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At this chapter begins the history of the fortieth year (which was the last year) of the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness. And since the beginning of their second year, when they were sentenced to perform their quarantine in the desert, there to wear away the tedious revolution of forty years, there is little recorded concerning them till this last year, which brought them to the borders of Canaan, and the history of this year is almost as large as the history of the first year. This chapter gives an account of, I. The death of Miriam (Num 20:1). II. The fetching of water out of the rock, in which observe, 1. The distress Israel was in, for want of water (Num 20:2). 2. Their discontent and murmuring in that distress (Num 20:3-5). 3. God's pity and power engaged for their supply with water out of the rock (Num 20:6-9). 4. The infirmity of Moses and Aaron upon this occasion (Num 20:10, Num 20:11). 5. God's displeasure against them (Num 20:12, Num 20:13). III. The negotiation with the Edomites. Israel's request (Num 20:14-17), and the repulse the Edomites gave them (Num 20:18-21). IV. The death of Aaron the high priest upon Mount Hor, the instalment of Eleazar in his room, and the people's mourning for him (Num 20:22, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 20 In this chapter is an account of the children of Israel coming to the wilderness of Zin, where Miriam died, and where wanting water they murmured, Num 20:1, upon which Moses and Aaron applied to the Lord, who ordered Moses to speak to a rock, which should give forth water, and which being smitten by him, accordingly did, Num 20:6, but Moses and Aaron, in their conduct of this affair, displeased the Lord, Num 20:12, after this, Moses sent to the king of Edom to desire a passage through his country, which request was refused, Num 20:14, upon Israel's coming to Mount Hor, Aaron, by order, went up to the mount, and, when stripped of his clothes, which were put on his son Eleazar, he died, lamented by all the people, Num 20:22.

And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh,.... Not directly, but after they had continued there some time, and had furnished themselves with provisions for their journey, which they bought of the Edomites, see Jdg 11:17, "the whole congregation" is observed to Journey from hence, not one of them being lost by the king of Edom's coming out against them; these went out complete and perfect, safe and sound: and came unto Mount Hor; which, according to Bunting (f), was forty eight miles from Kadesh; this had not its name from the Horim or Horites, nor they from that, their name being written with a different letter, but from Harar, a mountain, for the word itself signifies a mountain; wherefore it may be rendered, "a mountain of the mountain", which Jarchi interprets a mountain on the top of a mountain. Josephus (g) says, that here stood a city, formerly called Arce, since Petra, surrounded with an high mountain, where Aaron went and died; and Pliny says (h) of Petra, that it is encompassed with inaccessible mountains. (f) Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 83. (g) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 7. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.

Directions concerning campaigns, Deu 20:1. The priest shall encourage the people with the assurance that God will accompany and fight for them, Deu 20:2-4. The officers shalt dismiss from the army all who had just built a new house, but had not dedicated it, Deu 20:5. All who had planted a vineyard, but had not yet eaten of its fruits, Deu 20:6. All who had betrothed a wife, but had not brought her home, Deu 20:7. And all who were timid and faint-hearted, Deu 20:8. The commanders to be chosen after the timid, etc., had retired, Deu 20:9. No city to be attacked till they had proclaimed conditions of peace to it, provided it be a city beyond the bounds of the seven Canaanitish nations; if it submitted, it was to become tributary; if not, it was to be besieged, sacked, and all the males put to the sword; the women, children, and cattle to be taken as booty, Deu 20:10-15. No such offers to be made to the cities of the Canaanites; of them nothing shall be preserved, and the reason, Deu 20:16-18. In besieging a city no trees to be cut down but those which do not bear fruit, Deu 20:19, Deu 20:20.

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border - Though every king has a right to refuse passage through his territories to any strangers; yet in a case like this, and in a time also in which emigrations were frequent and universally allowed, it was both cruelty and oppression in Edom to refuse a passage to a comparatively unarmed and inoffensive multitude, who were all their own near kinsmen. It appears however that it was only the Edomites of Kadesh that were thus unfriendly and cruel; for from Deu 2:29 we learn that the Edomites who dwelt in Mount Seir treated them in a hospitable manner. This cruelty in the Edomites of Kadesh is strongly reprehended, and threatened by the Prophet Obadiah, Oba 1:10, etc.

