This fourth Book of Moses is called NUMBERS, because it begins with the numbering of the people. The Hebrews, from its first words, call it VAIEDABBER. It contains the transactions of the Israelites from the second month of the second year after their going out of Egypt, until the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year; that is, a history almost of thirty-nine years.

 

 

 

 

[7] Shall confess: This confession and satisfaction, ordained in the Old Law, was a figure of the sacrament of penance.

 

[14] The spirit of jealousy: This ordinance was designed to clear the innocent, and to prevent jealous husbands from doing mischief to their wives: as likewise to give all a horror of adultery, by punishing it in so remarkable a manner.

 

 

 

 

[7] Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification: This was the holy water mixed with the ashes of the red cow, Num. 19., appointed for purifying all that were unclean. It was a figure of the blood of Christ, applied to our souls by his holy sacraments.

 

 

 

 

[2] Make the phase: That is, keep the paschal solemnity, and eat the paschal lamb.

 

[6] Behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a man: That is, by having touched or come near a dead body, out of which the soul was departed.

 

 

 

 

[3] The burning: Hebrew, Taberah.

[4] A mixt multitude: These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel; who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt, that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world.

 

[7] Bdellium: Bdellium, according to Pliny, 1. 21, c. 9. was of the colour of a man's nail, white and bright.

 

[16] Seventy men: This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy or seventy-two senators or counsellors.

 

[34] The graves of lust: Or, the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew, Kibroth. Hattaavah.

 

Chapter 12

[1] Ethiopian: Sephora the wife of Moses was of Madian, which bordered upon the land of Chus or Ethiopia: where note, that the Ethiopia here spoken of is not that of Africa but that of Arabia.

[3] Exceeding meek: Moses being the meekest of men, would not contend for himself; therefore, God inspired him to write here his own defence: and the Holy Spirit, whose dictate he wrote, obliged him to declare the truth, though it was so much to his own praise.

 

Chapter 13

[33] Spoke ill: These men, who by their misrepresentations of the land of promise, discouraged the Israelites from attempting the conquest of it, were a figure of worldlings, who, by decrying or misrepresenting true devotion, discourage Christians from seeking in earnest and acquiring so great a good, and thereby securing to themselves a happy eternity.

 

Chapter 14

[18] Clear: i. e., who deserves punishment.  

[33] Shall bear your fornication: That is, shall bear the punishment of your disloyalty to God, which in the scripture language is here called a fornication, in a spiritual sense.

 

Chapter 15

[38] Fringes: The Pharisees enlarged these fringes through hypocrisy, Matt. 23. 5, to appear more zealous than other men for the law of God.

 

Chapter 16

[2] Rose up: The crime of these men, which was punished in so remarkable a manner, was that of schism, and of rebellion against the authority established by God in the church; and their pretending to the priesthood without being lawfully called and sent: the same is the case of all modern sectaries.

[15] Very angry: This anger was a zeal against sin; and an indignation at the affront offered to God; like that which the same holy prophet conceived upon the sight of the golden calf, Ex. 32. 19.

 

Chapter 17

[8] The rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: This rod of Aaron which thus miraculously brought forth fruit, was a figure of the blessed Virgin conceiving and bringing forth her Son without any prejudice to her virginity.

 

Chapter 18

[1] And thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: That is, you shall be punished if, through negligence or want of due attention, you err in the discharge of the sacred functions for which you were ordained.

[19] A covenant of salt: It is a proverbial expression, signifying a covenant not to be altered or corrupted; as salt is used to keep things from corruption; a covenant perpetual, like that by which it was appointed, that salt should be used in every sacrifice. Lev. 2.

[22] Deadly sin: That is, sin which will bring death after it.

 

Chapter 19

[2] A red cow: This red cow, offered in sacrifice for sin, and consumed with fire without the camp, with the ashes of which, mingled with water, the unclean were to be expiated and purified; was a figure of the passion of Christ, by whose precious blood applied to our souls in the holy sacraments, we are cleansed from our sins.

 

Chapter 20

[11] The rock: This rock was a figure of Christ, and the water that issued out from the rock, of his precious blood, the source of all our good.

[12] You have not believed: The fault of Moses and Aaron, on this occasion, was a certain diffidence and weakness of faith; not doubting of God's power or veracity; but apprehending the unworthiness of that rebellious and incredulous people, and therefore speaking with some ambiguity.

[13] The Water of contradiction: Or strife. Hebrew, Meribah.

 

Chapter 21

[3] Anathema: That is, a thing devoted to utter destruction.

[5] Very light food: So they call the heavenly manna: thus worldlings loathe the things of heaven, for which they have no relish.  

[6] Fiery serpents: They are so called, because they that were bitten by them were burnt with a violent heat.

[9] A brazen serpent: This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3. 14.

[14] The book of the wars: An ancient book, which, like several others quoted in scripture, has been lost.

 

Chapter 22

[19] To stay: His desiring them to stay, after he had been fully informed already that it was not God's will he should go, came from the inclination he had to gratify Balac, for the sake of worldly gain. And this perverse disposition God punished by permitting him to go (though not to curse the people as he would willingly have done), and suffering him to fall still deeper and deeper into sin, till he came at last to give that abominable counsel against the people of God, which ended in his own destruction. So sad a thing it is to indulge a passion for money.

[28] Opened the mouth: The angel moved the tongue of the ass, to utter these speeches, to rebuke, by the mouth of a brute beast, the brutal fury and folly of Balaam.

[32] Perverse: Because thy inclinations are wicked in being willing for the sake of gain to curse the people of whom I am the guardian.

 

Chapter 25

[3] Initiated to Beelphegor: That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.

 

Chapter 31

[16] The sin of Phogor: The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.

[17] Of the children: Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20. 14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.

 

Chapter 33

[1] The mansions: These mansions, or journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt to the land of promise, were figures, according to the fathers, of the steps and degrees by which Christians leaving sin are to advance from virtue to virtue, till they come to the heavenly mansions, after this life, to see and enjoy God.

 

Chapter 34

[3] The most salt sea: The lake of Sodom, otherwise called the Dead Sea.

[4] The Scorpion: A mountain so called from having a great number of scorpions.

[5] The great sea: The Mediterranean.

[7] The most high mountain: Libanus.

[11] Sea of Cenereth: This is the sea of Galilee, illustrated by the miracles of our Lord.

 

Chapter 35

[25] Until the death: This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God.