Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised; for we have sinned.”
Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, since it shall not prosper? Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh; therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”
But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv40, 44 They confess they sinned by rebelling against God, but…
They confess they sinned by rebelling against God, but consider not they offended in going up without God’s commandment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv39, 40, 45 Num 14:39 And Moses told these sayings unto all…
Num 14:39 And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Ver. 39. Mourned greatly.] God gave them somewhat to cry for.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv40, 41, 44, 45 Gat them up, i.e. designed, or attempted, or prepared…
Gat them up, i.e. designed, or attempted, or prepared themselves to go up; for that they were not yet actually gone up, plainly appears from Num 14:42,44, and from Deu 1:41. Things designed or endeavoured in Scripture phrase are oft said to be done. See on Gen 37:21,22; Exo 8:18.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv39–44 And they rose up early in the morning,.... The…
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, Num 13:17; this they did not actually ascend, as appears from Num 14:44; but they determined upon it, and got themselves ready for it:
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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, Num 14:2, but this acknowledgment and repentance were not very sincere, by what follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv39, 40, 45 And the people mourned greatly - But it was…
And the people mourned greatly - But it was now too late. There was now no place for repentance. Such mourning as this there is in hell; but the tears will not quench the flames.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v40 Verse 40. We - will go up unto the…
Verse 40. We - will go up unto the place, c.] They found themselves on the very borders of the land, and they heard God say they should not enter it, but should be consumed by a forty years' wandering in the wilderness notwithstanding, they are determined to render vain this purpose of God, probably supposing that the temporary sorrow they felt for their late rebellion would be accepted as a sufficient atonement for their crimes. They accordingly went up, and were cut down by their enemies; and why? God went not with them. How vain is the counsel of man against the wisdom of God! Nature, poor, fallen human nature, is ever running into extremes. This miserable people, a short time ago, thought that though they had Omnipotence with them they could not conquer and possess the land! Now they imagine that though God himself go not with them, yet they shall be sufficient to drive out the inhabitants, and take possession of their country! Man is ever supposing he can either do all things or do nothing; he is therefore sometimes presumptuous, and at other times in despair. Who but an apostle, or one under the influence of the same Spirit, can say, I can do ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST who strengtheneth me?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv39, 45 Num 14:39-40. And the people mourned greatly — But…
Num 14:39-40. And the people mourned greatly — But it was now too late. There was now no place for repentance. Such mourning as this there is in hell; but the tears will not quench the flames. Gat them up — Designed or prepared themselves to go up.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v45 Unto Hormah - literally, “the Hormah:” i. e. “the…
Unto Hormah - literally, “the Hormah:” i. e. “the banning,” or “ban-place.” Compare Num 21:3; Jos 12:14. According to the view taken of Kadesh (see Num 13:26), Hormah is identified, through its earlier name, Zephath Jdg 1:17, with es-Safah on the southeastern frontier of Canaan, by which the Israelites quitted the Arabah for the higher ground, (or with Sebaita, which lies further to the west, about 25 miles north of Ain Gadis).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv41, 44 Which conduct shall not, &c. They had been ordered…
Which conduct shall not, &c. They had been ordered to return: now they will advance, and, though admonished that the Lord will not assist them, they depend upon their own efforts, being ever full of themselves, and distrustful of God, the two sources of all spiritual misfortunes. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv40, 45 they rose up early in the morning, and gat…
they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain--Notwithstanding the tidings that Moses communicated and which diffused a general feeling of melancholy and grief throughout the camp, the impression was of very brief continuance. They rushed from one extreme of rashness and perversity to another, and the obstinacy of their rebellious spirit was evinced by their active preparations to ascend the hill, notwithstanding the divine warning they had received not to undertake that enterprise.
for we have sinned--that is, realizing our sin, we now repent of it, and are eager to do as Caleb and Joshua exhorted us--or, as some render it, though we have sinned, we trust God will yet give us the land of promise. The entreaties of their prudent and pious leader, who represented to them that their enemies, scaling the other side of the valley, would post themselves on the top of the hill before them, were disregarded. How strangely perverse the conduct of the Israelites, who, shortly before, were afraid that, though their Almighty King was with them, they could not get possession of the land; and yet now they act still more foolishly in supposing that, though God were not with them, they could expel the inhabitants by their unaided efforts. The consequences were such as might have been anticipated. The Amalekites and Canaanites, who had been lying in ambuscade expecting their movement, rushed down upon them from the heights and became the instruments of punishing their guilty rebellion.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv40–45 THE PRESUMPTION OF THE PEOPLE PUNISHED, Num_14:40-45.
