John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried , etc.] This is not to be understood of every individual in the congregation of Israel, but of the princes, heads, and elders of the people that were with Moses and Aaron when the report of the spies was made; though indeed the report might quickly spread throughout the body of the people, and occasion a general outcry, which was very loud and clamorous, and attended with all the signs of distress imaginable, in shrieks and tears and lamentations: and the people wept that night : perhaps throughout the night; could get no sleep nor rest all the night, but spent it in weeping and crying, at the thought of their condition and circumstances, and the disappointments they had met with, as they conceived, of entering into and possessing the land.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - Those who do not trust God, continually vex themselves. The sorrow of the world worketh death. The Israelites murmured against Moses an Aaron, and in them reproached the Lord. They look back with causeles discontent. See the madness of unbridled passions, which makes me prodigal of what nature accounts most dear, life itself. They wis rather to die criminals under God's justice, than to live conquerors in his favour. At last they resolve, that, instead of going forward to Canaan, they would go back to Egypt. Those who walk not in God' counsels, seek their own ruin. Could they expect that God's cloud woul lead them, or his manna attend them? Suppose the difficulties of conquering Canaan were as they imagined, those of returning to Egyp were much greater. We complain of our place and lot, and we woul change; but is there any place or condition in this world, that has no something in it to make us uneasy, if we are disposed to be so? The way to better our condition, is to get our spirits in a better frame. Se the folly of turning from the ways of God. But men run on the certai fatal consequences of a sinful course.
Original Hebrew ותשׂא5375 כל3605 העדה5712 ויתנו5414 את853 קולם6963 ויבכו1058 העם5971 בלילה3915 ההוא׃1931
