The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 427

fied by the reality, although it was excused before the sacro.i symbols of the Lord's pre- by the appearance, of the case. sence (see on eh. x. 21, and Josh. vi. 9), Ver. 15.-:&:e will :yet; again leave them But since the same expressiou (i'1lii1 1;,,1;1~) is in the wilderness. Properly speak:inil, Israel had already emerged from the wilaerness; twi«:O ~ed in a. much vaguer sens~ in ver. but until they had fairly me.de good their 22, 1t IS more probable that it only means '' in the Lord's service," or "beneath his possession of Cana.an, their desert ws.nderings eye." could not be considered at an end. Ver. 23.-Be sure your sin will find you Ver. 16.-Sheep-folds. JN'lt n,1,t These out. Or rather, "yo will know your sin " were rude enclosures built of loose stones (01J;INl;l)IJ ~l/7~) "which shall find you out" piled on one another, into which the flocks (for N}~ er. Gen. xliv. 16). So in effect the were driven at night for safety. Ver. 17.-We ourselves will go reMly Septuagint: yvw,m,~, r,)11 aµapriav vµwv, armed. Rather, "we will equip ourselves orav vµ.iii; 1:ara>._afjy rd """"· When they had ea.use to rue their folly, then they would in haste." 0'~ rii;:,J. They meant that recognise their sin. thev would not delay the forward movement Ver. 26.-In the cities of Gilead. The of Israel, but would hasten to erect the name is used here in a vague sense for all necessary buildings, and to array themselves the central and southern trans•J ordanic dis• for war. tricbl. Ve,. 19.-0n yonder Bide lord&n. 1:.1".l~~ Ver. 28. -Moses commanded. See on eh. ,1:~- Soptuagi.nt, a!l'o roii wepav roii 'lop· :nxiv. 17, 18; Josh. i. 13 ff.; :nii. 1 ff. cavov. This phrase is here used in what is Ver. 33.-And unto half the tribe of apparently its mo:re natural sense, e.s it would Manasseh. AB no mention has been pre- b~ used by one dwelling in the plains of viously made of this tribe in this connection, Ilfoab (see on eh. mi l, and on next verse). we are left to conjecture why it should, con• trary to all analogy, have been divided at all, Or forward. il~?Cl)· Septuagint, rai and why the one half should have received ir.,1mva, i. e. onwards towards the west and the remote regions of Northern Gilead and south and north, as the tide of conquest Basha.n. That the tribe was divided at all might flow. Our inherita.nce is fallen to us can only be explained by the pre-existenco on this side lord.an eastward. It does not of some schism in its ranks, the probable appear on what ground they spoke so con- origin and nature of which are discussed in fidently. They do not seem to have received the notes on vers. 39, 41. The enormous any Divine intimation that their lot was to increase in the tribal numbers during the be on the east of Jordan, but rather to have wanderings (see on eh. xxvi. 34) may have been guided by their own preference. If so, made the division more· advisable, and the they cannot be acquitted of a cert.a.in pre- adventurous and independent character of sumptuous wilfulness in action, e.nd of a the Ma.ohirites may have rendered it almost certain want of honesty in speech. The a necessity. They had not apparently pre• phrase here rendered "on this Eide Jordan" ferred any request to Moses, but since the (t:17~,:i i~P.) cannot be distinguished gram- trans-Jordanic territory was to be oocupied, matically from that which bears an opposite Moses probably prevented a grave difficulty signification in the preceding verse. In itlielf by recognising their claim to tho couq uests it is perfectly ambiguous without some quali- they had made. fying word or phrase, and it is very difficult Ver. 34.-The ohildren of Gad bu..i.lt, i. e., to know what the ordinary use of it was in no doubt, they put these places in somo the time of Moses. In later ages, no doubt, habit.able and defensible at.ate of repair until it came to mean simply the trans-Jordanic they should return. Dibon. Now DhiMn, territory, or Pe~, without reference to the· four miles north of Amon. It is called position of the speaker. The difficulty here Dibon-gud in eh. xxxiii. 45, 46, but it ia is to decide whether the expreB8ion, a.a further doubtful whether there is nny allnsion to its defined by " eastward," would actually have present occupation, since "Gad" was a been used at that time and in that place, or common aflix in the languages of Cannan 1vhether the expresaion is due to a. writer (cf. Josh. xi. 17). Dibon was subsequently living on the west of Jordan. All we can assigned to Reuben (Josh. xiii. 9), but was say is, that the awkward use of the phrase in recovered by Moab, and became one of his two opposite meanings, with worde of clearer strongholds !cf Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. xlviii. 18, definition added, pointB more or less strongly 22). The Moe.bite stone wns found here. towarde e. probability that the passage as it .ltaroth. Now AttnrO.s, soven miles from stand.a was written or revised a.t a. later date. Dibon. Aroer. Not the Aroer before Ro.b- Ver. 20.-JSerore the Lord. Perhaps in a bath (Josh. xiii. 25), but the Aroer by the guaai-loca.l sense, l\ll the V&llgllard of the host lnillk of Anion (Dcut. ii. 36; Jo»b, xiii, 16). OH, X:tXll, 1-42.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. -U6