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Numbers Chapter
Thirty-three
Numbers 33
Chapter Contents
Encampments of the Israelites. (1-49) The Canaanites to
be destroyed. (50-56)
Commentary on Numbers 33:1-49
This is a brief review of the travels of the children of
Israel through the wilderness. It is a memorable history. In their travels
towards Canaan they were continually on the remove. Such is our state in this world;
we have here no continuing city, and all our removes in this world are but from
one part a desert to another. They were led to and fro, forward and backward,
yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. God
led them about, yet led them the right way. The way God takes in bringing his
people to himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us
the nearest way. Former events are mentioned. Thus we ought to keep in mind the
providences of God concerning us and families, us and our land, and the many
instances of that Divine care which has led us, and fed us, and kept us all our
days hitherto. Few periods of our lives can be thought upon, without reminding
us of the Lord's goodness, and our own ingratitude and disobedience: his
kindness leaves us without excuse for our sins. We could not wish to travel
over again the stages we have passed, unless we could hope, by the grace of
God, to shun the sins we then committed, and to embrace such opportunities of doing
good as we have let slip. Soon will our wanderings end, and our eternal state
be fixed beyond recall; how important then is the present moment! Happy are
those whom the Lord now guides with his counsel, and will at length receive to
his glory. To this happiness the gospel calls us. Behold now is the accepted
time, now is the day of salvation. Let sinners seize the opportunity, and flee
for refuge to the hope set before them. Let us redeem our time, to glorify God
and serve our generation; and he will carry us safely through all, to his
eternal kingdom.
Commentary on Numbers 33:50-56
Now that they were to pass over Jordan, they were
entering again into temptation to follow idols; and they are threatened that,
if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, their sin would certainly be
their punishment. They would foster vipers in their own bosoms. The remnant of
the Canaanites, if they made any peace with them, though but for a time, would
be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides. We must expect trouble and
affliction from whatever sin we indulge; that which we are willing should tempt
us, will vex us. It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the
land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put
out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us
out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our
souls.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on
Numbers》
Numbers 33
Verse 2
[2] And Moses wrote their goings out according to their
journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according
to their goings out.
And Moses wrote their goings out — When they set out,
God ordered him to keep a journal of all the remarkable occurrences in the way,
that it might be a satisfaction to himself and an instruction to others. It may
be of use to Christians, to preserve an account of the providences of God
concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced, and
especially those turns which have made some days of their lives more
remarkable.
Verse 4
[4] For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the
LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
On their gods — Their false gods, namely those
beasts which the brutish Egyptians worshipped as gods, which were killed with
the rest, for the first-born both of men and beasts were then killed. Probably
their images likewise were thrown down, as Dagon afterward before the ark.
Verse 10
[10] And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
By the Red-sea — By another part of that sea which
they passed over.
Verse 48
[48] And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and
pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
Shittim — The place where the people sinned in the matter of
Peor, is here called Abel-Shittim - Abel signifies mourning; and probably this
place was so called, from the mourning of Israel for that sin, and the heavy
punishment inflicted on the sinners.
Verse 52
[52] Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land
from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten
images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
Drive out — Not by banishing, but by
destroying them.
Pictures — Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and
set up for worship.
High Places — Chapels, altars, groves, or other
means of worship there set up.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Numbers》
33 Chapter 33
Verse 1-2
These are the Journeys.
The journeys of Israel
This chapter
gives a very graphic and instructive picture of a much larger
scheme of journeying. The local names may mean nothing to us now, but the words
“departed,” “removed,” “encamped,” have meanings that abide for ever. We are
doing in our way, and according to the measure of our opportunity, exactly what
Israel did in this chapter of hard names and places mostly now forgotten.
Observe, this is a written account: “And Moses wrote their goings out.” The
life is all written. It is not a sentiment spoken without consideration and
forgotten without regret; it is a record--a detailed and critical writing,
condescending to geography, locality, daily movement, position in society and
in the world. It is, therefore, to be regarded as a story that has been proved,
and that will bear to be written and re-written. The one perfect Biographer is
God. Every life is written in the book that is kept in the secret place of the
heavens. “All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do.” Nothing is omitted. The writing is plain--so plain that the blind man may
read the story which God has written for his perusal. Who would like to see the
book? Who could not write a book about his brother that would please that
brother? Without being false, it might be highly eulogistic and comforting. But
who would like to see his life as sketched by the hand of God? “Enter not into
judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.”
