65 For Jehovah had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, lived still of the men that had gone to search out the land.
Say unto them, As surely as I live, saith Jehovah, if I do not do unto you as ye have spoken in mine ears! In this wilderness shall your carcases fall; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me, shall in no wise come into the land, concerning which I have lifted up my hand to make you dwell in it; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Thou makest [mortal] man to return to dust, and sayest, Return, children of men. For a thousand years, in thy sight, are as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning they are like grass [that] groweth up: In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy fury are we troubled.
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, besides children.
shall in no wise see the land which I did swear unto their fathers: none of them that despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he hath another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he came; and his seed shall possess it.
Now the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the torrent Zered, were thirty-eight years; until the whole generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah had sworn unto them. Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.
Go up into this mountain Abarim, mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, which is opposite Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession, and die on the mountain whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy peoples, as Aaron thy brother died on mount Hor, and was gathered unto his peoples;
Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, Thou knowest the word that Jehovah spoke to Moses the man of God, concerning me and thee, in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea to search out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. And my brethren that had gone up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Jehovah my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, The land whereon thy feet have trodden shall assuredly be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever! for thou hast wholly followed Jehovah my God. And now behold, Jehovah has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years, since Jehovah spoke this word to Moses, when Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
Behold then [the] goodness and severity of God: upon them who have fallen, severity; upon thee goodness of God, if thou shalt abide in goodness, since [otherwise] *thou* also wilt be cut away.
yet God was not pleased with the most of them, for they were strewed in the desert. But these things happened [as] types of us, that we should not be lusters after evil things, as they also lusted.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Numbers 26
Commentary on Numbers 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 26
Nu 26:1-51. Israel Numbered.
1. after the plague—That terrible visitation had swept away the remnant of the old generation, to whom God sware in His wrath that they should not enter Canaan (Ps 95:11).
2. Take the sum of all the congregation—The design of this new census, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, was primarily to establish the vast multiplication of the posterity of Abraham in spite of the severe judgments inflicted upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve the distinction of families and to make arrangements, preparatory to an entrance into the promised land, for the distribution of the country according to the relative population of the tribes.
7. These are the families of the Reubenites—the principal households, which were subdivided into numerous smaller families. Reuben had suffered great diminution by Korah's conspiracy and other outbreaks [Nu 16:1].
10. the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah—rather, "the things of Korah." (See on Nu 16:35; compare Ps 106:17).
11. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not—Either they were not parties to their father's crime, or they withdrew from it by timely repentance. His descendants became famous in the time of David, and are often mentioned in the Psalms [Ps 42:1; 44:1; 45:1; 46:1; 47:1; 48:1; 49:1; 84:1; 85:1; 87:1; 88:1], also in 1Ch 6:22, 38.
12. The sons of Simeon—It is supposed that this tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly reduced in numbers.
Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.
53. the land shall be divided according to the number of names—The portion of each tribe was to be greater or less, according to its populousness.
54. To many thou shalt give the more inheritance—that is, to the more numerous tribes a larger allotment shall be granted.
according to those that were numbered—the number of persons twenty years old at the time of the census being made, without taking into account either the increase of those who might have attained that age, when the land should be actually distributed, or the diminution from that amount, occasioned during the war of invasion.
55. the land shall be divided by lot—The appeal to the lot did not place the matter beyond the control of God; for it is at His disposal (Pr 16:33), and He has fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. The manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is evident that the lot was cast for determining the section of the country in which each tribe should be located—not the quantity of their possessions. In other words, when the lot had decided that a particular tribe was to be settled in the north or the south, the east or the west, the extent of territory was allocated according to the rule (Nu 26:54).
58. families of the Levites—The census of this tribe was taken separately, and on a different principle from the rest. (See Ex 6:16-19).
62. twenty and three thousand—so that there was an increase of a thousand (Nu 3:39).
males from a month old and upward—(See on Nu 3:14).
64. among these there was not a man … numbered … in the wilderness of Sinai—The statement in this verse must not be considered absolute. For, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were alive at this time Eleazar and Ithamar, and in all probability a considerable number of Levites, who had no participation in the popular defections in the wilderness. The tribe of Levi, having neither sent a spy into Canaan, nor being included in the enumeration at Sinai, must be regarded as not coming within the range of the fatal sentence; and therefore it would exhibit a spectacle not to be witnessed in the other tribes of many in their ranks above sixty years of age.