Numbers 14:44

14:44 The Ark symbolized God’s presence and blessings (cp. 1 Sam 4:1-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They could not be stayed by any means.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(44) They presumed to go up.—i.e., they made a bold attempt to ascend the mountain. Their enemies appear to have encountered and discomfited them before they had actually gained the summit.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44. the ark of the covenant of Jehovah] The words ‘of the covenant’ are probably a gloss by a Dt. writer. There is no evidence in J or E that the tablets of the Covenant laws were placed in the ark. See on Num_10:33 b.

and Moses] Moses was the guardian of the ark.

out of the midst of the camp] In E the sacred tent, in which the ark was presumably housed, stood outside the camp (cf. Num_12:4, Exo_33:7-11). The position, here implied by J , afterwards formed an important factor in P’s description of the Tabernacle (Num_1:50; Num_1:53).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then the Amalekites came down,.... The hill; met the Israelites as they ascended: and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill; the same with the Amorites, one of the seven nations of Canaan, Num 13:29,

and smote them; with the sword, having the advantage of them in coming down the hill upon them:

and discomfited them even unto Hormah; the name of a place, so called from what happened there; as Jarchi says; either from this destruction of the Israelites at this time by these their enemies, or from the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel, Num 21:4; and so here has its name by anticipation; or it may be from both these events, and seems to be confirmed by a third of the like kind, having been in former times called Zephath, Jdg 1:17; see Jos 15:30; though some take it to be an appellative here, and not the proper name of a place, and render it even unto destruction, as the Targum of Jonathan, denoting the very great destruction and havoc that were made among them: how many were destroyed is not certain; the judgment threatened them of God soon began to take place, that their carcasses should fall in that wilderness.

Next: Numbers Chapter 15

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Blinded, with presumption, as the Hebrew yahpilu, insinuates. "Their heart was puffed up with pride, and they ascended," Deuteronomy i. 43. (Calmet) --- The enemy was ready to receive them, and easily routed this rabble, abandoned by God, and by Moses, Aaron and his sons, Josue, and other men of virtue and sense. They who before lay lurking in the valleys, (ver. 25,) assume fresh courage, when they become the executioners of God’s vengeance, and come pouring down from their mountains, with irresistible fury; nor do they stop till they had made a dreadful carnage of the Hebrews. The same place was again deluged with blood, (chap. xxi. 3,) and was called Horma, or "the Curse." The Samaritan and Septuagint add, and they returned into the camp, Thus, by their own woeful experience, they began to feel that God would keep his word in punishing the common people, as well as the leaders, ver. 37. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They presumed; guilty both of rashness and rebellion; thus running from one extreme to another.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

44. But they presumed — Presumption and despair are two opposite phases of unbelief. Within less than one day the Israelites despaired of conquering Canaan with the assured alliance of Jehovah, and then presumed to enter upon its conquest though he had announced the withdrawal of his aid. The natural man, when exhorted to religious effort, first avers that he can do nothing, even with God’s aid, and soon asserts that by his own good works he can save himself without God. The ark was both the symbol and seat of Jehovah in the camp of Israel. In subsequent history, in the estimation of the Jews, the life of the nation depended on the presence of the ark. Joshua vi; 1Sa_4:4-18, note.

This confidence in part grew out of their present bitter experience of defeat when facing their foes with no pillar of cloud over their heads.

And Moses, departed not — The moral sublimity of this scene is worthy the brush of the historical painter: Moses, not like Achilles sulking in his tent while the Greeks went out to battle, but calmly standing alone with God, while his people madly rush to danger and to death.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They presumed to go up. This gives the sense very well: they were deaf to all persuasion or command to stay. Septuagint, diabiasamenoi anebhsan . Thus they added to an evil distrust in the power of God an almost more evil trust in their own power. It does not seem correct to say that "unbelief" was the real cause of both errors unbelief, firstly in God"s promises, and secondly in his threats. It was rather one of those many cases in which men seek to atone for a fault on one side by rushing into as great a fault on the other side. They spoke brave words about the "place which the Lord hath promised," as though it were indeed obedience and trust which spurred them on, instead of presumption and selfishness. The ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the comp. The plainest possible token that the Lord was not with them. With Moses remained no doubt all the Levites, and the silver trumpets, and Joshua, and perhaps the bulk of the people.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they presumed to go up into the hill country

"they dared to go up into the hill country even though God did not approve"

into the hill country

Much of the land of Israel is elevated. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River valley to attack the Canaanites, there were hills that they had to climb in order to go farther into the land of Canaan.

translationWords

Moses

ark of the covenant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ויעפלו is an expression for “strength” (doing a thing by insolent force). Similar is, (Habakkuk 2:4) “Behold it is insolent (עפלה)”, engres in O. F., an expression for insolent force. Similar also is, (Micah 4:8), “stronghold (עפל) of the daughter of Zion”; (Jes. 32:14) “the forts (עפל) and towers”. The Midrash Tanchuma 4:4:19, however, explains it (ויעפלו) to be of the same meaning as אופל, darkness, i.e. they went in darkness — without permission.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.