Numbers 14:15
Ver. 15. Now [if] thou shall kill [all] this people, as one man,.... Suddenly, and at once, as might be done by a pestilence; and as 185,000 were smitten at once, and as thought by the same disease, by the Angel of the Lord in the camp of the Assyrians, in later times, 2Ki 19:35;then the nations which have heard the fame of thee; the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others, as Aben Ezra observes; who had heard the report of the wonderful things done by him for Israel, and of the great favours he had bestowed upon them, and so of his power, and goodness, and other perfections displayed therein, which made him appear to be preferable to all the gods of the Gentiles:will speak, saying; as follows. Numbers 14:16Ver. 16. Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them,.... That though he brought them out of Egypt, he was not able to bring them through the wilderness into Canaan; and that though he had wrought many signs and wonders for them, he could work no more, his power failed him, he had exhausted all his might, and could not perform the promise and oath he had made:therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness; because he could not fulfil his word, and so made short work of it, destroying them all together, which Moses suggests would greatly reflect dishonour on him; and in this he shows, that he was more concerned for the glory of God than for his own. Numbers 14:17Ver. 17. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of Lord be great,.... That is, appear to be great; the power of God is great, not only mighty, but almighty; it knows no bounds, nothing is impossible with him, he can do whatever he pleases, Ps 147:5; his power, and the greatness of it, had been seen in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red sea, and in providing for them, protecting and defending them in the wilderness; and the request of Moses is, that it might appear greater and greater in bringing them into the land of promise; or else he means an exceeding great display of the grace and mercy of God in the forgiveness of the sins of the people; for as the power of God is seen in his forbearance and longsuffering with the wicked, Ro 9:22; much more in the forgiveness of the sins of men, there being more power and virtue in grace to pardon, than there is in sin to damn; and as it is an indication of strength in men, and of their power over themselves, when they can rule their own spirits, keep under their passions, and restrain their wrath, and show a forgiving temper, Pr 16:32; so it is an instance of the power of God to overcome his wrath and anger stirred up by the sins of men; and, notwithstanding their provocations, freely to forgive: pardon of sin is an act of power, as well as of grace and mercy, see Mt 9:6; and this sense agrees with what follows. The first letter in the word for "great" is larger than usual, that it might be taken notice of; and to signify the exceeding greatness of the power of God, Moses desired might be displayed in this case: and the letter numerically signifies ten, and has been thought to respect the ten times that Israel tempted the Lord, Nu 14:22; and to suggest, that though they had so done, yet the grace and mercy of God should ten times exceed the ingratitude of the people {u}:according as thou hast spoken, saying; as in Ex 34:6; and is as follows.{u} Baal Hatturim in loc. & Buxtorf. Tiberias, c. 14. p. 38. Numbers 14:18Ver. 18. The Lord [is] longsuffering,.... Towards all men, and especially towards his own people:and of great mercy, being abundant in goodness, and keeping mercy for thousands:forgiving iniquity and transgression, all sorts of sin:and by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation]; which may seem to make against the plea of Moses for mercy and forgiveness; but the reason of these words being expressed seems to be, because they go along with the others in the passage referred to, and are no contradiction to the forgiving mercy of God in a way of justice; nor did Moses request to have the guilty cleared from punishment altogether, but that God would show mercy, at least to such a degree as not to cut off the whole nation, and leave no posterity to inherit the land; which is supposed in visiting the sin of the fathers to the third or fourth generation. Numbers 14:19Ver. 19. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people,according unto the greatness of thy mercy,.... Intimating, that though the sin of this people was great, the mercy of God to pardon was greater; and therefore he entreats that God would deal with them, not according to the greatness of their sins, and the strictness of justice, but according to the greatness of his mercy, who would, and does, abundantly pardon;and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now; which shows both that these people had been continually sinning against the Lord, ever since they came out of Egypt, notwithstanding the great goodness of God unto them, and that he had as constantly pardoned; and therefore it was hoped and entreated that he would still continue to pardon them, he being the same he ever was, and whose mercy and