Numbers 14:45

45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down. They attacked the people of Israel. They won the battle over them. They chased them all the way to Hormah.

Numbers 14:45 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:45

Then the Amalekites came down
The hill; met the Israelites as they ascended: and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill; the same with the Amorites, one of the seven nations of Canaan, ( Numbers 13:29 ) ;

and smote them;
with the sword, having the advantage of them in coming down the hill upon them:

and discomfited them even unto Hormah;
the name of a place, so called from what happened there; as Jarchi says; either from this destruction of the Israelites at this time by these their enemies, or from the destruction of the Canaanites by Israel, ( Numbers 21:4 ) ; and so here has its name by anticipation; or it may be from both these events, and seems to be confirmed by a third of the like kind, having been in former times called Zephath, ( Judges 1:17 ) ; see ( Joshua 15:30 ) ; though some take it to be an appellative here, and not the proper name of a place, and render it even unto destruction, as the Targum of Jonathan, denoting the very great destruction and havoc that were made among them: how many were destroyed is not certain; the judgment threatened them of God soon began to take place, that their carcasses should fall in that wilderness.

Numbers 14:45 In-Context

43 The Amalekites and Canaanites will meet you on the field of battle. You have turned away from the Lord. So he won't be with you. And you will be killed with swords."

44 But they wouldn't listen. They still went up toward the high hill country. They went up even though Moses didn't move from the camp. They went even though the ark of the LORD's covenant didn't move from the camp.

45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down. They attacked the people of Israel. They won the battle over them. They chased them all the way to Hormah.