THE DEATH OF MIRIAM. (Num. 20:1-29) Then came the children of Israel . . . into the desert of Zin in the first month--that is, of the fortieth year (compare Num 20:22-23, with Num 33:38). In this history only the principal and most important incidents are recorded, those confined chiefly to the first or second and the last years of the journeyings in the wilderness, thence called Et-Tih. Between Num 19:22 and Num 20:1 there is a long and undescribed interval of thirty-seven years. the people abode in Kadesh--supposed to be what is now known as Ain-el-Weibeh, three springs surrounded by palms. (See on Num 13:26). It was their second arrival after an interval of thirty-eight years (Deu 2:14). The old generation had nearly all died, and the new one encamped in it with the view of entering the promised land, not, however, as formerly on the south, but by crossing the Edomite region on the east. Miriam died there--four months before Aaron [Num 33:38].

Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, &c.--A churlish refusal obliged them to take another route. (See on Num 21:4; Deu 2:4; and Jdg 11:18; see also Sa1 14:47; Sa2 8:14, which describe the retribution that was taken.)

Israel's Last Journey from Kadesh to the Heights of Pisgah in yhe Fields of Moab - Numbers 20-21 In the first month of the fortieth year, the whole congregation of Israel assembled again at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin, to commence the march to Canaan. In Kadesh, Miriam died (Num 20:1), and the people murmured against Moses and Aaron on account of the want of water. The Lord relieved this want, by pouring water from the rock; but Moses sinned on this occasion, so that he was not allowed to enter Canaan (Num 20:2-13). From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, to ask permission for the Israelites to pass peaceably through his land; but this was refused by the king of Edom (Num 20:14-21). In the meantime, the Israelites marched from Kadesh to Mount Hor, on the borders of the land of Edom; and there Aaron died, and Eleazar was invested with the high-priesthood in his stead (Num 20:22-29). On this march they were attacked by the Canaanitish king of Arad; but they gained a complete victory, and laid his cities under the ban (Num 21:1-3). As the king of Edom opposed their passing through his land, they were compelled to go from Mount Hor to the Red Sea, and round the land of Edom. On the way the murmuring people were bitten by poisonous serpents; but the penitent among them were healed of the bite of the serpent, by looking at the brazen serpent which Moses set up at the command of God (Num 21:4-9). After going round the Moabitish mountains, they turned to the north, and went along the eastern side of the Edomitish and Moabitish territory, as far as the Arnon, on the border of the Amoritish kingdom of Sihon, with the intention of going through to the Jordan, and so entering Canaan (Num 21:10-20). But as Sihon would not allow the Israelites to pass through his land, and made a hostile demonstration against them, they smote him and conquered his land, and also the northern Amoritish kingdom of Og, king of Bashan (Num 21:21-35), and forced their way through the Amoritish territory to the heights of Pisgah, for the purpose of going forward thence into the steppes of Moab by the Jordan (Num 22:1). These marches formed the third stage in the guidance of Israel through the desert to Canaan. Death of Miriam. Water out of the Rock.Refusal of a Passage through Edom. Aaron's Death.Conquest over the King of Arad - Numbers 20-21:3 The events mentioned in the heading, which took place either in Kadesh or on the march thence to the mountain of Hor are grouped together in Num 20:1-21:3, rather in a classified order than in one that is strictly chronological. The death of Miriam took place during the time when the people were collected at Kadesh-barnea in the desert of Zin (Num 20:21). But when the whole nation assembled together in this desert there was a deficiency of water, which caused the people to murmur against Moses, until God relieved the want by a miracle (Num 20:2-13). It was from Kadesh that messengers were sent to the king of Edom (Num 20:14.); but instead of waiting at Kadesh till the messengers returned, Moses appears to have proceeded with the people in the meantime into the Arabah. When and where the messengers returned to Moses, we are not informed. So much is certain, however, that the Edomites did not come with an army against the Israelites (Num 20:20, Num 20:21), until they approached their land with the intention of passing through. For it was in the Arabah, at Mount Hor, that Israel first turned to go round the land of Edom (Num 21:4). The attack of the Canaanites of Arad (Num 21:1-3) who attempted to prevent the Israelites from advancing into the desert of Zin, occurred in the interval between the departure from Kadesh and the arrival in the Arabah at Mount Hor; so that if a chronological arrangement were adopted, this event would be placed in Num 20:22, between the first and