In style similar to that of ancient treaty documents, Deuteronomy opens by recounting all that Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, has done for his people. It reminds them of his gracious acts on their behalf and calls from them a fitting response of covenant loyalty. The section summarizes events recorded in greater detail in Numbers 10:11-32:42.
From Sinai to Kadesh (1:1-46)
It was only eleven days’ journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, and about the same from Kadesh to the plains of Moab where the people now were, but they had taken forty years to get there. Moses began his recollections of the journey by reminding the people that their coming possession of Canaan was solely because of God’s grace, not because of any virtue in them (1:1-8).
Only through God’s mercy had they grown into a strong and contented people who enjoyed the blessing (rare among ancient races) of just, impartial and humanitarian government (9-18). They would have further proof of God’s unfailing goodness when they saw the rich land God was giving them. God had cared for them throughout the long and weary journey from Mount Sinai (Horeb), ‘carrying’ them as a father carries his young son who has become too tired to walk. Yet they complained against him and refused to go with him into the land he had chosen for them (19-33).
The constant stubbornness of the people was the reason why they were not allowed to enter Canaan. More than that, it was the cause of Moses’ not being allowed. He lost patience with them and in so doing brought God’s punishment upon himself (34-40; see Num 20:2-13). Still stubborn and disobedient, the people who would not go into Canaan with God then tried to conquer the country without him. Not surprisingly, they were defeated and driven back into the wilderness (41-46).
1. These are the words. These two latter passages properly belong to the supplements, wherein God afterwards more clearly and familiarly illustrated the Law previously given by Him; they comprehend also exhortations, by which He subdued the people’s minds to obedience, and eulogies, by which He commended and confirmed the Law. The sum is, that Moses is appointed the minister and ambassador of God, who by his mouth prescribes to Israel all that is right and just. But when he says, “beside the covenant, which he made with them in Horeb,” (Deu 29:1,) necessary that the Decalogue should be more fully explained, lest its brevity should render it obscure to an ignorant and slow-hearted people. For God did not, like earthly kings, learn from experience to enrich His law by new precepts, but considered the people’s dull and weak understanding. The particle of exception, “beside,” does not, therefore, designate anything additional, but only signifies that God had again repeated His covenant, that it might be more distinctly and certainly understood. In which respect He gave an extraordinary proof of His indulgence, that previous to their entering the land, He renewed His covenant about forty years after its first promulgation, and added a clear exposition of it, because He had then to do with a new generation. For this reason the place is expressly mentioned, because from thence the lapse of time is made evident.
6. The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb. In this Second Narration, Moses expressly declares that God not only gave them a visible sign, by uplifting the cloud, but that He also verbally commanded the people to leave Mount Sinai, and to set about the performance of the rest of their journey. God says, then, that enough time had been spent in one place; (1) for, before they left it, an entire year had passed away there. Although there were eleven days’ journey before them before they would arrive at Kadesh-barnea, nevertheless, lest anything should delay the people, who were naturally but too indolent, tie stimulates them by setting before them the ease with which it might be accomplished, telling them that they had but to lift up their feet and advance, in order to attain the promised rest.
(1) “Et non sans cause;” and not without reason. — Fr.
9. And I spoke unto you at that time. He does not here say that the counsel was suggested to him from another quarter, as to the appointment of the judges; but, perhaps, he dared not mention any name to these proud and perverse people, lest they should reject the thing which was otherwise good, from dislike of its author, as a foreigner. No doubt he is here recounting what had before happened; therefore he confesses himself, from his own personal feelings, unequal to bearing the burden, if he alone is set over the whole people. He adduces as the cause the immense multitude amongst whom there must necessarily arise many strifes and controversies. As to what he says of their increase, the commencement of its period must not be taken from the Exodus, but he commemorates the extraordinary and incredible favor of God, because they had so largely multiplied under the cruel tyranny when they were doomed to total destruction; and he adds a prayer, that for the future also the same blessing may attend them. Yet in these words he reminds them that the burden of government would become daily more arduous and weighty; whereby he may more readily persuade them to provide at once for what could not be eventually avoided.