THE PRESUMPTION OF THE PEOPLE PUNISHED, Num_14:40-45.
40. The top of the mountain — Some plateau on the northern border of the valley mentioned in Num_14:25. Lo,
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we… will go up — That this apparent spasm of faith is not faith, but sheer presumption, is seen in its utter disregard of Jehovah’s command, “To-morrow turn you.” True faith always bears the fruit of obedience. Its highest exercise brings the human into perfect harmony with the divine will. Gal_2:20; Gal_5:24-25. The pendulum of unbelief, oscillating from the paralysis of despair to the rashness of self-confidence, is in either motion alike displeasing to God.
For we have sinned — The Hebrew כי, for, is susceptible of two renderings: (1.) Although. This sense would imply an Antinomian view of the divine promise as wholly unconditional. (2.) For, in the sense of, “we admit that we have sinned, and we regret it.” In this case their confession was not of the heart but of the lips only, involving the radical error of Universalism — that, after the final sentence of the sinner, any expression of regret is sufficient to unlock the gates of hell and open wide the portals of heaven. But there are in the divine government irreversible verdicts. Repentance may be too late.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv39, 40, 44, 45 39. Moses told these words] i.e. those contained in…
39. Moses told these words] i.e. those contained in Num_14:27-35.
39b–45. Having heard their sentence (in Num_14:21-25), the people made an attempt to gain Jehovah’s favour by marching up to the hills in the Negeb, disregarding Moses’ warning that Jehovah would not help them. They received a severe defeat from the Amalekites and Canaanites.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45 (39) And the people mourned greatly.—It appears from what…
(39) And the people mourned greatly.—It appears from what follows that the sorrow which the Israelites felt was sorrow for the punishment which their sin had entailed, not godly sorrow for the sin itself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv39, 40, 41, 44, 45 Vers. 39-45. A confession contradicted in action.
Vers. 39-45. A confession contradicted in action.
The way of Israel seems now closed up. The way to Egypt is closed, and also the way to the promised land, where of late was fixed up the clear intimation, "This is the way, walk ye in it." There is now but one way open to wander in this wilderness for forty years till all the rebels have passed away. The full measure of their doom is now before them, and as it appears in all its naked severity, it fills them with grief and consternation. Everything corroborates the word of Moses. The ten spies who brought up the slanderous report are lying plague-stricken corpses, while Caleb and Joshua stand among the living confessed by God himself as faithful and true witnesses. Nevertheless, in the midst of this utter collapse the people were not unprovided for as to their course of action (verse 25). God had told Moses the direction into which to take them. But they cannot learn even so much obedience as this without being taught it in a terrible lesson.
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I WE HAVE A CONFESSION CONTRADICTED EVEN WHILE IT WAS BEING MADE. The confession is, "We have sinned." It is very easy to say this, and to say it meaning something by it, but in a great multitude of cases it is said with very little understanding of what sin really is. Pharaoh said at last, when he had been visited with seven plagues, "I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked"; (Exo_9:27) but as soon as the rain, hail, and thunders ceased at the intercession of Moses, he sinned yet more and hardened his heart So with the Israelites here; it was not sin they felt, but suffering. If they had truly felt sin, they would have submitted at once to the decision of God and his direction for their present need (verse 25). A mind filled with the sense of sin is filled also with the sense of God"s authority. It is so impressed with its own sin and God"s righteousness, that its first thought is how to end the dreadful alienation from God by reason of wicked works. It will at once attempt to bring disobedience to an end by prompt obedience in the nearest duties. But here the confession of sin is not even put first. They are occupied with self, its aims and disappointments, even while professing themselves humbled before God. What a proof that God judged them truly when he said that any further trial of their obedience was useless I They had forgotten that wisdom has to do with times and seasons. What was obedience yesterday may be disobedience today. They tried to open a door closed by him who shuts so that none can open. They said "We have sinned" in the same breath with the most audacious purpose of sin they could form. Learn from them how hard it is to have, not simply an adequate sense of sin, but a sense of sin at all. It is a dreadful filing to sin, and yet persistently deny it through failing to feel it; (1Jn_1:8, 1Jn_1:10) it is also a dreadful thing to confess sin while the felt trouble is not sin, but mere fleshly vexation and pain. Read carefully Da 9 for a becoming confession of sin really felt.
