Numbers 20:1

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation,.... Not immediately after the transaction of the above things, recorded in the preceding chapters; as the sending of the spies into the

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

NUMBERS CHAPTER 20 The people journey in the wilderness of Zin; they murmur against Moses for want of water, . God commandeth Moses to speak to the rock, that it might yield water, ,8. Moses striking the rock twice, , displeaseth God, . Moses desiring passage through Edom, , is denied, . Aaron by God’ s command delivering up his office to Eleazar his son, dieth, . All the congregation bemoan him, . Then, to wit, after many other stations and long journeys here omitted. but particularly described Numbers 33. The desert of Zin; a place near the land of Edom, distinct and distant from that, Sin, . In the first month, to wit, of the fortieth year, as is evident, because the next station to this was in Mount Hor, where Aaron died, ,23, &c., who died in the fifth month of the fortieth year, . Moses doth not give us an exact journal of all their occurrences in the wilderness, but only of those which were most remarkable, and especially of those which happened in the first and second, and in the fortieth year. Kadesh; whether the same place called Kadesh-barnea, where they were long since, , and to which they now return after thirty-eight years’ tedious travels and wanderings in the desert, , or another place more southerly, it is not material. Miriam died four months before Aaron, and but a few more before Moses.

Numbers 20:1 Then came the children of Israel, [even] the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.Ver. 1. In the first month.] To wit, of their fortieth year, after they came out of Egypt. For from this chapter to the end of Deuteronomy, are described the passages of the last year only, of their journeying in the wilderness; little being recorded of the thirty-eight years, since the spies’ report. And Miriam died there.] A good woman, and of great use to the people in their travels. But once she raised a great storm against her brother’ s wife, about precedency probably: as did likewise in this kingdom Anne Starthope, Duchess of Somerset, against Katherine Parr, Queen Dowager, wife to her husband’ s brother, the Lord Admiral, in the days of King Edward VI. This Anne died A.D. 1587, being ninety-nine years of age. Miriam could be no less likely than 130, taking her to be same that was set to watch what would become of Moses, when he was laid out in an ark of bulrushes. Life of Edw. VI, p. 81. Camd., Elis., fol. 356.

XX.(1) Then came . . . —It would be better to translate thus: And (or, Now) the children of Israel came (or, had come) . . ., inasmuch as the interval of time between the events related in the preceding chapters and in this chapter is unknown. In the first month.—It has been commonly supposed that the reference is to the first month of the fortieth year, when the Israelites are thought to have arrived for the second time at Kadesh. Some, however, are of opinion that the journey is the same as that which is mentioned in Numbers 12:16, and in Deuteronomy 1:19; and that the arrival at Kadesh was on the first month of the third year, i.e., the year which followed the departure from Sinai, which departure took place on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus. And the people abode in Kadesh.—It is evident that the sojourn in Kadesh was a protracted one, whether Kadesh did, or did not serve as the head-quarters of the people from the second or third year of the exodus until that in which they entered into the land of Canaan. See Deuteronomy 1:46, where Moses describes the length of the sojourn in Kadesh by the words “many days,” the same words which he employs in Numbers 20:15 to denote the length of the sojourn in the land of Egypt. It cannot, however, be inferred from the simple use of the word which is here rendered abode that the sojourn at Kadesh at the beginning of the fortieth year was of long duration (see Judges 11:17, where the same word is used). Hence no legitimate conclusion can be drawn from the use of this word respecting the reference of the verse to an arrival at Kadesh at the beginning of the third or of the fortieth year after the exodus. (See 20:14, and Note).

CHAPTER XX The Israelites come to Zin, and Miriam dies, 1. They murmur for want of water, 2-5. Moses and Aaron make supplication at the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appears, 6. He commands Moses to take his rod, gather the congregation together, and bring water out of the rock, 7, 8. Moses takes the rod, gathers the Israelites together, chides with them, and smites the rock twice, and the waters flow out plenteously, 9-11. The Lord is offended with Moses and Aaron because they did not sanctify him in the sight of the children of Israel, 12. The place is called Meribah, 13. Moses sends a friendly message to the king of Edom, begging liberty to pass through his territories, 14-17. The Edomites refuse, 18. The Israelites expostulate, 19. The Edomites still refuse, and prepare to attack them, 20, 21. The Israelites go to Mount Hor, 22. Aaron is commanded to prepare far his death, 23, 24. Aaron is stripped on Mount Hor, and his vestments put on Eleazar his son; Aaron dies, 25-28. The people mourn for him thirty days, 29. NOTES ON CHAP. XX Verse 1. Then came the children of Israel, c.] This was the first month of the fortieth year after their departure from Egypt. See Numbers 33:38, compared with Numbers 20:28 of this chapter, and Deuteronomy 1:3. The transactions of thirty-seven years Moses passes by, because he writes not as a historian but as a legislator and gives us particularly an account of the laws, ordinances, and other occurrences of the first and last years of their peregrinations. The year now spoken of was the last of their journeyings; for from the going out of the spies, Numbers 13:1-2, unto this time, was about thirty-eight years, Deuteronomy 1:22-23; Deuteronomy 2:14. Desert of Zin] Calmet contends that this is not the same desert mentioned Exodus 16:1, where Israel had their eighth encampment; that in Exodus being called in the original סין sin, this here צין tsin: but this is no positive proof, as letters of the same organ are frequently interchanged in all languages, and particularly in Hebrew. And Miriam died there] Miriam was certainly older than Moses. When he was an infant, exposed on the river Nile, she was intrusted by her parents to watch the conduct of Pharaoh's daughter, and to manage a most delicate business, that required much address and prudence. See Exodus 2:1-8. It is supposed that she was at the time of her death one hundred and thirty years of age, having been at least ten years old at her brother's birth. The Catholic writers represent her as a type of the Virgin Mary; as having preserved a perpetual virginity; as being legislatrix over the Israelitish women, as Moses was over the men; and as having a large portion of the spirit of prophecy. Eusebius says that her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of Petra, in his time.

1. and Miriam died there] At what period this took place is not stated. The event has no connexion with the following narrative.

Num. 20 and Num. 21 narrate the journey of the people from Kadesh round Mount Seir to the heights of Pisgah, near the Jordan, and the various incidents connected with that journey (compare Numbers 33:37-41).

ARRIVAL AT KADESH, Numbers 20:1. 1. The whole congregation — This form of expression strongly confirms the suggestion of a wide dispersion of Israel during the years of Jehovah’s displeasure.