Numbers 32:11

32:6-15 The proposal showed disregard to the land of Canaan, distrust of the Lord's promise, and unwillingness to encounter the difficulties and dangers of conquering and driving out the inhabitants of that land. Moses is wroth with them. It will becomes any of God's Israel to sit down unconcerned about the difficult and perilous concerns of their brethren, whether public or personal. He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were, as themselves, just ready to enter Canaan. If men considered as they ought what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginning of it.

Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards,.... See Numbers 14:28 . shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; the land of Canaan, which at various times he sware to give to them, and to their posterity: because they have not wholly followed me; the laws which he prescribed them, the directions he gave them, and particularly the orders they had to go up and possess the land at once, Deuteronomy 1:21.

Verse 11. - That came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward. Here is another instance of the haste and inaccuracy with which Moses spoke. The Divine sentence of exclusion had been pronounced upon all who were numbered at Sinai as being then over twenty ( Numbers 14:29 ). Numbers 32:11

6-19. Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here—Their language was ambiguous; and Moses, suspicious that this proposal was an act of unbelief, a scheme of self-policy and indolence to escape the perils of warfare and live in ease and safety, addressed to them a reproachful and passionate remonstrance. Whether they had really meditated such a withdrawal from all share in the war of invasion, or the effect of their leader's expostulation was to drive them from their original purpose, they now, in answer to his impressive appeal, declared it to be their sincere intention to co-operate with their brethren; but, if so, they ought to have been more explicit at first.

Moses first of all blames their want of brotherly feeling: "Shall your brethren go into the war, and ye sit here?" He then calls their attention to the fact, that by their disinclination they would take away the courage and inclination of the other tribes to cross over the Jordan and conquer the land, and would bring the wrath of God upon Israel even more than their fathers who were sent from Kadesh to spy out the land, and who led away the heart of the people into rebellion through their unfavourable account of the inhabitants of Canaan, and brought so severe a judgment upon the congregation. מן את־לב הניא, to hold away the heart, i.e., render a person averse to anything. The Keri תּניאוּן, as in Numbers 32:9 , is unquestionably to be preferred to the Kal תּנוּאוּן, in the Kethib of Numbers 32:7 . - In Numbers 32:8-13 , Moses reminds them of the occurrences described in ch. 13 and 14. On the expression, "wholly followed Jehovah," cf. Numbers 14:24 . The words, "He drove them about in the desert," caused them to wander backwards and forwards in it for forty years, point back to Numbers 14:33-35 .

[Reformed Biblical] Sincerely and heartily, as in God’s presence. Or rather, 2. Before the ark, which was the token of God’s presence. He alludes either to the order of the tribes in their march, whereby Reuben and Gad marched next and immediately before the ark, as ## appears from Num_2:10 ,14,16,17 ; or to the manner of their passage over Jordan, wherein the ark went first into Jordan, and stood there whilst all the tribes marched over Jordan by and before it, Jos 3 Jos 5 , and these amongst the rest, as is expressly noted in these very words, that they passed over before the Lord , Jos_4:13. Numbers 32:21 Numbers 32:22 ## Before the Lord, i.e. by his presence, and gracious and powerful assistance. Numbers 32:23 i.e. The punishment of your sin; as that word is very oft used. Numbers 32:24 Which you have uttered and promised to do. See this or the like phrase Num_20:2 Mat_15:8. Numbers 32:25 Numbers 32:26 ## Largely so called, as that word is oft used, for that whole country beyond Jordan, as in other places it is taken more strictly for a part of it, as here below, Num_32:39 ,40 , and elsewhere. Numbers 32:27 Numbers 32:28 Numbers 32:29 Numbers 32:30 They shall forfeit and lose their possessions in Gilead, and shall be constrained to go over Jordan, and to seek possessions there among their brethren. Numbers 32:31 ## As the Lord hath said; either at this time by thy mouth; or formerly, where he commandeth us as well as our brethren to go into Canaan and possess it. Numbers 32:32 Numbers 32:33 ## Ha

[Reformed Biblical] lf the tribe of Manasseh are here added to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, either because upon the good success of the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, they were encouraged to make the same request for themselves, as having much cattle as well as they; or because upon further consideration it was found that this portion of land was more than sufficient for those two tribes; and it was given by Moses to these rather than to any other, because they fought against the Amorites with great courage and success, here Num_32:39 Jos_17:1. Numbers 32:34 ## i.e. Repaired and fortified, as that word is oft used, as 1Ki_12:25 2Ki_14:22 2Ch_8:1 11:5 26:2 Dan_4:30; for they neither had need nor leisure as yet to do more, the old cities not being burnt and ruined, as divers in Canaan were. Numbers 32:35 Numbers 32:36 Numbers 32:37 Numbers 32:38 ## Nebo; of which city see Deu_34:1 Jer_48:1. ## Their names being changed; either because conquerors of places use to do so; or because the names of other gods (which Nebo and Baal-meon unquestionably were) were not to be mentioned , Exo_23:13, esp ecially at the first settling of the Israelites there, that the very remembrance of the idols might be blott ed out, and so the temptation to idolatry removed, though afterwards, when that danger was over, they were called by their ol d names again,

32. The sin of the Golden Calf, vv. 1–6; Jehovah, having told Moses that it is His intention to destroy the people in consequence, is diverted from His purpose by Moses’ intercession, vv. 7–14; Moses, coming down from the mount, and seeing the calf and the dancing, breaks the tables of stone, and then makes the people drink the powder of the calf, vv. 15–20; Aaron’s excuses, vv. 21–24; the insubordination of the people punished by the sons of Levi, who are rewarded for their zeal by the priesthood, vv. 25–29; Moses intercedes with Jehovah, and obtains from Him the promise that he may lead the people on to Canaan, though without His own personal presence, vv. 30–34; the people plagued for their sin, v. 35. The account of some of the events narrated in this ch., given in the retrospect of Deuteronomy 9:8-29 , deserves to be compared: the reader who will be at the pains to underline in his text of Dt. the passages in vv. 12–17, 21, 26–29 taken verbatim from Exodus 32:7-10 ; Exodus 32:15 ; Exodus 32:19-20 ; Exodus 32:11 ; Exodus 32:13 ; Exodus 32:12 ; Exodus 32:11 , will find remarkable resemblances, and also some remarkable differences: in particular ( vv. 26–29), words taken from Exodus 32:11-13 (and also from Numbers 14:16 ), but referred to a different occasion (comp. the writer’s Deut. pp. 10, 112 ff.). Why, it may be asked, was the figure of a bull chosen to represent Jehovah?