goodness endure for ever: he had pardoned already sins of the like kind since their coming out of Egypt, as their murmurings for bread in the wilderness of Sin, Ex 16:1, and for water at Rephidim, Ex 17:1, and even a greater sin than these, idolatry, or the worship of the calf, Ex 32:1. Numbers 14:20Ver. 20. And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word. So as not to kill them utterly as one man: which is an instance of his being plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive; and of the virtue and efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, and of the great regard the Lord has to the prayers of a good man for others. The Jerusalem Targum is,"and the Word of the Lord said, lo, I have remitted and forgiven according to thy word;''which must be understood of Christ, the essential Word, and shows, according to the sense of the Targumist, that he has a power to forgive sin, and must be a divine Person, for none can forgive sin but God; see Mr 2:7. Numbers 14:21Ver. 21. But [as truly as] I live,.... Which is the form of an oath, as the Targum; the Lord swears by his life, or by himself, because he could swear by no greater:all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord; this is not the thing sworn unto or confirmed, but that by which the oath is made and confirmed; and the sense is, that as sure as the earth "had been" filled with the glory of the Lord, as it may be rendered, as it had been with the fame of what he had done in Egypt, and at the Red sea; or as it "should be" filled with it in later times, especially in the kingdom of the Messiah in the latter day; see Isa 6:3; so sure the men that had provoked him should not see the land of Canaan. Numbers 14:22Ver. 22. Because all those men which have seen my glory,.... His glorious Majesty, or the emblem of it in the cloud, on the tabernacle, which had often appeared to them, and the glorious things done by him; the glory of his power, wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and truth, displayed in bringing them out of Egypt, through the Red sea, and thus far in the wilderness, even to the borders of the land of Canaan; it should be rendered, not "because", but "that", for this is the thing sworn to, or the matter of the oath:and my miracles which I did in Egypt; by the hand of Moses, both before them, when he was sent to them, as a proof of his divine mission, and before Pharaoh and all his court, Ex 7:10, inflicting plagues upon him and his people, Ex 7:20:and in the wilderness; in raining manna from heaven about their tents, Ex 16:14; sending them quails, Ex 16:13; and giving them water out of the rock, Ex 17:6:and have tempted me now these ten times; which the Jews understand precisely and exactly of such a number, and which they reckon thus {w}; twice at the sea, Ex 14:11; twice concerning water, Ex 15:23; twice about manna, Ex 16:2; twice about quails, Ex 16:12; once by the calf, Ex 32:1; and once in the wilderness of Paran, Nu 14:1, which last and tenth was the present temptation: these are reckoned a little otherwise elsewhere {x}; but perhaps it may be better, with Aben Ezra, to interpret it of many times, a certain number being put for an uncertain, they having frequently tempted the Lord:and have not hearkened to my voice; neither to his word of promise, nor to his word of command, and particularly his late order to go up and possess the land, De 1:21.{w} T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 15. 1. Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 4. Jarchi in loc. {x} Maimon. in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 4. Numbers 14:23Ver. 23. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers,.... Not possess and enjoy the land of Canaan, which the Lord by an oath had promised their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to their seed; and now he swears that these men, who had so often tempted him, and been disobedient to him, should not inherit it; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take it for an oath; see Heb 3:11;neither shall any of them that provoked me see it; that provoked him by the ill report they had brought of the land, by their unbelief, by their murmurings, and mutiny. Numbers 14:24Ver. 24. But my servant Caleb,.... Who was one of the spies, and brought a good and true report of the land; and so in that, as well as in other things, approved himself to be a faithful servant of the Lord, and who had stilled the people at the beginning of their murmur, and with Joshua had attempted to quiet them afterwards; and though Joshua is not here mentioned, because, as some say, he had no children, and therefore it could not be said of him that his seed should possess the land, as is said of Caleb; or rather, because he was to be the general and commander of the people, who was to introduce them into the land of Canaan, and therefore there was no necessity of expressing him by name, yet he is afterwards mentioned, Nu 14:30;because he had another spirit with him; different from that of the rest of the spies, excepting Joshua; a spirit of faith, and of the fear of the Lord, of might and courage, of truth and