13. Take you wise men. Hence it more plainly appears that those who were to preside in judgment were not appointed only by the will of Moses, but. elected by the votes of the people. And this is the most desirable kind c f liberty, that we should not be compelled to obey every’ person who may be tyrannically put over our heads; but which allows of election, so that no one should rule except he be approved of by us. And this is further confirmed in the next verse, wherein Moses recounts that he awaited the consent of the people, and that nothing was attempted which did not please them all. Again, he does not here mention the same virtues as in Exo 18:0; but only distinguishes the judges by three qualifications, viz., that they should be wise, and understanding, and experienced, all of which are comprised under one head, that they should possess acuteness of intellect and prudence, confirmed by experience and practice; for neither the greatest probity nor diligence would be sufficient; for the office of ruler, apart from skill and sagacity. (204) But the first epithet which the Hebrews often apply in a bad sense to the crafty and deceitful, here means acute and perspicacious. The second I explain as pointing out prudent persons, endued with sound judgment and discretion. (205) The third may be taken either actively or passively; some therefore translate it known or tried; but here the active sense is most suitable. Thus, then, experience and acquaintance with business is required in judges; because none but the practiced are competent for the management of business.
(204) חכמים, wise men. C. had already said in his Commentary on Exo 1:10, that the Hebrews often used this epithet in an ill sense, but the assertion is scarcely tenable. — W
(205) ידעים. The third characteristic can only be said to be ambiguous by such as reject the authority of the Hebrew points. The translators who admit that authority must hold this participle to be passive: and therefore our A. V. renders the clause, known among your tribes. — W
16. And I charged your judges. This charge is not found in Exo 18:0, where the only object of Moses was to point out the origin of the alteration; but now omitting the praise of his father-in-law, he merely recalls to the recollection of the Israelites what he did with them. The sum, however, of the exhortation is, that they should adjudicate impartially between their brethren; which is more fully expressed in the next verse, where they are forbidden to “acknowledge faces.” (206) For there can be no greater corruption than to judge from personal appearance, which always draws away men’s minds from the merits of the ease. Wherefore Christ rightly opposes these two things to one another, to “judge righteous judgment,” and “according to the appearance.” (Joh 7:24.) This even philosophers have perceived, when they have advised that, as far as possible, judges should be restrained by fixed laws, lest;, being left free, they should be swayed this way or that by favor or ill will. And, in point of fact, wherever there is a sufficient capacity of intellect, equity and rectitude will prevail, unless respect to persons influences the judge. It, is plain from the context, where Moses forbids the making a distinction between small and great, what is meant by “acknowledging persons.” But although judges often inflict injury upon the poor and wretched out of contempt of them, yet Moses adverts to the more common fault, when he charges them “to be afraid of no man;” since it very often happens that those who are otherwise just, and disposed to study what is equitable and right, are made to swerve through fear of the threats of the powerful, and dare not; manfully encounter their ill will. Moses, therefore, requires magnanimity in judges, so that they may not hesitate to bring upon themselves the hatred of any, in their defense of a good cause. But we must specially observe the reason whereby he corrects their fear and alarm; for he says that they are to be afraid of no mortal man, because “the judgment is God’s.” He does not here merely remind them, as it; appears to some, that an account must be rendered to God; but shows how absurd it is to turn from the right course out of the fear of man, because thus the majesty of God is prostituted and exposed to scorn; as much as to say that this honor must be paid to God, whose representatives they are, that they should look upon all men as beneath them, and restrain the audacity of rite wicked with such inflexible magnanimity, that God alone may have the preeminence. The same is the object of Jehoshaphat’s words:
“Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man but for the Lord.” (2. h 19:6.)
If this were thoroughly impressed upon the minds both of magistrates and pastors, they would not vacillate so often; for relying on God’s aid, they would stand firmly against all the terrors by which they are so pitifully agitated. Wherefore let all those who are called to any public office, sustain themselves by this doctrine, that they are doing God’s work, who is well able to keep them safe from the violence as well as the craftiness of the whole world. Yet, at the same time we are taught by these words that all posts of command are sacred to God, so that whosoever are called to them should reverently and diligently serve God, and ever reflect that His is the dominion whereof they are the ministers.
(206) So margin A. V.
