| Scripture |
Expanded Comments | Additional Comments |
| |
| |
| 1 Then did all the assembly lift up, and give forth their voice,–and the people wept throughout that night. |
|
|
| 2 And all the sons of Israel, murmured against Moses and against Aaron,–and all the assembly said unto them–Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or, in this wilderness, oh that we had died! |
|
|
| 3 Wherefore, then, is Yahweh bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones, will become a prey! Would it not be well for us to go back towards Egypt? |
|
|
| 4 And they said, one to another,–Let us appoint a head, and let us go back towards Egypt. |
Return into Egypt – To the world. R1842:6
|
|
| |
| |
| 5 Then did Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces,–before all the convocation of the assembly of the sons of Israel. |
|
|
| 6 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of them who spied out the land, rent their clothes; |
And Joshua – Meaning "Deliverer of his people"; type of Jesus. A79; R3064:5
And Caleb – Meaning "Dog"; type of the Church, chiefly composed of the poor of this world. R3064:5
Searched the land – Joshua toured the entire country, some 300 miles; while Caleb's group only went as far as Hebron. R4045:3
|
|
| 7 and spake unto all the assembly of the sons of Israel, saying,–As for the land through which we passed to spy it out, Good, is the land, exceedingly. |
The land – Canaan, type of the rest of faith. R5345:4; T25
Canaan represents the conflict conditions of the trial-state. F130
"We who believe do enter into rest" in proportion to our exercise of faith. (Heb. 4:3) R5345:5
It is proper to speak of an earthly and a heavenly Canaan. R3945:2
|
|
| 8 If Yahweh delight in us, then will he bring us into this land, and give it unto us,–A land which doth flow with milk and honey. |
|
|
| 9 Only, against Yahweh, do not rebel. Do not, ye, fear the people of the land, For, our food, they are,–Their shade hath departed from over them, And Yahweh is with us, Do not fear them! |
|
|
| 10 But, when all the assembly bade stone them, with stones, the glory of Yahweh, appeared, in the tent of meeting, unto all the sons of Israel. |
|
|
| |
| |
| 11 Then said Yahweh unto Moses, How long must this people, despise me? And, how long can they not believe in me, in view of all the signs which I have done in their midst? |
|
|
| 12 Let me smite them with pestilence, and disinherit them,–And make thee, into a nation greater and more mighty than they! |
|
|
| 13 Then said Moses unto Yahweh,–So shall the Egyptians hear, For thou hast brought up, in thy might, this people, out of their midst; |
And Moses – Being more mindful of the Lord's honor than his own. R1842:3
|
|
| 14 And will tell it unto the inhabitants of this land: They have heard, That, thou, Yahweh, art in the midst of this people,–That, eye to eye, is he seen–thou, Yahweh. And, thy cloud, is standing over them, And, in a pillar of cloud, thou thyself, art going on before them by day, And, in a pillar of fire, by night. |
Thy cloud – Manifestation of divine power and presence. They stopped with the cloud and journeyed when it moved. R5387:5
|
|
| 15 As soon, therefore, as thou hast put to death this people, as one man, so soon will the nations who have heard thy fame speak, saying: |
|
|
| 16 Because Yahweh, was not able, to bring in this people into the land which he had sworn unto them, therefore did he slay them in the desert. |
|
|
| 17 Now, therefore, I beseech thee, let the might of My Lord, be magnified,–according as thou didst speak, saying: |
The power of my Lord – Pray, pleading God's glory. R5380:6*
|
|
| 18 Yahweh–slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, Forgiving iniquity and transgression: Though he will not leave, wholly unpunished, Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon sons, Upon a third generation, and upon a fourth. |
By no means – He has, however, provided a way by which he can be just and yet justify and release justly condemned sinners. This one just way is through Christ. HG308:5
Clearing the guilty – Moses did not ask the Lord to clear persistently willful sinners. R1842:4
The demands of justice must be satisfied. R2328:2; Q'05/10/20
Unto the third – Deviations from the prototype are corrected in the course of three generations. R4859:6*
|
|
| 19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, According to the greatness of thy lovingkindness,–And according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt, even thus far. |
|
|
| |
| |
| 20 And Yahweh said, I have pardoned, according to thy word; |
To thy word – This mercy could be extended to the young, but not to the adults (willful sinners), an illustration of the value of intercessory prayer. R1842:5
|
|
| 21 Nevertheless, as I, live,–and that all the earth may be filled with the glory of Yahweh, |
All the earth – "He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth." (Psa. 72:8) R1415:1
Then all shall see the glorious brightness of God's wisdom, justice, love and power. R5210:5
Shall be filled – By the end of the Millennium. D656
|
|
| 22 Verily, none of the men who have been beholding my glory and my signs, which I have done in Egypt, and in the desert,–and have put me to the proof these ten times, and have not hearkened unto my voice, |
|
|
| 23 shall see the land, which I sware to their fathers,–yea, none of my despisers, shall see it.
