PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Numbers
Watson, Robert A. (Robert Alexander) · 122,879 words · 175 reading sections
_Balaam On The Way_
In Balaam's case there was a happier issue than is often seen. The protest against his cruelty opened his eyes to the truth that a messenger of God stood in his way. The rebuke came home to him. So might a hard, self-willed man who rode rough-shod over the feelings and rights of others be brought suddenly to a sense of…
710 wordsSECTION 122_Balaam On The Way_
Balaam will return, confessing himself defeated for the time. But he learns that he may not. He has come so far with designs of his own; he must now go on to Moab to serve the purposes of God. The permission he wrested, so to speak, from Providence, was not wrested after all. There are deeper schemes than Balaam can fo…
815 wordsSECTION 123_Balaam'S Parables_
There are things which even money cannot buy. There is a limit beyond which even a false and avaricious man cannot venture for the sake of honours and rewards. It is a vulgar judgment that every man has his price. One who is not particularly conscientious on most occasions will sometimes touch the bounds of concession …
927 wordsSECTION 124_Balaam'S Parables_
Rapidly the diviner had to form his decision. That done, the words of the oracle could be trusted to the inspiration of the moment, inspiration from Jehovah, whose superiority to all the gods of Syria Balaam now heartily acknowledged. He accordingly left his place of vision and returned to the Bamoth where the altars s…
755 wordsSECTION 125_Balaam'S Parables_
Balaam's vision of Israel as a separated people, a people dwelling alone, had singular penetration. The others he knew--Amorites, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, Hittites, Aramæans--went together, scarcely distinguishable in many respects, with their national Baals all of the same kind. Was Ammon or Chemosh, Melcarth …
742 wordsSECTION 126_Balaam'S Parables_
Wistfully, men whose life has been on the low ground of mere earthly toil and pleasure may, in like manner, when the end draws near, envy the confidence and hope of the good. For the old age of the sensualist, and even of the successful man of the world, is under a dull wintry sky, with no prospect of another morning, …
686 wordsSECTION 127_Balaam'S Parables_
Balaam was now brought into the field of Zophim, or the Watchers, to the "top of Pisgah," whence he could see only a part of the camp of Israel. The Hebrew here as well as in xxii. 41 is ambiguous. It has even been interpreted as meaning that on the first occasion part of the encampment only was in view, and on the sec…
809 wordsSECTION 128_Balaam'S Parables_
Singular is it to find a diviner like Balaam noting as one of the great distinctions of Israel that the nation used neither augury nor divination. The hollowness of his own arts in presence of the God of Israel who could not be moved by them, who gave His people hope without them, would seem to have impressed Balaam pr…
854 wordsSECTION 129_Balaam'S Parables_
Balaams enough there are, after a sort, with more or less penetration and sincerity. But what the peoples need is a Moses to revive their faith. The hollow maledictions and blessings that are now launched incessantly from valley to hill, from hill to valley, would be silenced if we found the leader who can re-awaken fa…
702 wordsSECTION 130_Balaam'S Parables_
"Blessed be every one that blesseth thee And cursed be every one that curseth thee." So strongly is Israel established in the favour of Shaddai, the Almighty One, that attempts to injure her will surely recoil on the head of the aggressor. And on the other hand, to help Israel, to bid her God-speed, will be a way to …
384 wordsSECTION 131_The Matter Of Baal-Peor_
NUMBERS xxiv. 10-xxv. 18 The last oracle of Balaam, as we have it, ventures into far more explicit predictions than the others, and passes beyond the range of Hebrew history. Its chief value for the Israelites lay in what was taken to be a Messianic prophecy contained in it, and various bold denunciations of their ene…
837 wordsSECTION 132_The Matter Of Baal-Peor_
In Balaam's vision small nations with which he happens to be acquainted bulk largely--the Kenites, Amalek, Moab, and Edom. To him the Amalekites appear as having once been "the first of the nations." We may explain, as before, that he had been impressed on some occasion by what he had seen of their force and the royal …
866 wordsSECTION 133_The Matter Of Baal-Peor_
The narrative of the "Priests' Code," beginning at ver. 6, and going on to the close of the chapter, adds details of the sin and its punishment. Assuming that the row of stakes with their ghastly burden is in full view, and the dead bodies of those slain by the executioners are lying about the camp, this narrative show…
718 wordsSECTION 134_The Matter Of Baal-Peor_
