Numbers 14:22

Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:20-35 The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation. But disbelief of the promise forbids the benefit. Those who despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their children. They wished to die in the wilderness; God made their sin their ruin, took them at their word, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin, which was too heavy for them to bear. Ye shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin, for God never leaves any till they first leave him; and the consequences of it, that will produce your ruin. But your little ones, now under twenty years old, which ye, in your unbelief, said should be a prey, them will I bring in. God will let them know that he can put a difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off without touching their children. Thus God would not utterly take away his loving kindness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These ten times - Ten is the number which imports completeness. Compare Genesis 31:7. The sense is that the measure of their provocation was now full: the day of grace was at last over. However, some enumerate 10 different occasions on which the people had tempted God since the exodus.

Psalm 90, which is entitled "a Prayer of Moses," has been most appropriately regarded as a kind of dirge upon those sentenced thus awfully by God to waste away in the wilderness.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. ten times—very frequently.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My glory, i.e. my glorious appearances in the cloud, and in the tabernacle.

Ten times, i.e. many times. A certain number for an uncertain, as Genesis 31:7 Leviticus 26:8 Job 19:3. Though some reckon ten times precisely, wherein they did eminently provoke God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Because all those men which have seen my glory,.... His glorious Majesty, or the emblem of it in the cloud, on the tabernacle, which had often appeared to them, and the glorious things done by him; the glory of his power, wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and truth, displayed in bringing them out of Egypt, through the Red sea, and thus far in the wilderness, even to the borders of the land of Canaan; it should be rendered, not "because", but "that", for this is the thing sworn to, or the matter of the oath:

and my miracles which I did in Egypt; by the hand of Moses, both before them, when he was sent to them, as a proof of his divine mission, and before Pharaoh and all his court, Exodus 7:10, inflicting plagues upon him and his people, Exodus 7:20,

and in the wilderness; in raining manna from heaven about their tents, Exodus 16:14; sending them quails, Exodus 16:13; and giving them water out of the rock, Exodus 17:6,

and have tempted me now these ten times; which the Jews understand precisely and exactly of such a number, and which they reckon thus (w); twice at the sea, Exodus 14:11; twice concerning water, Exodus 15:23; twice about manna, Exodus 16:2; twice about quails, Exodus 16:12; once by the calf, Exodus 32:1; and once in the wilderness of Paran, Numbers 14:1, which last and tenth was the present temptation: these are reckoned a little otherwise elsewhere (x); but perhaps it may be better, with Aben Ezra, to interpret it of many times, a certain number being put for an uncertain, they having frequently tempted the Lord:

and have not hearkened to my voice; neither to his word of promise, nor to his word of command, and particularly his late order to go up and possess the land, Deuteronomy 1:21.

(w) T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 15. 1. Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 4. Jarchi in loc. (x) Maimon. in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 4.

Geneva Study Bible

Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these {i} ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

(i) That is, various times and often.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. because] must be omitted. The Heb. kî is merely a particle which introduces a fact sworn to.

ten times] There may have been a tradition that the temptings or testings of God in the wilderness were ten in number. But more probably the expression denotes simply a large number of times, like the English ‘dozen’ or ‘score’; cf. Genesis 31:7; Genesis 31:41, Nehemiah 4:12, Job 19:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Because all those men. The particle כִּי is not to be rendered "because;" it simply introduces the substance of the oath: "As I live... all those men... shall not see." So the Septuagint. And have tempted me now these ten times. It is not in the least necessary to press this expression, borrowed from the vague usage of men, literally. It is the language of indignation, meaning that the full measure of provocation had been received (cf. Genesis 31:7; Job 19:3). The recorded instances of national "temptations" cannot be made to reach the number ten. Numbers 14:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In answer to this importunate prayer, the Lord promised forgiveness, namely, the preservation of the nation, but not the remission of the well-merited punishment. At the rebellion at Sinai, He had postponed the punishment "till the day of His visitation" (Exodus 32:34). And that day had now arrived, as the people had carried their continued rebellion against the Lord to the furthest extreme, even to an open declaration of their intention to depose Moses, and return to Egypt under another leader, and thus had filled up the measure of their sins. "Nevertheless," added the Lord (Numbers 14:21, Numbers 14:22), "as truly as I live, and the glory of Jehovah will fill the whole earth, all the men who have seen My glory and My miracles...shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers." The clause, "all the earth," etc., forms an apposition to "as I live." Jehovah proves Himself to be living, by the fact that His glory fills the whole earth. But this was to take place, not, as Knobel, who mistakes the true connection of the different clauses, erroneously supposes, by the destruction of the whole of that generation, which would be talked of by all the world, but rather by the fact that, notwithstanding the sin and opposition of these men, He would still carry out His work of salvation to a glorious victory. The כּי in Numbers 14:22 introduces the substance of the oath, as in Isaiah 49:18; 1 Samuel 14:39; 1 Samuel 20:3; and according to the ordinary form of an oath, אם in Numbers 14:23 signifies "not." - "They have tempted Me now ten times." Ten is used as the number of completeness and full measure; and this answered to the actual fact, if we follow the Rabbins, and add to the murmuring (1) at the Red Sea, Exodus 14:11-12; (2) at Marah, Exodus 15:23; (3) in the wilderness of Sin, Exodus 16:2; (4) at Rephidim, Exodus 17:1; (5) at Horeb, Exodus 32; (6) at Tabeerah, Numbers 11:1; (7) at the graves of lust, Numbers 11:4.; and (8) here again at Kadesh, the twofold rebellion of certain individuals against the commandments of God at the giving of the manna (Exodus 16:20 and Exodus 16:27). The despisers of God should none of them see the promised land.