27. And ye murmured in your tents. Elsewhere he says that they also wept; here he only speaks of their murmuring, which better suited his reproof. He then reminds them how malignant had been their ingratitude and perversity in upbraiding God on account of the special blessing which He had conferred upon them, as if He had done them a grievous injury. He could not have afforded them a more manifest proof of His paternal love towards them than by their deliverance. Most iniquitous, therefore, is their mode of repaying Him, viz., by complaining that they had been cruelly brought forth to die, and by construing into hatred His exceeding great love. It is clear from the next verse that, although Moses does not relate the details in their proper order, there is still no contradiction in his words. A little before, he had seemed to give unqualified praise to the spies, as if they had performed their office honestly and faithfully, but now, from the language of the people, he shows that they were the authors of the revolt, inasmuch as they rendered inert, by the terror they inspired, those whom they ought to have encouraged.
29. Then I said unto you, Dread not. He here omits the address of Caleb and Joshua: since he only states briefly the heads of what he had spoken to the people. He merely shows that, when he endeavored to recall them to their right senses, his efforts and pains were ineffectual. Moreover, he reasons from experience that they might well place their hopes in the assistance of God, because He went before them as a light; and, in proof of this, he reminds them that, after the discomfiture of the Egyptians, He did not fail still to exert His power, so as to protect even to the end those whom He had once delivered. This, then, is his proposition, that although they might be aware of their own weakness, still, through the power of God, they would be conquerors, since He had taken them under His care, and had declared Himself their leader; which he indicates by the expression, “goes before you.” And, lest any hesitation should remain, he sets against their present obstacles the miracles of God’s power, which they had experienced, not only in the commencement of their redemption, but in the continued progress of their deliverance’s, when, in their lost and desperate state, He had by ways innumerable restored them from death unto life. Hence he concludes that they ought not to be afraid, not that he would wish them to be altogether free from all fear and care, but so that they might overcome all hindrances, when confidence derived from the ready help of God should prevail in their hearts. He says emphatically that God had fought “before their eyes,” to lead them to fuller conviction by the evidence of their own senses.
31. And it, the wilderness where thou hast seen. The constant course of God’s grace is here commemorated; from whence they might safely infer, that He, who had pursued them with so many benefits, would still be the same in this crowning act. He, therefore, uses the image of bearing, because the way would have been by no means passable unless God had borne them, as it were, on His shoulders, just as a father is wont to bear his infant child. Thus, on the one hand, the incredible goodness of God is exalted, who had deigned so far to condescend as to take up the people in His arms; and, on the other hand, the people are reminded of their own infirmity, for, unless upheld by the power of God, they would scarcely have been competent to advance a step. Elsewhere, retaining a portion of this similitude, Moses compares God to an eagle, (56) who bears her young upon her wings, and teaches them to fly. And surely, unless (the Israelites) had been uplifted by supernatural means, they would never have been equal to a hundredth part of the difficulties they encountered.
(56) Deu 32:11. The last sentence of the paragraph in omitted in Fr.
32. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord. He signifies that they had been most prejudiced observers of the works of God, since His power, so often experienced and. so thoroughly understood, had not aroused them to confidence in Him. For in the word דבר, dabar, which we have translated thing, he embraces all the proofs whereby God had testified, that in Him alone there was all that was necessary to insure their complete salvation. And this was, so to speak, real or practical doctrine, when God called upon them to trust Him by stretching forth His hand. Still, He accuses them of unbelief with reference to the promise; for, whilst faith is not only prompt and ready in obedience, but invigorates and quickens the whole mall, so the cause of their inertness was that they gave no heed to God who had promised to bestow upon them the land of Canaan, and did not rest upon His covenant. In relation to this also, he says, that God marked out the places and stations where they should pitch their camp, for, unless it had been His design to guide them onwards, this change of places would have been superfluous. It was, therefore, gross supineness not to refer these signs for halting and proceeding to their proper object, since it was equivalent to despising God when He held out His hand to them.
34. And the Lord heard the voice of your words. I have shown elsewhere what is meant by God’s hearing, i.e., that nothing can be concealed from Him, but that tie will take account of and judge all our words and deeds And this is worthy of our observation; for men would never dare to murmur against Him, unless they promised themselves impunity (75) from His not being present. Secondly, we learn from hence, that God, who is a just Judge, does not proceed hastily and without cause to inflict punishment on men, and that He does not manifest severity without a full examination of the case. He, therefore, means that they deprived themselves of their assured inheritance, when they were close upon receiving it, through their own rebellion and depravity.
(75) Sous ombre qu’il ne prend point garde a ce qui ce fait ici bas;” under the pretext that He pays no attention to what is done here below. — Fr.