II A CONFESSION STILL FURTHER CONTRADICTED IN ACTION, EVEN AFTER THE CONTRADICTION HAS BEEN POINTED OUT. We have seen how the resolution to advance into Canaan made the confession of sin worthless. How worthless it was is made more evident by the action of the people. Notice that Moses takes not the slightest heed of their confession of sin, but aims direct at their wild resolution. What can be more urgent and more strongly fortified with reasons than his dissuasive words? He puts in the front, as the most proper thing to be put, that they are about to transgress the commandment of the Lord. Fresh from one transgression, and with its penalty pronounced, they yet rushed headlong into another. They are foolish enough to suppose that by an energetic effort they can release themselves from the penalty. Such a rebellious purpose must assuredly be frustrated. By so much as the presence of God would have been felt if they had gone onward at the right time, by just as much would his absence be felt now. As formerly they would have had a force far above nature against their enemies, now they have a force far below. But all that Moses can say is in vain. All their notion of sin was that they had not advanced into Canaan. They had such poor thoughts of God as to think that they could wipe the sin out by advancing with all energy now, forgetting that the sin lay in unbelief and disobedience. If by any chance they had got into Canaan, they would not have found it a promised land. God could and would have made it just as hard and unattractive as the wilderness they had left.
III THE CONTRADICTION IS STILL FURTHER AGGRAVATED BY BREAKING AWAY FROM MOSES AND THE ARK. One can imagine that in their impetuosity all tribal order and discipline was lost. Possibly they had some commander; there may have been just enough cohesion to agree so far. But though a crowd may choose a commander, a commander cannot at will make a crowd into an army. The peculiarity of Israel was that its army was fixed and disciplined by Jehovah himself, and to break away from the ark, where his honour dwelt, was openly to despise it, as if it were nothing but common furniture. There was not only a rebellion of the people against its governor, but a mutiny of the army against its commander. Does it not almost seem as if a host of demons had gone into these men, carrying them headlong to destruction, even as they carried the swine down the steep place? Only a little while before, no argument, no appeal would have dragged them an inch against the Amalekites and the Canaanites, and now there is nothing can keep them back. Surely this crowns the illustrations of Israel"s perversity, and makes it very wonderful that out of them, as concerning the flesh, the Christ should have sprung.
IV THEIR DISCOMFITURE CAME AS A CERTAIN CONSEQUENCE. The enemy, we may conjecture, had been preparing for some time. Probably, as the Israelites sent spies into Canaan, so the Canaanites may have had spies in the wilderness. And so as Israel in this battle was at its very weakest, Canaan may have been at its strongest. Yet Israel would appear strong, advancing with furious onset, and bent on canceling these dreadful forty years. Hence the enemy would exult in a great victory gained by their own powers, being ignorant that they owed it rather to the disobedience of Israel. The world is not strong in itself, as against those who truly confide in God, but its strength is enough and to spare when God"s people fight against it with fleshly weapons. The best allies of God"s enemies are oftentimes found among his professed friends. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v40 But they presumed to go up.
Num_14:40-45
But they presumed to go up.
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A presumptuous enterprise and its disastrous termination
In these verses we have an illustration of--
1. The sad perversity of sinful human nature.
2. The confession of sin, and persistence in sin.
3. The great difficulty of walking humbly and patiently in the path which our sin has rendered necessary for us.
I. The presumptuous enterprise.
1. In opposition to the command of the Lord.
2. Despite the remonstrance of Moses.
3. Without the symbol of the Divine Presence and the presence of the Divinely-appointed leader.
II. The disastrous termination of this presumptuous enterprise.
1. Disgraceful defeat.
2. Sore slaughter.
3. Bitter sorrow.
Conclusion--From the whole let us learn the sin and the folly of entering upon any enterprises, and especially difficult ones, in our own strength. Apart from Me, said Christ, ye can do nothing. This is applicable to--
1. Spiritual life in its origin and progress. The attempt in our own strength to lead a religious, godly life, is sure to end in sad disappointment and utter failure.
2. Spiritual conflict. Unless we take to ourselves the whole armour of God, our spiritual foes will be too many and too mighty for us. We can conquer only through Christ.
3. Spiritual service. Our efforts to benefit our fellow-men will succeed only as they are made in reliance upon the blessing of God. We can bless others only as He blesses us (comp. 1Co_3:5-7). (W. Jones.)
Unauthorised enterprises
The man who forsakes Gods commandments forsakes his own happiness.
1. The importance of improving present opportunities. You have a throne of grace to go to; go there to-day, lest by delay your anxiety, though earnest, should be as unavailing as was that of Israel to go to Canaan, and you are compelled to say with the prophet (Jer_8:20).
2. The necessity of Gods blessing on all our undertakings. We do not say that man, without Gods blessing, never gets what he wants; he often does, but not what is good for him; all things work together for good only to those who have this blessing. And further, those undertakings which, with the Divine blessing, are easy, without it are impossible.
