The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim

Numbers 19

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

² “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord hath commanded, saying: ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish and upon which never came a yoke. — that they bring thee a red heifer; or “young cow”, for so the word properly signifies; one of two years old, as the Targum of Jonathan says;

³ And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth outside the camp, and one shall slay her before his face. — unto Eleazar, who was the second priest, and, in some cases, the vicegerent or deputy of the high priest;

— to him, not to Aaron, because this service made him unclean for a season, Numbers 19:7, and consequently unfit for holy ministrations; whereas the high priest was, as far as possibly he could, to be preserved from all sorts of defilement, and constantly fit for his high and holy work.

⁴ And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times. — the sprinkling of the blood before the Lord was the chief solemnity in all the sacrifices of atonement; 

⁵ And one shall burn the heifer in his sight: her skin and her flesh and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn. — in all other cases the blood was poured away beside the altar, because in the blood was the life, and the life was given to God in exchange for the life of the offerer.

⁶ And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. — cedar-wood may be regarded as the emblem of fragrance and incorruption; hyssop as the emblem of purification; and scarlet (or crimson) wool or cloth may be regarded as emblematical symbols of sin;

⁷ Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water; and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening. — and he shall bathe his flesh in water; not his clothes only, but his body was to be dipped in water: unclean until the evening (ā·reḇ);

⁸ And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening. — the persons who took part in this; that is, the priest, the man who attended to the burning, and the clean man who gathered the ashes together, and deposited them in a clean place for subsequent use – became unclean till the evening;

⁹ And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and lay them up outside the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. — a man shall gather up the ashes; the ashes of the heifer were separated as well as they could be from the ashes of the wood;

— wherewith it was burned, were pounded and sifted, and laid up for the use of the congregation as there was occasion, not only for that generation, but for posterity; for the ashes of this one heifer, the Jews tell us, were sufficient to season as many vessels of water as the people of Israel would need for many ages; as ashes may be kept a long time;

¹⁰ And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger who sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever. — of them, for an everlasting statute;

¹¹ “‘He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. — the defilement caused by touching the dead beast lasted only until the evening (Leviticus 11:24); but the contact with a dead body of a man was attended by a defilement of longer duration; of seven days.

¹² He shall purify himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. — on the seventh day he shall be clean, to teach us that our purification in this life is gradual, and not perfect till we come to that eternal sabbath, which the seventh day respected.

¹³ Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man who is dead and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. — and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; either be excommunicated, or die by the hand of the magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God;

¹⁴ “‘This is the law when a man dieth in a tent: All who come into the tent, and all who are in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. — this is the law when a man dieth in a tent; a tent is only mentioned, because the Israelites now dwelt in tents; otherwise the law holds equally good of an house as of a tent;

¹⁵ And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. — which hath no covering bound upon it; without any linen or a woollen cloth wrapped and tied about it;

¹⁶ And whosoever toucheth one who is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. — or as the Targum of Jonathan says: “or a dead body” that dies a natural death, or suddenly, or in any way;

¹⁷ And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. — they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin; from the place where they were laid up for this use;

— and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel; the Targum Jonathan says, “spring water into the earthen vessel;” for no water but fountain, spring, or river water, was made use of; and it should seem by what is said that ashes were first put into the vessel, and then the running water was put to them;

¹⁸ And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the vessels and upon the persons who were there, and upon him that touched a bone or one slain or one dead or a grave.

— and a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water; three stalks of hyssop bound together, as the Targum of Jonathan, and this man was to be a clean priest, but that anyone free from ceremonial pollution might do it;

¹⁹ And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.

— and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even; in like manner as the man that let go the goat into the wilderness, Leviticus 16:26.

²⁰ “‘But the man who shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him: he is unclean. — shall not purify himself, that is, shall contemptuously refuse to submit to this way of purification.

²¹ And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until evening. — and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even: but was not clean until he had washed his clothes;

²² And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean, and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until evening.’”

— this also was to be an everlasting statute, that he who sprinkled the water of purification, or even touched it (Numbers 19:7), and he who was touched by a person defiled (by a corpse), and also the person who touched him, should be unclean till the evening, – a rule which also applied to other forms of uncleanness.

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.

— 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.

² And there was no water for the congregation, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. — and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron; just as they had done before them, being of the like temper and disposition.

³ And the people chided Moses and spoke, saying, “Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! — and spake, saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord; either at Taberah by fire, or as Korah and his company in like manner, or as the fourteen thousand and seven hundred by a pestilence, Numbers 11:1 which they thought a much easier death;

⁴ And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

— that we and our cattle should die there? with thirst; they seem to represent it, as if this was the end, design, and intention of Moses and Aaron in bringing them thither; their language is much the same with them earlier on a similar occasion;

⁵ And why have ye made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed or of figs or of vines or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.” — to bring us unto this evil place; dry and barren, where there were neither food nor drink, as follows:

— it is no place of seed; or fit for sowing, any sort of seed, as wheat, barley, rye, rice, or of figs, or vines, or pomegranates; it is not a soil fit to plant such trees in, nor would they grow were they planted: neither is there any water to drink; for them and their cattle, and therefore must be a miserable place for so large a body of people to subsist in.

