48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
This is the water of Meribah,.... Or "strife": this is the name by which the water had in this place, and from this rock, was called; and which is the same name given to the place at Horeb, where a rock had been smitten, and water had flowed, as now, the first year they came out of Egypt; and to distinguish this from that, this is sometimes called...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom,.... This country was sometimes governed by kings, and sometimes by "dukes", see Genesis 36:14. At the time of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, we read of the dukes of Edom, Exodus 15:15, and here, thirty nine years after, of a king of Edom, but who he was is not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How our fathers went down into Egypt,.... Jacob and his twelve sons, with their children: and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; even the space of four hundred and thirty years, Exodus 12:40 and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers; used them ill, brought them into bondage, and made their lives bitter, laid heavy tasks and burdens upon them, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when we cried unto the Lord,.... By reason of their bondage, and to be delivered from it, Exodus 2:24: he heard our voice; their prayer to him, as the Targum of Jonathan, for help and deliverance, Exodus 2:24: and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; one of the ministering angels, as the same Targum, and so Aben Ezra; though...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country,.... That being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards; to harm them, and injure any man in his private property, by gathering the fruit of them, if the season of the year for it, or by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Edom said unto him,.... The king of Edom replied to Israel, represented by the messengers sent in their name: thou shall not pass by me; through my country: lest I come out against thee with the sword; or with those that use the sword, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, with an army of soldiers with their drawn swords in their...
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Numbers 21 This chapter gives an account of the defeat of King Arad, the Canaanite, Numbers 21:1 of the murmurings of the children of Israel, because of difficulties in travelling round, the land of Edom, for which they were punished with fiery serpents, Numbers 21:4 and how that upon their repentance a brazen serpent was ordered...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [when] King Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south,.... Arad seems rather to be the name of a place, city, or country, of which the Canaanite was king, than the name of a man, since we read of the king of Arad, Joshua 12:14 see also Jude 1:16 and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem here render it, the king of Arad; and the Targum of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The armies of Israel now begin to emerge out of the wilderness, and to come into a land inhabited, to enter upon action, and take possession of the frontiers of the land of promise. A glorious campaign this chapter gives us the history of, especially in the latter part of it. Here is, I. The defeat of Arad the Canaanite, ver. 1-3. II. The...