Numbers 14

It seems unlikely that Moses and Aaron dropped to the ground to plead for their lives. Moses hasn’t shown any fear of the Israelites on this trip out of Egypt. Scholars say it’s more likely the two were dropping before the Lord and interceding for the people, perhaps pleading for their lives.

Ripping clothes was a common way to express grief, horror, anger, or almost any other extremely negative emotion.

God’s presence is often described as a physical manifestation of some kind, often shining, such as the pillar of cloud or smoke by day and fire by night.

Exodus 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10.

That’s not a typo. Many Bibles say “Red Sea.” But the Hebrew words are yam suph, “sea reeds.” Scholars usually track Moses and the Hebrews escaping Egypt by walking southeast, out of the Nile Delta fields and toward the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula. They would have passed through lake regions along what is now the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. These lakes and ponds reportedly had reeds growing along the banks, like the ones the Bible says grew along the Nile River and helped anchor Baby Moses in a basket (Exodus 2:3). Here, some scholars say, the phrase may refer to the Gulf of Aqaba, which is the eastern “rabbit ear” at the northern side of the Red Sea.

See 14:3.

Possibly the Judean hills, which form a backbone running up and down Canaan, north to south. The ridge lies between the Jordan River Valley to the east and the Mediterranean coastland to the west.

Better known as the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred chest that held the Ten Commandments. It was Israel’s most revered object, and it was kept in the most sacred room inside the worship center, a room sometimes known as the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. When the Israelites traveled, priests carrying the box led the way.

Location of Hormah remains uncertain. But it sounds as though the attackers pushed them away from the Judean highlands and back southward. Some have suggested locations in or around the Negev badlands, including three ruin mounds within a dozen miles (16 km) of Beersheba: Tell el-Meshash, Tell esh-Sheri‘ah and Tell el-Milh. A “tell” is usually a mound of earth covering the ruins of a city. They sometimes look like an odd bump on the ground, a village-size speedbump.