37. Also the Lord was angry with me. It is in no cowardly spirit that he transfers to them the guilt of unfaithfulness, which he had confessed for himself; but, since he had only fallen in consequence of being overwhelmed by their obstinate wickedness, he justly reproaches them with the fact that God was wroth with him on account of their sin. If under this pretext he had attempted to extenuate his guilt before God, or to substitute their criminality for his own, he would have done nothing else than double the evil: but, in reproving the people, he rightly and appropriately complained that the cause of his sin had arisen from them. As if he had said that they were so perverse that even he had been corrupted by them, and drawn into association with their guilt and its punishment. He here, however, adds respecting Joshua what he had before passed over in silence. His appointment as successor to Moses served to encourage the people; for it was a notable ground for hope that they should hear a provision already made, that after the death of Moses they should not be destitute of a leader, who would rule them under the auspices of God.
Why God preferred this man to all others, especially when Caleb is more highly praised elsewhere, is only known to Himself. We know that He chooses according to His own will those whom He destines to any charge, so that the dignity of men may depend upon His gratuitous favor. “To stand before” a person is equivalent to being at hand to do his bidding; and it seems that this was stated to be the condition of Joshua, in order that the punishment might be more manifest; inasmuch as, by an entire inversion, a successor is given to Moses, who had been his servant.
39. Moreover, your little ones. I have already shown that God so tempered His judgment that, whilst none of the guilty should escape with impunity, still His faithfulness should remain sure and inviolable, and that the wickedness of men should not make void the covenant which He had made with Abraham. He, therefore, pronounces sentence upon them, that they should never enjoy the inheritance which they had despised: yet declares that He will nevertheless be true in the fulfillment of what He had promised, and will display His mercy towards their children, whom in their despair they had condemned to be a prey to their enemies.
When He limits this grace to their little ones, whose age did not yet allow them to discern between good and evil, He signifies that all who had already arrived at the years of reason, were, from the least to the greatest, accomplices in the crime, since the contagion had spread through the whole body. Surely it was an incredible prodigy, that so great a multitude should be so carried away by diabolical fury, as that nothing should remain unaffected by it, unless perhaps a timely death removed some of the old men rather on account of the vice of others than their own. But, if even a hundredth part of them had been guiltless of the crime, God would have left some survivors.
“To have no knowledge of good and evil,” is equivalent to being unable “to discern between their right hand and their left hand;” by which expression in Jonah, (Jon 4:11,) God exempts from condemnation those little ones, who have as yet no power of forming a judgment. From hence, however, some have foolishly attempted to prove that infant-children are not defiled by original sin; and that men are involved in no guilt, except such as they have severally contracted by their own voluntary act (arbitrio.) For the question here is not as to the nature of the human race; a distinction is simply made between children and those who have consciously and willfully provoked God’s wrath; whereas the corruption, which is the root (of all evils, (76)) although it may not immediately produce its fruit in actual sins, is not (77) therefore non-existent.
(76) Added from Fr.
(77) “Ne laisse pas d’estre cachee en nous;” Does not cease to lie hid within us. — Fr.
41. Then ye answered and said unto me. The repentance was too late, which impelled the Israelites to their unseasonable effort of activity; although, as I have above explained, they did not truly and seriously repent, since, when they ought patiently to have borne the chastening of God, they endeavored to shake it off, and to drive it far away from them by a new act of disobedience. In a word, they did nothing else but kick against the pricks. But such is the energy of men, when their own fancy leads them, that they will dare anything which God forbids. But herein did their far worse folly betray itself, in that, when they were again withheld, they still refuse to obey. Besides, He does not merely forbid them to fight, but denies them His assistance. What then could be more monstrous than that, in opposition to God’s will, and when the hope of His assistance was withdrawn, they should engage in what they had just before obstinately refused to attempt under His auspices, and by His command, and with the sure promise of success? And yet, so does hypocrisy blind men’s minds, that they imagined they were correcting and compensating for the evil which they doubled. Moses then relates how they received the reward which they deserved; as much as to say, that, although they might be slow to learn, still they were made acquainted, by the reverse which they experienced, how fatal a thing it is not to obey God: for fools never learn wisdom except beneath the rod.
45. And ye returned and wept before the Lord. He here appeals to the testimony of their own conscience; for they never would have been brought to weeping and prayers, except by the force of their own feelings. Since, then, they were abundantly convinced, that a just punishment was inflicted upon their obstinacy, necessity drove them to seek after God: consequently they had no cause to complain, though God manifested Himself to be implacable.
