souls! The messenger of justice would have killed Balaam, had not the mercy of God prevented the ass from proceeding.
Verse 34. If it displease thee, I ivill get me hach again.] Here is a proof, that thougli he loved the loages of unrighteousness, yet he still feared God; and he is now willing to drop the enterprise if God be displeased with his proceeding. The piety of many called Christians does not extend thus far; they see that the thing displeases God, and yet they proceed. Reader, is this thy case?
36 And when Balak heard that A. M. 2533.
to meet him unto a city of Moab, *"■
■" which is in the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost coast.
37 And Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee? wherefore camest thou not unto me? am I not able indeed " to promote thee to honour?
38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? " the word that t Jod putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.
39 And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto p Kirjath-huzoth.
40 And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were with him.
4 1 And il came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the 1 high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.
Verse 38. The word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.] Here was a noble resolution, and he was certainly faithful to it: though he wished to please the Icing, and get wealth and honour, yet he would not displease God to realize even these bright prospects. Many who slander this poor semi-antinonii.in prophet, have not half his piety.
Verse 40. And Balak offered oxen, cfc.] This was to gain the favour of his gods, and perh;ips to propitiate Jehovah, that the end for which he had sent for Balaam might be accomplished.
Verse 41. That — he might see the utmost part of the people.] As he thought Balaam must have them all in his eye when he pronounced his curse, lest it might not extend to those wlio were not in sight. On this account he took him up into the high places of Baal.
Being arrived at the high places of Baal, (chap. xxii. 41,) Balaam orders Balak to huild seven altars, and prepare oxen and rams for sacrifice, 1, 2. Balaam inquires of the Lord, receives an answer, icilh which he returns lo Balak, 3-10. Balak, finding that this was a prediction of the prosperity of the Israelites, is greatly troubled, 11. Balaam excuses himself, 12. He brings him to another place, where he might see only a part of Israel, and repeats his.<<acrifices, 13, 14. Balaam again consults the Lord, 15-17. Returns with his answer, and again predicts the glory of Israel, 18-24. Balak is angry, 25; and Balaam again excuses himself. Balak proposes another trial, takes him to another place, and repeals the ame sacrifices, 26—30.
A ND Balaam said unto Balak, " Build me here seven allars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.
2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam '' offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3 And Balaam said unto Balak, " Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come '^ to meet me: and whatsoever he slioweth me I will tell thee. And
4 f And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I iiavc prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.
5 And the Lord s put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said. Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood bj' his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Verse 1. Build me here st^n altars, Jfc] The oxen and the rams were such as the Mosaic law had ordered to he offered to God in sacrifice; the huilding of seven altars was not commanded. Some think that these seven altars were huilt to the seven planets: this is most gratuitously said; of it there is no proc.f whatever; it is mere trifling, even with conjecture. As seven was a number of perfection, Balaam chose it on this occasion, because he intended to offer a grand sacrifice, and to offer a bullock and a ram upon each of the altars; the whole to be made a burnt-oifering at the same time. And as he intended to offer seven bullocks and seven rams at the same time, it could not be conveniently done on one altar, therefore he ordered seven to be built. We need go no farther to find out his reasons.
Verse 3. Stand In/ thy burnt-offering] Wo have already seen that blessing and cursing in this way were considered as religious rites, and therefore must be always preceded by sacrifice. See this exemplified in the case of Isaac, before he blessed Jacob and Esau, Gen. xxvii., and the notes tliere. The venison that was brought to Isaac, of which lie did eat, was properly the preparatory sacrifice.
Verse 7..And he toot up his parable] 'hiif'i meshalo, see on chap. xxi. 27. All these oracular speeches of Balaam are in hrmLitich metre in the original. They are highly dignified, and may be considered as immediate poetic productions of the Spirit of God; for it is expressly said, ver. 5, that God put the word in Balaam's mouth, and that the Spirit of Ood came upon htm, chap. xxiv. 2.
7 And he '' took up his parable, A. M 2553. and said, Balak, the king of An. Exi)d. Is«. Moab, hath brought me from **^
Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ' Come, curse me Jacob, and come, '' defy Israel.
8 'How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom\\\c Lord hath not defied?
9 For from the top of the rocks I see liim, and from the hills I behold him: lo, ^ the people shall dwell alone, and " shall not be reckoned among the nations.
10 " Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth;)«r< of Israel? Let P me die 1 ihe death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!
