Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey Then they set out from Mount HorMount Hor is significant in the biblical narrative as the place where Aaron, the brother of Moses, died and was buried ( Numbers 20:22-29). This departure marks a transition in leadership and a continuation of the Israelites' journey toward the Promised Land. The Hebrew root for "set out" (נָסַע, nasa) implies a purposeful movement, often used to describe the Israelites' travels under God's guidance. This phrase reminds us of the importance of obedience and trust in God's timing and direction, even when the path is uncertain. along the route to the Red Sea
The "route to the Red Sea" indicates a detour in the Israelites' journey. Historically, this path was not the most direct route to Canaan, but it was necessary to avoid conflict with Edom. The Red Sea, or "Yam Suph" in Hebrew, is a significant body of water in Israel's history, symbolizing God's deliverance and power, as seen in the parting of the sea during the Exodus. This phrase underscores the theme of divine providence and protection, reminding believers that God's ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). to bypass the land of Edom
Edom, the descendants of Esau, had refused passage to the Israelites (Numbers 20:14-21). The decision to bypass Edom reflects a strategic and peaceful approach, avoiding unnecessary conflict. The Hebrew word for "bypass" (סָבַב, sabab) suggests a circular or indirect route, highlighting the patience and perseverance required in following God's plan. This phrase encourages believers to seek peace and trust in God's provision, even when faced with obstacles. But the people grew impatient on the journey
The phrase "grew impatient" (קָצַר, qatsar) in Hebrew conveys a sense of frustration and weariness. This impatience reflects a recurring theme in the Israelites' wilderness experience, where they often struggled with doubt and discontent. The journey, both physically and spiritually, was a test of faith and endurance. This phrase serves as a cautionary reminder for believers to guard against impatience and to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and trust in God's timing, even when the journey is long and challenging. Persons / Places / Events 1. Mount HorA significant location in the Israelites' journey, where Aaron, the brother of Moses, died and was buried. 2. The Red SeaA body of water that the Israelites had previously crossed miraculously during their exodus from Egypt, symbolizing God's deliverance. 3. The Land of EdomThe territory inhabited by the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. The Israelites sought passage through Edom but were denied, forcing them to take a longer route. 4. The IsraelitesGod's chosen people, who were on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, often struggling with faith and obedience. 5. ImpatienceA recurring theme in the Israelites' journey, reflecting their struggle with trust and reliance on God's timing and provision. Teaching Points Trust in God's TimingThe Israelites' impatience serves as a reminder to trust in God's perfect timing, even when the journey seems long and difficult. Avoiding Grumbling and ComplainingThe Israelites' attitude highlights the danger of grumbling, which can lead to a lack of faith and gratitude. Believers are called to cultivate a spirit of thankfulness. The Importance of ObedienceThe detour around Edom underscores the importance of obedience to God's instructions, even when they are inconvenient or challenging. God's Faithfulness in Difficult TimesDespite the Israelites' impatience, God remained faithful. This encourages believers to rely on God's faithfulness during their own trials. Learning from Past MistakesReflecting on the Israelites' journey can help believers learn from past mistakes and grow in their walk with God. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the Israelites' impatience in Numbers 21:4 reflect our own struggles with waiting on God's timing in our lives? 2. In what ways can we guard against a spirit of grumbling and complaining, as seen in the Israelites' journey? 3. How does the detour around Edom illustrate the importance of obedience, and how can we apply this lesson in our daily decisions? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's faithfulness during a difficult period. How can this encourage you in your current circumstances? 5. What lessons can we learn from the Israelites' journey that can help us avoid repeating similar mistakes in our spiritual walk? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 14The crossing of the Red Sea, highlighting God's power and faithfulness in delivering His people. Deuteronomy 2Provides additional context on the Israelites' journey and their interactions with Edom, emphasizing God's guidance and provision. Psalm 106Reflects on the Israelites' repeated disobedience and God's enduring mercy, offering a broader perspective on their journey. Hebrews 3Warns against hardening hearts as the Israelites did, urging believers to remain faithful and obedient. | The Discouragements of the Way | E.S. Prout | Numbers 21:4 | | The Poison and the Antidote | Alexander Maclaren | Numbers 21:4 | | A Hard Bit of the Road | D. Young | Numbers 21:4, 5 | | Complaining Punished | J. Parker, D. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Discouraged | Henry, Matthew | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Discouraged Because of the Way | T. R. Stevenson. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Discouragements | J. Parker, D. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Fleshpots or Manna | F. W. Farrar, D. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | In the Valley of Seir | R. D. Shaw, B. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Lifting Up the Brazen Serpent | Spurgeon, Charles Haddon | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Man's Ruin and God's Remedy | Spurgeon, Charles Haddon | Numbers 21:4-9 | | On the Discouragements of Pious Men | R. Hall, M. A. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Brazen Serpent | Homilist | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Brazen Serpent | J. H. Titcomb, M. A. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Brazen Serpent | W. M. Taylor, D. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Brazen Serpent | W. Attersoll. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Cure for the Malady of Sin | W. Ormiston, D. D. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The First Setting Up of the Brazen Serpent | | Numbers 21:4-9 | | The Happiness of Repentance | Bp. Babington. | Numbers 21:4-9 | | Unreasonable Complaint | Daniel Katterns. | Numbers 21:4-9 |
