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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:2
And Israel vowed a vow. On these vows, and on things "devoted" or "banned" ( חֵרֶם— ἀνάθεμα), see on Le 27:28, and on the moral character of such wholesale slaughters see on Numbers 31:1-54. If it was right to destroy…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:3
They utterly destroyed them and their cities. Rather, "they banned ( יַּחַרֵם— ἀναθεμάτισεν) them and their cities." No doubt the banning implies here their utter destruction, because it is not the vow before the batt…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:4-9
EXPOSITION THE FIERY SERPENTS (Numbers 21:4-9).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:4
THE DISCOURAGEMENTS OF THE WAY The circumstances of the Israelites suggest some of the discouragements of Christian pilgrims. These may arise from— I. THE DIRECTION OF THE WAY. It led away from Canaan; it was apparently…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:4
They journeyed from Mount Hor. It appears from comparison of Numbers 33:38 and Numbers 20:29 that their departure was not earlier than the beginning of the sixth month of the fortieth year. This season would be one of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:4-9
SIN AND THE SAVIOUR The type of the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness is the only one which our Lord directly claims for himself as a type of his own crucifixion. No one can doubt that many other types, hardly…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:5
There is no bread, neither is there any water. The one of these statements was no doubt as much and as little true as the other. There was no ordinary supply of either; but as they had bread given to them from heaven, s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:6-9
DESTRUCTION AND SALVATION THROUGH THE SERPENT Each time the people break into open sin there is something new in the treatment of them. Now God gives the fruition of their desires; they are surfeited with quails, and pe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:6
Fiery serpents, גְחָשִׁים שְׂרָפִים. Nachash is the ordinary word for serpent. The word saraph which seems to mean "burning one," stands (by itself) for a serpent in Numbers 21:8, and also in Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 30:6.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:6-9
THE BRAZEN SERPENT AS A TYPE OF CHRIST If this narrative was a bare record of facts, it would supply precious lessons respecting sin and salvation; but being one of the typical histories, applied by the Saviour. to hims…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:7
Pray unto the Lord. This is the first and only (recorded) occasion on which the people directly asked for the intercession of Moses (cf; however, Numbers 11:2), although Pharaoh had done so several times, and never in v…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:8
Make thee a fiery serpent. A saraph. The Septuagint, not understanding the meaning of saraph, has simply ὄφιν (cf. John 3:14). Set it upon a pole. גֵם Septuagint σήμειον. Vulgate, signum. The same word is better tran…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:9
When he beheld the serpent ( גָחָשׁ in all three places of this verse) of brass, he lived. The record is brief and simple in the extreme, and tells nothing but the bare facts. The author of the Book of Wisdom understood…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:10-35
EXPOSITION THE END OF JOURNEYS, THE BEGINNING OF VICTORIES (Numbers 21:10, Numbers 22:1).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:10
The children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. In the list of Numbers 33:1-56, there occur two other stations, Zahnonah and Phunon, between Mount Hor and Oboth. Phunon may be the Pinou of Genesis 36:41, but i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:10-35
A PERIOD OF UNBROKEN PROGRESS The lifted serpent and the spirit of faith excited among the people produce not only the immediate and direct effect of healing; certain other encouraging effects are not obscurely indicate…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:11
And pitched at Ije-abarim. Ije ( עִיִיּ), or Ijm ( עִיִּים), as it is called in Numbers 33:45, signifies "heaps" or "ruins." Abarim is a word of somewhat doubtful meaning, best rendered "ridges" or "ranges." It was appa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:12
Pitched in the valley of Zared. Rather, "in the brook of Zered." בְנַחַל זֶרֶד Perhaps the upper part of the Wady Kerek, which flows westwards into the Salt Sea (see on Deuteronomy 2:13).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:13
Pitched on the other side of Arnon. The Arnon was without doubt the stream or torrent now known as the Wady Mojeb, which breaks its way down to the Salt Sea through a precipitous ravine. It must have been in the upper p…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:14
Wherefore, i.e; because the Amorites had wrested from Moab all to the north of Arnon. In the book of the wars of the Lord. Nothing is known of this book but what appears here. If it should seem strange that a book of th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:15
And at the stream of the brooks. Rather, "and the pouring ( וְאֶשֶׁד) of the brooks," i.e; the slope of the watershed. Ar. עָר is an archaic form of עִיר, a city. The same place is called Ar Moab in Numbers 21:28. It wa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:16
And from thence … to Beer. A well; so named, no doubt, from the circumstance here recorded. That they were told to dig for water instead of receiving it from the rock showed the end to be at hand, and the transition sho…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:17
Then Israel sang this song. This song of the well may be taken from the same collection of odes, but more probably is quoted from memory. It is remarkable for the spirit of joyousness which breathes in it, so different…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 21:18
By the direction of the lawgiver, בִּמְחֹקֵק. Literally, "by the lawgiver," or, as some prefer, "with the scepter." The meaning of michokek is disputed (see on Genesis 49:10), but in either ease the meaning must be prac…