faithfulness; believing in the promise of God, which the spies distrusted, being persuaded the land might easily be conquered, which they feared; and bringing a true report of the land, the reverse of the ill and false one they brought. For this is to be understood not of the Holy Spirit of God, nor of his work upon the hearts of good men, which is different from the spirit of the world, though Caleb was possessed of that also:and hath followed me fully; with full purpose of heart whithersoever he led him, or directed him, in every path of duty, and in the exercise of every grace; or "hath fulfilled after me" {y}; obeyed his word of command, fulfilled his mind and will, by going after him, and acting according to the rules and directions he gave him:him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; the land of Canaan he went into to spy and search:and his seed shall possess it; not the whole land, but Hebron, and the parts about it, where he particularly went, and which he and his posterity afterwards enjoyed, see Nu 13:22. The Targum of Onkelos is, "shall expel it"; the inhabitants of it; for the word signifies both to inherit and disinherit; and so Jarchi interprets it, shall disinherit the Anakim, and the people that are in it, that is, drive them out of it, as Caleb did, Jos 15:13.{y} yrxa almyw "et implevit post me", Montanus, Tigurine version, Fagius, Drusius. Numbers 14:25Ver. 25. And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley,.... By the Canaanites are meant the Amorites, as Aben Ezra, which were a principal people of the land of Canaan, and which may be confirmed by De 1:19; this may seem contrary to what is said Nu 13:29; where they are said to dwell in the mountain; but it may be reconciled by observing, that indeed their proper settled habitation was in the mountain; but now they went down from thence, and "sat" {z} in the valley, as it may be rendered, in ambush, there lying in wait for the children of Israel, as in Ps 10:8; and so Aben Ezra interprets it of their sitting there, to lie in wait for them: and now, though these people had so sadly provoked the Lord, yet such was his goodness to them, as to warn them of the design of their enemies, and of the danger by them, to provide for their safety, by giving them the following instruction:tomorrow turn you; do not go forward, lest ye fall into their ambushment, but turn about, and go the contrary way; return in the way, or towards the parts from whence ye came: this they are bid to do tomorrow, but did not till some time after; for, contrary to the command of God, they went up the mount, where they were defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites, after which they stayed in Kadesh some days, De 1:44;and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea; or in the way towards it; and so they would be in the way to Egypt, where the people were desirous of returning again; but as they were always a rebellious and disobedient people, and acted contrary to God, so in this case; for when he bid them go back towards the Red sea again, then they were for going forward, and entering into the land of Canaan, Nu 14:40; though when he bid them go up, and possess it, then they were for returning to Egypt, Nu 14:4.{z} bvwy "sedet", Drusius, Piscator. Numbers 14:26Ver. 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,.... Before he had been only speaking to Moses, who had interceded with him to pardon the people, which he had granted; but at the same time assured him they should not enter into and possess the land of Canaan, and the same he repeats to him and Aaron together:saying: as follows. Numbers 14:27Ver. 27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?.... Bear with their murmurings, spare them, and not cut them off? how long must sparing mercy be extended to them? the Lord speaks as one weary of forbearing, so frequent and aggravated were their murmurings. The Jews understand this not of the whole congregation of Israel, but of the ten spies, from whence they gather, that ten make a congregation; and they interpret the phrase, "which murmur against me", transitively, "which cause to murmur against me"; made the children of Israel murmur against him, so Jarchi; but rather all the people are meant, as appears from Nu 14:28, and from the following clause:I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me; for their murmurings were not only against Moses and Aaron, but against the Lord himself, Nu 14:2. Numbers 14:28Ver. 28. Say unto them, [as truly as] I live, saith the Lord,.... The form of an oath, as in Nu 14:21;as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you; what they had wished for, and expressed in the hearing of the Lord, he threatens them should be their case. Numbers 14:29Ver. 29. