Numbers 14:43

43 Amalek and Canaanites be before you, by the sword of which ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, neither the Lord shall be with you. (The Amalekites and the Canaanites be before you, by whose sword ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, and so the Lord shall not be with you.)

Numbers 14:43 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:43

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there before you,
&c.] Having removed from the valley, ( Numbers 14:25 ) ; or else had detached a party to defend the pass on the top of the mountain, and where perhaps they designed to feign a retreat if they found it proper, and draw them into a combat in the valley:

and ye shall fall by the sword:
by the sword of the Amalekites and Canaanites:

because ye are turned away from the Lord:
from the word of the Lord, from hearkening to and obeying his command:

therefore the Lord will not be with you;
the consequence of which must be bad for them.

Numbers 14:43 In-Context

41 To whom Moses said, Why over-pass ye the word of the Lord, that shall not befall to you into prosperity? (To whom Moses said, Why pass ye over the word of the Lord? this shall not befall to you into any prosperity, or any success, but only evil.)
42 Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, lest ye fall before your enemies. (Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, and ye shall fall before your enemies.)
43 Amalek and Canaanites be before you, by the sword of which ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, neither the Lord shall be with you. (The Amalekites and the Canaanites be before you, by whose sword ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, and so the Lord shall not be with you.)
44 And they were made dark, that is, blinded in their sin, and went up into the top of the hill; forsooth the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses went not away from the tents. (But they were blinded by their sin, and they went up anyway into the heights of the hill country; but neither the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, that is, the Ark of the Witnessing, nor Moses, left the camp.)
45 And Amalek came down, and Canaanites, that dwelled in the hill, and he smote the children of Israel, and he cutted them down, and pursued them (till) to Hormah. (And the Amalekites, and the Canaanites, who lived in that hill country, came down, and they struck the Israelites, and they cut them down, and pursued them as far as Hormah.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.