Numbers 14:37

Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) By the plague.—The word maggephah, which is here rendered plague, denotes a stroke. In Exodus 9:14 it is used of the ten plagues of Egypt. In Numbers 16:48-49, it is used of the plague which broke out after the insurrection of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and in Numbers 25:9-18 of that which broke out after the Israelites had joined in the idolatrous and lascivious rites of the Moabites and Midianites. In 1Samuel 4:17, 2Samuel 17:9; 2Samuel 18:7, it is used of destruction by the sword. It appears to denote in this place sudden death, inflicted by the immediate visitation of the Lord.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 14:37-38. By the plague — Either by the pestilence, or by some other sudden and extraordinary judgment, sent from the cloud in which God dwelt, and from whence he spake to Moses, and wherein his glory at this time appeared before all the people, (Numbers 14:10,) who therefore were all, and these spies among the rest, before the Lord. But Joshua and Caleb lived still — Death never misses his mark, nor takes any by oversight who were designed for life, though in the midst of those that are to die.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:36-39 Here is the sudden death of the ten evil spies. They sinned in bringing a slander upon the land of promise. Those greatly provoke God, who misrepresent religion, raise dislike in men's minds toward it, or give opportunity to those to do so, who seek occasion. Justly are murmurers made mourners. If they had mourned for the sin, when they were faithfully reproved, the sentence had been prevented; but as they mourned for the judgment only, it did them no service. There is in hell such mourning as this; but tears will not quench the flames, nor cool the tongue.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My breach of promise - In the original, a word, found elsewhere only in Job 30:10, and meaning "my withdrawals" "my turning away." See the margin.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

36-38. those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord—Ten of the spies struck dead on the spot—either by the pestilence or some other judgment. This great and appalling mortality clearly betokened the hand of the Lord.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either by the pestilence threatened Numbers 14:12, or by some other sudden and extraordinary judgment, sent from the cloud in which God dwelt, and from whence he spake to Moses, and wherein his glory at this time appeared before all the people, Numbers 14:10, who therefore were all, and these spies among the rest, before the Lord.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land,.... They, and they only at this time:

died by the plague before the Lord; either by the pestilence immediately sent upon them by the Lord, or by a flash of lightning from him, or in some other way; however, by the immediate hand of God, and in his presence, being in the tabernacle of the congregation, Numbers 14:10; though the Jews differently relate the manner of their death; some say worms came out of their navels, and up to their jaws, and ate them and their tongues; and others that they came out of their tongues, and entered their navels, which they take to be a just retaliation for sinning with their tongues: and the time of their death they differ about; some say, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it was upon the seventh, and others that it was on the seventeenth of Elul or August they died (d).

(d) Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. died by a plague] This is the meaning of the Heb. idiom, although the definite article is used. The Heb. maggçphâh denotes lit. ‘a smiting,’ as also do πληγή and plaga. It is used of any sudden catastrophe inflicted by Jehovah.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - Died by the plague before the Lord. Septuagint, ἐν τῇ πληγῇ. "Plague" has here its older signification of "stroke," or visitation of God. We are not told what death they died, but it was sudden and exceptional enough to mark it as the direct consequence of their sinful conduct. Numbers 14:37

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But for the purpose of giving to the whole congregation a practical proof of the solemnity of the divine threatening of punishment, the spies who had induced the congregation to revolt, through their evil report concerning the inhabitants of Canaan, were smitten by a "stroke before Jehovah," i.e., by a sudden death, which proceeded in a visible manner from Jehovah Himself, whilst Joshua and Caleb remained alive.