Numbers 14:25

(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.—There is considerable difficulty in regard to the meaning and connection of these words. They may be attached to the words which precede: “And his seed shall possess it, and the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelling in the valley”—i.e., shall possess the land occupied by them. There are strong objections, however, to this rendering, as well as to the rendering adopted by the Authorised Version, if the latter be understood as an historical statement respecting the geographical position of the Amalekites and Canaanites, of which Moses can scarcely be supposed to have been ignorant, and which may be assigned with greater probability to the “hill” than to the “valley.” (Comp. Numbers 14:45 and Note; also Deuteronomy 1:44, where one or both of these races are spoken of under the name of Amorites or mountaineers.) The word which is rendered “dwelt” is often used in reference to a temporary sojourn, as, e.g., in Joshua 8:9 of the ambuscade sent by Joshua, which “abode” between Bethel and Ai, and in 1Samuel 25:13 of a portion of David’s men who “abode by the stuff.” It is used also in Numbers 14:45 of this chapter in respect to the position of the Amalekites and Canaanites, whether temporary or permanent, in the “hill,” which appears to be used in contrast with the “valley.” The passage may be rendered thus: “Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are abiding in the valley,” i.e., are lying in ambuscade in the valley, and waiting for an opportunity to attack the Israelites (comp. Numbers 14:43). If this interpretation of the words, which is that of Ibn Ezra, be adopted, they afford a strong reason for the command which follows:—“To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea”—i.e., do not fall into the snare which is laid for you, but turn and go in a contrary direction.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 14:25. In the valley — Beyond the mountain, at the foot whereof they now were, Numbers 14:40. And this clause is added, either, 1st, As an aggravation of Israel’s misery and punishment, that being now ready to enter and take possession of the land, they are forced to go back into the wilderness: or, 2d, As an argument to oblige them more willingly to obey the following command of returning into the wilderness, because their enemies were very near them, and severed from them only by that Idumean mountain, and if they did not speedily depart, their enemies would fall upon them, and so the evil which before they causelessly feared would come upon them; they, their wives, and their children, would become a prey to the Amalekites and Canaanites, because God would not assist nor defend them. By the way of the Red sea — That leadeth to the Red sea, and to Egypt, the place whither you desire to return.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:20-35 The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation. But disbelief of the promise forbids the benefit. Those who despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their children. They wished to die in the wilderness; God made their sin their ruin, took them at their word, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin, which was too heavy for them to bear. Ye shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin, for God never leaves any till they first leave him; and the consequences of it, that will produce your ruin. But your little ones, now under twenty years old, which ye, in your unbelief, said should be a prey, them will I bring in. God will let them know that he can put a difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off without touching their children. Thus God would not utterly take away his loving kindness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Render: And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are dwelling (or abiding) in the valley: wherefore turn you, etc. (that so ye be not smitten before them). The Amalekites were the nomad bands that roved through the open pastures of the plain Numbers 14:45 : the Canaanites, a term here taken in its wider sense, were the Amorites of the neighboring cities (compare Numbers 14:45 with Deuteronomy 1:44), who probably lived in league with the Amalekites.

Tomorrow - Not necessarily the next day, but an idiom for "hereafter," "henceforward" (compare the marginal reading in Exodus 13:14; Joshua 4:6).

By the way of the Red sea - That is, apparently, by the eastern or Elanitic gulf.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley)—that is, on the other side of the Idumean mountain, at whose base they were then encamped. Those nomad tribes had at that time occupied it with a determination to oppose the further progress of the Hebrew people. Hence God gave the command that they seek a safe and timely retreat into the desert, to escape the pursuit of those resolute enemies, to whom, with their wives and children, they would fall a helpless prey because they had forfeited the presence and protection of God. This verse forms an important part of the narrative and should be freed from the parenthetical form which our English translators have given it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the valley; beyond the mountain at the foot whereof they now were, Numbers 14:40. And this clause is added, either,

1. As an aggravation of Israel’s misery and punishment, that being now ready to enter and take possession of the land, they are forced to go back into the wilderness; or,

2. As an argument to oblige them more willingly to obey the following command of returning into the wilderness, because their enemies were very near them, and severed from them only by that Idumean mountain, and if they did not speedily depart, their enemies would hear of them and fall upon them, and so the evil which before they causelessly feared would come upon them; they, their wives, and their children would become a prey to the Amalekites and Canaanites, because God had forsaken them, and would not assist nor defend them. The verse may be rendered thus,

And, or But, for the present,

the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley; therefore (which particle is here understood, as it is in other places)

to-morrow turn ye, & c. Though some knit these words to the former, and read the place thus, Caleb—and his seed shall possess it, to wit, the land near Hebron, and also the land of the Amalekites and of the Canaanites that dwell in the valley.

Quest. But how are the Canaanites said to dwell in the valley here, when they dwelt in the hill, Numbers 14:45, and by the sea-coasts, Numbers 21:1?

Answ. 1. Part of them dwelt in one place, and part in other places.

