Numbers 14:42

42 Go not up, for the LORD is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

Numbers 14:42 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:42

Go not up, for the Lord [is] not among you
And therefore could not expect success, for victory is of the Lord; the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``the ark, and the tabernacle, and the cloud of glory move not,''

which were a plain indication that the Lord would not go with them, and therefore could not hope to prevail over their enemies and enter the land, but on the contrary might expect to be defeated by them, as follows:

that ye be not smitten before your enemies;
of which they would be in great danger should they attempt to go up the hill, and the Lord not with them.

Numbers 14:42 In-Context

40 And they rose up early in the morning and got them up into the top of the mountain, saying, "Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised; for we have sinned."

41 And Moses said, "Why now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? But it shall not prosper.

42 Go not up, for the LORD is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword. Because ye have turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you."

44 But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop. Nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD and Moses departed not out of the camp.