In the last verse there is an ambiguity in the meaning of these words, “many days, according to the number of the days.” Some, rendering the verb in the pluperfect tense, “in which we had remained there,” (80) suppose that they still abode there another forty days. But it is equally probable; that an indefinite time is referred to: as if he had said, that the people delayed there a long time, from whence it might be inferred, that they lay like persons stupified, from lack of knowing what to do.
It is Kadesh-barnea to which Moses refers, from whence the spies had been sent forth; and not the Kadesh where Miriam died, and where the people murmured for want of water.
(80) “Quibus antea manseratis.” — Pagninus in Poole. The V. has only “Sedistis ergo in Cades-barne multo tempore.” On this Corn. a Lapide has the following note: “In Hebrew it is added, according to the days that ye abode, which Vatablus thus explains, Ye remained in Kadesh-barnea as many days after the return of the spies, as ye had remained there before their return. Again, the Hebrews themselves, in Sealer Olam, thus explain it, Ye remained in Kadesh-barnea as many days as ye afterwards remained in all your other stations together, viz., 19. years: for twice 19. make 38, to which if you add the two years that had elapsed before they came to Kadesh-barnea, you will have the forty years of their journeyings in the desert. Nothing like this, however, can be gathered from our version, nor from the Hebrew either; for the expression, ‘according to the days that ye abode,’ is merely a Hebrew form of repetition, explanatory of what had preceded, and meaning ‘for a long time.’ — Hence our interpreter has omitted this Hebrew repetition as redundant, and strange to Latin ears.”
Ver. 1. On this side Jordan-in the plain, over against the Red sea- Houbigant well observes, that the original here should properly be rendered, on the bank of Jordan, בעבר beeber: and that the word ףּסו suph, when used without ים iam, never signifies the Red Sea; and therefore, here, is the name of a place, and should be rendered, in the plain over against suph; the same place with that mentioned Num 21:14. and with him Dr. Waterland agrees. The places mentioned in this verse must have been near the plains of Moab.
Ver. 2. Eleven days journey from Horeb- This verse seems to have been thrown in to shew, that though the direct way from mount Horeb to the plains of Moab is but a few days' journey, even to those who make a circuit about by Kadesh-barnea, yet it was so ordered by the Divine Providence, that the Israelites should not accomplish this same short space of way in less than thirty-eight years, as a punishment for their iniquities.
Ver. 5. Began Moses to declare, &c.- Houbigant very properly renders this, It seemed good to Moses, when on the bank of Jordan, in the land of Moab, fully to explain this law: he makes use of the word באר beer, to explain (a word he has never before used), because he does not now establish fresh laws dictated by God, but undertakes to explain to the children the laws which were given to their fathers. The original word, rendered began, is never used in that sense.
Ver. 6. The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, &c.- Rather by, or near Horeb. In this first speech, which ends at the 43rd verse of the fourth chapter, Moses reminds the Israelites of the travels of their fathers towards Canaan; dating his account from the transactions at mount Sinai or Horeb, at which place they stayed almost a year, receiving the law, erecting the tabernacle, numbering the people, ranking them under standards, &c. For all these particulars we refer our readers to the margins of our Bibles. Mr. Locke observes, that the first thirteen chapters of this book are an exhortation of Moses to the Israelites, to strict loyalty to God their king.
Ver. 7. Go to the mount of the Amorites- This mountain, situated on the south of Canaan, was inhabited by the Canaanites and Amalekites, but principally by the Amorites, (see the 19th, 20th, and 44th verses following;) and it was to this mountain that Moses sent the spies, Num 13:17. We have no account of this order in the book of Numbers, any more than of a great many other things, which we should have been ignorant of, but for this supplemental book of Deuteronomy. Moses, in the subsequent part of the verse, sets forth the several quarters of the land of Canaan: the southern part lying towards the mount before mentioned; the western upon the Mediterranean sea, where dwelt the Canaanites, properly so called; the northern towards Lebanon; and the eastern towards the great river of Assyria, the Euphrates; for so far they might extend their territory, if Canaan should not be able to contain them. See on Numb. chap. 34: and Callim. Hym. ad Apoll. ver. 108. As in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, denote the nature of the country through which they were to pass, and what follows, the boundaries of the country; it would be more properly rendered, even by the south, and by the sea side-and by Lebanon.
