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Selected Verse: Numbers 21:4 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Nu 21:4 |
Strong Concordance |
And they journeyed [05265] from mount [02022] Hor [02023] by the way [01870] of the Red [05488] sea [03220], to compass [05437] the land [0776] of Edom [0123]: and the soul [05315] of the people [05971] was much discouraged [07114] because of the way [01870]. |
|
King James |
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
they journeyed from mount Hor--On being refused the passage requested, they returned through the Arabah, "the way of the Red Sea," to Elath, at the head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, and thence passed up through the mountains to the eastern desert, so as to make the circuit of the land of Edom (Num 33:41-42).
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way--Disappointment on finding themselves so near the confines of the promised land without entering it; vexation at the refusal of a passage through Edom and the absence of any divine interposition in their favor; and above all, the necessity of a retrograde journey by a long and circuitous route through the worst parts of a sandy desert and the dread of being plunged into new and unknown difficulties--all this produced a deep depression of spirits. But it was followed, as usually, by a gross outburst of murmuring at the scarcity of water, and of expressions of disgust at the manna. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The direct route to Moab through the valleys of Edom being closed against them Num 20:20-21, they were compelled to turn southward. Their course lay down the Arabah; until, a few hours north of Akaba (Ezion-Geber) the Wady Ithm opened to them a gap in the hostile mountains, allowed them to turn to their left, and to march northward toward Moab Deu 2:3. They were thus for some days (see Num 22:1 note) in the Arabah, a mountain plain of loose sand, gravel, and detritus of granite, which though sprinkled with low shrubs, especially near the mouths of the wadys and the courses of the winter-torrents, furnishes extremely little food or water, and is often troubled by sand-storms from the shore of the gulf. Hence, "the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
March of Israel through the Arabah. Plague of Serpents, and Brazen Serpent. - Num 21:4. As the Edomites refused a passage through their land when the Israelites left Mount Hor, they were obliged to take the way to the Red Sea, in order to go round the land of Edom, that is to say, to go down the Arabah to the head of the Elanitic Gulf.
Num 21:5-6
As they went along this road the people became impatient ("the soul of the people was much discouraged," see Exo 6:9), and they began once more to murmur against God and Moses, because they had neither bread nor water (cf. Num 20:4.), and were tired of the loose, i.e., poor, food of manna (קלקל from קלל). The low-lying plain of the Arabah, which runs between steep mountain walls from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea, would be most likely to furnish the Israelites with very little food, except the manna which God gave them; for although it is not altogether destitute of vegetation, especially at the mouths of the wadys and winter torrents from the hills, yet on the whole it is a horrible desert, with a loose sandy soil, and drifts of granite and other stones, where terrible sand-storms sometimes arise from the neighbourhood of the Red Sea (see v. Schubert, R. ii. pp. 396ff., and Ritter, Erdk. xiv. pp. 1013ff.); and the want of food might very frequently be accompanied by the absence of drinkable water. The people rebelled in consequence, and were punished by the Lord with fiery serpents, the bite of which caused many to die. שׂרפים נחשׁים, lit., burning snakes, so called from their burning, i.e., inflammatory bite, which filled with heat and poison, just as many of the snakes were called by the Greeks, e.g., the ́ ͂, and καύσωνες (Dioscor. vii. 13: Aelian. nat. anim. vi. 51), not from the skin of these snakes with fiery red spots, which are frequently found in the Arabah, and are very poisonous.
(Note: This is the account given by v. Schubert, R. ii. p. 406: "In the afternoon they brought us a very mottled snake of a large size, marked with fiery red spots and wavy stripes, which belonged to the most poisonous species, as the formation of its teeth clearly showed. According to the assertion of the Bedouins, these snakes, which they greatly dreaded, were very common in that neighbourhood.")
Num 21:7
This punishment brought the people to reflection. They confessed their sin to Moses, and entreated him to deliver them from the plague through his intercession with the Lord. And the Lord helped them; in such a way, however, that the reception of help was made to depend upon the faith of the people.
Num 21:8-9
At the command of God, Moses made a brazen serpent, and put it upon a standard.