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the
multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.’ What a monotony
there is in this thirty-third chapter! This will be evident to the eye. The
reader sees but two words or three, and all the rest are difficult terms or
polysyllables unrelated to his life. The terms are “departed,” “removed,”
“went.” The language of actual life is a narrow language which may be learned
in a very brief time. So with our daily life: we rise, we sit, we retire; we
eat and drink, and bless one another in the name of God ; and go round the
little circle until sometimes we say, “Can we not vary all that, and add to it
some more vivid line? Has no friend of ours the power of flushing this pale
monotony into some tint of blood?” Then we fall back into the old lines: we
“depart” and “remove” and “pitch”; we “pitch” and “depart” and “remove”; we
come and go and settle and return; until there comes almost unconsciously into
the strain of our speech some expressive and mournful sigh. “Few and evil have
been the days of Thy servant.” Yet, not to dwell too much upon this
well-ascertained fact, we may regard the record of the journeys of Israel as
showing somewhat of the variety of life. Here and there a new departure sets
in, or some new circumstance brightens the history. For example, in the ninth
verse we read: “And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim
were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees.” Sweet entry
is that! It occurs in our own secret diaries. Do we not dwell with thankfulness
upon the places where we find the waters, the wells, the running streams, the
beautiful trees, and the trees beautiful with luscious fruitage? Then comes the
fourteenth verse: “And they encamped at Rephidim,” &c. Such are the changes
in life. We have passed through precisely the transitions here indicated. No
water; nothing to satisfy even the best appetences of the mind and spirit; all
heaven one sheet of darkness, and the night so black upon the earth that even
the altar-stairs could not be found in the horrid gloom; if there was water, it
had no effect upon the thirst; if there was bread, it was bitter; if there was
a pillow, it was filled with pricking thorns. There is another variety of the
story; the thirty-eighth verse presents it: “And Aaron the priest went up into
mount Her at the commandment of the Lord, and died there.” Is that line wanting
in our story? All men do not die on mountains. Would God we may die upon some
high hill! It seems to our imagination nearer heaven to die away up on the
mountain peaks than to die in the low damp valleys. Granted that it is but an
imagination. We need such helps: we are so made that symbol and hint and
parable assist the soul in its sublimest realisations of things Divine and of
things to come. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Moses’ diary of travels and its teachings
God wished the people to remember these journeys; and He wishes
all ages to know of them and to learn from them. Let us notice a few of the
lessons God intends these journeys to teach us.
I. They impress
upon us the great fact of God’s continued presence and interest in human life.
II. They point out
to us that God is the one true and safe Guide through life.
III. They present to
us a picture of human life, and thus tend to give us correct views of life.
IV. They show to us
that the greatest evils of life and its only dangers come from sin.
V. They suggest
the comforting thought that by trusting in God and following Him we are sure to
possess the inheritance which He has promised His people. (D. Lloyd.)
The itinerary of Israel from Egypt to Canaan
I. An incentive to
gratitude to God.
1. Emancipating them from bondage in Egypt.
2. Repeatedly delivering them from their enemies.
3. Infallibly guiding them in their journeys.
4. Constantly providing for them in the desert.
5. Inviolably guarding them from dangers.
II. An
encouragement to obey and trust God. He is unchangeable; therefore His past
doings are examples of what we may expect Him to do in the future. History,
properly studied, will be the nurse of faith and hope (comp. Psalms 78:3-8).
III. A monitor
against sin.
