John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 4. And the children of Israel did so, and put them without the camp , etc.] Aben Ezra observes, that this was done immediately before they journeyed, and that those that were defiled journeyed between the standard of Ephraim and the standard of Dan; but this, he says, was by way of conjecture, since it is not expressed: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel ; they were obedient in this particular.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - The camp was to be cleansed. The purity of the church must be kept a carefully as the peace and order of it. Every polluted Israelite mus be separated. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. The greater profession of religion any house or family makes, the more the are obliged to put away iniquity far from them. If a man overreach of defraud his brother in any matter, it is a trespass against the Lord who strictly charges and commands us to do justly. What is to be don when a man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind though done long ago? He must confess his sin, confess it to God confess it to his neighbour, and take shame to himself; though it go against him to own himself in a lie, yet he must do it. Satisfactio must be made for the offence done to God, as well as for the los sustained by the neighbour; restitution in that case is not enoug without faith and repentance. While that which is wrongly gotten i knowingly kept, the guilt remains on the conscience, and is not don away by sacrifice or offering, prayers or tears; for it is the same ac of sin persisted in. This is the doctrine of right reason, and of the word of God. It detects hypocrites, and directs the tender conscienc to proper conduct, which, springing from faith in Christ, will make wa for inward peace.
Original Hebrew ויעשׂו6213 כן3651 בני1121 ישׂראל3478 וישׁלחו7971 אותם853 אל413 מחוץ2351 למחנה4264 כאשׁר834 דבר1696 יהוה3068 אל413 משׁה4872 כן3651 עשׂו6213 בני1121 ישׂראל׃3478