REFLECTIONS.-Moses is now about to part from the people whom he had so tenderly and faithfully served; and therefore he leaves them his solemn charge, that, after his death, they might have these things always in remembrance. They were now in the plains of Moab over against Suph; and just forty years had elapsed since their departure from Egypt, during which they had received the punishment of their murmurings, and were ready to receive the fulfilment of the promises: it highly imported them now to be obedient, since this would ensure them the necks of their enemies. It was at God's command that he spoke, and he begins his discourse from their departure from Sinai. 1. He mentions their order to depart. They had dwelt long enough under the mount Sinai, and its awful thunderings, and are now to go to possess the land of promise. Note; God will not suffer his people to continue mourning ever under the spirit of bondage and distress; but when he has made them feel their deserts, he will shew them the riches of his grace, which begets the spirit of adoption. 2. The assurance that God gave them of success. We fight not when under Christ's banner as uncertainly.
Ver. 9-11. And I spake unto you- That is, to your fathers, as being alive at the time here referred to. We may observe here, once for all, that Moses, throughout this book, frequently speaks of the fathers of this generation as if they were now living; which is the common style of all writers who are used to speak of a people or commonwealth as one and the same person still subsisting through several ages. They must be extremely dull who can be insensible to the affecting energy of the fine apostrophe in the 11th verse.
Ver. 13. Take ye wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes- Houbigant renders this, Take from among your tribes, men endued with wisdom, understanding, and experience: wise men, says he, signifies those who had obtained knowledge by study and labour, as Moses was learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians; understanding men, those who excelled in genius; skilful men, those who had learned many things by experience. Known among your tribes, he observes, is an erroneous translation, into which many have been led by the authority of Buxtorf the father.
Ver. 15. So I took the chief-and made them heads- Persons of the first rank, and who consequently were least liable to bribery and corruption, were appointed by Moses to their respective offices, and by him charged to a faithful and conscientious discharge of them. It is probable, that these officers had civil as well as military authority, and were a council of state in things relating to the peace and welfare of the public, as well as a council of war to direct the military affairs of the tribes, and command them as an army; for the princes of the tribes were chief military officers, Num 2:2-3 and these same were the persons who were to assist Moses, and whom he consulted when he did not summon the whole congregation, Num 10:4. And that they were not summoned only as a council of war, appears from Num 36:1 where the question in law, concerning the succession of females to inheritances, was brought before Moses, and the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel. And upon the whole, it is most likely, that the heads, or captains of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, were vested with civil as well as military authority; that the officers of lower command were the elders and senate of the cities; and that the officers of higher and more general command were the princes, elders and senate of the tribe or province. See Lowman's Dissert. chap. 5:
Ver. 16, 17. I charged your judges, &c.- It was ordered by Solon, that all the Athenian judges should take this oath, "I will hear the plaintiff and defendant both alike." The Jews understand the words in the 16th verse as enjoining, that a judge was not to hear any man when the adversary was absent; but both parties were to be there present. Respecting the stranger, see Lev 24:22 and against partiality in judgment, Lev 19:15. Plutarch tells us, in his treatise of Isis and Osiris, that at Thebes were placed the statues of their judges, without hands, with their chief or president at their head, having his eyes turned downward; signifying thereby, that justice ought neither to be accessible to bribes, nor guided by favour or affection. See Isa 11:3-4. For the judgment is God's, means, that as they were God's ministers, and acted by his authority, therefore they ought to give judgment with perfect equity, resolution, and impartiality, always remembering that they were the representatives of the Almighty, and accountable to him. The expression denotes, that their integrity ought to be in some sort incorruptible, like that of God himself, in whose place they acted; and provided they behaved with courage and uprightness, they might be assured that God would protect them in the discharge of their duty. See 2Ch 19:6 Spencer de Leg. Heb. lib. i. c. 4. See also Callim. Hymn. ad Jov. ver. 81. translation, ver. 128.
Ver. 19. That great and terrible wilderness- So called on account of its vast extent, and because it had few other inhabitants than the wild beasts.
Ver. 27. Because the Lord hated us- One cannot conceive a greater degree of corruption, than that which could accuse the great and good God in such a manner; and which could suppose him to have done that from sentiments of hatred, which proceeded only from a principle of love. See chap. Deu 4:37 Deu 7:8.
