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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:3
At even. See on Exodus 12:6. According to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof. This must be understood only of the essential rites and ceremonies of the passover, as mentioned below (Exodus…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:5
And they kept the passover. It is a question which inevitably arises here, how they obtained a sufficient number of lambs for the requirement of so many people, and how they were slain sacrificially within the appointed…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:6-13
A DIFFICULTY REMOVED I. THE DIFFICULTY STATED. Certain men, ceremonially unclean, could not partake of the passover (Numbers 5:1-4). One ceremonial observance, therefore, might clash with another. No one could with cert…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:6
There were certain men. It has been supposed by many that these men must have been Mishael and Elizaphan, who had recently (cf. Exodus 40:17; Le Exodus 9:1; Exodus 10:4) been defiled by burying their cousins Nadab and A…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:6-14
A COMMUNICANT IN ISRAEL, DISABLED BY SOME MISCHANCE FROM EATING THE PASSOVER ON THE RIGHT DAY, MAY EAT IT A MONTH AFTER The law here laid down is supplementary to the law of the passover set forth at large in Exodus 12:…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:7
Wherefore are we kept back. The direction to remove from the camp all that were defiled by the dead (Numbers 5:2) had not apparently been given at this time, nor was there any express command that such should not partak…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:10
If any man of you or of your posterity. The particular case of these men is made the occasion for a general provision for all succeeding times. Shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey. It is somewh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:11
The fourteenth day of the second month. The interval gave ample time to return from any ordinary journey, or to be purified from pollution of death. It was in the spirit of this command, though not in the letter of it,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:12
According to all the ordinances of the passover. The later Jews held that this passover need only be kept for one day, and that leaven need not be put away from the house. But this was a clear departure from the origina…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:13
But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey. This threat was added no doubt in order to prevent men from taking advantage of the permission to keep a supplemental passover in order to suit their own convenience o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:14
Ye shall have one ordinance. This is repeated from Exodus 12:49 as a further warning not to tamper more than absolute necessity required with the unity, either in time or in circumstance, of the great national rite. HOM…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:14
THE BENEFICENT ASPECT OF THE LAW OF MOSES TOWARDS FOREIGNERS Judaism, according to the "law given by Moses," was not the exclusive and repulsive system that many have imagined. The gate into Judaism, through circumcisio…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:15-23
THE CLOUD UPON THE TABERNACLE There is a fuller account of the rearing of the tabernacle and the descent of the cloud upon it in Exodus 40:1-38. Note— I. THE CONNECTION OF THIS CLOUD WITH PAST EXPERIENCES. It is spoken…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:15-23
EXPOSITION THE SIGNALS OF GOD (Numbers 9:15-23).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:15
On the day that the tabernacle was reared up. Here we are sent back again to the great day of Israel's sojourn at Sinai, when God took visible possession of his dwelling in the midst of them (Exodus 40:34). Everything a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:15-23
DIVINE GUIDANCE In this section we have, spiritually, the Divine guidance of the faithful through the wilderness of this life. Consider, therefore— I. THAT THE THEOPHANY, OR DIVINE APPEARANCE UPON THE TABERNACLE, WAS AS…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:15-23
THE GUIDING PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FLAME This pillar served more purposes than one; but without doubt the purpose noted here by Moses himself was that principally intended. It was the signal by which the Lord guided the ma…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:16
So it was alway. This supernatural phenomenon was not transitory, like the glory-cloud within the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35; cf. 1 Kings 8:10), but permanent, as long at least as the Israelites were in the wilderness.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:17
When the cloud was taken up. This verse and the following to the end of the chapter are an amplification of Exodus 40:36-38 (cf. Exodus 13:21, Exodus 13:22; Nehemiah 9:12; Psalms 78:14). It would appear from Exodus 13:2…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:19
Tarried long. Hebrew, אָרַךְ, "to prolong," i.e; the resting. The Septuagint has ἐφέλκηται … ἡμέρας πλείους.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:20
And so it was. Rather, "did it happen that." וְיֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר hypothetical clause introducing several other cases which actually occurred, and by which their perfect obedience was proved.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:21
From even unto the morning. Allowing but a single night's rest.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:22
Or a year. Rather, "days" (yamin): an undefined period (Genesis 4:3; Genesis 40:4), often equivalent to a year (Le 25:29). It is not known whether or on what occasion the Israelites actually remained in camp for a year.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 9:23
GOD'S CEASELESS PROVIDENCE A MOTIVE TO PROMPT OBEDIENCE God's presence with Israel was perpetual (Exodus 3:12; Exodus 13:17-18). The sign of it in the cloud was given as soon, and was continued as long, as it was needed…