1. Man’s proneness to sin.
2. God’s antagonism against sin.
3. The great evil of sin.. (W. Jones.)
The travels of Israel
This is a review of the travels of the children of Israel through
the wilderness. It was a memorable history, and well worthy to be thus
abridged, and the abridgment thus preserved, to the honour of God that led them
and for the encouragement of the generations that followed. Observe here--
I. How the account
was kept (Numbers 33:2). “Moses wrote their goings
out.” When they began this tedious march God ordered him to keep a journal or
diary, and to insert in it all the remarkable occurrences of their way, that it
might be a satisfaction to himself
in the review and an instruction to others when it should be published. It may
be of good use to private Christians, but especially for those in public
stations, to preserve in writing an account of the providences of God
concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced,
especially those turns and changes which have made some days of their lives
more remarkable. Our memories are deceitful, and need this help, that we may
“remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us in this wilderness” (Deuteronomy 8:2).
II. What the
account itself was. It began with their departure out of Egypt, continued with
their march through the wilderness, and ended in the plains of Moab, where they
now lay encamped.
1. Some things are observed here concerning their departure out of
Egypt, which they are minded of upon all occasions as a work of wonder never to
be forgotten.
2. Concerning their travels towards Canaan, observe--
Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before
you.
The expulsion of the Canaanites
I. The imperative
command.
1. To utterly expel the inhabitants of Canaan.
2. To completely destroy all idolatrous objects and places.
3. To equitably divide the land.
4. The authority by which they were to do these things.
II. The solemn
warning.
1. Those whom they spared would become their tormentors. “Under these
metaphors,” says Dr. A. Clarke, “the continual mischief that should be done to
them, both in soul and body, by these idolaters, is set forth in a very
expressive manner. What can be more vexatious than a continual goading of each
side, so that the attempt to avoid the one throws the body more forcibly on the
other? And what can be more distressing than a continual pricking in the eye,
harassing the mind, tormenting the body, and extinguishing the sight?” “That
which we are willing should tempt us we shall find will vex us.”
2. The God whom they disobeyed would disinherit them. (W. Jones.)
The danger of allowing sin
The Israelites were now on the confines of the land of promise. So
God speaks to them about the future, tells them what it was His will that they
should do when they enclosed the land of promise, and what would be the
consequence of disobedience. These, then, are the two points which we may consider--Israel’s
calling, and the consequences of neglecting it.
I. Israel’s
calling. This was to drive out all the inhabitants of the land, to dispossess
them, and themselves to dwell in it. If we view this with reference to the
inhabitants themselves, we must regard it as the righteous judgment of God upon
them on account of their sins. But we may also regard this visitation with
reference to Israel, and then it will become evident that it was necessary for
their safety. The Israelites themselves were so prone to fall away from God
that their being surrounded by many idolatrous and degraded nations would be
sure to lead them gradually away from Him. They would soon cease to be a
separate people--a people consecrated to Jehovah. That little word “all” is
very expressive. It shows that the judgment was to be universal. It proved the
greatness of God’s care for Israel. It was also the test of Israel’s obedience;
and it was a test, we know, which they did not stand. They substituted a
partial for an unreserved obedience, and drove out same, but not all, the
inhabitants of the land. We find a long list of Israel’s defects of obedience
in Judges 1:21. Now, in this, as in so many
other points, Israel’s calling is typical of the Christian life. In what way?
We often take Canaan to be a type of heaven. Yet it is easy to see that there are many points
in which Canaan was no type of heaven; and one of these evidently was that
whereas in heaven there will be no sin, no enemies, no temptations, in Canaan
all these existed. In this point of view, then, Canaan was not a type of
heaven, but rather of the Christian life now; and to that command, “Drive out
all the inhabitants of the land, and dispossess them,” we shall find an
analogous one, descriptive of the Christian calling, “Put off the old man with
his deeds.” There is a principle of evil, called in Scripture the “old man,”
which comprehends sinful desires and evil habits; and this we are called to
dispossess of the land. The old man is daily to be put off, the new man to be
put on. The old man, though nailed to the cross, is never utterly extinct until
the earthly house
of our tabernacle is exchanged for the “building of God, the house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens.” The new man requires to be constantly
strengthened by fresh gifts of the Spirit of God. When, then, God says, “Drive out all the
inhabitants of the land,” it has a meaning for the Christian; and its meaning
virtually is, “Mortify the old man,” crucify the whole body of sin. Do not
spare any sin. Let all be resisted and overcome. Now, the old man is in no
sense the same in every Christian. It is the principle of sin, the principle of
self. In whatever heart it is, its nature is the same; but in other aspects it
is not always the same--for instance, it is not always the same in its power.