(Note: For the different views held by early writers concerning the brazen serpent, see Buxtorf, historia serp. aen., in his Exercitt. pp. 458ff.; Deyling, observatt. ss. ii. obs. 15, pp. 156ff.; Vitringa, observ. ss. 1, pp. 403ff.; Jo. Marck, Scripturariae Exercitt. exerc. 8, pp. 465ff.; Iluth, Serpens exaltatus non contritoris sed conterendi imago, Erl. 1758; Gottfr. Menken on the brazen serpent; Sack, Apologetick, 2 Ausg. pp. 355ff. Hoffmann, Weissagung u. Erfllung, ii. pp. 142, 143; Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant, iii. 345ff.; and the commentators on Joh 3:14 and Joh 3:15.)
Whoever then of the persons bitten by the poisonous serpents looked at the brazen serpent with faith in the promise of God, lived, i.e., recovered from the serpent's bite. The serpent was to be made of brass or copper, because the colour of this metal, when the sun was shining upon it, was most like the appearance of the fiery serpents; and thus the symbol would be more like the thing itself.
Even in the book of Wis. (Num 16:6-7), the brazen serpent is called "a symbol of salvation; for he that turned himself toward it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by Thee, that art the Saviour of all." It was not merely intended, however, as Ewald supposes (Gesch. ii. p. 228), as a "sign that just as this serpent hung suspended in the air, bound and rendered harmless by the command of Jehovah, so every one who looked at this with faith in the redeeming power of Jehovah, was secured against the evil, - a figurative sign, therefore, like that of St. George and the Dragon among ourselves;" for, according to this, there would be no internal causal link between the fiery serpents and the brazen image of a serpent. It was rather intended as a figurative representation of the poisonous serpents, rendered harmless by the mercy of God. For God did not cause a real serpent to be taken, but the image of a serpent, in which the fiery serpent was stiffened, as it were, into dead brass, as a sign that the deadly poison of the fiery serpents was overcome in this brazen serpent. This is not to be regarded as a symbol of the divine healing power; nor is the selection of such a symbol to be deduced and explained, as it is by Winer, Kurtz, Knobel, and others, from the symbolical view that was common to all the heathen religions of antiquity, that the serpent was a beneficent and health-bringing power, which led to its being exalted into a symbol of the healing power, and a representation of the gods of healing. This heathen view is not only foreign to the Old Testament, and without any foundation in the fact that, in the time of Hezekiah, the people paid a superstitious worship to the brazen serpent erected by Moses (Kg2 18:4); but it is irreconcilably opposed to the biblical view of the serpent, as the representative of evil, which was founded upon Gen 3:15, and is only traceable to the magical art of serpent-charming, which the Old Testament abhorred as an idolatrous abomination. To this we may add, that the thought which lies at the foundation of this explanation, viz., that poison is to be cured by poison, has no support in Hos 13:4, but is altogether foreign to the Scriptures. God punishes sin, it is true, by sin; but He neither cures sin by sin, nor death by death. On the contrary, to conquer sin it was necessary that the Redeemer should be without sin; and to take away its power from death, it was requisite that Christ, the Prince of life, who had life in Himself, should rise again from death and the grave (Joh 5:26; Joh 11:25; Act 3:15; Ti2 1:10).