⁶ And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces; and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. — and Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly; like fugitives, they fled from them through fear, lest they should rise and fall upon them, and stone them, as their fathers were ready to do in a like case, Exodus 17:4.

⁷ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

⁸ “Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.”

— Take the rod; that which was laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle; whether it was Aaron’s rod, which was laid up there, (Numbers 17:10,) or Moses’ rod, but more likely Moses’ rod, by which he wrought so many miracles.

⁹ And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him. — this rod, as the memorial of so many divine interpositions, was naturally laid up in the tabernacle, and is accordingly Numbers 20:9 described now as taken by Moses “from before the Lord.”

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them: “Hear now, ye rebels! Must we fetch you water out of this rock?”

— hear now, ye rebels; such their fathers had been, and such they now were, a rebellious generation ever since they were known by him; not only rebellious against him their chief magistrate, but against the Lord himself, murmuring against him, being discontented and disobedient, see Deuteronomy 9:23.

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. — Moses was asked only to “speak ye unto the rock,” but he rebelliously smote the rock, not once, but twice, a sign of stupidily and carelessness;

— with his rod he smote the rock twice; at first it only brought out some drops, and therefore Moses smote again, when it brought forth water plentifully: the Targum of Jonathan says, “at the first time it dropped blood, at the second time came out much water.”

¹² And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron: “Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

— because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel; that Moses and Aaron committed an evil which was displeasing to the Lord;

— therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them; the land of Canaan, an oath or promise which was made to their fathers, and particularly to this generation;

¹³ This is the water of Meribah [that is, Strife], because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and He was sanctified in them. — and he was sanctified in them; that is, the glory of his divine perfections was displayed in them;

— either in the waters fetched out of the rock, which was a proof of the almighty power of God; or in the children of Israel, in whose sight, and for whose sake this miracle was wrought: the Targum of Jonathan expressly says, in Moses and Aaron, in not sparing them, but expressing judgement on them for their sin;

¹⁴ And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom: “Thus saith thy brother Israel: ‘Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us, — Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom; the encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, through which the Israelites would have had a passage to the Promised Land;

— the Edomites, being the descendants of Esau and tracing their line of descent from Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them;

¹⁵ how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers. — how our fathers went down into Egypt; Jacob and his twelve sons, with their children: and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; even the space of four hundred and thirty years, Exodus 12:40;

¹⁶ And when we cried unto the Lord, He heard our voice and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt. And behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border. — he heard our voice; their prayer to him, for help and deliverance;

¹⁷ Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country. We will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway; we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders.’” — Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country; that being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were;

¹⁸ And Edom said unto him: “Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.”— and Edom said; thou shalt not pass by me; this was the second of a series of hostile acts, prompted by vindictive jealousy, which brought down the wrath of God upon Edom (see the prophecy from Obadiah);

— the twin were always at war; sometimes cold, sometimes hot; and here from an earlier PROPHECY!

“And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother [Jacob]; but it will be that when his sons [the children of Israel] become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck….and then will I kill Jakob my brother,” Genesis 27:41-42 Jonathan

¹⁹ And the children of Israel said unto him, “We will go by the highway; and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it. I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.”

²⁰ And he said, “Thou shalt not go through.” And Edom came out against him with many people and with a strong hand. — the Edomites refused the visit of the Israelites in a most unbrotherly manner, and threatened to come out against them with the sword; because Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing; and now the hatred revived, when the blessing was about to be inherited.

²¹ Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border. Therefore Israel turned away from him. — to give emphasis to his refusal, Edom went against Israel “with much people and with a strong hand,” when they approached its borders;

— wherefore Israel turned away from him: patiently bearing the refusal, and not resenting it; being ordered, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, by the Word of heaven, not to make war with them, because the time was not yet come to take vengeance on Edom by their hands;

²² And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came unto Mount Hor. — the children of Israel came unto mount Hor, now Gebel Haroun, the most striking and lofty elevation in the Seir range;

²³ And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

²⁴ “Aaron shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. — Because ye rebelled, this was one, but not the only reason. God would not have Moses and Aaron to carry the people into Canaan;

²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto Mount Hor. — take Aaron and Eleazar his son; his eldest son, who was to succeed him in the priesthood, and did;

²⁶ And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there.” — and strip Aaron of his garments; thus the same hands which had invested Aaron with the sacred garments were employed in divesting him of them, and, in both cases, in obedience to the express command of God;

²⁷ And Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. — and they went up into Mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation; that is, Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar, and perhaps there might be some others that went with them as servants;

²⁸ And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount; — and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; quietly and contentedly, without the least murmuring: this was on the first day of the fifth month, Av, as the Targum of Jonathan says;

²⁹ and when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. — thirty days seems to have been the longest period allowed among the Israelites.

~ by Japheth on March 9, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses