The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim

“And now, behold, I go unto my people. Come therefore, and I will warn thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days,” Numbers 24:14;

— these Words, “in the latter days,” prophecised by Balaam, especially in regards to the house of Jacob, are prophecies for our times!

Numbers 33

~~~~

¹ These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. — this is a brief summary review of the travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness; it is flashback for a memorable history.

² And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord, and these are their journeys according to their goings out: — and these are their journeys according to their goings out; from place to place; “goings out,” signifying only that their marches were made under the orders of God himself.

³ And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, — on the fifteenth of the first month, on the morrow after the passover; which was killed on the fourteenth,

⁴ for the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, whom the Lord had smitten among them. Upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

— for the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them; which contributed much to the more easy and safe deliverance of the children of Israel; for their hearts were heavy with sorrow, and their hands were full;

— the version from Jonathan adds:

and upon their idols did the Word of the Lord do judgments; their molten idols were dissolved, their idols of stone were mutilated, their idols of earthenware broken in pieces, their wooden idols turned to ashes, and their cattle gods were slain with death.

⁵ And the children of Israel removed from Rameses and pitched camp in Succoth. — and pitched in Succoth, where according to some, was eight miles from Rameses;

⁶ And they departed from Succoth and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.

⁷ And they removed from Etham and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon; and they pitched before Migdol.

⁸ And they departed from before Pihahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the Wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.

⁹ And they removed from Marah and came unto Elim; and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and threescore and ten palm trees, and they pitched there.

¹⁰ And they removed from Elim and encamped by the Red Sea.

¹¹ And they removed from the Red Sea and encamped in the Wilderness of Sin.

¹² And they took their journey out of the Wilderness of Sin and encamped in Dophkah.

¹³ And they departed from Dophkah and encamped in Alush.

¹⁴ And they removed from Alush and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.

¹⁵ And they departed from Rephidim and pitched camp in the Wilderness of Sinai.

¹⁶ And they removed from the Desert of Sinai and pitched at Kibrothhattaavah [that is, The graves of lust].

¹⁷ And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah and encamped at Hazeroth.

¹⁸ And they departed from Hazeroth and pitched in Rithmah.

¹⁹ And they departed from Rithmah and pitched at Rimmonperez.

²⁰ And they departed from Rimmonperez and pitched in Libnah.

²¹ And they removed from Libnah and pitched at Rissah.

²² And they journeyed from Rissah and pitched in Kehelathah.

²³ And they went from Kehelathah and pitched in Mount Shepher.

²⁴ And they removed from Mount Shepher and encamped in Haradah.

²⁵ And they removed from Haradah and pitched in Makheloth.

²⁶ And they removed from Makheloth and encamped at Tahath.

²⁷ And they departed from Tahath and pitched at Terah.

²⁸ And they removed from Terah and pitched in Mithkah.

²⁹ And they went from Mithkah and pitched in Hashmonah.

³⁰ And they departed from Hashmonah and encamped at Moseroth.

³¹ And they departed from Moseroth and pitched in Benejaakan.

³² And they removed from Benejaakan and encamped at Horhagidgad.

³³ And they went from Horhagidgad and pitched in Jotbathah.

³⁴ And they removed from Jotbathah and encamped at Abronah.

³⁵ And they departed from Abronah and encamped at Eziongeber.

³⁶ And they removed from Eziongeber and pitched in the Wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.

³⁷ And they removed from Kadesh and pitched in Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸ And Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.

³⁹ And Aaron was a hundred and twenty and three years old when he died on Mount Hor. — 123 years old;

⁴⁰ And King Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

⁴¹ And they departed from Mount Hor and pitched camp in Zalmonah.

⁴² And they departed from Zalmonah and pitched in Punon.

⁴³ And they departed from Punon and pitched in Oboth.

⁴⁴ And they departed from Oboth and pitched in Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab.

⁴⁵ And they departed from Iim and pitched in Dibongad.

⁴⁶ And they removed from Dibongad and encamped in Almondiblathaim.

⁴⁷ And they removed from Almondiblathaim and pitched in the mountains of Abarim before Nebo.

⁴⁸ And they departed from the mountains of Abarim and pitched in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho.

⁴⁹ And they pitched by the Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab.

⁵⁰ And the Lord spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, saying, — near Jericho but east of the Jordan because Moses didn’t, or not allowed to cross over the Jordan;

⁵¹ “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: ‘When ye have passed over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

— when ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; near to which they now were, and Moses was about to leave them; and therefore it was the more necessary to give them some instructions and directions what they should do, when they were come into it;

⁵² then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their idols, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places.

— and destroy all their molten images; of gold, silver, idolatrous ones; the images of their gods, or the statues and figured stones of them: the Targum of Jonathan interprets it, “all the temples of their worship;”

⁵³ And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell therein, for I have given you the land to possess it. — ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you—not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (Deuteronomy 7:1-2): “thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them;”

— this parallels with an earlier Scripture: “I am thy shield! Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates” (Genesis 15).

⁵⁴ And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families; and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance. Every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth, according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.

— the lots would not be cast for individuals, but for whole tribes, or at most for clans.

⁵⁵ But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass that those who ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

— shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides; like today’s Hamas and other Palestinians, which figurative expressions show that they should be very troublesome and distressing to them, even in their most tender and nearest concerns, and dearest relations, and which are explained and more properly expressed as follows;

— and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell; among other things by their wickedness, and by drawing them into sin through their ill examples, and so bring the displeasure of God upon them, and punishment for their evil doings.

⁵⁶ Moreover it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them.’” — moreover, it shall come to pass; this being the case, they suffering the Canaanites to dwell among them, and they mingling with them, learning their works, and serving their gods:

— that I shall do unto you as I thought I should do unto them; deliver the Israelites up into the hands of their enemies, who should carry them captive into other lands.

Numbers 34