1 1 And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? 'I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
12 And he answered and said, ' Must I not
Verse 8. Hoio shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed i] It was granted on all hands that no incantations nor imprecations could avail, unless God concurred and ratified them. From God's communication to Balaam he saw that God was determined to bless and defend Israel, and therefore all endeavours to injure them must be in vain.
Verse 9. From the top of the rocks I see him] That is, from the high places of Baal where he went, chap, xxii. 41, that he might the more advantageously see the whole camp of Israel.
The people shall dwell alone] They shall ever be preserved as a distinct nation. This prophecy has been literally fulfilled through a period of 3300 years to the present day. This is truly astonishing.
Verse 10. Let me die the death of the righteous] Prob:ibly Balaam had some presentiment that he should be taken off by a premature death, and therefore he lodges this petition against it. The death of the righteous in those times implied being gathered to one's fathers in a good old age, having seen his children, and children's children; and to this, probably, the latter part of this petition applies: And let my last end be like his, (17TDD "iTinN 'nni uthehi aeharithi chamohu, And let my posteritv be like his.) It has been generally supposed that Balaam is here praying for a happy death, such as true Christians die who die in the Lord; and in this way his words are generally applied; but I am satisfied this is not their meaning. The prayer, however, understood in the common way, is a good one, and may be offered to God profitably. A righteous man is one who is saved from his sins, who is justified and sanctified through the blood of the covenant
take heed to speak that which tlie Lord hath put in my mouth? 13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of ' Pisgah, " ^d built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on evert/ altar.
15 And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.
1 6 And the Lord met Balaam, and '' put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus.
17 And when he came to hiir., behold, he
and who lives, not only an innocent, but also a holy and useful life. He who would die well should live well; for a bad death must be the issue of a bad life.
Verse 13. Thou shalt see but the utmost part of them] Balak thought that the sight of such an im- Biense camp had intimidated Balaam, and this he might gather from what he said in the tenth verse; Who can count the dust of Jacob, &c.; he thought therefore that he might get Balaam to curse them in detached parties, till the whole camp should be devoted to destruction by successive execrations.
Verse 17. What hath the Lord spoken?] Balak himself now understood that Balaam was wholly under the influence of Jehovah, and would say nothing but what God commanded him; but not knowing Jehovah as Balaam did, he hoped that he might be induced to change his mind, and curse a people whom he had hitherto determined to bless.
Verse 19. God is not a man, that he should lie] This seems to be spoken to correct the foregoing supposition of Balak that God could change his mind. Even the heathen would not allow that their supreme god could be caught in a falsity. Hence.iEschylus, in Promcth. vinct. 1068: —
" The mouth of Jove knows not to frame a lie; But every word finds full accomplishment."
. Verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverscness in Israel] This is a difficult passage; for if we take the words as spoken of the people Israel, as their iniquity and their perverscness were almost unparalleled, such words cannot be spoken of them with strict truth. If we consider them as spoken of the patriarch Jacob and Israel, or of Jacob after he became Israel, they are most strictly the princes 01 iVloab with him. An.E.TOd. Isr. And Balak said unto him, What '*"•
18 And he took up his parable, and said, "" Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:
19 ''God is not a man, that he should he; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it 1 or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and ^ he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
21 ^ He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: ^ the Lord his God is with him, '' and the shout of a king is among them.
true, as after that time a more unblemished and noble character (Abraham excepted) is not to be found in the page of history, whether sacred or profane; and for his sake, and for the sake of his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, God is ever represented as favouring, blessing, and sparing a rebellious and undeserving people; see the concluding note. Gen. xlix. In this way, I think, this difficult text may be safely understood.
There is another way in which the words may be interpreted, which wUl give a good sense, px aven not only signifies iniquity, but most frequently trouble, labour, distress, and affliction; and these indeed are its ideal meanings, and iniquity is only an acommodated or metaphorical one, because of the pain, distress. Sic, produced by sin. boi' amal, translated here perverseness, occurs often in Scripture, but is never translated perverseness except in this place. It signifies simply labour, especially that which is of an afflictive or oppressive kind. The words may therefore be considered as implying that God will not suffer the people either to be exterminated by the sword, or to be brought under a yoke of slavery. Either of these methods of interpretation gives a good sense, but our common version gives none.