* * * * * It is confidently affirmed by Wellhausen that the "Priestly Code" makes the cultus the principal thing, and this, he says, implies retrogression from the earlier idea. The passage we are considering, like many others ascribed to the "Priests' Code," makes something else than the cultus the principal thing. W…
778 wordsSECTION 135_The Matter Of Baal-Peor_
Our judgment, then, is that the narrative sustains a true theocracy in this sense, exhibits Israel as a unique phenomenon in human history, not impossible,--there lies the clear veracity of the Bible accounts,--but playing a part such as the times allowed, such as the world required. From a passage like that now before…
861 wordsSECTION 136_A New Generation_
[11] Wellhausen, "Prolegomena," p. 424. NUMBERS xxvi., xxvii The numbering at Sinai before the sojourn in the Desert of Paran has its counterpart in the numbering now recorded. In either case those reckoned are the men able to go forth to war, from twenty years old and upward. Once, an easy entrance into the land of …
733 wordsSECTION 137_A New Generation_
The second numbering of the people showed that a new generation filled the ranks. Plagues that swept away thousands, or the slow, sure election of death, had taken all who left Egypt excepting a few. It was the same Israel, yet another. Is, then, the nation of account, and not the individuals who compose it? Perhaps th…
746 wordsSECTION 138_A New Generation_
The page of Israel's history we are reading preserves many names. It is in outline a genealogy of the tribes. Reuben's sons are Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi. The son of Pallu is Eliab. The sons of Eliab are Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. And of Dathan and Abiram we are reminded that they strove against Moses and Aaron in …
819 wordsSECTION 139_A New Generation_
The numbering in the plains of Moab is connected in vv. 52-6 with the division of the land among the tribes. "To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one according to those that were numbered of him shall his inheritance be given." The principle …
689 wordsSECTION 140_A New Generation_
* * * * * The generation that came from Egypt has passed away, and now (xxvii. 12) Moses himself receives his call. He is to ascend the mountain of Abarim and look forth over the land Israel is to inhabit; then he is to be gathered to his people. He is reminded of the sin by which Aaron and he dishonoured God when the…
728 wordsSECTION 141_A New Generation_
To die, to be gathered to his people--and what then? It is at death we reckon up the account and estimate the value and power of faith. Has it made a man ready for his change, ripened his character, established his work on a foundation as of rock? The command which at Horeb Moses received long ago, and the revelation o…
952 wordsSECTION 142_A New Generation_
So the personal drama of many acts and scenes draws to a close with forebodings of the end, and yet a little respite ere the curtain falls. The music is solemn as befits the night-fall, yet has a ring of strong purpose and inexhaustible sufficiency. It is not the "still sad music of humanity" we hear with the words, "G…
756 wordsSECTION 143_A New Generation_
The priest who inquires of the Lord by Urim has a higher place under Joshua's administration than under that of Moses. The theocracy will henceforth have a twofold manifestation, less of unity than before. And here the change is of a kind which may involve the gravest consequences. The simple statement of ver. 12 denot…
566 wordsSECTION 144_Offerings And Vows_
[12] "Antiquities of Israel:" "The Priesthood." NUMBERS xxviii.-xxx The legislation of chapters xxviii.-xxx. appears to belong to a time of developed ritual and organised society. Parallel passages in Exodus and Leviticus treating of the feasts and offerings are by no means so full in their details, nor do they even …
320 wordsSECTION 1451. The Sacred Year
NUMBERS xxviii.-xxix Throughout the year, each day, each sabbath, and each month is to be consecrated by oblations of varying value, forming a routine of sacrifice. First the Day, bringing duty and privilege, is to have its morning burnt offering of a yearling lamb, by which the Divine blessing is invoked on the labou…
655 wordsSECTION 1461. The Sacred Year
* * * * * We pass now to the Sabbath and the sacrifices by which it was distinguished. Here the number seven which recurs so frequently in the statutes of the sacred year appears for the first time. Connection has been found between the ordinances of Israel and of Chaldea in the observance of the seventh day as well a…
834 wordsSECTION 1471. The Sacred Year
We find as we go on that the week of seven days, ended by the recurring day of rest, is an element in the regulations for all the great feasts. Unleavened bread was to be eaten for seven days. Seven weeks were then to be counted to the day of the firstfruits and the feast of weeks. The feast of tabernacles, again, ran …
