Say unto them, as truly as I live, saith the Lord ,.... The form of an oath, as in Numbers 14:21 , as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you ; what they had wished for, and expressed in the hearing of the Lord, he threatens them should be their case. read more
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness ,.... They had wished they had died in it, Numbers 14:2 , and the Lord here declares they should, which is signified by the falling of their carcasses in it, or their bodies, which when dead fall to the ground, having no strength to support themselves: and all that were numbered of you : but a few months before this time, when their number was 603,550, Numbers 1:46 , according to your number from twenty years old and upward ; which is... read more
Doubtless ye shall not come into the land ,.... The land of Canaan; or "if ye shall come" F1 אם א־תאם תבאו "si vos ingressi fueritis", Pagninus, Montanus. ; that is, I swear ye shall not, so the Targum of Jonathan: concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein ; not them personally, but the people and nation of which they were, and to which they belonged, the seed and posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the oath was made: save Caleb the son of Jephunneh,... read more
But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey ,.... To the Canaanites, Numbers 14:3 , them will I bring in ; into the land of Canaan, and so fulfil the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for the unbelief of this congregation did not make the faith, or faithfulness of God, of none effect: and they shall know the land which ye have despised ; shall know what a good land it is by experience, and shall possess and enjoy it with approbation, delight, and pleasure, which... read more
But as for you, your carcasses ,.... Which way of speaking seems to be used to distinguish them from their children: they shall fall in this wilderness : which is repeated for the confirmation and certainty it, and an emphasis is laid on the words, this which are pronounced with an accent, to put them in mind of their wish, Numbers 14:2 . read more
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years ,.... Or "feed" F2 יהיו רעים "erunt pascentes", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius; "pascent", Tigurine version, Piscator. , as shepherds, who go from place to place, and seek fresh pasture for their sheep; it being the custom of a shepherd, as Aben Ezra observes, not to stand or rest in a place; and so like sheep grazing in a wilderness, where they have short commons, and wander about in search, of... read more
After the number of days in which ye searched the land , even forty days ,.... For so long they were searching it, Numbers 13:25 , each day for a year ; reckoning each day for a year, forty days for forty years, as in Ezekiel 4:6 , shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years : which number is given, being a round one, otherwise it was but thirty eight years and a half ere they were all cut off, and their children entered the land: and ye shall know my breach of... read more
I the Lord have said ,.... Determined, resolved on doing what I have declared, and again repeat it; the decree is absolute and peremptory, and will never be revoked: I will surely do it to all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me ; against his ministers, Moses the chief magistrate, and Aaron the high priest; and this is interpreted gathering, conspiring, and rebelling against the Lord himself, on account of which they might be truly called an evil congregation,... read more
Cried; and - wept that night - In almost every case this people gave deplorable evidence of the degraded state of their minds. With scarcely any mental firmness, and with almost no religion, they could bear no reverses, and were ever at their wit's end. They were headstrong, presumptuous, pusillanimous, indecisive, and fickle. And because they were such, therefore the power and wisdom of God appeared the more conspicuously in the whole of their history. read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 14:27
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me ?.... Bear with their murmurings, spare them, and not cut them off? how long must sparing mercy be extended to them? the Lord speaks as one weary of forbearing, so frequent and aggravated were their murmurings. The Jews understand this not of the whole congregation of Israel, but of the ten spies, from whence they gather, that ten make a congregation; and they interpret the phrase, "which murmur against me",... read more