47 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Numbers 14 This chapter treats or the murmurings of the children of Israel upon the evil report of the spies, which greatly distressed Moses and Aaron, Numbers 14:1; and of the endeavours of Joshua and Caleb to quiet the minds of the people with a good account of the land, and of the easy conquest of it, but to no purpose, Numbers...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried,.... This is not to be understood of every individual in the congregation of Israel, but of the princes, heads, and elders of the people that were with Moses and Aaron when the report of the spies was made; though indeed the report might quickly spread throughout the body of the people, and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This chapter gives us an account of that fatal quarrel between God and Israel upon which, for their murmuring and unbelief, he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Here is, I. The mutiny and rebellion of Israel against God, upon the report of the evil spies, ver. 1-4. II. The fruitless endeavour of Moses and Aaron, Caleb...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron,.... They being the instruments of bringing them out of Egypt, and conducting them hither: and the whole congregation said unto them; some of them, the rest assenting to it by their cries and tears and gestures; would God we had died in the land of Egypt; and then what they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land,.... Unto the borders of it: their murmuring did not cease at Moses and Aaron, the instruments, but proceeded against God himself, who had done such wonderful things for them, not only in bringing them out of Egypt, but since they had been in the wilderness; and yet so ungrateful to complain of him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said one to another, let us make a captain,.... An head over them instead of Moses, who they knew would never take the government and care of them, should they resolve to return to Egypt as they proposed, and besides were now so disaffected to him, that they might not care he should. Captains they had over their several tribes, but they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces,.... Through shame and confusion of face for them, at hearing so shocking a proposal made, and such wretched ingratitude expressed; they blushed at it, and were in the utmost distress on account of it, and therefore threw themselves into this posture; or it may be this was done either to beg of them that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,.... Rose up and interposed in this affair, looking upon themselves under a special obligation so to do, as they were capable of confronting the other spies, and contradicting what they had said: [which were] of them that searched the land; they were two of that number, and were the more...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel,.... To as many as could hear them, to the heads of them: saying, the land which we passed through to search it, [is] an exceeding good land; they observe that they were of the number of the spies that were appointed and sent to search the land of Canaan, and they had searched it, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If the Lord delight in us,.... Continue to delight in them as he had, and as appears by what he had done for, them in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; see Deuteronomy 10:15; then he will bring us into this land, and give it us, as he has promised, a land which floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord himself hath described it, and as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Only rebel not ye against the Lord,.... Nothing, it is suggested, could hinder them from the, possession of it but their rebellion against the Lord; which might provoke him to cut them off by his immediate hand, or to deliver them into the hands of their enemies; for rebellion is a dreadful sin, and highly provoking, 1 Samuel 15:23; neither fear...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones,.... Namely, Joshua and Caleb, who had made such a faithful report of the good land, and had delivered such an animating and encouraging speech to the people. This is not to be understood of the body of the people, and of all the individuals thereof, for who then should they bid to stone Joshua...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Out of the cloud upon the tabernacle: how long will this people provoke me? which suggests that they had often provoked him, and had done it long ago, and still continued to do so; and he had long bore their provocations; but it was not reasonable, nor could it be expected by Moses or any other, that he would bear...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them,.... Deprive them of inhabiting the land; so as many as died of the pestilence were even all the spies who brought an evil report of the good land, Numbers 14:37; with respect to the body of the people, this is to be considered not as a peremptory decree or a determined point; but is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses said unto the Lord,.... In an abrupt manner, as the following words show, his mind being greatly disturbed and distressed by the above threatening, then the Egyptians shall hear [it]; that the Lord had smitten the Israelites with the pestilence; the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of the children of the Egyptians who were suffocated in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land,.... The land of Canaan, between which and Egypt there was an intercourse, though not by the way of the wilderness, being neighbours, and their original ancestors brethren, as Mizraim and Canaan were; or "they will say" (t), and that with joy, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; but what they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now [if] thou shall kill [all] this people, as one man,.... Suddenly, and at once, as might be done by a pestilence; and as 185,000 were smitten at once, and as thought by the same disease, by the Angel of the Lord in the camp of the Assyrians, in later times, 2 Kings 19:35; then the nations which have heard the fame of thee; the Egyptians,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them,.... That though he brought them out of Egypt, he was not able to bring them through the wilderness into Canaan; and that though he had wrought many signs and wonders for them, he could work no more, his power failed him, he had exhausted all his might, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, I beseech thee, let the power of Lord be great,.... That is, appear to be great; the power of God is great, not only mighty, but almighty; it knows no bounds, nothing is impossible with him, he can do whatever he pleases, Psalms 147:5; his power, and the greatness of it, had been seen in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord [is] longsuffering,.... Towards all men, and especially towards his own people: and of great mercy, being abundant in goodness, and keeping mercy for thousands: forgiving iniquity and transgression, all sorts of sin: and by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth...