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Selected Verse: Numbers 20:14 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Nu 20:14	Strong Concordance	And Moses [04872] sent [07971] messengers [04397] from Kadesh [06946] unto the king [04428] of Edom [0123], Thus saith [0559] thy brother [0251] Israel [03478], Thou knowest [03045] all the travail [08513] that hath befallen [04672] us:
	King James	And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Moses sent messengers . . . to the king of Edom--The encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, through which the Israelites would have had an easy passage across the Arabah by Wady-el-Ghuweir, so that they could have continued their course around Moab, and approached Palestine from the east [ROBERTS]. The Edomites, being the descendants of Esau and tracing their line of descent from Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Moses sent messengers . . . to the king of Edom--The encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, through which the Israelites would have had an easy passage across the Arabah by Wady-el-Ghuweir, so that they could have continued their course around Moab, and approached Palestine from the east [ROBERTS]. The Edomites, being the descendants of Esau and tracing their line of descent from Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Compare the marginal reference. It appears from comparing Num 20:1 with Num 33:38, that the host must have remained in Kadesh some three or four months. No doubt time was required for re-organization. In order to gain the banks of Jordan by the shortest route they had to march nearly due east from Kadesh, and pass through the heart of the Edomite mountains. These are lofty and precipitous, traversed by two or three narrow defiles. Hence, the necessity of the request in Num 20:17. Thy brother - An appeal to the Edomites to remember and renew the old kindnesses of Jacob and Esau Gen. 33:1-17. It appears from Jdg 11:17 that a similar request was addressed to the Moabites.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Message of the Israelites to the King of Edom. - As Israel was about to start from Kadesh upon its march to Canaan, but wished to enter it from the east across the Jordan, and not from the south, where the steep and lofty mountain ranges presented obstacles which would have been difficult to overcome, if not quite insuperable, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, to solicit from the kindred nation a friendly and unimpeded passage through their land. He reminded the king of the relationship of Israel, of their being brought down to Egypt, of the oppression they had endured there, and their deliverance out of the land, and promised him that they would not pass through fields and vineyards, nor drink the water of their wells, but keep to the king's way, without turning to the right hand or the left, and thus would do no injury whatever to the land (Num 20:14-16). (Note: We learn from Jdg 11:17, that Israel sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Moab also, and with a similar commission, and that he also refused to grant the request for an unimpeded passage through his land. This message is passed over in silence here, because the refusal of the Moabites had no influence upon the further progress of the Israelites. "For if they could not pass through Edom, the permission of the Moabites would not help them at all. It was only eventualiter that they sought this permission." - Hengstenberg, Diss.) By the "angel" who led Israel out of Egypt we are naturally to understand not the pillar of cloud and fire (Knobel), but the angel of the Lord, the visible revealer of the invisible God, whom the messengers describe indefinitely as "an angel," when addressing the Edomites. Kadesh is represented in Num 20:16 as a city on the border of the Edomitish territory. The reference is to Kadesh-Barnea (Num 32:8; Num 34:4; Deu 1:2, Deu 1:19; Deu 2:14; Deu 9:23; Jos 10:41; Jos 14:6-7; Jos 15:3). This city was no doubt situated quite in the neighbourhood of Ain Kudes, the well of Kadesh, discovered by Rowland. This well was called En-mishpat, the fountain of judgment, in Abraham's time (Gen 14:7); and the name Kadesh occurs first of all on the first arrival of the Israelites in that region, in the account of the events which took place there, as being the central point of the place of encampment, the "desert of Paran," or "desert of Zin" (cf. Num 13:26 with Num 13:21, and Num 12:16). And even on the second arrival of the congregation in that locality, it is not mentioned till after the desert of Zin (Num 20:1); whilst the full name Kadesh-Barnea is used by Moses for the first time in Num 32:8, when reminding the people of those mournful occurrences in Kadesh in Num 13 and 14. The conjecture is therefore a very natural one, that the place in question received the name of Kadesh first of all from that tragical