Numbers 1:51 - Exposition

The stranger. The word appears to mean here any unauthorized person (see Numbers 16:40 ). This is the first intimation given of the extreme and awful sanctity of the tabernacle, as the tent of the Divine Presence. It is, however, quite of a piece with the anxious warnings against intrusion upon the holy mount at the time of the giving of the law ( Exodus 19:21 , sq. ) . The great necessity for Israel was that he should understand and believe that the Lord before whom he had trembled at Sinai was really in the midst of him in all his travail and his danger. This could only be impressed upon his dull mind and hard heart by surrounding the presence chamber of Jehovah with awful sanctities and terrors. At a subsequent period, when the religious reverence here thrown around the tabernacle had been transferred to, or rather concentrated upon, the ark alone, Uzzah was actually smitten for breaking this law ( 1 Chronicles 13:10 ). The tumult raised against St. Paul ( Acts 21:27 , sq. ) was justified by a supposed violation of the same.