--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 165 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/165/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 165. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/165/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 165. Numbers · 14 of 34 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/165/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/165/#p-N ### Verse 21 [¶1] All the earth shall be filled, etc. - כל הארץ kol haarets, all This land, i. e., the land of Canaan which was only fulfilled to the letter when the preaching of Christ and his apostles was heard through all the cities and villages of Judea. It does not appear that the whole of the terraqueous globe is meant by this expression in any of the places where it occurs connected with this promise of the diffusion of the Divine light. See [Psa 72:19]; [Isa 40:5]; [Hab 2:14]. ### Verse 24 [¶3] But my servant Caleb, etc. - Caleb had another spirit - not only a bold, generous, courageous, noble, and heroic spirit; but the Spirit and influence of the God of heaven thus raised him above human inquietudes and earthly fears, therefore be followed God fully; וימלא אחרי vaimalle acharai, literally, he filled after me: God showed him the way he was to take, and the line of conduct he was to pursue, and he filled up this line, and in all things followed the will of his Maker. He therefore shall see the promised land, and his seed shall possess it. A dastardly spirit in the things of God is a heavy curse. How many are retarded in their course, and fall short of the blessings of the Gospel, through magnifying the number and strength of their adversaries, their own weakness and the difficulties of the way, with which we may connect their distrust of the power, faithfulness, and goodness of God! And how many are prevented from receiving the higher degrees of salvation by foolishly attributing insurmountable power, either to their inward corruptions or outward enemies! Only such men as Joshua and Caleb, who take God at his word, and who know that against his wisdom no cunning can stand, and against his might no strength can prevail, are likely to follow God fully, and receive the heights, lengths, breadths, and depths of the salvation of God. ### Verse 34 [¶5] After the number of the days - The spies were forty days in searching the land, and the people who rebelled on their evil report are condemned to wander forty years in the wilderness! Now let them make them a captain and go back to Egypt if they can. God had so hedged them about with his power and providence that they could neither go back to Egypt nor get forward to the promised land! God has provided innumerable spiritual blessings for mankind, but in the pursuit of earthly good they lose them, and often lose the others also! If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the fruit of the land, but not otherwise; unless for your farther punishment God give you your portion in this life, and ye get none in the life to come. From so great a curse may God save thee, thou money-loving, honor-hunting, pleasure-taking, thoughtless, godless man! [¶6] And ye shall know my breach of promise - This is certainly a most harsh expression; and most learned men agree that the words את תנואתי eth tenuathi should be translated my vengeance, which is the rendering of the Septuagint, Vulgate, Coptic, and Anglo-Saxon, and which is followed by almost all our ancient English translations. The meaning however appears to be this: As God had promised to bring them into the good land, provided they kept his statutes, ordinances, etc., and they had now broken their engagements, he was no longer held by his covenant; and therefore, by excluding them from the promised land, he showed them at once his annulling of the covenant which they had broken, and his vengeance because they had broken it. ### Verse 37 [¶8] Those men that did bring up the evil report died - Thus ten of the twelve that searched out the land were struck dead, by the justice of God, on the spot! Caleb, of the tribe of Judah, and Joshua, of the tribe of Ephraim, alone escaped, because they had followed God fully. Let preachers of God's word take heed how they straiten the way of salvation, or render, by unjust description, that way perplexed and difficult which God has made plain and easy. ### Verse 40 [¶10] We - will go up unto the place, etc. - They found themselves on the very borders of the land, and they heard God say they should not enter it, but should be consumed by a forty years' wandering in the wilderness; notwithstanding, they are determined to render vain this purpose of God, probably supposing that the temporary sorrow they felt for their late rebellion would be accepted as a sufficient atonement for their crimes. They accordingly went up, and were cut down by their enemies; and why? God went not with them. How vain is the counsel of man against the wisdom of God! Nature, poor, fallen human nature, is ever running into extremes. This miserable people, a short time ago, thought that though they had Omnipotence with them they could not conquer and possess the land! Now they imagine that though God himself go not with them, yet they shall be sufficient to drive out the inhabitants, and take possession of their country! Man is ever supposing he can either do