2. The word Canaanite may here be understood more generally of all the inhabitants of Canaan.

By the way of the Red Sea, i.e. that leadeth to the Red Sea, and to Egypt, the place whither you desire to return, Numbers 14:3,4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley,.... By the Canaanites are meant the Amorites, as Aben Ezra, which were a principal people of the land of Canaan, and which may be confirmed by Deuteronomy 1:19; this may seem contrary to what is said Numbers 13:29; where they are said to dwell in the mountain; but it may be reconciled by observing, that indeed their proper settled habitation was in the mountain; but now they went down from thence, and "sat" (z) in the valley, as it may be rendered, in ambush, there lying in wait for the children of Israel, as in Psalm 10:8; and so Aben Ezra interprets it of their sitting there, to lie in wait for them: and now, though these people had so sadly provoked the Lord, yet such was his goodness to them, as to warn them of the design of their enemies, and of the danger by them, to provide for their safety, by giving them the following instruction:

tomorrow turn you; do not go forward, lest ye fall into their ambushment, but turn about, and go the contrary way; return in the way, or towards the parts from whence ye came: this they are bid to do tomorrow, but did not till some time after; for, contrary to the command of God, they went up the mount, where they were defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites, after which they stayed in Kadesh some days, Deuteronomy 1:44,

and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea; or in the way towards it; and so they would be in the way to Egypt, where the people were desirous of returning again; but as they were always a rebellious and disobedient people, and acted contrary to God, so in this case; for when he bid them go back towards the Red sea again, then they were for going forward, and entering into the land of Canaan, Numbers 14:40; though when he bid them go up, and possess it, then they were for returning to Egypt, Numbers 14:4.

(z) "sedet", Drusius, Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites {l} dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the {m} wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

(l) And lie in wait for you.

(m) For I will not defend you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Now the Amalekite … were dwelling in the valley] This is a parenthesis inserted by the narrator or compiler. It is omitted in Deuteronomy 1:40 which corresponds to the remainder of the present verse. It cannot be from the same pen as Numbers 13:29, where the Canaanites are described as living in the lowlands by the Mediterranean and along the Jordan, while the Amalekites live in the Negeb. On the other hand ‘the valley’ is not necessarily at variance with ‘mountain’ (or rather ‘hill country’) in Numbers 14:45, since it denotes not a broad valley or plain but ‘a deep place’ (צֵמֶק), a defile or declivity among the mountains.

turn ye] They were to retrace their steps, moving S.E. towards the eastern arm of the Red Sea.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley. This parenthesis bears on the face of it several difficulties, both as to the meaning of the statement and as to its position in the text.

1. It has been stated just before (Numbers 13:29) that the "Canaanites" dwelt by the sea, and in the Ghor, and it has been proposed by some to understand under this name the Phoenicians, because "Sidon" was the first-born of Canaan, and because they are known to have occupied the coast. But if "Canaanite" means "Phoenician" in chapter Numbers 13:29, it is difficult to maintain that it is here equivalent to "Amorite." Again, if "Canaanite" be taken in this vaguer sense, yet it is clear that the Amorites dwelt in "the mountain" (cf. e.g., verse 45 with Deuteronomy 1:44), and not in the lowlands. This has been got over by supposing that עֵמֶק may mean an upland vale, or plateau, such as that to which the Israelites presently ascended. It is, however, a straining of the word to assign such a meaning to it. It is rightly translated by the Septuagint ἐν τῇ κοιλάδι. And even if one looking down from above might call an upland plain by this name, yet certainly one looking up from below would not. If the word stands rightly in this place, בָּעֵמֶק must mean "in the Wady Murreh," the broad sandy strait which bounded the "mountain of the Amorite" on the south. If so, we must conclude that not only the roving Amalekites, but also the Canaanites, or Amorites, had established themselves in some parts of the Wady.

2. It is scarcely credible that an observation of this sort, which would seem unusual and abrupt in any speech, should have formed a part of God's message to Moses. It has no apparent connection with the context. It does not (as often alleged) afford a reason for the command which follows; it was not at all because enemies were already in possession before them that the Israelites had to turn their backs upon the promised land, but because God had withdrawn for the time his promised aid. If the "valley" be the Rakhmah plateau, they had always known that hostile tribes held it, and that they would have to conquer them. That the words are an interpolation, as the A.V. represents them, seems as certain as internal evidence can make it; lint by whom made, and with what intent, is a question which will probably never be answered. It may be worth while to hazard a conjecture that the interpolated words are really connected with what goes before, viz., the promise of inheritance to Caleb. Now that promise was fulfilled in the gift of Hebron to Caleb and his seed (Joshua 14:14). But we have express mention in Genesis 37:14 of the "vale of Hebron," and the same word, עֵמֶק, is used in the Hebrew. Is it not possible that this parenthesis was originally the gloss of one who had a special interest in the heritage of Caleb, and wished to note that at the time it was given to him "the vale" was occupied by two hostile peoples? Into the wilderness, i.e., the Sinaitic peninsula, as distinguished from Palestine on the one hand, and from Egypt on the other. By the way of the Red Sea, i.e., towards the Red Sea; here apparently the Elanitic Gulf (cf. Numbers 11:31). Numbers 14:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The divine reply to the intercession of Moses terminated with a command to the people to turn on the morrow, and go to the wilderness to the Red Sea, as the Amalekites and Canaanites dwelt in the valley. "The Amalekites," etc.: this clause furnishes the reason for the command which follows. On the Amalekites, see at Genesis 36:12, and Exodus 17:8. The term Canaanites is a general epithet applied to all the inhabitants of Canaan, instead of the Amorites mentioned in Deuteronomy 1:44, who held the southern mountains of Canaan. "The valley" is no doubt the broad Wady Murreh (see at Numbers 13:21), including a portion of the Negeb, in which the Amalekites led a nomad life, whilst the Canaanites really dwelt upon the mountains (Numbers 14:45), close up to the Wady Murreh.