PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers
Rayner Winterbotham [1842-1924] · 425,969 words · 472 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OP GLOUCIISTER; AND BY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY THE VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAW…
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actual eequene-e of events." Not to mention that Bleek does not deem it neceesnry to insist upon the applioa.tion of this criterion in determining the e.uthentioity and genuineneBS of the synoptioal Gospels of Matthew and Luke (vicu • Introd. to N. T.,' VoL I. p. 280), it is cert.a.in with regard to Numbers that the…
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attributed to the want of completeness and accure.cy of the history" (vick • IntrocL to the Old Test.,' Vol. I. p. 251). Bohlen, with much bolder ingenuity, blots the thirty-seven years out altogether, regarding the number forty of which th0 narrative speaks, especially when conjoined with the story of the whole gen…
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Aaron and the transference of his official garments to Eleazo.r his son, to complete the renovation of the congregation by giving them a new high priest in room of one who was rather a representative of the congregation that had disappeared.. Hence, if this be the proper light in which to regard the relatiou subsist…
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b. So-oA..LLED STATISTICAL ERRORS. I. THE NUMBER OF tRE FIGHTING MEN. It appears from the record that on three several occa.sions,-in the third month of the first year after the exodus for the purpose of raising a poll tax (Exod. x:xx. 11 sqg_. ; cf. xxxvii. 25, 26), in the second month of the second year for the org…
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an interval of nine mouths had elapsed between them (Colenso 'on the Pent.,' VoL I. oh. vii. p. 42), But without insisting on the faot that etntionary communities, i11 respect of population, are by no means unknown in modem times, it ma.y be legitimately urged either, (1) with Michaelis, Kurtz, and others, that ther…
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Kohath was born in his father's thirty-eighth yea.r, and was accordingly two yee.ra of age when he was deported from the land of Oanaan. But Kohath in turn married, say at thirty yea.rs of age, and had a son named Amram, who is represented as having begotten Moses, say at the age of forty. Adding twenty-eight (30-2) an…
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t1co.nty vegeto.tion of the desert. But (1) the story does not represent the lsraelite!J as ho.ving been mainto.ined exclusively by the natural produce of the wilderness, but, on the contrary, expressly claims that they enjoyed for themselves (a.nd we may rest assured also for their cattle, if such wa.s i;ecessa.ry) a.…
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monuments which are everywhere found--Oloisters, hermitages, walls, gardons, and fountains; and, lastly, there is an evident possibility that thore was a much great.er supply of water in the w4dys, more abundant rain-storms, and the possi- bility of eoonomising the BUpplies thus gained by a use of the same appliance…
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tho.t Kuenen objocts to the historio credibility of the conquest on the ground tho.t it was much too easily accomplished(' The Religion of Israel,' Vol. L eh. ii. p. 131). As to the possibility of finding room in Cana.an for two millions more of people than it had previously contained, it is sufficient to reply, (1) th…
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or prevalenoo of polygamy has properly speaking no bearing whatever on the question; (2) the fruitfulness of Hebrew mothers, to whioh unquestionably some degree of weight must be attaohed; and (3) the exclusion of first-born sons who were not also the first-born of their mothers, or who were themselves hee.ds of fam…
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for that work P Keil think.a it might have been done, quoting an instance from. Josephus ('Ware,' VI. ix. 3) in which the blood of 256,600 paschal lambs was sprinkled. upon the altar in the time of the Emperor Nero; but since this second passover was entirely exceptional, and was not directly contemplated in the ena…
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great oongregationa.l assembly, as when, in oh. i. 16, the princes of the tribes o.re df'l!!i.gnated " the renowned of the congregation," lit-era.lly, the oalled men of the oon- gregation, "beoause," adds Keil, "they were called t.o diets of the congregation, as representatives of the tribes, t.o regulate the affair…
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lour hours additiono.l would be required for similarly completing the movements of the other three divisions. Meantime Judah has been travelling, let us suppose, four hours o.t the rate of two or two and a half miles an hour, so that, after a. journey of ten miles, he is ready for encampment, which consumes, we may …
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ITS AUTHORSHIP. The authorship of the Book of Numbers may be regarded as practically eettle«l by the previous question of its hietorio credibility. If no valid argument oan be adduoed for impugning the veracity of its oontents, the inference is irresistible that it can only have proceeded from the pen of Moses. Yet…