The brazen serpent became a symbol of salvation on the three grounds which Luther pointed out. In the first place, the serpent which Moses was to make by the command of God was to be of brass or copper, that is to say, of a reddish colour, and (although without poison) altogether like the persons who were red and burning with heat because of the bite of the fiery serpents. In the second place, the brazen serpent was to be set up upon a pole for a sign. And in the third place, those who desired to recover from the fiery serpent's bite and live, were to look at the brazen serpent upon the pole, otherwise they could not recover or live (Luther's Sermon on Joh 3:1-15). It was in these three points, as Luther has also clearly shown, that the typical character of this symbol lay, to which Christ referred in His conversation with Nicodemus (Joh 3:14). The brazen serpent had the form of a real serpent, but was "without poison, and altogether harmless." So God sent His Son in the form of sinful flesh, and yet without sin (Rom 8:3; Co2 5:21; Pe1 2:22-24). - 2. In the lifting up of the serpent as a standard. This was a δειγματίζειν ἐν παρρησίᾳ, a ́ (a "showing openly," or "triumphing"), a triumphal exhibition of the poisonous serpents as put to death in the brazen image, just as the lifting up of Christ upon the cross was a public triumph over the evil principalities and powers below the sky (Col 2:14-15). - 3. In the cure effected through looking at the image of the serpent. Just as the Israelites had to turn their eyes to the brazen serpent in believing obedience to the word of the Lord, in order to be cured of the bite of the poisonous serpents, so much we look with faith at the Son of man lifted up upon the cross, if we would be delivered from the bite of the old serpent, from sin, death, the devil, and hell. "Christ is the antitype of the serpent, inasmuch as He took upon Himself the most pernicious of all pernicious potencies, viz., sin, and made a vicarious atonement for it" (Hengstenberg on Joh 3:14). The brazen image of the serpent was taken by the Israelites to Canaan, and preserved till the time of Hezekiah, who had it broken in pieces, because the idolatrous people had presented incense-offerings to this holy relic (Kg2 18:4). |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
By way of the Red - sea - Which leadeth to the Red - sea, as they must needs do to compass the land of Edom. Because of the way - By reason of this journey, which was long and troublesome, and unexpected, because the successful entrance and victorious progress which some of them had made in the borders of Canaan, made them think they might have speedily gone in and taken possession of it, and so have saved the tedious travels and farther difficulties, into which Moses had again brought them. |
41 And they departed [05265] from mount [02022] Hor [02023], and pitched [02583] in Zalmonah [06758].
42 And they departed [05265] from Zalmonah [06758], and pitched [02583] in Punon [06325].
1 And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] set forward [05265], and pitched [02583] in the plains [06160] of Moab [04124] on this side [05676] Jordan [03383] by Jericho [03405].
3 Ye have compassed [05437] this mountain [02022] long enough [07227]: turn [06437] you northward [06828].
20 And he said [0559], Thou shalt not go through [05674]. And Edom [0123] came out [03318] against [07125] him with much [03515] people [05971], and with a strong [02389] hand [03027].
21 Thus Edom [0123] refused [03985] to give [05414] Israel [03478] passage [05674] through his border [01366]: wherefore Israel [03478] turned away [05186] from him.
4 He removed [05493] the high places [01116], and brake [07665] the images [04676], and cut down [03772] the groves [0842], and brake in pieces [03807] the brasen [05178] serpent [05175] that Moses [04872] had made [06213]: for unto those days [03117] the children [01121] of Israel [03478] did burn incense [06999] to it: and he called [07121] it Nehushtan [05180].
14 And [2532] as [2531] Moses [3475] lifted up [5312] the serpent [3789] in [1722] the wilderness [2048], even so [3779] must [1163] the Son [5207] of man [444] be lifted up [5312]:
14 Blotting out [1813] the handwriting [5498] of ordinances [1378] that was against [2596] us [2257], which [3739] was [2258] contrary [5227] to us [2254], and [2532] took [142] it [846] out of [1537] the way [3319], nailing [4338] it [846] to his cross [4716];
15 And having spoiled [554] principalities [746] and [2532] powers [1849], he made a shew of them [1165] openly [1722] [3954], triumphing over [2358] them [846] in [1722] it [846].
22 Who [3739] did [4160] no [3756] sin [266], neither [3761] was guile [1388] found [2147] in [1722] his [846] mouth [4750]:
23 Who [3739], when he was reviled [3058], reviled [486] not [3756] again [486]; when he suffered [3958], he threatened [546] not [3756]; but [1161] committed [3860] himself to him that judgeth [2919] righteously [1346]:
24 Who [3739] his own self [846] bare [399] our [2257] sins [266] in [1722] his own [846] body [4983] on [1909] the tree [3586], that [2443] we [2198], being dead [581] to sins [266], should live [2198] unto righteousness [1343]: by [3739] whose [846] stripes [3468] ye were healed [2390].
21 For [1063] he hath made [4160] him to be sin [266] for [5228] us [2257], who [3588] knew [1097] no [3361] sin [266]; that [2443] we [2249] might be made [1096] the righteousness [1343] of God [2316] in [1722] him [846].
