And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Calvin • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (12, 13) And the children of Israel spake unto Moses . . . —The special manifestations of Divine power which the Israelites had witnessed excited within them salutary emotions of awe and of anxious apprehension, but do not seem to have awakened within them any corresponding sense of gratitude either for their deliverance from the plague, or for the privileges which they enjoyed by reason of the Divine presence amongst them. The true answer to their inquiry whether they were doomed utterly to perish is contained in the following chapter, in which the priesthood of Christ is typically set forth as bearing the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thus making reconciliation for the sins and securing the acceptance of the imperfect service of His people.Numbers 17:12-13. Behold we die, we perish — Words of consternation, arising from the remembrance of these severe and repeated judgments, from the threatening of death upon any succeeding murmurings, and from the sense of their own guilt and weakness, which made them fear lest they should relapse into the same miscarriages, and thereby bring the vengeance of God upon themselves. Near — Nearer than he should do; an error which we may easily commit. Will God proceed with us according to his strict justice, till all the people be cut off? saying, behold, we die, we perish, we all perish; which being expressed without the copulative, and in different words, show that they were spoken quick and in haste, and discover the passion of mind and distress they were in, and the sense they had of their sin and danger, fearing they should all die and perish, as many had already; it has respect, as some think, to punishments past and future, so the Targum of Jonathan,"some of us have been consumed by flaming fire, and others of us have been swallowed up in the earth and are lost, and, lo, we are accounted as if all of us would perish.'' (f) The Chaldea text describes their complaining in this way; We die by the sword, the earth swallows us up, the pestilence consumes us. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 12. we expire, we perish, we all perish] This and the following verse form a transition to ch. 18, in which the Levites guard the Tent, lest any layman should perish by approaching it, as Korah and his company had attempted to do.Verse 12. - And the children of Israel spake unto Moses. It is a mistake to unite these verses specially with the following chapter, for they clearly belong to the story of Korah's rebellion, although not particularly connected with the miracle of the rod. These are the last wailings of the great storm which had raged against Moses and Aaron, which had roared so loudly and angrily at its height, which was now sobbing itself out in the petulant despair of defeated and disheartened men, cowed indeed, but not convinced, fearful to offend, yet not loving to obey. Numbers 17:12This miracle awakened a salutary terror in all the people, so that they cried out to Moses in mortal anguish, "behold, we die, we perish, we all perish! Every one who comes near to the dwelling of Jehovah dies; are we all to die?" Even if this fear of death was no fruit of faith, it was fitted for all that to prevent any fresh outbreaks of rebellion on the part of the rejected generation. Links Numbers 17:12 InterlinearNumbers 17:12 Parallel Texts Numbers 17:12 NIV Numbers 17:12 NLT Numbers 17:12 ESV Numbers 17:12 NASB Numbers 17:12 KJV Numbers 17:12 Bible Apps Numbers 17:12 Parallel Numbers 17:12 Biblia Paralela Numbers 17:12 Chinese Bible Numbers 17:12 French Bible Numbers 17:12 German Bible Bible Hub |