occurrence (Num 14), or possibly from the murmuring of the congregation on account of the want of water, which led Moses and Aaron to sin, so that the Lord sanctified (יקדּשׁ) Himself upon them by a judgment, because they had not sanctified Him before the children of Israel (Num 20:12 and Num 20:13); that Barnea was the older or original name of the town, which was situated in the neighbourhood of the "water of strife," and that this name was afterwards united with Kadesh, and formed into a composite noun. If this conjecture is a correct one, the name Kadesh is used proleptically, not only in Gen 14:7, as a more precise definition of En-Mishpat, but also in Gen 16:14; Gen 20:1; and Num 13:26, and Num 20:1; and there is no lack of analogies for this. It is in this too that we are probably to seek for an explanation of the fact, that in the list of stations in Num 33 the name Kadesh does not occur in connection with the first arrival of the congregation in the desert of Zin, but only in connection with their second arrival (v. 36), and that the place of encampment on their first arrival is called Rithmah, and not Barnea, because the headquarters of the camp were in the Wady Retemath, not at the town of Barnea, which was farther on in the desert of Zin. The expression "town of the end of thy territory" is not to be understood as signifying that the town belonged to the Edomites, but simply affirms that it was situated on the border of the Edomitish territory. The supposition that Barnea was an Edomitish town is opposed by the circumstance that, in Num 34:4, and Jos 15:3, it is reckoned as part of the land of Canaan; that in Jos 10:41 it is mentioned as the southernmost town, where Joshua smote the Canaanites and conquered their land; and lastly, that in Jos 15:23 it is probably classed among the towns allotted to the tribe of Judah, from which it seems to follow that it must have belonged to the Amorites. "The end of the territory" of the king of Edom is to be distinguished from "the territory of the land of Edom" in Num 20:23. The land of Edom extended westwards only as far as the Arabah, the low-lying plain, which runs from the southern point of the Dead Sea to the head of the Elanitic Gulf. At that time, however, the Edomites had spread out beyond the Arabah, and taken possession of a portion of the desert of Paran belonging to the peninsula of Sinai, which was bounded on the north by the desert of Zin (see at Num 34:3). By their not drinking of the water of the wells (Num 20:17), we are to understand, according to Num 20:19, their not making use of the wells of the Edomites either by violence or without compensation. The "king's way" is the public high road, which was probably made at the cost of the state, and kept up for the king and his armies to travel upon, and is synonymous with the "sultan-road" (Derb es Sultan) or "emperor road," as the open, broad, old military roads are still called in the East (cf. Robinson, Pal. ii. 340; Seetzen, i. pp. 61, 132, ii. pp. 336, etc.). This military road led, no doubt, as Leake has conjectured (Burckhardt, Syr. pp. 21, 22), through the broad Wady el Ghuweir, which not only forms a direct and easy passage to the level country through the very steep mountains that fall down into the Arabah, but also a convenient road through the land of Edom (Robinson, ii. pp. 552, 583, 610), and is celebrated for its splendid meadows, which are traceable to its many springs (Burckhardt, pp. 688, 689); for the broad Wady Murreh runs from the northern border of the mountain-land of Azazimeh, not only as far as the mountain of Moddera (Madurah), where it is divided, but in its southern half as far as the Arabah. This is very likely the "great route through broad wadys," which the Bedouins who accompanied Rowland assured him "was very good, and led direct to Mount Hor, but with which no European traveller was acquainted" (Ritter's Erdk. xiv. p. 1088). It probably opens into the Arabah at the Wady el Weibeh, opposite to the Wady Ghuweir.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Message of the Israelites to the King of Edom. - As Israel was about to start from Kadesh upon its march to Canaan, but wished to enter it from the east across the Jordan, and not from the south, where the steep and lofty mountain ranges presented obstacles which would have been difficult to overcome, if not quite insuperable, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, to solicit from the kindred nation a friendly and unimpeded passage through their land. He reminded the king of the relationship of Israel, of their being brought down to Egypt, of the oppression they had endured there, and their deliverance out of the land, and promised him that they would not pass through fields and vineyards, nor drink the water of their wells, but keep to the king's way, without turning to the right hand or the left, and thus would do no injury whatever to the land (Num 20:14-16).