3 For [1063] what the law [3551] could not do [102], in [1722] that [3739] it was weak [770] through [1223] the flesh [4561], God [2316] sending [3992] his own [1438] Son [5207] in [1722] the likeness [3667] of sinful [266] flesh [4561], and [2532] for [4012] sin [266], condemned [2632] sin [266] in [1722] the flesh [4561]:
14 And [2532] as [2531] Moses [3475] lifted up [5312] the serpent [3789] in [1722] the wilderness [2048], even so [3779] must [1163] the Son [5207] of man [444] be lifted up [5312]:
1 [1161] There was [2258] a man [444] of [1537] the Pharisees [5330], named [3686] [846] Nicodemus [3530], a ruler [758] of the Jews [2453]:
2 The same [3778] came [2064] to [4314] Jesus [2424] by night [3571], and [2532] said [2036] unto him [846], Rabbi [4461], we know [1492] that [3754] thou art [2064] a teacher [1320] come [2064] from [575] God [2316]: for [1063] no man [3762] can [1410] do [4160] these [5023] miracles [4592] that [3739] thou [4771] doest [4160], except [3362] God [2316] be [5600] with [3326] him [846].
3 Jesus [2424] answered [611] and [2532] said [2036] unto him [846], Verily [281], verily [281], I say [3004] unto thee [4671], Except [3362] a man [5100] be born [1080] again [509], he cannot [1410] [3756] see [1492] the kingdom [932] of God [2316].
4 Nicodemus [3530] saith [3004] unto [4314] him [846], How [4459] can [1410] a man [444] be born [1080] when he is [5607] old [1088]? can [3361] [1410] he enter [1525] the second time [1208] into [1519] his [846] mother's [3384] womb [2836], and [2532] be born [1080]?
5 Jesus [2424] answered [611], Verily [281], verily [281], I say [3004] unto thee [4671], Except [3362] a man [5100] be born [1080] of [1537] water [5204] and [2532] of the Spirit [4151], he cannot [3756] [1410] enter [1525] into [1519] the kingdom [932] of God [2316].
6 That which is born [1080] of [1537] the flesh [4561] is [2076] flesh [4561]; and [2532] that which is born [1080] of [1537] the Spirit [4151] is [2076] spirit [4151].
7 Marvel [2296] not [3361] that [3754] I said [2036] unto thee [4671], Ye [5209] must [1163] be born [1080] again [509].
8 The wind [4151] bloweth [4154] where [3699] it listeth [2309], and [2532] thou hearest [191] the sound [5456] thereof [846], but [235] canst [1492] not [3756] tell [1492] whence [4159] it cometh [2064], and [2532] whither [4226] it goeth [5217]: so [3779] is [2076] every one [3956] that is born [1080] of [1537] the Spirit [4151].
9 Nicodemus [3530] answered [611] and [2532] said [2036] unto him [846], How [4459] can [1410] these things [5023] be [1096]?
10 Jesus [2424] answered [611] and [2532] said [2036] unto him [846], Art [1488] thou [4771] a master [1320] of Israel [2474], and [2532] knowest [1097] not [3756] these things [5023]?
11 Verily [281], verily [281], I say [3004] unto thee [4671], We speak [2980] that [3754] [3739] we do know [1492], and [2532] testify [3140] that [3739] we have seen [3708]; and [2532] ye receive [2983] not [3756] our [2257] witness [3141].
12 If [1487] I have told [2036] you [5213] earthly things [1919], and [2532] ye believe [4100] not [3756], how [4459] shall ye believe [4100], if [1437] I tell [2036] you [5213] of heavenly things [2032]?
13 And [2532] no man [3762] hath ascended up [305] to [1519] heaven [3772], but [1508] he that came down [2597] from [1537] heaven [3772], even the Son [5207] of man [444] which [3588] is [5607] in [1722] heaven [3772].
14 And [2532] as [2531] Moses [3475] lifted up [5312] the serpent [3789] in [1722] the wilderness [2048], even so [3779] must [1163] the Son [5207] of man [444] be lifted up [5312]:
15 That [3363] whosoever [3956] believeth [4100] in [1519] him [846] should [622] not [3363] perish [622], but [235] have [2192] eternal [166] life [2222].