733 wordsSECTION 1481. The Sacred Year
The Passover, the first great feast, a sacrament rather, is merely mentioned in this portion of Numbers. It was chiefly a domestic celebration--not priestly--and had a most impressive significance, of which the eating of the lamb with bitter herbs was the symbol. The day after it, the "feast of unleavened bread" began.…
773 wordsSECTION 1491. The Sacred Year
* * * * * "The day of the firstfruits" was, according to Lev. xxiii. 15, the fiftieth day from the morrow after the passover sabbath. The special harvest offering of this "feast of weeks" is thus enjoined: "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flo…
653 wordsSECTION 1501. The Sacred Year
But the joy of the seventh month thus begun did not go on without interruption. The tenth day was one of special solemnity and serious thought. It was the great day of confession, for on it, in the holy convocation, the people were to "afflict their souls." The transgressions and failures of the year were to be acknowl…
752 wordsSECTION 1511. The Sacred Year
It will be noticed that on the closing day there was to be a "solemn assembly." It was "the great day of the feast" (John vii. 37). The people who during the week had lived in the booths or arbours which they had made, now dismantled them and went on pilgrimage to the sanctuary. The opening of the festival came to be o…
622 wordsSECTION 1522. The Law Of Vows
NUMBERS xxx The general command regarding vows is that whosoever binds himself by one, or takes an oath in regard to any promise, must at all hazards keep his word. A man is allowed to judge for himself in vowing and undertaking by oath, but he is to have the consequences in view, and especially keep in mind that God …
762 wordsSECTION 1532. The Law Of Vows
These regulations establish the headship of the father and the husband in regard to matters which belong to religion. And the significance of them lies in this, that no intrusion of the priest is permitted. If the "Priests' Code" had been intended to set up a hierocracy, these vows would have given the opportunity of i…
393 wordsSECTION 1541. The War With Midian
[13] See Ewald's "Antiquities," p. 131, Solly's translation. [14] _Expositor_, 3rd Series, vol. iv., p. 88. [15] Ewald's "Antiquities," p. 40. NUMBERS xxxi The command to vex and smite the Midianites (xxv. 16) has already been considered. Israel had not the spiritual power which would have justified any attempt to …
853 wordsSECTION 1551. The War With Midian
In detail the difficulties may thus be partly overcome; yet the whole account remains so singular, both in its spirit and incidents, that Wellhausen has roundly declared it to be fictitious, and others have had no resource but to fall back, even for the slaughter of the women, on the Divine command. It is true there we…
932 wordsSECTION 1561. The War With Midian
And the whole circumstances, remote as they are from our own time, may bring home even to Christians the duty of moral decision and relentless war against the vices and lusts with which too many are inclined to make terms. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the "wiles of error," the "lusts of deceit," …
668 wordsSECTION 1571. The War With Midian
On the other hand, charity and patience are needed. It is difficult to forbear with those who seem to find their pleasure in what is evil, more difficult to continue the efforts necessary to win them to religion, purity, and honour. We feel it a hard task to track our own unholy desires to their retreats and slay them …
258 wordsSECTION 1582. Settlement
NUMBERS xxxii The request of the men of Reuben and Gad that they should be allowed to settle on the eastern side of Jordan in the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was at first refused by Moses with warm displeasure. They appeared to wish exemption from further military duty, if indeed they had not almost formed th…
788 wordsSECTION 1592. Settlement
In danger of losing all because they had been too selfish, the men of Reuben and Gad made a new proposal. They would go with the rest to the conquest of Canaan; yea, they would form the van of the army. If Moses would only allow them to provide sheep-folds for their flocks and cities for their families, they would take…
794 wordsSECTION 1602. Settlement
And how does the sin of those who neglect such high duties find them out? Perhaps in the loss of the possessions they have selfishly guarded, and their reduction to the level of those whom they kept at arm's-length and treated as inferiors or as enemies. Perhaps in the harshness of temper and bitterness of spirit the p…
641 wordsSECTION 161_The Way And The Lot_
NUMBERS xxxiii., xxxiv 1. The itinerary of xxxiii. 1-49 is one of the passages definitely ascribed to Moses. It opens with the departure from Rameses in Egypt on the morrow after the passover, when the children of Israel "went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians." The exodus is made singularly impr…