In one Christian
it prevails much, in another more believing and watchful heart it is kept under
control. Then, again, it is made up of different elements, and the elements which
constitute it are not always the same in their proportions. Thus, the chief
element in one case will be pride, in another self-righteousness, in another
hypocrisy, in another vanity, in another temper, in another impurity. Sometimes
two will appear together in intimate alliance, and those not unfrequently two
very opposite evils. In endeavouring, then, to carry out the injunction, “Drive
out all the inhabitants of the land,” it is important, on the one hand, that we
should be aware of the element of the old man which is most prominent in it;
and, on the other, that we should never forget that our besetting sin is not
the only evil against which we have to contend, but against the old man as a
whole.
II. The
consequences of neglecting this calling. We see it in Israel. They did not
fulfil the command, “Drive out all the inhabitants of the land.” Most of the
tribes allowed some to remain, whom they brought under tribute; in fact, with
whom they made a league. The consequence was that those few inhabitants, though
not powerful, caused them constant trouble; sometimes they seized an
opportunity to attack them again; still oftener they proved a snare to them by
leading them into sin, so that in the expressive language of Scripture they
were “pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides.” Thus Israel’s sin was
made their punishment. They spared those whom they ought not to have spared,
and they suffered terribly in consequence. All this bears upon the Christian’s
life. There is a deep mystery in the spiritual life. How wonderful it is that
there should be two principles--two natures in perpetual warfare with each
other in the Christian’s heart--the one of God, the product of the Spirit, the
other of Satan, the result of the Fall; the one the ally of God, holding
communion with Him, the other allied with the powers of darkness, an enemy in the camp ever ready to
open the gates! It seems to be God’s purpose not to put His people at once and
for ever beyond the reach of temptation, but to exercise their faith and patience,
and to show the power of that Divine principle which His own grace has put into
their hearts. Do not, then, be cast down when you are deeply and painfully
conscious of this inward conflict. Take it as God’s appointment. Remember that
it is to prove
you, and that God proves you in mercy, to make you more than conqueror. But there is
another point of view in which we must look at this. There are many cases in
which this painful severity of conflict is owing, in great measure, to previous
unfaithfulness to God. Suppose a person to have indulged in some sinful habit
at any period of his life; it may be a want of truth, or impurity, or in any
other sin, though the power of that sin will be broken by the entrance of the
Spirit of God into the heart, yet it will cast its shadow long after it. The
habitual sins of the unrenewed man are the snares and temptations of the
renewed man. There is much of practical warning in this solemn truth. If ever
you are tempted to indulge any sinful thought in your heart, remember that that
indulgence will certainly find you out again. God may, in mercy, forgive it;
but if He does so that act of unfaithfulness will bring bitterness into the
soul, will prepare the way for new conflicts and temptations. We should cast
ourselves wholly on Jesus for
the forgiveness of all past and present sins, and for strength to drive out
“every inhabitant of the land”--the old man, with all his deceitful lusts. (G.
Wagner.)