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to explain why in oh. :uii. 38 he should have discarded the favourite term Jehovah for the more general expression Elohim, since it we.e not e.t that moment his desire to emphasise the fa.et that Jehovah had declined to extend him the needful ea.nction to undertake the solicited mission, which indeed he had already …
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tempt.ed him, not one should behold the promised la.nd except Caleb," while eh. xiv. 26--SS affirms "that except Caleb and Joshua, all those previously numbered from twenty years old and upwards should perish in the wilderness, and that their children only, after a forty years' journeying through the wilderness, sho…
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the monarchy; and eh. xxiv. 17, 18, which clearly belongs to the time of David, when Idumea we.s conquered by Israel. But as the most of these have been examined in the Essay on the Authorship of the Pentateuch already referred to (vick • Genesis,' Pulpit 0ommentary), it will be the less needful to subject them at pres…
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and tents (of. vers:-3, 7, 9, 14), and could scarcely have been composed at a later period, when the oircumsta.nces of the people were so entirely altered as to render directions about camps and tents quite inapplicable. a. Similarly, the ordinance relating to the silver trumpets (eh. x. 1-10), and the instructions bea…
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bolonging probably to the third century B.o., but relating to the times of Ra.mesas II., in which Ptah-nefer-Ka, having found the book which the god Thoth wrote with his own hand, copied it on a new piece of papyrus, dissolved it in water, and .J.rank it, with the immediate result that "he knew all that it contained…
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SYNOPSIS OF NUMBERS. SECTION I.-PRErARATIOHS Jl'OB TIIB OBltAT Ml.ROH, CIUP. 1. i. 1-46 The first census of Israel. 2. i. 47--54 Special orders about the Levites. 3. ii. 1-84 Camping order of the tribes. 4. iii. 1-4 Notice of the priestly family. 6. ill. 5-51 Dedication of the Levites in lieu of the fir'iltb"rn …
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avoid noticing the abrupt hansition from eh. xiv. to eh. xv. ; and thus again no reader who had any ear for literary style could fail to isolate in his own mind the story of Balaam from the narrative which precedes and follows it. Perhaps the only question which could be seriously raised on this subject is the propriet…
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department of Jewish worship. As such it accords with its assiJned position on the threshold of the promised land; or it may even represent a later,oodi.flcation of the Mosaio legislation on -the :w_bject. Turning now to the nalT6tive1,we, find that it is exceedingly uneven- and intermittent in its.,oharaoter- as .1…
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writer &nd rejecting it as a wilful falsehood), it simply aseuree ue that Moeee kept a written record of the marches, &nd that the Itinerary in question ie baaed on that record. Turning to the external testimony as to authorehip, we come to the evidence afforded by the opinion of the later Jews. No one doubts that the…
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for inserting many of tl10 details, and would have had strong motives for explaining many things which now arouse, with,1Ut gratifying, our curiosity; The antiquarian information incidentally given about Hebron and Zoan (oh. :xiii. 22) seems thoroughly incompatible with a later age than that of Moses, and points to…
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facts, although it is a matter of conjecture how he beea.mo acquainted with the facts. The possible explanation is suggested in the notes, and it is clear.in any <l8S8 that no subsequent Jewish writer would be in a better position than Moses himself in this respect, while to regard it as a mere effo1t of the imaginat…
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them the Kohathites bore the sacred furniture; the other Levites were to put. up the tabernacle age.inst the Kohathites arrived. The remaining oamps of the west and of the north followed with aome 900,000 souls. If we try to picture to ourselves a day's march between Sinai and Kadesh (for the marching orders were d…
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present writer may, however, be excused if he points out once for all that the- testimony of our Lord and of the Apostle Paul ie clear and emphatic to the typical and prophetical character of the incidents here narrated. Such a reference as that in John iii. 14 and such a statement as that in I Cor. x. 4- 11 cannot be…
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-16.-.The numheringofGod'speopT,e. We have here, spiritually, the Church of God militant here on earth, "drawn up unto eternal life" (Acts xiii. 48), numbered and counted an~ orde_red by 0e Great Captain ?f the Lord's host; man by man, soul by soul, to be !us valiant soldiers and servants m tJ1e …
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nese. 11 Did not King Do.vid transgress in numbering the people? Did he not by s~ doing bring God's wrath upon !,is kingdom? Would that which brought guilt and sorrow on David be right or safe for us? " What are we to say to these scrupuloU8 ·persons? I have not time to go into the questions that have been raised abo…