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness,.... They had wished they had died in it, Nu 14:2, and the Lord here declares they should, which is signified by the falling of their carcasses in it, or their bodies, which when dead fall to the ground, having no strength to support themselves:and all that were numbered of you: but a few months before this time, when their number was 603,550, Nu 1:46;according to your number from twenty years old and upward; which is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to except the Levites, for they were not numbered with the other tribes; and when they were numbered by themselves, their number was taken from a month old and upwards; wherefore it need not be wondered at, if we find that there were of them who did not fall in the wilderness, but entered into the land of Canaan, as it is certain Eleazar the priest, the son of Aaron, did, Nu 34:17;which have murmured against me; which shows, that not the spies only, who caused the people to murmur, but the people themselves who murmured, and had been numbered, from twenty years old and upward, are the evil congregation the Lord thus threatened with death. Numbers 14:30Ver. 30. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land,.... The land of Canaan; or "if ye shall come" {a}; that is, I swear ye shall not, so the Targum of Jonathan:[concerning] which I sware to make you dwell therein; not them personally, but the people and nation of which they were, and to which they belonged, the seed and posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the oath was made:save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun; who brought a good report of the land. Caleb is mentioned first, as Aben Ezra thinks, because he first appeased and quieted the people; but in Nu 14:38 Joshua stands first, so that nothing is to be inferred from hence; these were the only two of the spies that went into the land of Canaan, Nu 13:4; and the only two of the Israelites that were numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, Nu 14:29; those of the tribe of Levi, not being in that account, must be remembered to be excepted also.{a} wabt Mta Ma "si vos ingressi fueritis", Pagninus, Montanus. Numbers 14:31Ver. 31. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey,.... To the Canaanites, Nu 14:3;them will I bring in; into the land of Canaan, and so fulfil the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for the unbelief of this congregation did not make the faith, or faithfulness of God, of none effect:and they shall know the land which ye have despised; shall know what a good land it is by experience, and shall possess and enjoy it with approbation, delight, and pleasure, which they, believing the spies, rejected with, loathing and disdain. Numbers 14:32Ver. 32. But [as for] you, your carcasses,.... Which way of speaking seems to be used to distinguish them from their children;they shall fall in this wilderness: which is repeated for the confirmation and certainty it, and an emphasis is laid on the words, this which are pronounced with an accent, to put them in mind of their wish, Nu 14:2. Numbers 14:33Ver. 33. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years,.... Or "feed" {b}, as shepherds, who go from place to place, and seek fresh pasture for their sheep; it being the custom of a shepherd, as Aben Ezra observes, not to stand or rest in a place; and so like sheep grazing in a wilderness, where they have short commons, and wander about in search, of better. These forty years are to be reckoned from their coming out of Egypt, from whence they had now been come about a year and a half:and bear your whoredoms; the punishment of their idolatries, which are frequently signified by this phrase, and particularly of the idolatry of the calf, which God threatened to punish whenever he visited for sin, Ex 32:34; and of other sins, as their murmurings, &c. for it was on account of them their children wandered so long in the wilderness, and were kept out of the possession of the land of Canaan:until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness; everyone of them be consumed by death, save those before excepted, Nu 14:30.{b} Myer wyhy "erunt pascentes", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Junius & Tremellius; "pascent", Tigurine version, Piscator. Numbers 14:34Ver. 34. After the number of days in which ye searched the land,[even] forty days,.... For so long they were searching it, Nu 13:25;each day for a year; reckoning each day for a year, forty days for forty years, as in Eze 4:6;shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years: which number is given, being a round one, otherwise it was but thirty eight years and a half ere they were all cut off, and their children entered the land:and ye shall know my breach of promise; God never makes any breach of promise; his covenant he will not break, nor alter what is gone out of his lips; men break their promises, and transgress the covenant they have made with him, but he never breaks his, Ps 89:34; this should rather be rendered only, "ye shall know my breach"; experience a breach made upon them by him, upon their persons and families by consuming them in the wilderness: the Targum of Jonathan is,"and ye shall know what ye have murmured against me;''this same word is used in the plural in Job 33:10, and is by the Targum rendered "murmurings" or "complaints"; and so the sense is, ye shall know by sad experience the evil of complaining and murmuring against me. The Vulgate Latin version is,"ye shall