(Note: We learn from Jdg 11:17, that Israel sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Moab also, and with a similar commission, and that he also refused to grant the request for an unimpeded passage through his land. This message is passed over in silence here, because the refusal of the Moabites had no influence upon the further progress of the Israelites. "For if they could not pass through Edom, the permission of the Moabites would not help them at all. It was only eventualiter that they sought this permission." - Hengstenberg, Diss.)

By the "angel" who led Israel out of Egypt we are naturally to understand not the pillar of cloud and fire (Knobel), but the angel of the Lord, the visible revealer of the invisible God, whom the messengers describe indefinitely as "an angel," when addressing the Edomites. Kadesh is represented in Num 20:16 as a city on the border of the Edomitish territory. The reference is to Kadesh-Barnea (Num 32:8; Num 34:4; Deu 1:2, Deu 1:19; Deu 2:14; Deu 9:23; Jos 10:41; Jos 14:6-7; Jos 15:3). This city was no doubt situated quite in the neighbourhood of Ain Kudes, the well of Kadesh, discovered by Rowland. This well was called En-mishpat, the fountain of judgment, in Abraham's time (Gen 14:7); and the name Kadesh occurs first of all on the first arrival of the Israelites in that region, in the account of the events which took place there, as being the central point of the place of encampment, the "desert of Paran," or "desert of Zin" (cf. Num 13:26 with Num 13:21, and Num 12:16). And even on the second arrival of the congregation in that locality, it is not mentioned till after the desert of Zin (Num 20:1); whilst the full name Kadesh-Barnea is used by Moses for the first time in Num 32:8, when reminding the people of those mournful occurrences in Kadesh in Num 13 and 14. The conjecture is therefore a very natural one, that the place in question received the name of Kadesh first of all from that tragical occurrence (Num 14), or possibly from the murmuring of the congregation on account of the want of water, which led Moses and Aaron to sin, so that the Lord sanctified (יקדּשׁ) Himself upon them by a judgment, because they had not sanctified Him before the children of Israel (Num 20:12 and Num 20:13); that Barnea was the older or original name of the town, which was situated in the neighbourhood of the "water of strife," and that this name was afterwards united with Kadesh, and formed into a composite noun. If this conjecture is a correct one, the name Kadesh is used proleptically, not only in Gen 14:7, as a more precise definition of En-Mishpat, but also in Gen 16:14; Gen 20:1; and Num 13:26, and Num 20:1; and there is no lack of analogies for this. It is in this too that we are probably to seek for an explanation of the fact, that in the list of stations in Num 33 the name Kadesh does not occur in connection with the first arrival of the congregation in the desert of Zin, but only in connection with their second arrival (v. 36), and that the place of encampment on their first arrival is called Rithmah, and not Barnea, because the headquarters of the camp were in the Wady Retemath, not at the town of Barnea, which was farther on in the desert of Zin. The expression "town of the end of thy territory" is not to be understood as signifying that the town belonged to the Edomites, but simply affirms that it was situated on the border of the Edomitish territory. The supposition that Barnea was an Edomitish town is opposed by the circumstance that, in Num 34:4, and Jos 15:3, it is reckoned as part of the land of Canaan; that in Jos 10:41 it is mentioned as the southernmost town, where Joshua smote the Canaanites and conquered their land; and lastly, that in Jos 15:23 it is probably classed among the towns allotted to the tribe of Judah, from which it seems to follow that it must have belonged to the Amorites. "The end of the territory" of the king of Edom is to be distinguished from "the territory of the land of Edom" in Num 20:23. The land of Edom extended westwards only as far as the Arabah, the low-lying plain, which runs from the southern point of the Dead Sea to the head of the Elanitic Gulf. At that time, however, the Edomites had spread out beyond the Arabah, and taken possession of a portion of the desert of Paran belonging to the peninsula of Sinai, which was bounded on the north by the desert of Zin (see at Num 34:3). By their not drinking of the water of the wells (Num 20:17), we are to understand, according to Num 20:19, their not making use of the wells of the Edomites either by violence or without compensation. The "king's way" is the public high road, which was probably made at the cost of the state, and kept up for the king and his armies to travel upon, and is synonymous with the "sultan-road" (Derb es Sultan) or "emperor road," as the open, broad, old military roads are still called in the East (cf. Robinson, Pal. ii. 340; Seetzen, i. pp. 61, 132, ii. pp. 336, etc.).

This military road led, no doubt, as Leake has conjectured (Burckhardt, Syr. pp. 21, 22), through the broad Wady el Ghuweir, which not only forms a direct and easy passage to the level country through the very steep mountains that fall down into the Arabah, but also a convenient road through the land of Edom (Robinson, ii. pp. 552, 583, 610), and is celebrated for its splendid meadows, which are traceable to its many springs (Burckhardt, pp. 688, 689); for the broad Wady Murreh runs from the northern border of the mountain-land of Azazimeh, not only as far as the mountain of Moddera (Madurah), where it is divided, but in its southern half as far as the Arabah. This is very likely the "great route through broad wadys," which the Bedouins who accompanied Rowland assured him "was very good, and led direct to Mount Hor, but with which no European traveller was acquainted" (Ritter's Erdk. xiv. p. 1088). It probably opens into the Arabah at the Wady el Weibeh, opposite to the Wady Ghuweir.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
All the travel - All the wanderings and afflictions of our parents and of us their children, which doubtless have come to thine ears.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Sent messengers - unto the king of Edom - Archbishop Usher supposes that the king now reigning in Edom was Hadar, mentioned Gen 36:39. Thus saith thy brother Israel - The Edomites were the descendants of Edom or Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel, from whom the Israelites were descended.