~~~~

¹ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

² “Command the children of Israel, and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the borders thereof), — this is the land of Canaan; the details given mark the general boundary of the inheritance of Israel west of the Jordan;

— the Israelites never actually possessed all the territory comprised within these boundaries, even when it was most extended by the conquests of David and Solomon.

³ then your south quarter shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along by the border of Edom; and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the Salt Sea eastward. — the southern boundary commenced at the Dead Sea; further South would be the borders of Edom, Egypt and Moab, bordering all along upon the Edomites.

⁴ And your border shall turn from the south to the Ascent of Akrabbim and pass on to Zin; and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar and pass on to Azmon. — it is quite uncertain where all these places were;

⁵ And the border shall pass around from Azmon unto the River of Egypt, and the limits of it shall be at the Sea. — and the goings out of it; not of the river, but of the border: shall be at the sea; the above sea, called in the next verse the great sea; the Targum Jonathan renders the sea to the west; that is, the Mediterranean sea;

⁶ “‘And as for the western border, ye shall even have the Great Sea for a border. This shall be your west border. — you shall even have the great sea for a border; and no other, meaning the Mediterranean sea, which lies west of the land of Judea; in contrast to the salt sea (Dead Sea), and the sea of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee);

⁷ “‘And this shall be your north border: from the Great Sea ye shall designate for you Mount Hor; — Mount Hor; not that Hor where Aaron died, which was southward, and bordering upon Edom, but another mountain, probably Hermon, or some part of mount Lebanon, which is elsewhere mentioned as the northern border of the land;

⁸ from Mount Hor ye shall designate your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the limits of the border shall be to Zedad;

⁹ and the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the limits of it shall be at Hazarenan. This shall be your north border. — this shall be your northern border: from the Mediterranean sea to Hazarenan in Naphtali.

¹⁰ “‘And ye shall designate your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham;

¹¹ and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend and shall reach unto the side of the Sea of Chinnereth eastward;

¹² and the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the limits of it shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with the borders thereof round about.’” — the Salt Sea, the sea of Sodom; and though all its water is generally salty, or today better known as the Dead Sea;

¹³ And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, “This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the Lord commanded to give unto the nine tribes and to the halftribe. — the settlement of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the other half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan; Numbers 32:31.

¹⁴ For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

¹⁵ The two tribes and the halftribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.” — the two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan;

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. — Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun; the one the principal person in ecclesiastical affairs, and the other in civil ones; to divide the land being partly a sacred work;

¹⁸ And ye shall take one prince of every tribe to divide the land by inheritance. — and ye shall take one prince of every tribe; in addition to Eleazar the high priest, and Joshua the commander of the army, one chief man, or prince, was to be selected out of each of the ten tribes which were interested in the division;

¹⁹ And the names of the men are these: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; — of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh: who was one of the two spies that brought a good report of the land, and Joshua is the other; of overseeing the division of the land;

— they seem be taken in pairs, Judah and Simeon, Benjamin and Dan, Manasseh and Ephraim, Zebulun and Issachar, Asher and Naphtali, the order of the pairs agrees with the order in which the allotments in the Promised land, taken also in couples, followed each other in the map from south to north;

— parallel or compare this with Ezekiel 48:

— Dan ~ Ireland, Denmark; Asher ~ Belgium; Naphtali ~ Sweden
— Manasseh ~ UK; Ephraim ~ US; Reuben ~ France;
— Judah and Levi ~ Israel; Benjamin ~ Norway
— Issachar ~ Finland; Zebulun ~ Holland; Gad ~ Switzerland

²⁰ and of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud;

²¹ of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon;

²² and the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli;

²³ the princes of the children of Joseph: for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod,

²⁴ and the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan;

²⁵ and the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach;

²⁶ and the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan;

²⁷ and the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi;

²⁸ and the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹ These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. — these are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

~ by Japheth on April 2, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses