Nombres 21:7

7 Le peuple vint à Moïse, et dit: Nous avons péché, car nous avons parlé contre l'Eternel et contre toi. Prie l'Eternel, afin qu'il éloigne de nous ces serpents. Moïse pria pour le peuple.

Nombres 21:7 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:7

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, we have sinned,
&c.] Being bitten with serpents, and some having died, the rest were frightened, and came and made an humble acknowledgment of their sins to Moses:

for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee;
murmuring at their being brought out of Egypt, and because they had no better provision in the wilderness; concluding they should die there for want, and never enter into the land of Canaan, of which evils they were now sensible, and confessed them:

pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us;
or "the serpent" ^F3, in the singular, which is put for the plural, as it often is; or the plague of the serpent, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it might cease, and they be no more distressed by them: they were sensible they came from God, and that none could remove them but him; and knowing that Moses was powerful in prayer, and had interest with God, they entreat him to be their intercessor, though they had spoken against him and used him ill:

and Moses prayed for the people;
which proves him to be of a meek and forgiving spirit; who, though he had been so sadly reflected on, yet readily undertakes to pray to God for them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (vxn ta) "serpentem", Montanus; "hunc serpentem", Piscator,

Nombres 21:7 In-Context

5 et parla contre Dieu et contre Moïse: Pourquoi nous avez-vous fait monter hors d'Egypte, pour que nous mourions dans le désert? car il n'y a point de pain, et il n'y a point d'eau, et notre âme est dégoûtée de cette misérable nourriture.

6 Alors l'Eternel envoya contre le peuple des serpents brûlants; ils mordirent le peuple, et il mourut beaucoup de gens en Israël.

7 Le peuple vint à Moïse, et dit: Nous avons péché, car nous avons parlé contre l'Eternel et contre toi. Prie l'Eternel, afin qu'il éloigne de nous ces serpents. Moïse pria pour le peuple.

8 L'Eternel dit à Moïse: Fais-toi un serpent brûlant, et place-le sur une perche; quiconque aura été mordu, et le regardera, conservera la vie.

9 Moïse fit un serpent d'airain, et le plaça sur une perche; et quiconque avait été mordu par un serpent, et regardait le serpent d'airain, conservait la vie.