Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 21:1
The way of the spies - אתרים atharim . Some think that this signifies the way that the spies took when they went to search the land. But this is impossible, as Dr. Kennicott justly remarks, because Israel had now marched from Meribah-Kadesh to Mount Hor, beyond Ezion-Gaber, and were turning round Edom to the south-east; and therefore the word is to be understood here as the name of a place. read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 21:9
And Moses made a serpent of brass ,.... Which was the most proper metal to make it of, that it might resemble the fiery serpents, whether of a golden or scarlet colour: and Diodorus Siculus F4 Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 560. speaks of some of the colour of brass, whose bite was immediately followed with death, and by which, if anyone was struck, he was seized with terrible pains, and a bloody sweat flowed all over him; and this was chosen also, because being burnished and bright, could be... read more