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Vers. 1-3.-God commands a census. I. THE PLACE AND TIME 011' THE COMMAND-. God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. Many wildernesses, though uncultivated~ were fertile and well watered, but the wilderness of Sinai was a desolate place. Moses calls it "the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serp…
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EXPOSITION. • THE CENSUS TAKEN (vers. 17-46). Ver. Notice had in fact been given more than e. '17.-These men. Designated by direct com- month before, and the lists made up, whau mand of God ; yet probably the same, or the poll-tax W&S poid. ~ome of the same, selected by Moses for Ver. 19.-As the Lord commmded ltoses,…
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I. For one thing, these che.pters serve e.dmire.bly to ANCHOR THE RELIGION OP' THE BIBLE ON THE FIRM OROU!m 011' HISTORY. The Lord Jesus was not a mythical oharncter, not II mere play of glorious colour on e. bank of unsubstantial vapour. He W&B the son of a daughter of David's house. His genealogy is. extant;. and a l…
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EXPOSITION. TH11: LEVITE.9 (vers. 4,7-54,). Ver. 4,7.- with the anxious warnings against intrusion Ji'ot numbered among tbem. They teeN u~n the holy mount a.t tbe time of the numbered (eh. iii. 39), but not among tbe giving of the law (E:i:od. xix. 21, ,g.). The i:est ; their census was taken sepa.rately, and great…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 47-54.-The appointment of the Levites to be the sacred tribe. This is the first of a series of passages in which the law regarding the Levites is delivered. These all occur in Numbers, excepting a very few which are found in Deuteronomy; and they must be read together if you would g…
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they were called to it. Their fitness was made manifest before a word was epoken regarding t~e honourn~le_ office in which it was to be exe~ised. 'l'~e whole history of the (?hurch 1s full of sn~ular fac_ts. W~~n some great ex1gencJ'. anses calling for the sernces of men possessing special qualities of character or …
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Ver. 52.-0ur positian in tlie Church. "And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by bis own camp, and every man by bis own standard, throughout their hosts." I. UNITY WITHOUT UNID'ORMITY. Rending the history of the Jere.elites, we are ma.d& to feel they were assuredly one nntion, and yet just as…
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EXPOSITION. cherubim in the ta.bemacle, and these in CHAPTER II. their turn borrowed from the religious art of THE ENCAMPING OF THE TRIBES (eh. ii). Egypt. But the tradition of the J ewe is too Yer. 1.-The Lord spake 11I1to Jllloses and fluctuating to carry any weight. The Targum unto Aa.ro11. Probably when they h…
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HOMILETICS. Ch. ii.-The camp of the Saints. We have nere, spiritually, the Church of God in its order and its beauty and its balanced proportion of parts; resting inwardly upon, and ranged outwardly around, the abiding presence of the Almighty, and thus pre- pared either to abide in harmony and safety, or to set forwa…
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an is:ilnted unit before God ; but., on the contrary, DY RECOGNISING AND UTILIBINO BUMAN DIVISIONS. " Every man shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their fatl,er's house." Even so within the common life of the Church of Christ there is room and use for many strong and lasting diverg·encies of Christian …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ch. ii.-The muster at Sinai. The children of Israel in the wilderness were 11 divinely-framed fignre or parable of the Church of Christ. Devout readers of the story of the long march from Egypt to Canaan have always been haunted with such an irrepressible feeling of this figurative and spi…
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"\"era 1, 2.-God:s ta'he.rt/A1.Ck in the midst of Israel's tent,. I. As TBR fl0Ul\CB or Ol\DE:R. Israel formed an armed encampment, not a mob. The place of each tribe was assigned by God, and thua was not a matter of caprice or i;.artiality on the- part of Moses (ver. M). They were g,-ouped a<.Jcording to their trib…
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EXPOSITION. CH.APTER III. sixteen courses, the descendants of I thamnr into eight (2 Chron. n:iv. 3). THE NUMBERS AND DUTIES OF THE LE- Ver. 6.-Bring the tribe of Levi near. VITF.S; THEIR SUBSTITUTION FOR THE FIBST• Not by any outward act of presentation, but IIORN (eh. iii.). Ver. 1.-Theae .. are the by assigning …
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and he, 11.!l nbsolutely, m!lde tl1em over to eldest son. According to the Ta.rgums, tlte Aaron and the priests for the service of his "young men of the children, of Israel" &out eanctu&J:¥,. Cf. Eph. iv. 11, "ga~ some by Moses .to off'er Sll(lrifices before the con• apostle&, ' &e. The Levites, as gifts from Aecrat…
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Aaron, &e given here and elsewhere. If they been accepted by some modems, in the fact were the great-grandchiMren of Levi on that the Levites were taken and counted in- their father'e side, and his ~andchildren stead of the first-born, and that, therefore, on their mother's side, it is llllpossible to their own firs…