know my vengeance;''and so the Septuagint,"ye shall know the fury of my anger''which give the sense, though not a literal version of the words. Numbers 14:35Ver. 35. I the Lord have said,.... Determined, resolved on doing what I have declared, and again repeat it; the decree is absolute and peremptory, and will never be revoked:I will surely do it to all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me; against his ministers, Moses the chief magistrate, and Aaron the high priest; and this is interpreted gathering, conspiring, and rebelling against the Lord himself, on account of which they might be truly called an evil congregation, and therefore it was a determined point with him to destroy them:in this wilderness they shall be consumed; by wasting diseases:and there they shall die; as they wished they might, Nu 14:22; with respect to which this was so often repeated, Ex 16:3; and which the Jews interpret not only of a corporeal death, but of an eternal one; for they say {c}"the generation of the wilderness (of those that died there) have no part in the world to come, nor shall stand in judgment, as it is said, "in this wilderness", &c. Nu 14:35.''{c} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 3. Numbers 14:36Ver. 36. And the men which Moses sent to search the land,.... Ten of them,who returned; as they all did, who were sent to search it:and made all the congregation to murmur against him; against, Moses that sent them; they murmured themselves, and made others murmur:by bringing up a slander upon the land; that it ate up its inhabitants, and that the inhabitants of it were of such a stature, and so gigantic and strong, and dwelt in such walled cities, Nu 13:28, that there was no probability of subduing them, Nu 13:31. Numbers 14:37Ver. 37. Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land,.... They, and they only at this time:died by the plague before the Lord; either by the pestilence immediately sent upon them by the Lord, or by a flash of lightning from him, or in some other way; however, by the immediate hand of God, and in his presence, being in the tabernacle of the congregation, Nu 14:10; though the Jews differently relate the manner of their death; some say worms came out of their navels, and up to their jaws, and ate them and their tongues; and others that they came out of their tongues, and entered their navels, which they take to be a just retaliation for sinning with their tongues: and the time of their death they differ about; some say, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it was upon the seventh, and others that it was on the seventeenth of Elul or August they died {d}.{d} Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2. Numbers 14:38Ver. 38. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,.... Here Joshua is set first, as Caleb is in Nu 14:30; which shows that they were equal in dignity, and therefore are indifferently put, sometimes the one first, and sometimes the other:[which were] of the men that went to search the land; were two of the spies, and were for the tribes of Judah and Ephraim, Nu 13:6,lived [still]; were not stricken with death, when the other spies were; though perhaps upon the very spot, and in the same place, and among them, when they were struck dead; but these remained alive, and continued many years after, and entered the good land, and possessed it. Numbers 14:39Ver. 39. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel,.... That all that had murmured, who were of twenty years old and upwards, should die in the wilderness, and never see nor enter into the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they now were:and the people mourned greatly; because of their unhappy case, that they should be cut off by death in the wilderness, and be deprived of the enjoyment of the good land; their sorrow seems to have been not a godly sorrow, or true repentance for sin committed, but a worldly sorrow that works death; it was not on account of the evil of sin, the pardon of which they did not seem to seek after, but on account of the evil that was likely to come to them by it. Numbers 14:40Ver. 40. And they rose up early in the morning,.... The next morning after they had heard the bad news of their consumption in the wilderness; not being able, perhaps, to sleep that night with the thoughts of it, and being now in a great haste to go up and possess the land of Canaan, as they were before to return to Egypt:and gat them up into the top of the mountain; which was the way the spies went into the land of Canaan, Nu 13:17; this they did not actually ascend, as appears from Nu 14:44; but they determined upon it, and got themselves ready for it:saying, lo, we [be here]; this they said either to one another, animating each other to engage in the enterprise; or to Moses and Joshua, signifying that they were ready to go up and possess the land, if they would put themselves at the head of them, and take the command and direction of them;and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: the land of Canaan:for we have sinned; in not going up to possess it, when they were bid to go, and in listening to the spies that brought an ill report of it, and by murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and the Lord himself, and proposing to make them a captain and return to Egypt, Nu 14:2: but this acknowledgment and repentance were not very sincere, by what follows. Numbers 14:41Ver. 41. