The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 287

plural formed from ,m, equivalent to Cl 1")~i:1, Arad itself, as would have seemed most •' spies " u the Cha.I.dee, Sam&rit.an, and natural, because Arad and Hormah are men- most of the versions take it ; or it may be tioned side by side in Josh. xii. 14. It ja simply the plural from "'llJ~, a place, used identified with Zephath in Judges i. 17:'It with some local meaning which made it may have been the place where the victory practically a proper name, If the render- was won which gave all the cities of Arnd to ing of the A. V, be correct,'' the way of the destruction. Whether it was the Hormah o,pies" must have been the route by which mentioned in eh, xiv. 46 is very doubtful they ascended to Hebron through the Negeb (see note there). The nomenclature of the (cl1. xiii. 17, 22), and the king of A.rad must Jews, especially as to places, and most especi- hn'<'e anticipated an invasion in that direc- ally as to places with which their own con- tion, and sought to forestall it. And took nection was passing or broken, was vague some of them prisoners. This would seem o.nd confused in the extreme, and nothing to show that he fell upon them unawares, can be more unsatisfactory than arguments and cut off some detached parties. Nothing which tum upon the shifting names of places is said of any disobedience on the part of long ago perished and forgotten. It must Israel to account for defeat in battle. be added that the three verses which nan-ate Yer. 2.-And Israel vowed a vow. On the chastisement of this Canaanite chieftain these vows, and on things " devoted " or have caused immense embarrassment to com- " banned" (t)JC)-civa~,µa), see on Levit. mentators. If the incident is narrated in its proper order of time, it must have hap- xxni. 28, and ~n the moral character of such pened during the stay of the Israelites under wholesale slaughters see on eh. xxri. If it Mount Hor, when they had finally left the was ri&ht to destroy the Canaanites at all, neighbourhood of the Negeb, and were no falllt can be found with the vow ; it separated from the king of 'Arad by many merely did for that military proceeding what days' march, and by a most impracticable national feeling and discipline does for the country. It is therefore generally supposed far more bloody exigencies of modem war- that the narrative is out of place, and that it fare, removing it from the sphere of private really belongs to the time when Israel wu hatred, revenge, and cupidity, and placing it gathered together for the second time at upon a higher level The patriot soldier of Kadesh, and when his reappearance there in these days feels himself to be a mere instru- force might well have given rise to the ment in the hands of the rulers of his people report that he was about to invade Canaan to maintain their rights or avenge their from that side. This is unsatisfactory, be- wrongs. The Israelite could not have this cause no plausible reason can be assigned for feeling, which was foreign to his time and tbe insertion of the notice where it stands, place in history, but he could feel that he both here and in eh. xxxiii. 40. To say that was a mere instrument in the hands of God Moses wished to bring it into juxtaposition to perform h:is will. upon hu; enemies, I~ with the victories recorded in the latter part either case a most l.Illportant advantage IS of the chapter, from which it is separated by secured • the soldier does not slay in order to the incident of the fiery serpents, and the gratify his own hatred, or in order to satisfy brief record of many journeys, is to confess his own cupidity. It is quite true that such that no explanation can be invented which vows as are here mentioned would certainly has the least show of reason. If the nar- in a more advanced stage of civilisation be rative be displaced, the displacement must a hused to throw a cloak of religion over simply be due to accide_nt _or int~rpolati~n. frightful enormities ; but it does not in the Again, it would seem qmte mcons1st~nt with least follow that they were not permitted and the position and plans of Isr~el s1_nce the even encouraged by God in an age to which rebellion of Kadesh that any mvaa1on and they were natural, and un~er circumstances conquest even temporary, of any part of in which they were beneficml Canaan ;hould be made at this time, and Yer. 3.-They utterly destroyed them and that especially if the attack was not ma~e their cities. Rather, "they banned (Cl:'.ICl~- until Israel was lying in the Aro.bah on his ""a!:t,µrir,11,v) them and their cities." No way round the land of Edom. It is therefore doubt the banning implies here their utter supposed by some that the vow only was destruction, because it IS not the vow before made at this time, and the ban suspended the battle, but the carrying of it out after the over the place, and that it was only carried victory, which is here spoken of. And he out as pA.rt of the general conquest under called the name of the place B:ormah. Joshua • that, in fact, the fulfilment of the Rather, "the name of the JJlace was called vow is 'narrated in Josh. :xii. 14; Judges i. (impersonal use of the transitive) Charme.11," 16, 17. This, however,_throws t~e nar~ative i1!i)7r:i. Septuagint, 'Av~,µa. It is not as it stands in:to confusion O.Ild d1Scrcdit, for very clear what place received this name at the ban and the destruction become a mockery this time. It does not appear to have been e.nd an unreality if nuth.ing more was done to OR, XXI, 1-3.) THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 271