second clauses of this verse. The words "and came to Mount Hor" (Num 20:22) are anticipatory, and introduce the most important event of all that period, viz., the death of Aaron at Mount Hor (Num 20:23-29). (Note: Even Fries (pp. 53, 54) has admitted that the account in Num 21:1; Num 33:40, is to be regarded as a rehearsal of an event which took place before the arrival of the Israelites at Mount Hor, and that the conflict with the king of Arad must have occurred immediately upon the advance of Israel into the desert of Zin; and he correctly observes, that the sacred writer has arranged what stood in practical connection with the sin of Moses and Aaron, and the refusal of Edom, in the closest juxtaposition to those events: whereas, after he had once commenced his account of the tragical occurrences in ch. 20, there was no place throughout the whole of that chapter for mentioning the conflict with Arad; and consequently this battle could only find a place in the second line, after the record of the most memorable events which occurred between the death of Miriam and that of Aaron, and to which it was subordinate in actual significance. On the other hand, Fries objects to the arrangement we have adopted above, and supposes that Israel did not go straight from Kadesh through the Wady Murreh into the Arabah, and to the border of the (actual) land of Edom, and then turn back to the Red Sea; but that after the failure of the negotiations with the king of Edom, Moses turned at once from the desert of Zin and plain of Kadesh, and went back in a south-westerly direction to the Hebron road; and having followed this road to Jebel Araif, the south-western corner-pillar of the western Edom, turned at right angles and went by the side of Jebel Mukrah to the Arabah, where he was compelled to alter his course again through meeting with Mount Hor, the border-pillar of Edom at that point, and to go southwards to the Red Sea (pp. 88-9). But although this combination steers clear of the difficulty connected with our assumption, - viz., that when Israel advanced into the Arabah to encamp at Mount Hor, they had actually trodden upon the Edomitish territory in that part of the Arabah which connected the mountain land of Azazimeh, of which the Edomites had taken forcible possession, with their hereditary country, the mountains of Seir, - we cannot regard this view as in harmony with the biblical account. For, apart from the improbability of Moses going a second time to Mount Hor on the border of Edom, after he had been compelled to desist from his advance through the desert of Zin (Wady Murreh), and take a circuitous route, or rather make a retrograde movement, on the western side of the Edomitish territory of the land of Azazimeh, only to be driven back a second time, the account of the contest with the king of Arad is hard to reconcile with this combination. In that case the king of Arad must have attacked or overtaken the Israelites when they were collected together in the desert of Zin at Kadesh. But this does not tally with the words of Num 21:1, "When the Canaanite heard that Israel came (was approaching) by the way of the spies;" for if Moses turned round in Kadesh to go down the Hebron road as far as Jebel Araif, in consequence of the refusal of Edom, the Israelites did not take the way of the spies at all, for their way went northwards from Kadesh to Canaan. The supposition of Fries (p. 54), that the words in Num 21:1, "came by the way of the spies," are a permutation of those in Num 20:1, "came into the desert of Zin," and that the two perfectly coincide as to time, is forced; as the Israelites are described in Num 20:1 not only as coming into the desert of Zin in general, but as assembling together there at Kadesh. Modern critics (Knobel and others) have also mutilated these chapters, and left only Num 20:1 (in part,), 2, 6, 22-29, Num 21:10-11; Num 22:1, as parts of the original work, whilst all the rest is described as a Jehovistic addition, partly from ancient sources and partly from the invention of the Jehovist himself. But the supposed contradiction - viz., that whilst the original work describes the Israelites as going through northern Edom, and going round the Moabitish territory in the more restricted sense, the Jehovist represents them as going round the land of Edom upon the west, south, and east (Num 20:21; Num 21:4), and also as going round the land of the Arnon in a still larger circle, and past other places as well (Num 21:12, Num 21:16, Num 21:18), - rests upon a false interpretation of the passages in question. The other arguments adduced - viz., the fact that the Jehovist gives great prominence to the hatred of the Edomites (Num 20:18, Num 20:20) and interweaves poetical sentences (Num 21:14, Num 21:15, Num 21:17, Num 21:18, Num 21:27, Num 21:28), the miraculous rod in Moses' hand (Num 20:8), and the etymology (Num 21:3), - are all just arguing in a circle, since the supposition that all these things are foreign to the original work, is not a fact demonstrated, but a simple petitio principii.)