31 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel said unto him,.... The messengers sent by the children of Israel made answer to the king of Edom: we will go by the highway; we desire no other favour but that of the public road; we propose not to go through any part of the country that is enclosed and cultivated, to do any damage to it: if I and my cattle drink of thy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, thou shall not go through,.... Which is an absolute and peremptory denial: and Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand; the king raised the militia of his country, and came at the head of a powerful army to hinder their passing into it; being fearful and jealous, lest such a large body as they were should...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his country,.... Notwithstanding their near relation to each other, and the fair promises Israel made: wherefore Israel turned away from him: patiently bearing the refusal, and not resenting it; being ordered, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, by the Word of heaven, not to make war...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel, [even] the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh,.... Not directly, but after they had continued there some time, and had furnished themselves with provisions for their journey, which they bought of the Edomites, see Judges 11:17, "the whole congregation" is observed to Journey from hence, not one of them being lost...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor,.... When they were at the foot of that mountain, in the valley adjoining to it: by the coast of the land of Edom; which they were still upon the borders of, and were going round it, not being permitted to go through it: saying; as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Aaron shall be gathered unto his people,.... That is, shall die, for this phrase is a periphrasis of death, and is used in common both of good and bad men, and designs death in general, without regard to persons and places men go to at death: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel; the land of Canaan;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Take Aaron and Eleazar his son,.... His eldest son, who was to succeed him in the priesthood, and did: and bring them up unto Mount Hor; to the top of it, they being now at the foot of it, where the people of Israel lay encamped.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And strip Aaron of his garments,.... His priestly garments, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi: and put them upon Eleazar his son; thereby declaring him to be high priest in his father's stead: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there; the phrase of gathering to his people is here explained of his dying.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses did as the Lord commanded,.... Though it must be very cutting, distressing, and afflicting to him, to part with a brother so dear to him, and who had been so many years a companion of him, and a partner with him in the care and government of the people of Israel; but it being the Lord's will, he submits unto it, and faithfully and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments,.... His priestly garments, which, very probably, were put on at the foot of the mountain, on purpose for the transaction of this affair, since they were not in common worn, but only when in service; the same hands that clothed Aaron with them at first, stripped him of them, and both were done at the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead,.... Not that they saw his dead body, but they perceived by the relation of Moses, and by various circumstances, as not seeing Aaron come down, whom they saw go up, and seeing Eleazar with Aaron's garments on him, and perhaps by tokens of mourning in Moses and Eleazar; so the Targums of...