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¹⁷ Then Israel [03478] sent [07971] messengers [04397] unto the king [04428] of Edom [0123], saying [0559], Let me, I pray thee, pass through [05674] thy land [0776]: but the king [04428] of Edom [0123] would not hearken [08085] thereto. And in like manner they sent [07971] unto the king [04428] of Moab [04124]: but he would [014] not consent: and Israel [03478] abode [03427] in Kadesh [06946].

¹⁷ Let us pass [05674], I pray thee, through thy country [0776]: we will not pass [05674] through the fields [07704], or through the vineyards [03754], neither will we drink [08354] of the water [04325] of the wells [0875]: we will go [03212] by the king's [04428] high way [01870], we will not turn [05186] to the right hand [03225] nor to the left [08040], until we have passed [05674] thy borders [01366].

³⁸ And Aaron [0175] the priest [03548] went up [05927] into mount [02022] Hor [02023] at the commandment [06310] of the LORD [03068], and died [04191] there, in the fortieth [0705] year [08141] after the children [01121] of Israel [03478] were come out [03318] of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], in the first [0259] day of the fifth [02549] month [02320].

¹ Then came [0935] the children [01121] of Israel [03478], even the whole congregation [05712], into the desert [04057] of Zin [06790] in the first [07223] month [02320]: and the people [05971] abode [03427] in Kadesh [06946]; and Miriam [04813] died [04191] there, and was buried [06912] there.

¹⁹ And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] said [0559] unto him, We will go [05927] by the high way [04546]: and if I and my cattle [04735] drink [08354] of thy water [04325], then I will pay [05414] [04377] for it: I will only, without doing any thing [01697] else, go through [05674] on my feet [07272].

³ Then your south [05045] quarter [06285] shall be from the wilderness [04057] of Zin [06790] along by the coast [03027] of Edom [0123], and your south [05045] border [01366] shall be the outmost coast [07097] of the salt [04417] sea [03220] eastward [06924]:

²³ And the LORD [03068] spake [0559] unto Moses [04872] and Aaron [0175] in mount [02022] Hor [02023], by the coast [01366] of the land [0776] of Edom [0123], saying [0559],

²³ And Kedesh [06943], and Hazor [02674], and Ithnan [03497],

⁴¹ And Joshua [03091] smote [05221] them from Kadeshbarnea [06947] even unto Gaza [05804], and all the country [0776] of Goshen [01657], even unto Gibeon [01391].

³ And it went out [03318] to the south side [05045] to Maalehacrabbim [04610], and passed [05674] along to Zin [06790], and ascended up [05927] on the south side [05045] unto Kadeshbarnea [06947], and passed [05674] along to Hezron [02696], and went up [05927] to Adar [0146], and fetched a compass [05437] to Karkaa [07173]:

⁴ And your border [01366] shall turn [05437] from the south [05045] to the ascent [04608] of Akrabbim [04610], and pass on [05674] to Zin [06790]: and the going forth [08444] thereof shall be from the south [05045] to Kadeshbarnea [06947], and shall go on [03318] to Hazaraddar [02692], and pass on [05674] to Azmon [06111]:

²⁶ And they went [03212] and came [0935] to Moses [04872], and to Aaron [0175], and to all the congregation [05712] of the children [01121] of Israel [03478], unto the wilderness [04057] of Paran [06290], to Kadesh [06946]; and brought back [07725] word [01697] unto them, and unto all the congregation [05712], and shewed [07200] them the fruit [06529] of the land [0776].

¹ And Abraham [085] journeyed [05265] from thence toward the south [05045] country [0776], and dwelled [03427] between Kadesh [06946] and Shur [07793], and sojourned [01481] in Gerar [01642].

¹⁴ Wherefore the well [0875] was called [07121] Beerlahairoi [0883] [02416]; behold, it is between Kadesh [06946] and Bered [01260].

⁷ And they returned [07725], and came [0935] to [0413] Enmishpat [05880], which is Kadesh [06946], and smote [05221] all the country [07704] of the Amalekites [06003], and also the Amorites [0567], that dwelt [03427] in Hazezontamar [02688].

¹³ This is [01992] the water [04325] of Meribah [04809]; because the children [01121] of Israel [03478] strove [07378] with the LORD [03068], and he was sanctified [06942] in them.