Ver. 28. Walled up to heaven- A strong hyperbole, usual with the very best writers, to express the height and strength of their enemies' walls. See Gen 11:4 and Bochart's Phaleg. lib. 1: cap. 13. The author of the Observations remarks, that, "anciently if they raised up the walls of their cities so high as not to be able to be scaled, they thought them safe." The same simple contrivance is, to this day, sufficient to guard places from the Arabs, who live in that very wilderness in which Israel wandered, when the spies discouraged the hearts of the people, by saying the cities are great, and walled up to heaven; and who are a nation more inured to warlike enterprises than the Israelites were. To say that the height of the walls, which, by a strong Eastern way of speaking, are said to reach up to heaven, must have been supposed to have given pain to the people whom Moses was conducting out of Egypt,-and who were by no totals qualified to surmount this difficulty, though among us it would be very easily overcome-would be a just, but a cold and formal comment on these words, if compared with the liveliness and satisfaction the mind would receive from the setting down what modern travellers have said about the present inhabitants of these desarts, who must be supposed to be as able to overcome any obstruction of this kind as Israel when that nation came out of Egypt, and who are, by this means, oftentimes prevented from effecting their purposes on the inhabitants of these walled places. I shall, therefore, here set down two or three passages of this kind, as an amusing explanation of the force of this complaint of the spies. The great monastery at mount Sinai, Thevenot observes, "is well built of good free-stone, with very high smooth walls; on the east side there is a window, by which those that were within drew up the pilgrims into the monastery with a basket, which they let down by a rope which runs into a pulley, to be seen above at the window; and the pilgrims went into it, one after another, and so were hoisted up." These walls, he remarks in the next chapter, are "so high, that they cannot be scaled, and without cannon that place cannot be taken." The monastery of St. Anthony in Egypt, says M. Maillet, let. 8: p. 321 is inhabited by religious of the Coptic nation, to whom provisions are sent from time to time. It is a vast inclosure, with good walls, raised so high as to secure this place from the insults of the Arabs. There is no entrance into it but by a pulley, by means of which people are hoisted up on high, and so conveyed into the monastery. "By means of such their walls, these places are impregnable to the Arabs: the Israelites thought the cities of Canaan must be impregnable to them; for they forgot the divine power of their leader."
Ver. 29-31. Then I said unto you, &c.- This is omitted in the Book of Numbers. Moses here employed two arguments, the strongest possible to persuade the Israelites: the one taken from the promises of protection which God had made them; the second, from the happy proof which they themselves had so often experienced of his paternal care and defence. See Exo 19:4. "Bare thee," says Dr. Beaumont, "means not a bearing of the body only, but a bearing of their infirmities in the education of them, as a father doth his children's: the apostle, Act 13:18 follows the Greek of the LXX in this place."
Ver. 34. The Lord-was, and sware- Moses makes God speak in the manner of the kings of the earth; and that, to accommodate himself to the feeble reach of our understanding. That God cannot be in a passion, is certain; when the Scripture represents him in this light, it is the better to make us comprehend how much he detests evil. In the same manner, if he is introduced swearing, it is to give the greater force and strength to his asseverations, agreeable to those forms which are established among men. It is well known, that the Pagans supposed that their gods might swear: even their supreme god Jupiter, as well as the rest; which shews, that the general idea which mankind have affixed to the term swearing means no more than giving the strongest and most awful assurances possible, and does not necessarily imply the invoking a superior. See Dr. Waterland's Script. Vind. part 2: p. 47 and Gen 6:6.
Ver. 37. The Lord was angry with me for your sakes- This might be rendered more agreeably to the original, and more consistently with the history, through, or by means of you; i.e. "You were the cause of that offence in me, which raised the Lord's anger against me."
Ver. 39. Which in that day had no knowledge, &c.- As the Lord is here speaking of things present, Houbigant with great propriety renders this clause in the present tense; et filii vestri, qui nunc sunt rerum omnium ignari: your children, who now have no knowledge of good and evil.