all things or do nothing; he is therefore sometimes presumptuous, and at other times in despair. Who but an apostle, or one under the influence of the same Spirit, can say, I can do All Things Through Christ who strengtheneth me? ### Introduction [¶12] Directions concerning the different offerings they should bring unto the Lord when they should come to the land of Canaan, [Num 15:1-3]. Directions relative to the meat-offering, [Num 15:4]; to the drink-offering, [Num 15:5]. Of the burnt-offering, vow-offering, peace-offering, drink-offering, etc., [Num 15:6-12]. All born in the country must perform these rites, [Num 15:13], and the strangers also, [Num 15:14-16]. They shall offer unto the Lord a heave-offering of the first-fruits of the land, [Num 15:17-21]. Concerning omissions through ignorance, and the sacrifices to be offered on such occasions, [Num 15:22-29]. He who sins presumptuously shall be cut off, [Num 15:30], [Num 15:31]. History of the person who gathered sticks on the Sabbath, [Num 15:32]. He is brought to Moses and Aaron, [Num 15:33]. They put him in confinement till the mind of the Lord should be known on the case, [Num 15:34]. The Lord commands him to be stoned, [Num 15:35]. He is stoned to death, [Num 15:36]. The Israelites are commanded to make fringes to the borders of their garments, [Num 15:37], [Num 15:38]. The end for which these fringes were to be made, that they might remember the commandments of the Lord, that they might be holy, [Num 15:39-41]. ### Verse 2 [¶14] When ye be come into the land - Some learned men are of opinion that several offerings prescribed by the law were not intended to be made in the wilderness, but in the promised land; the former not affording those conveniences which were necessary to the complete observance of the Divine worship in this and several other respects. ### Verse 3 [¶16] And will make an offering - For the different kinds of offerings, sacrifices, etc., see [Lev 1:2], [Lev 1:7]. ### Verse 5 [¶18] The fourth part of a hin - The quantity of meal and flour was augmented in proportion to the size of the sacrifice with which it was offered. With a Lamb or a Kid were offered one tenth deal of flour, (the tenth part of an ephah, see on [Exo 29:40] (note)), the fourth part of a hin of oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine. With a Ram, two tenth deals of flour, a third part of a hin of oil, and a third part of a hin of wine. With a Bullock, three tenth deals of flour, half a hin of oil, and half a hin of wine. See [Num 15:4-11]. ### Verse 14 [¶20] If a stranger sojourn - See the notes on [Lev 19:33];[Lev 22:9]. When the case of the Jewish people is fairly considered, and their situation with respect to the surrounding idolatrous nations, we shall see the absolute necessity of having but one form of worship in the land. That alone was genuine which was prescribed by the Almighty, and no others could be tolerated, because they were idolatrous. All strangers - all that came to sojourn in the land, were required to conform to it; and it was right that those who did conform to it should have equal rights and privileges with the Hebrews themselves, which we find was the case. But under the Christian dispensation, as no particular form of worship is prescribed, the types and ceremonies of the Mosaic institution being all fulfilled, unlimited toleration should be allowed; and while the sacred writings are made the basis of the worship offered to God, every man should be allowed to worship according to his own conscience, for in this respect every one is "Lord of himself, accountable to none [¶21] But to his conscience and his God alone." ### Verse 20 [¶23] Ye shall offer - the first of your dough - Concerning the offerings of first-fruits, see the notes on [Exo 22:29]. ### Verse 24 [¶25] If aught be committed by ignorance - See the notes on [Lev 4:2], and [Lev 5:17]. The case here probably refers to the whole congregation; the cases above, to the sin of an individual. ### Verse 25 [¶27] The priest shall make an atonement - Even sins committed through ignorance required an atonement; and God in his mercy has provided one for them. ### Verse 30 [¶29] But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously - Bold daring acts of transgression against the fullest evidence, and in despite of the Divine authority, admitted of no atonement; the person was to be cut off - to be excluded from God's people, and from all their privileges and blessings. [¶30] Probably the presumption mentioned here implied an utter contempt of the word and authority of God, springing from an idolatrous or atheistical mind. In such a case all repentance was precluded, because of the denial of the word and being of God. It is probably a case similar to that mentioned [Heb 6:4-8] (note); [Heb 10:26-31] (note); on which passages see the notes. ### Verse 32 [¶32] They found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath - This was in all likelihood a case of that kind supposed above: the man despised the word of the Lord, and therefore broke his commandment; see [Num 15:31]. On this ground he was punished with the utmost rigor of the law. ### Verse 36 [¶34] Stoned him - See the note on [Lev 24:23]. ### Verse 38 [¶36] Bid them - make them fringes - We learn from [Num 15:39] that these fringes were emblematical of the various commands of God. That