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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:17
THE COMMUNICATION OF A SPIRITUAL ENDOWMENT The endowment of the elders for official duties was— 1. A Divine gift imparted by God himself (1 Corinthians 12:4-6; James 1:17). 2. Yet mediate, through Moses, who was the fir…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:17
I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them. The Holy Spirit is one and indivisible. But in the language of Scripture "the Spirit" often stands for the charismata, or gifts of the Spirit, and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:18
Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. By certain ablutions, and by avoidance of legal pollution (see Exodus 19:10, Exodus 19:14, Exodus 19:15). The people were to prepare themselves as for some revelation of God's holin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:20
But even a whole month. There is some little difficulty about these words, because the Israelites do not seem to have made a long stay at Kibroth-Hattaavah, and the miraculous supply does not seem to have followed them.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:21-23
DEEPER IN UNBELIEF I. MOSES IN HIS REPLY SNOWS AN IMPERFECT APPRECIATION OF WHAT GOD HAD SAID. 1. As to God's purpose. He had spoken in holy anger, promising flesh, but threatening retribution along with it. The threat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:21
And Moses said. Moses had not recovered from the impatient and despairing temper into which the ill-behaviour of the people had betrayed him. He could not really have doubted the Divine power to do this, after what he h…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:22
Shall the flocks and herds be slain? Which they had brought out of Egypt with them (see on Exodus 12:32), and which no doubt were carefully husbanded, partly in order to supply them with milk and other produce, partly i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:23
Is the Lord's hand waxed short? So that it cannot reach far enough to fulfill his purposes. This simple and expressive figure of speech is adopted by Isaiah (Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 59:1).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:24
Moses went out, i.e; out of the tabernacle. It is not stated that he went into the tabernacle to bring his complaint before the Lord, but the narrative obviously implies that he did (see on Numbers 7:89).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:25
The Lord came down in a cloud, i.e; in the cloud which was the symbol of his perpetual presence with. them. At other times this cloud dwelt ( שָׁכַן) above the tabernacle, soaring steadily above it in the clear air; but…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:26
There remained two of the men in the camp. No reason is here given why they did not accompany the rest to the tabernacle; but as they did not thereby forfeit the gift designed for them, it is certain that some necessity…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:26-30
ELDAD AND MEDAD OR, IRREGULAR PROPHESYING This narrative brings up a subject which is at once of great practical importance and of great delicacy, on which men have been apt to run to extremes on the one side or the oth…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:26-29
FOOLISH ADVICE WISELY REJECTED God fulfils his promise, and gives to these seventy men a spirit which doubtless brings them into more active sympathy with Moses, and takes away the carnal and selfish views which had pre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:26-29
LARGENESS OF HEART The brevity of the narrative prevents us forming an adverse judgment of the conduct of Eldad and Medad, for we do net know their motive for remaining in the camp. It may have been ignorance of the cal…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:27
And there ran a young man. Literally, "the young man,"— הַנַּעַר; ὁ νεανἱσκος, Septuagint,—by which some understand the young men of the camp collectively, but this is doubtful in grammar and unsatisfactory in sense.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:28
Joshua the son of Nun. See on Exodus 17:9. As before, he is called Joshua by anticipation. One of his young men. This implies that there were others who to some extent shared his duties towards Moses; but that Joshua st…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:29
Enviest thou for my sake? In this answer speaks for once "the meekest of men." It was his sad fate that his position as representative of God obliged him to see repressed with terrible visitations any rebellion against…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:30
Moses gat him into the camp. Although the tabernacle stood in the midst of the camp, yet it was practically separated from the tents of the other tribes by an open space and by the encampments of the Levites. There is,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:31
A wind from the Lord. A wind Divinely sent for this purpose. In Psalms 78:26 it is said to have been a wind from the east and south, i.e; a wind blowing up the Red Sea and across the Gulf of Akabah. And brought quails f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:32
And the people stood up … next day. A statement which shows us how greedy the people were, and how inordinately eager to supply themselves with an abundance of animal food. They were so afraid of losing any of the birds…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:33
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed. If this were taken in the most literal sense, it would mean that no one of the people had time to swallow a single morsel of the coveted food ere he wa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:34
Kibroth-Hattaavah. The graves of greediness. Septuagint, ΄νήματα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας. This name, like Tabeerah, was given to the place by the Israelites themselves in connection with their own history; the name, therefore…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:35
And abode at Hazeroth. Or, "were in Hazeroth." Septuagint, ἐγένετο ὁ λαὸς ἀσηρώθ. Hazeroth, from חָצַר, to shut in, means "enclosures;" so named perhaps from some ancient stone enclosures erected by wandering trib…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 12:1-16
EXPOSITION THE SEDITION AND PUNISHMENT OF MIRIAM (Numbers 12:1-16.).