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord?.... Which was to turn back into the wilderness, and go the way that leads to the Red sea, Nu 14:25; instead of which now they were for going forward into the land of Canaan, though averse to it just before:but it shall not prosper; their attempt to enter into it. Numbers 14:42Ver. 42. Go not up, for the Lord [is] not among you,.... And therefore could not expect success, for victory is of the Lord; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"the ark, and the tabernacle, and the cloud of glory move not,''which were a plain indication that the Lord would not go with them, and therefore could not hope to prevail over their enemies and enter the land, but on the contrary might expect to be defeated by them, as follows:that ye be not smitten before your enemies; of which they would be in great danger should they attempt to go up the hill, and the Lord not with them. Numbers 14:43Ver. 43. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there before you,.... Having removed from the valley, Nu 14:25; or else had detached a party to defend the pass on the top of the mountain, and where perhaps they designed to feign a retreat if they found it proper, and draw them into a combat in the valley:and ye shall fall by the sword: by the sword of the Amalekites and Canaanites:because ye are turned away from the Lord: from the word of the Lord, from hearkening to and obeying his command:therefore the Lord will not be with you; the consequence of which must be bad for them. Numbers 14:44Ver. 44. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top,.... In a bold, audacious, and presumptuous manner; they attempted to go up to the top of the hill, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Moses against it, and the danger they would be exposed unto; but withdrawing themselves from God and his ministers, and lifted up in themselves, and confident of their own strength, ventured on this rash enterprise: the Vulgate Latin version is, "being darkened they went up": either having their understandings darkened, and being given up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart; or else they went up in the morning while it was dark, before daylight; which latter sense is favoured by the Targum of Jonathan,"and they girded (or armed) themselves in the dark, before the morning light;''and the former by an ancient exposition, called Tanchuma, mentioned by Jarchi,"they went obscure (as it were in the dark) because without leave:''nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp; the cloud not being taken up, but abiding on the tabernacle, which was the signal for resting, both for the ark, and for the camp, the Kohathites did not move with the ark: the Jews {e} have a notion, that there were two arks which went with Israel in the wilderness, one in which the law was put, and another in which the broken pieces of the tables were left; that in which the law was, was placed in the tabernacle of the congregation, and of this it is written, "the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not", &c. but that in which the broken pieces of the tables were, went in and out with them: but this does not clearly appear; and it is highly probable no ark went with them at this time; nor did Moses, the leader and commander of the people, stir from the camp of the Levites; wherefore it was a bold and hazardous undertaking the other camps engaged in without God going with them, and their general before them, or Joshua his minister; for if one did not go, the same may be concluded of the other.{e} T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 22. 2. Numbers 14:45Ver. 45. Then the Amalekites came down,.... The hill; met the Israelites as they ascended: and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill; the same with the Amorites, one of the seven nations of Canaan, Nu 13:29;and smote them; with the sword, having the advantage of them in coming down the hill upon them:and discomfited them even unto Hormah; the name of a place, so called from what happened there; as Jarchi says; either from this destruction of the Israelites at this time by these their enemies, or from the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel, Nu 21:4; and so here has its name by anticipation; or it may be from both these events, and seems to be confirmed by a third of the like kind, having been in former times called Zephath, Jud 1:17; see Jos 15:30; though some take it to be an appellative here, and not the proper name of a place, and render it even unto destruction, as the Targum of Jonathan, denoting the very great destruction and havoc that were made among them: how many were destroyed is not certain; the judgment threatened them of God soon began to take place, that their carcasses should fall in that wilderness.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.