Thoroughness
The subject is evidently thoroughness. Do the work completely--root
and branch, in and out, so that there may be no mistake as to earnestness--and
the result shall be security, peace, contentment; do the work partially--half
and half, perfunctorily--and the end shall be disappointment, vexation, and
ruin. Causes have effects; work is followed by consequences. Do not suppose
that you can turn away the law of causation and consequence. Things are settled
and decreed before you begin the work. There is no cloud upon the covenant, no
ambiguity in its terms. He is faithful who hath promised--faithful to give
blessing and faithful to inflict penalty. There was so much to be undone in the
Canaan that was promised. It is this negative work which tries our patience and
puts our faith to severe tests. We meet it everywhere. The colonist has to subdue
the country, take down much that is already put up, root out the trees, destroy
the beasts of prey, and do much that is of a merely negative kind, before he
begins to sow corn, to reap harvests, and to build a secure homestead. This is
the case in all the relations of life. The weed is not the green thing on the
surface; that is only the signal that the weed is underneath. The work that has
to be done is a work of eradication. The weed must be torn up by its every
fibre. The theory of the Bible is that it has to encounter a human nature that
is altogether wrong. It is not our business, at this point, to ask how far that
theory is true. The Bible itself proceeds upon the assumption that “All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way”; “There is
none righteous, no, not one”; “God hath made man upright, but they have sought
out many inventions”; “there is none that doeth good, no, not one”; the whole
head and the whole heart are not righteous or true before God. That being the
theory of the Bible, see what it proposes to do. What iconoclasm it must first
accomplish! How it must swing its terrific arms in the temples of our idolatry
and in the whole circuit of our life, breaking, destroying, burning, casting out,
overturning, overturning! What is it doing? It is preparing; it is doing the
work of a pioneer; it is uttering the voice of a herald. Mark the audacity of
the book! It speaks no flattering word, never uncovers before any man, bids
every man go wash and be clean. A book coming before society with so bold a
proposition must expect to be encountered with resolute obstinacy. If we
suppose that we are ready-made to the hand of God, to be turned in any
direction He is pleased to adopt, we begin upon a false basis; our theory is
wrong, and our conception will lead us to proportionate disappointment. God has
to do with a fallen intelligence, an apostate heart, a selfish will; and
therefore He undertakes much negative work before He can begin constructive
processes. What a temptation there is, however, to reserve something. Point to
one instance in all the Biblical history in which a man actually and perfectly accomplished the
Divine will in this matter of destruction. A good deal of destruction was
accomplished, unquestionably; but was there nothing left? “What meaneth, then,
this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I
hear?” The temptation to reserve something is very strong. In many a life great
improvement takes place without eradication being perfected. We are not called
in the Bible merely to make great improvement. That is what we have been trying
to do by our own strength and wit, and which we have always failed in doing.
Nowhere do the sacred writers encourage us to make considerable advance upon
our old selves. The exhortation of the Bible is vital. Suppose a man should
have been addicted to the meanest of all vices--the vice of lying, the vice
that God can hardly cure--suppose such a man should lie less, is be less a liar? Suppose he
should cease the vulgarity of falsehood and betake himself to the refinement of
deceit, has he improved? Bather, he has aggravated the first
offence--multiplied by infinite aggravations the conditions which first
constituted his character. So we are not called to great improvements, to
marvellous changes of a superficial kind; we are called to newness of birth,
regeneration, the washing of the Holy Ghost, the renewal the recreation of the
inner man. If not, punishments will come. If you will not do this, “those which
ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides,
and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell”; they will tease you, excite
you, irritate you; they will watch for the moments of your weakness, and tempt you
into apostasy. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Unexpelled sin a thorn in the side
Every one can trace in his own life how one unconquered sin
becomes a thorn in the side. For ours also is commonly but a half-completed
conquest. We have not made war upon our sin in its fastnesses and
breeding-places, in the lurking-places of thought and of our habitual tone. We
did not believe that happy was he who dashed the little ones against the
stones; we did not grapple and put an end to the young things that grow up to
be strong and subduing sins. We were not remorseless, did not rouse ourselves
to take stern and extreme measures. But it is not enough to let sin alone so
long as it does not violently
molest us. If we know our own hearts at all, we know that sin may be lodging in
them, and gathering strength, without making incursions that visibly devastate
the life. And so it has come true in our experience that God has not driven out
what we would not rouse ourselves to drive out, and our sin has become a thorn
in our side. Again and again that thing we would not slay makes us cry out
before God that life is not worth having if it is to be life with this sin. We
may learn to wear the thorn under our garment, and go about smiling, as if
there were not terrible havoc being made of our peace with God; we may wear it
as the ascetic wears his spiked girdle under his frock; but it is there,
reminding us by pain and misery
and weakness of our slackness in cleansing our life. One sin thus excepted and
overlooked cleaves to us and makes itself felt in all our life: not a day
passes but
something occurs to give it occasion; it is a thorn in our flesh, carried with
us into all companies, cleaving to us at all times; our one inseparable;
exasperating, saddening, heart-breaking in its pertinacity. (Marcus Dods, D.
D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》