Dr. Kennicott contends for the reading of the Samaritan, which, instead of Q'3n nS lo hibbit, he hath not seen, has B3X xb lo abbit, I do not see, I do not discover any thing.among them on which I could ground my curse. But the sense above given is to be preferred.
Verse 22. The strength of a unicorn.] UiTi reem and D-NT reim. It is generally allowed that there is no such beast in nature as the unicorn; i. e., a creature of the horse kind, with one long rich curled horn in the forehead. The creature painted from fancy is represented as one of the supporters of the royal arms of Great Britain. It is difficult to say what kind of
23 Surely there is no enchantment " against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this lime it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, f What hatii God wrouglu!
24 Behold, the people shall rise up ^ as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: *■ he shall not lie down unliHie eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
25 And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
26 But Balaam answered and said unto
beast is intended by the original word. The Septuagint translate the word /lovoKspu^, the unicorn, or onehorned animal; the Vulgate, sometimes, unicomus; and in the text rhinocerotis, by which the rhinoceros, a creature which has its name from the horn on its nose, is supposed to be meant. That no single-horned animal can be intended by the reem of Moses, is sufficiently evident from this, that Moses, speaking of Joseph, says, " he has the horns of A unicorn," or reem, where the horns are spoken of in the plural, the animal in the singular. The creature referred to is either the rhinoceros, some varieties of which have two horns on the nose, or the wild bull, urns, or buffalo; though some think the beast intended is a species of goat; but the rhinoceros seems the most likely. There is literally a monoceros, or unicorn, with one large curled ivory horn growing horizont.iUy out of his snout; but this is not a land animal, it is the?nodiodan or nurwal, a marine animal of the whale kind, a horn of which is now before me, measuring seven feet four inches; but I believe the rhinoceros is that intended by the sacred vpviters.
Verse 23. There is no enchantment, cj-c] Because God has determined to save them, therefore no enchantment can prevail against them.
Balak, Told not I thee, saying, ' All that the Lord spcaketh, that I must do?
27 And Balak said unto Balaam, '' Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradvcnture it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh ' toward Jeshimon.
29 And Balaam said unto Balak, "" Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.
30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.
should be read thus: " As at this time it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God worketh;" i. e., this people shall always have prophetic information of what God is about to work. And indeed, they are the only people under heaven who ever had this privilege. When God himself designed to punish them because of their sins, he always foreioamed them by the prophets; and also took care to apprise them of all the plots of their enemies against them.
Verse 24. Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion'] N'37 labi, the great, mighty, or old lion, the king of the forest, who is feared and respected by all the other beasts of the field; so shall Israel be the subduer and possessor of the whole land of Canaan. And as a young lion, 'IX ari from DIN arah, to tear off, the predatory lion, or the lion in the act of seizing and tearing his prey; — the nations against whom the Israelites are now going shall be no more able to defend themselves against their attacks, than the feeblest beasts of the forest are against the attacks of the strong lion.
Verse 28. Unto the top of Peor] Probably the place where the famous Baal-peor had his chief temple. He appears to have been the Priapus of the Moabites, and to have been worshipped with the same obscene and abominable rites.
Eataam, finding that God was determined to bless Israel, seeks no longer for enchantments, I. The Spirit of God coming upon him, he delivers a most important prophetic parable, 2-9. Balak's anger is kindled against him, and he commands him to depart to his own country, 10, 11. Balaam vindicates his conduct, 12, 13; and delivers a prophecy relative to the future destruction of Moab by the Israelites, 11-17; also of Edom, 18, 19; of the Amalchites, 20; andofthe Kenites, 21, 22. Predicts also the destruction of Asshur and Eber, by the naval power of Chittim, which should afteneards he itself destroyed, 23, 24. Balaam and Balak separate, 25.
Verse 1. lie went not, as at other times, to seek for chash is not easily ascertained; see chap. xxi. 9, and enchantments] We have already had occasion to ob- see on Gen. iii. 1. Here the plural O'l^nJ nechashim 694 A
*"' 2 And Balaam lifted up his
eyes, and he saw Israel " abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and "* the Spirit of God came upon him.
3 " And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man ^ whose eyes are open hath said:
4 He hath said, which heard the words of
is rendered enchantments; but it probably means no more than the knowledge of future events. When Balaam saw that it pleased God to bless Israel, he therefore thought it unnecessary to apply for any farther prophetic declarations of God's will as he had done before, for he could safely infer every good to this people, from the evident disposition of God towards