Ver. 44. Chased you, as bees do- The Syriac, Onkelos, and an Arabic MS. which Bochart saw in Sweden, have it, as bees do when irritated by smoke. It is well known, that smoke is applied to drive these insects from their hives; and as then the bees, being enraged, unite, and fall with impetuosity upon those who venture thus to dislodge them, Moses draws thence an elegant comparison to express the number and vivacity of the Amorites, who came suddenly upon the Israelites, boldly purposing to dispossess them. The Psalmist makes use of a similar expression, Psa 108:12 and profane authors have, as it were, emulously striven to imitate the metaphor. See Virg. AEn. 12: ver. 587. Q. Smyrnaeus, lib. 3: cap. 220. Lycophron. ver. 180, &c. It is also very expressive. The bee, though small, is an animal full of fire and courage: the Raucians, a people of Crete, were formerly obliged to give place to them, by yielding to them their city. AElian de Animal. lib. 17: cap. 35. When Lucullus besieged Themiscyrus, the besiegers opposed its underminers with swarms of bees; (Appian, de Bell. Mithrid.) and afterwards the same artifice was more than once renewed on similar occasions, with the like success. See Bochart Hieroz. pars 2: lib. 4 cap. 10 and Scheuchzer's Physique Sacree, tom. 4:
And destroyed you in Seir- The Amorites did not attack the Israelites in Seir, but in their own mountains, to which they had ascended. It should, therefore, be rendered, from Seir; to express, that, after the Amorites had driven the Israelites from their mountains, they pursued them flying into Seir, even to Hormah. The LXX, Vulgate, and Syr. render it from Seir.
Ver. 46. In Kadesh-according unto the days that ye abode there- This should rather be at or near Kadesh, which gave name to that part of the desart southward of Kadesh. By the phrase according unto the days that ye abode there, some understand to mean, as long as ye abode at mount Sinai, i.e. nearly a whole year. But the most simple explication is, that they stayed here as long after this as they had done before it, which was at least forty days, the time spent by the spies in searching the land. Houbigant renders it, many days, even so many as ye had passed there before. Calmet, ye abode in Kadesh all the time ye were in that part of the desart. Without fixing the number of the days, says Mr. Chais, we may render it, as ye abode in Kadesh some time before this rebellion, so ye continued there some time after. We are instructed by St. Paul what use to make of the history recapitulated in the present book: he tells us in the epistle to the Hebrews, that as the murmurings and rebellions of the children of Israel caused God to swear that they should not enter into the land of Canaan; so we should take care that we be not excluded by our unbelief, and disobedience to the Gospel, from the heavenly Canaan, and from that rest which is reserved for the people of God.
REFLECTIONS.-They were now in a fair way for possession of the promised land; but Moses reminds them of their perverseness, and the dire consequences which ensued thereupon. They were safely led through the terrible wilderness, and nothing remained but to go up and possess their inheritance. God's protection had been an earnest of future mercies, and his promise their security. But then their unbelief began to break forth, 1. In sending spies. They should have taken God's word, and not have desired sight, when they were called to walk by faith. Nothing so dangerous as indulging our own wisdom where God's word has already decided. 2. In the credit they paid to the lying representation that the spies made. They acknowledged the goodness of the land, but they exaggerated the difficulties of conquering it. Heaven is allowed to be a desirable place, but the straitness of the way deters the carnal and unbelieving heart from going up to it. 3. In their disregard of Moses's earnest encouragement. Much had they experienced of God's care of them in Egypt, more in his protection and guidance through the wilderness, and therefore sure they need not now fear; but, blind to their own mercies, they murmur, refusing to go up, reflecting invidiously on God himself, as their destroyer instead of preserver: and thus, under the power of an evil heart of unbelief, departed from the living God. Note; (1.) Unbelief is at the root of all our sins. (2.) Every sin is greatly aggravated, when committed against experience of past mercies. He reminds them of the consequence of this unbelief, in the condemnation which passed upon them all, except Caleb and Joshua. All their other sins had not destroyed them but for this. Unbelief is the only damning sin. He himself also suffered under their provocations, and was excluded from Canaan. Not that God hereby intended to disinherit them: he was ordered to encourage Joshua, and to assure their children that they should possess what their fathers forfeited. Happy for them, if they took warning by their fathers' examples, to do more after their works. Finally, he mentions their perverse attempt in opposition to the divine command, and the ill success of it. Their tears then were fruitless; the decree was gone forth, and they had nothing to do but to submit. Note; (1.) When the door of mercy is shut, it is too late to knock. (2.) Many weep for their sufferings, not for their sins; and this is no better than the sorrow of the world, which worketh death.