|
They – Type of a class of willful sinners of this Gospel age who come under condemnation to the Second Death. R1842:5
|
|
| 24 But, my servant Caleb–because there was another spirit with him, and he followed me fully, therefore will I bring him into the land whereinto he entered, and, his seed, shall possess it. |
|
|
| 25 Now, the Amalekites and the Canaanites, are dwelling in the valley,–tomorrow, turn ye away; and set yourselves forward towards the desert, by the way of the Red Sea. |
|
|
| 26 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying: |
|
|
| 27 How long, as regardeth this evil assembly, are, they, to be murmuring against me? The murmuring of the sons of Israel, which, they, have been murmuring against me, have I heard. |
|
|
| 28 Say unto them: As I live, is the oracle of Yahweh: Surely, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so, will I do unto you:– |
|
|
| 29 In this desert, shall your dead bodies fall, And, none of you who were numbered, in all your counting, from twenty years old and upwards,–who have murmured against me, |
|
|
| 30 none of you, shall enter into the land, as to which I uplifted my hand, to give you an abode therein,–save Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun: |
|
|
| 31 whereas, your little ones, of whom ye said, they should become, a prey, I will bring them in, and they shall acknowledge the land which ye refused. |
They shall know – Showing the value of intercessory prayer on behalf of those who sin not unto death. R1842:5
|
|
| 32 But, your own dead bodies, shall fall in this desert; |
|
|
| 33 and, your sons, shall be shepherds in the desert forty years, and shall bear your unchastities,–until your dead bodies are consumed in the desert. |
Children shall wander – Illustrates that fidelity to the truth will in due time be rewarded, though for a time the faithful may suffer on account of the unfaithful. R1842:1
Because of their lack of faith and their rebellion. R5387:6
Forty years – The remainder of 40 years. R4046:2
Typifying the period of Jewish disfavor. R3064:4
|
|
| 34 By the number of the days, wherein ye spied out the land–forty days, each day for a year, shall they bear your iniquities–forty years,–so shall ye know my opposition. |
Day for a year – A key by which nearly all time prophecies can be unlocked. B91
The six creative days were not 24-hour days. The word "day" stands for epoch, or period. F19
|
|
| 35 I–Yahweh, have spoken, Verily, this, will I do to all this evil assembly, who have conspired against me,–In this desert, shall they be consumed, And, there, shall they die. |
|
|
| |
| |
| 36 Now, as for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land,–who returned and caused all the assembly to murmur against him, by giving out a rumour against the land, |
|
|
| 37 they died–the men who gave out an evil rumor of the land,–by the plague, before Yahweh. |
The evil report – The false statement that they saw giants, or Nephilim, whom the flood had destroyed, was part of it. E104
|
|
| 38 But, Joshua son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, remained alive–of those men who went to spy out the land. |
|
|
| 39 And Moses spake these words unto all the sons of Israel,–and the people were greatly depressed. |
|
|
| 40 So they arose early in the morning, and went up into the top of the mountain, saying,–We are here–therefore will we go up into the place as to which Yahweh hath said, that we have sinned. |
|
|
| 41 But Moses said, Wherefore is it that, ye, are going beyond the bidding of Yahweh,–since, that, cannot prosper? |
|
|
| 42 Do not go up, For Yahweh is not in your midst,–Lest ye be smitten down before your enemies. |
|
|
| 43 For, the Amalekites and the Canaanites, are there before you, So shall ye fall by the sword,–For, inasmuch as ye have turned back from following Yahweh, Therefore will Yahweh not be with you. |
|
|
| 44 But they presumptuously ascended into the top of the mountain,–though, neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, nor Moses, moved out of the midst of the camp. |
Departed not – We should never attempt any undertaking, temporal or spiritual, without seeking to know the will of the Lord concerning it. R3062:1
|
|
| 45 So ten the Amalekites and the Canaanites, that dwelt in that mountain, came down,–and smote them and routed them, even unto Hormah. |
|
|