10 But [1161] is [5319] now [3568] made manifest [5319] by [1223] the appearing [2015] of our [2257] Saviour [4990] Jesus [2424] Christ [5547], who [3303] hath abolished [2673] death [2288], and [1161] hath brought [5461] life [2222] and [2532] immortality [861] to light [5461] through [1223] the gospel [2098]:
15 And [1161] killed [615] the Prince [747] of life [2222], whom [3739] God [2316] hath raised [1453] from [1537] the dead [3498]; whereof [3739] we [2249] are [2070] witnesses [3144].
25 Jesus [2424] said [2036] unto her [846], I [1473] am [1510] the resurrection [386], and [2532] the life [2222]: he that believeth [4100] in [1519] me [1691], though [2579] he were dead [599], yet shall he live [2198]:
26 For [1063] as [5618] the Father [3962] hath [2192] life [2222] in [1722] himself [1438]; so [2532] [3779] hath he given [1325] to the Son [5207] to have [2192] life [2222] in [1722] himself [1438];
4 Yet I am the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] from the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], and thou shalt know [03045] no god [0430] but me [02108]: for there is no saviour [03467] beside me [01115].
15 And I will put [07896] enmity [0342] between thee and the woman [0802], and between thy seed [02233] and her seed [02233]; it shall bruise [07779] thy head [07218], and thou shalt bruise [07779] his heel [06119].
4 He removed [05493] the high places [01116], and brake [07665] the images [04676], and cut down [03772] the groves [0842], and brake in pieces [03807] the brasen [05178] serpent [05175] that Moses [04872] had made [06213]: for unto those days [03117] the children [01121] of Israel [03478] did burn incense [06999] to it: and he called [07121] it Nehushtan [05180].
6 This do [06213]; Take [03947] you censers [04289], Korah [07141], and all his company [05712];
7 And put [05414] fire [0784] therein [02004], and put [07760] incense [07004] in them before [06440] the LORD [03068] to morrow [04279]: and it shall be that the man [0376] whom the LORD [03068] doth choose [0977], he shall be holy [06918]: ye take too much [07227] upon you, ye sons [01121] of Levi [03878].
15 That [3363] whosoever [3956] believeth [4100] in [1519] him [846] should [622] not [3363] perish [622], but [235] have [2192] eternal [166] life [2222].
14 And [2532] as [2531] Moses [3475] lifted up [5312] the serpent [3789] in [1722] the wilderness [2048], even so [3779] must [1163] the Son [5207] of man [444] be lifted up [5312]:
8 And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Moses [04872], Make [06213] thee a fiery serpent [08314], and set [07760] it upon a pole [05251]: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten [05391], when he looketh [07200] upon it, shall live [02425].
9 And Moses [04872] made [06213] a serpent [05175] of brass [05178], and put [07760] it upon a pole [05251], and it came to pass, that if a serpent [05175] had bitten [05391] any man [0376], when he beheld [05027] the serpent [05175] of brass [05178], he lived [02425].
7 Therefore the people [05971] came [0935] to Moses [04872], and said [0559], We have sinned [02398], for we have spoken [01696] against the LORD [03068], and against thee; pray [06419] unto the LORD [03068], that he take away [05493] the serpents [05175] from us. And Moses [04872] prayed [06419] for the people [05971].
4 And why have ye brought up [0935] the congregation [06951] of the LORD [03068] into this wilderness [04057], that we and our cattle [01165] should die [04191] there?
9 And Moses [04872] spake [01696] so unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478]: but they hearkened [08085] not unto Moses [04872] for anguish [07115] of spirit [07307], and for cruel [07186] bondage [05656].
5 And the people [05971] spake [01696] against God [0430], and against Moses [04872], Wherefore have ye brought us up [05927] out of Egypt [04714] to die [04191] in the wilderness [04057]? for there is no bread [03899], neither is there any water [04325]; and our soul [05315] loatheth [06973] this light [07052] bread [03899].
6 And the LORD [03068] sent [07971] fiery [08314] serpents [05175] among the people [05971], and they bit [05391] the people [05971]; and much [07227] people [05971] of Israel [03478] died [04191].
4 And they journeyed [05265] from mount [02022] Hor [02023] by the way [01870] of the Red [05488] sea [03220], to compass [05437] the land [0776] of Edom [0123]: and the soul [05315] of the people [05971] was much discouraged [07114] because of the way [01870].