People Ammonites, Amon, Amorites, Arad, Canaanites, Chemosh, Israelites, Moses, Og, SihonPlaces Ar, Arad, Arnon, Bamoth, Bashan, Beer, Dedan, Dibon, Edom, Edrei, Egypt, Heshbon, Hormah, Iye-abarim, Jabbok River, Jahaz, Jazer, King's Highway, Mattanah, Medeba, Moab, Mount Hor, Nahaliel, Negeb, Nophah, Oboth, Pisgah, Red Sea, Suphah, Valley of Zered, WahebTopics Along, Compass, Discouraged, Edom, Grew, Hor, Impatient, Journey, Journeyed, Mount, Overcome, Red, Round, Route, Short, Soul, Spirit, Traveled, WearinessDictionary of Bible Themes Numbers 21:4 5883 impatience Numbers 21:4-5 5928 resentment, against God
8282 intolerance
8713 discouragement Numbers 21:4-9 1680 types
4687 snake
5102 Moses, life of
5298 doctors
7452 snake, bronze Library The Poison and the Antidote
'And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compare the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7. Therefore …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureMan's Ruin and God's Remedy
Man has very many wants, and he should be grateful whenever the least of them is supplied. But he has one want which overtops every other: it is the want of bread. Give him raiment, house him well, decorate and adorn him, yet if you give him not bread, his body faints, he dies of hunger. Hence it is that while the earth when it is tilled is made to bring forth many things that minister unto the comfort and luxury of men, yet man is wise enough to understand that since bread is his chief want, he …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 The Disciple, -- Master, in These Days Some Learned Men and their Followers Regard Thy...
The Disciple,--Master, in these days some learned men and their followers regard Thy atonement and the redemption by blood as meaningless and futile, and say that Christ was only a great teacher and example for our spiritual life, and that salvation and eternal happiness depend on our own efforts and good deeds. The Master,--1. Never forget that spiritual and religious ideas are connected less with the head than with the heart, which is the temple of God, and when the heart is filled with the presence …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet Messiah Suffering and Wounded for Us
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: ..... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. W hen our Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and conversed with Him. Had we been informed of the interview only, we should probably have desired to know the subject of their conversation, as we might reasonably suppose it turned upon very interesting and important …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 The Nations of the South-East
Israel was cut in two by the Jordan. The districts east of the Jordan were those that had first been conquered; it was from thence that the followers of Joshua had gone forth to possess themselves of Canaan. But this division of the territory was a source of weakness. The interests of the tribes on the two sides of the river were never quite the same; at times indeed they were violently antagonistic. When the disruption of the monarchy came after the death of Solomon, Judah was the stronger for the …
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations The Lamb of God, the Great Atonement
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! G reat and marvellous are the works of the LORD God almighty! We live in the midst of them, and the little impression they make upon us, sufficiently proves our depravity. He is great in the very smallest; and there is not a plant, flower, or insect, but bears the signature of infinite wisdom and power. How sensibly then should we be affected by the consideration of the Whole , if sin had not blinded our understandings, and hardened …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III Covenanting Performed in Former Ages with Approbation from Above.
That the Lord gave special token of his approbation of the exercise of Covenanting, it belongs to this place to show. His approval of the duty was seen when he unfolded the promises of the Everlasting Covenant to his people, while they endeavoured to perform it; and his approval thereof is continually seen in his fulfilment to them of these promises. The special manifestations of his regard, made to them while attending to the service before him, belonged to one or other, or both, of those exhibitions …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6 The Two Classes.
"Two men went up into the temple to pray."--Luke xvii. 10. I now want to speak of two classes: First, those who do not feel their need of a Saviour who have not been convinced of sin by the Spirit; and Second, those who are convinced of sin and cry, "What must I do to be saved?" All inquirers can be ranged under two heads: they have either the spirit of the Pharisee, or the spirit of the publican. If a man having the spirit of the Pharisee comes into an after-meeting, I know of no better portion …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It Numbers
Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately, from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for determining the manner and amount of restitution …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Numbers 21:4 NIVNumbers 21:4 NLTNumbers 21:4 ESVNumbers 21:4 NASBNumbers 21:4 KJV
Numbers 21:4 Commentaries
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