¹² And the LORD [03068] spake [0559] unto Moses [04872] and Aaron [0175], Because ye believed [0539] me not, to sanctify [06942] me in the eyes [05869] of the children [01121] of Israel [03478], therefore ye shall not bring [0935] this congregation [06951] into the land [0776] which I have given [05414] them.

⁸ Thus did [06213] your fathers [01], when I sent [07971] them from Kadeshbarnea [06947] to see [07200] the land [0776].

¹⁶ And afterward [0310] the people [05971] removed [05265] from Hazeroth [02698], and pitched [02583] in the wilderness [04057] of Paran [06290].

²¹ So they went up [05927], and searched [08446] the land [0776] from the wilderness [04057] of Zin [06790] unto Rehob [07340], as men come [0935] to Hamath [02574].

⁶ Then the children [01121] of Judah [03063] came [05066] unto Joshua [03091] in Gilgal [01537]: and Caleb [03612] the son [01121] of Jephunneh [03312] the Kenezite [07074] said [0559] unto him, Thou knowest [03045] the thing [01697] that the LORD [03068] said [01696] unto Moses [04872] the man [0376] of God [0430] concerning me [0182] and thee [0182] in Kadeshbarnea [06947].
⁷ Forty [0705] years [08141] old [01121] was I when Moses [04872] the servant [05650] of the LORD [03068] sent [07971] me from Kadeshbarnea [06947] to espy out [07270] the land [0776]; and I brought [07725] him word [01697] again [07725] as it was in mine heart [03824].

⁴¹ And Joshua [03091] smote [05221] them from Kadeshbarnea [06947] even unto Gaza [05804], and all the country [0776] of Goshen [01657], even unto Gibeon [01391].

²³ Likewise when the LORD [03068] sent [07971] you from Kadeshbarnea [06947], saying [0559], Go up [05927] and possess [03423] the land [0776] which I have given [05414] you; then ye rebelled [04784] against the commandment [06310] of the LORD [03068] your God [0430], and ye believed [0539] him not, nor hearkened [08085] to his voice [06963].

¹⁴ And the space [03117] in which we came [01980] from Kadeshbarnea [06947], until we were come over [05674] the brook [05158] Zered [02218], was thirty [07970] and eight [08083] years [08141]; until all the generation [01755] of the men [0582] of war [04421] were wasted out [08552] from among [07130] the host [04264], as the LORD [03068] sware [07650] unto them.

¹⁹ And when we departed [05265] from Horeb [02722], we went through [03212] all that great [01419] and terrible [03372] wilderness [04057], which ye saw [07200] by the way [01870] of the mountain [02022] of the Amorites [0567], as the LORD [03068] our God [0430] commanded [06680] us; and we came [0935] to Kadeshbarnea [06947].

² (There are eleven [0259] [06240] days [03117]' journey from Horeb [02722] by the way [01870] of mount [02022] Seir [08165] unto Kadeshbarnea [06947].)

⁸ Thus did [06213] your fathers [01], when I sent [07971] them from Kadeshbarnea [06947] to see [07200] the land [0776].

¹⁶ And when we cried [06817] unto the LORD [03068], he heard [08085] our voice [06963], and sent [07971] an angel [04397], and hath brought us forth [03318] out of Egypt [04714]: and, behold, we are in Kadesh [06946], a city [05892] in the uttermost [07097] of thy border [01366]:

¹⁴ And Moses [04872] sent [07971] messengers [04397] from Kadesh [06946] unto the king [04428] of Edom [0123], Thus saith [0559] thy brother [0251] Israel [03478], Thou knowest [03045] all the travail [08513] that hath befallen [04672] us:
¹⁵ How our fathers [01] went down [03381] into Egypt [04714], and we have dwelt [03427] in Egypt [04714] a long [07227] time [03117]; and the Egyptians [04714] vexed [07489] us, and our fathers [01]:
¹⁶ And when we cried [06817] unto the LORD [03068], he heard [08085] our voice [06963], and sent [07971] an angel [04397], and hath brought us forth [03318] out of Egypt [04714]: and, behold, we are in Kadesh [06946], a city [05892] in the uttermost [07097] of thy border [01366]:

³⁹ And Baalhanan [01177] the son [01121] of Achbor [05907] died [04191], and Hadar [01924] reigned [04427] in his stead: and the name [08034] of his city [05892] was Pau [06464]; and his wife's [0802] name [08034] was Mehetabel [04105], the daughter [01323] of Matred [04308], the daughter [01323] of Mezahab [04314].