there was any analogy between a fringe and a precept, it would be bold to assert; but when a thing is appointed to represent another, no matter how different, that first object be comes the regular representative or sign of the other. There is no analogy between the term bread and the farinaceous nutritive substance thereby signified; but because this term is used to express and represent that thing, every person thus understands it; and when the word bread is seen or heard, a perfect knowledge, not of the letters which compose that word, but of the thing signified by it, is conveyed to the mind. So the fringes, being appointed by God to represent and bring to mind the commandments of God, [Num 15:39], the mention or sight of them conveyed the intelligence intended. All the Jews wore these, and so probably did our Lord; see [Mat 9:20], where the word κρασπε ον is rather to be understood of the fringe than of the hem of his garment. ### Introduction [¶38] The rebellion of Korah and his company against Moses, [Num 16:1-3]. He directs them how to try, in the course of the next day, whom God had called to the priesthood, [Num 16:4-11]. Dathan and Abiram use the most seditious speeches, [Num 16:12-14]. Moses is wroth, [Num 16:15]; and orders Korah and his company to be ready on the morrow with their censers and incense, [Num 16:16-18]. Korah gathers his company together, [Num 16:19]. The glory of the Lord appears, and he threatens to consume them, [Num 16:20], [Num 16:21]. Moses and Aaron intercede for them, [Num 16:22]. The people are commanded to leave the tents of the rebels, [Num 16:23-26]. They obey, and Korah and his company come out and stand before the door of their tents, [Num 16:27]. Moses in a solemn address puts the contention to issue, [Num 16:28-30]. As soon as he had done speaking, the earth clave and swallowed them, and all that appertained to them, [Num 16:31-34]; and the 250 men who offered incense are consumed by fire, [Num 16:35]. The Lord commands Eleazar to preserve the censers, because they were hallowed, [Num 16:36-38]. Eleazar makes of them a covering for the altar, [Num 16:39], [Num 16:40]. The next day the people murmur anew, the glory of the Lord appears, and Moses and Aaron go to the tabernacle, [Num 16:41-43]. They are commanded to separate themselves from the congregation, [Num 16:44], [Num 16:45]. Moses, perceiving that God had sent a plague among them, directs Aaron to hasten and make an atonement, [Num 16:46]. Aaron does so, and the plague is stayed, [Num 16:47], [Num 16:48]. The number of those who died by the plague, 14,700 men, [Num 16:49], [Num 16:50]. ### Verse 1 [¶40] Now Korah - took men - Had not these been the most brutish of men, could they have possibly so soon forgotten the signal displeasure of God manifested against them so lately for their rebellion. The word men is not in the original; and the verb ויקח vaiyikkach, and he took, is not in the plural but the singular, hence it cannot be applied to the act of all these chiefs. In every part of the Scripture where this rebellion is referred to it is attributed to Korah, (see [Num 26:3], and [Jde 1:11]), therefore the verb here belongs to him, and the whole verse should be translated thus: - Now Korah, son of Yitsar son of Kohath, son of Levi, He Took even Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, Son Of Reuben; and they rose up, etc. This makes a very regular and consistent sense, and spares all the learned labor of Father Houbigant, who translates יקח yikkach, by rebellionem fecerunt, they rebelled, which scarcely any rule of criticism can ever justify. Instead of בני ראובן beney Reuben, Sons of Reuben, some MSS. have בן ben, Son, in the singular; this reading, supported by the Septuagint and the Samaritan text, I have followed in the above translation. But as Eliab and Peleth were both Reubenites, the common reading, Sons, may be safely followed. ### Verse 3 [¶42] Ye take too much upon you - The original is simply רב לכם rab lachem, too much for you. The spirit of this saying appears to me to be the following: - "Holy offices are not equally distributed: you arrogate to yourselves the most important ones, as if your superior holiness entitled you alone to them; whereas all the congregation are holy, and have an equal right with you to be employed in the most holy services." Moses retorts this saying [Num 16:7] : Ye take too much upon you, רב לכם rab lachem; Ye have too much already, ye sons of Levi; i.e., by your present spirit and disposition you prove yourselves to be wholly unworthy of any spiritual employment. ### Verse 5 [¶44] The Lord will show who are his - It is supposed that St. Paul refers to this place, [2Tim 2:19] : The foundation of God - the whole sacrificial system, referring to Christ Jesus, the foundation of the salvation of men; standeth sure, notwithstanding the rebellions, intrusions, and false doctrines of men; having this seal - this stamp of its Divine authenticity, The Lord knoweth them that are his; εγνω Κυριος τους οντας αυτου, a literal translation of וידע יהוה את אשר לו veyoda Yehovah eth asher lo; and both signifying, The Lord approveth of his own; or, will own that which is of his own appointment. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity, alluding to the exhortation of Moses, [Num 16:26] : Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men.