The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 165

Tostamon t : what the place really received Ver 31.-For they are 1tronger than we. was not a new nnme, but a new signification In point of nnm hers the enormous superior- to the old name ; but this appeared all one ity of the Israeliu,11 over any combination in the eyes of the sacred writer. likely to oppose them must have been evi- Ver. 25.-They returned .. after forty dent to the most cowardly. But the exist- days. This is a period of time which con- ence of numerous walled a.nd fortified towns stantly recurs in the sacred books (see on was (a.part from Divine aid) an almost in- Exod. xxiv. 18). It points to the fa.et that superable obstacle to a people wholly ignor- their work was completely done, and the ant of e.rtillery or of siege operations ; aud land thoroughly explored. the presence of giants was exceedingly terri- Ver. 26.-To Xadeah (see note at the end fyin11 in an age when battles were a series of of eh. xiv.). pers~nal encounters (cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 11, 24). Ver. 27.-It ftoweth with milk and honey. Ver. 32.-A land that eateth up the in- According to the promise of God in his first habitants thereof. This cannot mean that message of deliverance to the people (see on the people died of starvation, pestilence, or Exod. iii. 8). other natural causes, which would have been Ver. 28.-Neverthelesa. ~;:i C,~~- "Only contrary to facts and to their own report. that." Septuagint, an' ,j 3r,. The people It must mean that the population was con- be strong. Moses himself had directed their tinually changing through internecine wars, attention to this point, and now they dwell and the incursions of fresh tribes from tba on it to the exclusion of everything else. surrounding wastes. The history of Pales- Ver. 29.-The Amalekitea. These de- tine from first to last testifies to the constant gcenda.nts of Esau (see on Gen. xxxvi. 12) presence of this danger. The remarkable formed wild roving bands, ,vhich (like the variation in the lists of tribes inhabiting Bedouins of the present da.y) infested rather Canaan may be thus accounted for. All. tha than inhabited the whole country between people . . are men ot great !tature, nr'lq Judrea and Egypt, including the Negeb. •i;i~~ 11 men of measures." Septuagint, ,ivop•~ They are not numbered among the inhabit- i,1r,pp.11rfl,. The "all" is an exaggeration e.nts of Canaan proper. The Ce.naanites very natural to men who had to justify the 4well by the aea, a.nd by the coe.st of Jor- counsels of cowardice. 4.an. It is not easy to say in what sense Vor. 33.-The giants, the aona of Anak, the word II Canaanites" is used here. At which pome of the gia.nta, C'',;l~;']-p:;, i'~ one time it is the name of one tribe amongst many, all descended from Canaan, the son •~~ c•,•;l~crn~. The Nephilim, Beni- of Ham, which dwelt in the land of pro- Anak, of the Nephilim. The Septuagint has mise ; at another time it is apparently onlyroii~ ')'i1avra,. The Nephilim are, with- synonymous with "Amorites," or rather in- out doubt, the primreval tyrants mentionecl cludes both them and the e.llied tribes (cf. under that name in Gen. vi. 4. The renown 11. g. J udgos i. 9). It is possible, though far of these sons of violence had come down from certain, that II Cano.anites" in this place from those dim ages, and the exaggerated II may mean Phrenicia.ns," since Sidon was fears of the spies saw them revived in the the first-born of Canaan (Gen. x. 15), aud gigantic forms of the Beni-Ana.k. There is the northern portion of the maritime plain no certainty thnt the N ephilim had been was certainly in their possession, and pro• giants, and no likelihood whatever that the bably the upper part of the Ghor, or coast of Bcni-Annk hnd any real connection with Jordan. It would appear that the Philis- them. As grasshoppers. ,ve have no means tines had not at this time made themselves of judging of the actual size of these men, masters of the plain, although they dwelt in unless the hoight assigned to Goliath (six some parts of it (see on Exod. xiii. 17). cubits nnd a span) be allowed to them. Pro- Ver. 30. Caleb stilled the people. That bably men of this stature were quite e:x- Caleb alone is named here, whereas Joshua ceptional even among the Annkim. The is elsewhere joined with him in the matter report of the spies WI\S thoroughly false in (as in eh. xiv. 6, 30), has been considered effect, although founded on isolated facts. strange ; but it is not difficult to supply a probable explanation. J oshna was the Ch. :xiv. 1.-And the people wept that 11pecia.l companion and minister of Moses, night. As the spies repeated their dismal his alter ego in those things wherein be wns tiding~, each to the leading meu of his own employed: for that reason he may very well tl'ibe, nud as the refort ,vas spread swiftly have given place to Ca.lob as II more impar- through the tents (c . Deut. i. 27) with ever- tial witness, and one more likely to be lis- increasing exagfuero.tions, the lamentation tened to in the present temper of the people ; became universa . for it is evident from Deut. i. that that tem- Ver. 2.-Murmnred against Moses and per had already declared itself for evil (see against Aaron ; whom they probably sus- en eh. xiv. 2,). pected 1Lucl accused of seeking their own NUXBBllB, L 14G THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. (CHS. xm., XIV,