3. The connection which subsists between transgression and sorrow. Sorrow is of two kinds; first, godly sorrow, which worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of--such was that of Peter; and, secondly, the sorrow of unavailing regret, when the day of recovery has passed away. It was this unavailing sorrow that Israel felt when the Lord said, Thou shalt not enter into My rest. In a spirit of rebellion they resolve, We will go up; but they went without the Lord, and they were driven back.
4. The danger that results from an unbelieving heart!
5. We see from this passage the holiness of that God with whom we have to do. While every provision is made for the returning penitent, the impenitent transgressor will certainly be destroyed. God never tolerates sin; no, not even in His own people.
6. Finally, we should learn from this subject our need of special sanctifying grace; for no outward advantages can secure personal holiness. (George Breay, B. A.)
Religious explanation of failure
Because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. Even that is a word of comfort. The comfort is not far to fetch, even from the desert of this stern fact. The comfort is found in the fact that the Lord will be with those who have not turned away from Him. The law operates in two opposite ways. Law is love, when rightly seized and applied; and love is law, having all the pillars of its security and all the dignity of its righteousness to support it in all the transitions of its experience. The reason why we fail is that God has gone from us. Putting the case so, we put it wrongly. God has not gone from us; we have gone from God. The Church is nothing without its godliness; it is less than nothing: it is not only the negation of strength, it is the utter and most helpless weakness. Israel was the Church in the wilderness, and Israel was nothing without its God. The number might be six hundred thousand fighting men, and they would go down like a dry wooden fence before a raging fire, if the Lord was not in the midst. They were not men without Him. The Church lives, moves, and has its being in God--not in some high or deep metaphysical sense only, but in the plain and obvious sense of the terms: that it has no being or existence outside God. When it forgets to pray, it loses the art of war; when the Church forgets to put on the beautiful garments of holiness, though it be made up of a thousand Samsons, it cannot strike one fatal blow at the enemy. Count the Church by the volume of its prayer; register the strength of the Church by the purity and completeness of its consecration. If you number the Church in millions, and tell not what it is at the altar and at the cross, you have returned the census of a cemetery, not the statistics of a living, mighty, invincible host. Genius is nothing, learning is nothing, organisation is a sarcasm and an irony--apart from that which gives every one of them value and force--the praying heart, the trustful spirit. The Church conquers by holiness. (J. Parker, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v39 The Disobedience of the People Punished
The Disobedience of the People Punished
v. 39. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel, he announced to them in what manner the Lord intended to punish them; and the people mourned greatly. Although they were now standing on the threshold of Canaan, they were denied entrance into the Land of Promise, and all by their own fault. But the measure of their trespass was not yet full, for their repentance now turned them to presumption, since it was not connected with true humility.
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v. 40. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, with the object of forcing their way through the pass to the opposite side of the mountain range and beginning the conquest of Canaan on their own responsibility; it was a reaction from the extremities of despair which plunged the people into foolhardiness, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised; for we have sinned. That simple statement was to undo the happenings of the past two days.
v. 41. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? But it shall not prosper. He predicted certain defeat to the self-willed people, who presumed to set aside the word of the Lord. True repentance bows in humility under the will of the Lord, no matter in what manner He chooses to make it known.
v. 42. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
v. 43. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, their armies having probably been mobilized to resist the threatened invasion, and ye shall fall by the sword; because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. Two days before, in unbelief, they had refused to take up arms against the inhabitants of Canaan, and now again, in unbelief, because they refused to accept the word of Moses concerning the seriousness of God’s judgment, they intend to undertake the conquest; to the old sin of unbelieving despair came the new sin of presumptuous self-confidence.
v. 44. But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop; nevertheless the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the camp.
v. 45. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, eager to meet the invaders, and smote them and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. Having put them to flight, they pursued them with relentless fury, Deu 1:44, attacking the individual bands again and again, until parts of the Israelitish army were scattered far into the land of the Edomites. The behavior of the Israelites is a picture of the despair and the deceit of man’s natural heart, which insists upon going its own ways. But God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble. This is true both in spiritual and in temporal matters.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv39, 41, 44 Look, we are here
Look, we are here
They use these words to emphasize that they have changed their minds and now want to do what they should have done the day before. Your language may have a different way of showing this.
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translationWords
word
Israel
mourn
raise
promise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv39, 43, 44, 45 14:39-45 The threat of divine punishment for their sins…
14:39-45 The threat of divine punishment for their sins brought grief to the people of Israel, but their hearts were still rebellious and they again disobeyed the Lord’s command (14:25). The promise of God’s presence had been the basis for Caleb and Joshua’s initial confidence (14:9), but God would not fight alongside the Israelites until all the rebels had died.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.