878 wordsSECTION 162_The Way And The Lot_
A list of names with only three historical notes appears a singular memorial of the forty years. Time was, no doubt, when the places named were all well known, and any Israelite desiring to satisfy himself as to the route by which his forefathers went could make it out by help of this passage. To us the interest of the…
845 wordsSECTION 163_The Way And The Lot_
In this way many find themselves held for a long period of middle life. Their minds move from one point to another without seeming to make any progress. But neither does rest come. It is seen that partial obedience, a measure of nearness to the perfection once dreamed of, will not suffice. Then arises the question whet…
659 wordsSECTION 164_The Way And The Lot_
To drive out all the inhabitants of the land was, however, a difficult task; and even Moses might not intend the order to be literally obeyed. We have seen that he did not require the destruction of the Midianites to be absolute. In the wars of conquest in Canaan cases of a similar kind would necessarily arise. When a …
730 wordsSECTION 165_The Way And The Lot_
3. The boundaries of the land in which the Israelites were to dwell are laid down in ch. xxxiv.; but, as elsewhere, there is difficulty in following the geography and identifying the old names. The south quarter is to be "from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom"--that is to say, it is to include the region…
669 wordsSECTION 166_The Way And The Lot_
The range that lies open to us as servants of God, and affords ample space for the discipline of life, is often not used and therefore not enjoyed. When people will not accept the inevitable fixed limits within which their time and vigour can be occupied to the best advantage, when they look covetously to districts of …
299 wordsSECTION 167_The Cities Of Refuge_
NUMBERS xxxv., xxxvi 1. THE INHERITANCE OF THE LEVITES. The order relating to the Levitical cities may be said to describe an ideal settlement. We have, at all events, no evidence that the command was ever fully carried out. It was to the effect that in forty-eight cities, scattered throughout the whole of the tribes …
707 wordsSECTION 168_The Cities Of Refuge_
The main purpose of the present statute, so far as it refers to the dwellings of the Levites, would appear to have been economic, not religious. It was that all the tribes might have their share of maintaining the servants of the sanctuary. But it seems likely that a class half priestly would, in lack of other duty, at…
889 wordsSECTION 169_The Cities Of Refuge_
We may wonder that the Hebrew law, enlightened on many points, did not wholly abolish the practice of blood revenge. Justice is not the private affair of any man, even the nearest kinsman of one who has been injured. We have learned that the administration of law, especially in cases of murder or supposed murder, is be…
690 wordsSECTION 170_The Cities Of Refuge_
A singular point in the law is the term during which the unwitting man-slayer who had been acquitted by the court of justice must remain in sanctuary. He is in danger of being put to death by the avenger of blood until the acting high priest dies. Till that event he must keep within the border of his city of refuge. An…
817 wordsSECTION 171_The Cities Of Refuge_
3. TRIBAL INHERITANCE. Already we have heard the appeal of the daughters of Zelophehad to be allowed an inheritance as representing their father. Now a question which has arisen regarding them must be solved. The five women have not cared to undertake the work of the upland farm allotted to them, somewhere about the he…
666 wordsSECTION 172Index
For the tribe idea and the other of making inheritance of land a governing matter, the Israelites would seem to have paid dearly. And there is danger still in the attempt to make a nation cohere on any mere territorial basis. It is the spirit, the fidelity to a common purpose, and the pervasive enthusiasm that give rea…
650 wordsSECTION 173Index
Drama of life, 330. Edom, territory of, 230; Israel debarred from, 231. Egyptian worship, 43. Eleazar, and Ithamar, 31; installed as high priest, 241. Eldad and Medad, 130. Elders, seventy, chosen, 128; became critics of Moses, 200. Endeavour, law of, 324. Enthusiasm of faith, 303. Ethiopians, 136. Ezekiel,…
740 wordsSECTION 174Index
Mustering, the, 18. Nabi or prophet, 143. Nadab and Abihu, 29. Nahshon, 22. Napoleon, 285. Nature and God, 80. Nature-cultus, 313. Naziritism, parallels to, 59; statutes regarding, 60; ceremonies of discharge, 64. "Nephesh," 53. New moon, 343, 349; of seventh month, 355. Numbers, the Book of, and prophecie…
581 wordsSECTION 175*** End Of The Project Gutenberg Ebook The Expositor'S Bible: The Book Of Numbers ***
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173 wordsSource & rights
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