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he reproaches them with havin~ "carried the in a.ny personal danger, because he ranked taberna.cle of" their " Moloch ' even in the and suffered as a father, not as a son. On, wilderness (A.mos v. 26), absolves them by im- the other hand, the majority of families in plication from any darker superstition ; and which…
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-earth by the mouths and by the hands of his servants. Thus, if any preach the word, he is doing the work of Christ our Prophet ; if any minister to the sick, of Christ our Healer; if any feed his lambs, of Christ our Good Shepherd ; if any rule over men for their good, of Christ our King. Even if any suffer in the …
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ch. iii.-T/u? f amilia of Lem get their several commissi<ms. The third and' fourth chapters of Numbers form a section by themselves, and of this 11ection the- opening verse is the descripthre title: THE GENERATIONS OF AAltON AND MosES .According to t11e idiom of the Bible, this means th…
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'and for the Levites in pe.rticuln.r, shows everywhere the hand of the general accus- tomed to handle great bodies of men.-Ce.re is taken to put on record the rea.s01& for the separation of tlie Levites to the service of the tabernacle. By primitive custom e. certain sanctity was attributed to the first-born. The act…
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at the bead, and a continual regard in all things for the will of God (.Matt. xi. 20-24). II. THE SIN THEY COMMITTED. They offered strange fire before the Lord. The fire to be used was the holy fire ever burning upon the altar (Levit. vi. 13). To offer incense was to symbolise thanksgiving and supplication, and thi…
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,to have been used in the meat offering, the and its foot, and they shall put it into 11 two last in the drink offering. hyacinthine cover of skin, and put it on Ver. 8.-Bhall put in the stave■ thereof. bars." The burdens of the Kohathites weTe Thia formula ia repeated alike with reference six, not counting the !aver…
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:Bethshemesh, therofore (1 Sam. vi. 19), does The first conclnsion which naturally 11.rises- not fa.II within the letter of this law, although from tliese figures is, that after all the num• :it does within its spirit. The command, bering must l1ave been mado by tens, and , thus limited, is no doubt an addition to the…
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HOl\IILETICS. Ch. iv.-.Duties of the Cliurch militant. In thie ch111rter we have, spiritually, certain duties of the Church on the way to heaven in respect of faith and worship, and the spirit in which matters of religion ought to be conducted. Consider, therefore- !. THAT THE DIVINE RULE IN THE CARE 01!' THE SANC…
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eye of God, a.nd always remembered before him for good; in which case this would empb81!ise the truth that we must without any intermission b-~ had in merciful remembrance before God, lest we die. And note (1) that as the ahew-bread on the t.able "!'as _covered ~~h a cloth of ecarlet, which is the colour of atoning b…
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tne order of all the tribes, both for the march nnd the encampment, did not omit to- appoint to every division of the Levites its duty in relation to the tabernacle and it& holy fumiture--what each wae to cnrry, and in what order they were to pitch their tents. In this chapter of detailed regulations, special intere…
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first of Nadab and Abihu, and afterwards of Korah and his company, showed thnt these threats were spoken in earnest. \\' e cannot marvel that, after hearing and seeing all this, the people were smitten with terror, and cried out to Moses, "We perish, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the …
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who hnve perpetually to deal with Divine things are in danger of irreverence from thoughtlessness. E., g, Christian ministers, who have to be constantly praying and preaching, e.s part of their service for God. Christiane who have a reputation for :11aintlineee above their hrethren need special reverence, lest they sh…
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EXPOSITION. himself, and part of the awful reverence to. CHAPTER V. be paid to his presence ill the midst of Ts:E UNCLEJ..N TO BE REMOVED (vers. 1- Israet It is of course easy to depreciate the 4). Ver. 2.-:Every leper. The law of the value of such outward cleanness, as compared leper had been given in great detail …
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for the regulation of the camp have yet to be delivered, and this about the removnl of unclean persons is one of them. 'l'he general intention of it is intimated in the te1ms employed. The host is to be so ordered, both in the camp and on the march as to make it a living picture of the Church, and the Church's relation…
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the power of that touch. Leprosy, wasting issues, death-these are the memorials and tokens of the ein that ie the fatal heritage of our fallen race; and one who would know our need of redemption cannot do better than meditate on them ae they are set forth in the Levitical law. Leprosy, wasting issues, death-these evils…
1,263 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.