Numbers 14:25

“And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley, etc.] By the Canaanites are meant the Amorites, as Aben Ezra, which were a principal people of the land of Canaan, and which may be confirmed by (<050119>Deuteronomy 1:19,20); this may seem contrary to what is said (<041329>Numbers 13:29); where they are said to dwell in the mountain; but it may be reconciled by observing, that indeed their proper settled habitation was in the mountain; but now they went down from thence, and “sat” f187 in the valley, as it may be rendered, in ambush, there lying in wait for the children of Israel, as in (<191008>Psalm 10:8); and so Aben Ezra interprets it of their sitting there, to lie in wait…”

“(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley)--that is, on the other side of the Idumean mountain, at whose base they were then encamped. Those nomad tribes had at that time occupied it with a determination to oppose the further progress of the Hebrew people. Hence God gave the command that they seek a safe and timely retreat into the desert, to escape the pursuit of those resolute enemies, to whom, with their wives and children, they would fall a helpless prey because they had forfeited the presence and protection of God. This verse forms an important part of the narrative and should be freed from the parenthetical form which our English translators have given it.”

“Render: And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites are dwelling (or abiding) in the valley: wherefore turn you, etc. (that so ye be not smitten before them). The Amalekites were the nomad bands that roved through the open pastures of the plain Numbers 14:45 : the Canaanites, a term here taken in its wider sense, were the Amorites of the neighboring cities (compare Numbers 14:45 with Deuteronomy 1:44), who probably lived in league with the Amalekites. Tomorrow - Not necessarily the next day, but an idiom for “hereafter,” “henceforward” (compare the marginal reading in Exodus 13:14; Joshua 4:6). By the way of the Red sea - That is, apparently, by the eastern or Elanitic gulf. return to 'Top of…”

“In the valley - Beyond the mountain, at the foot whereof they now were, Num 14:40. And this clause is added, either As an aggravation of Israel's misery and punishment, that being now ready to enter and take possession of the land, they are forced to go back into the wilderness or As an argument to oblige them more willingly to obey the following command of returning into the wilderness, because their enemies were very near them, and severed from them only by that Idumean mountain, and, if they did not speedily depart, their enemies would fall upon them, and so the evil which before they causelessly feared would come upon them; they, their wives and their children, would become a prey to the…”

“the Amalekites: Num 13:29 turn you: Num 14:4; Deu 1:40; Psa 81:11-13; Pro 1:31 Numbers 14:27”

“The divine reply to the intercession of Moses terminated with a command to the people to turn on the morrow, and go to the wilderness to the Red Sea, as the Amalekites and Canaanites dwelt in the valley. "The Amalekites," etc.: this clause furnishes the reason for the command which follows. On the Amalekites, see at Gen 36:12, and Exo 17:8. The term Canaanites is a general epithet applied to all the inhabitants of Canaan, instead of the Amorites mentioned in Deu 1:44, who held the southern mountains of Canaan. "The valley" is no doubt the broad Wady Murreh (see at Num 13:21), including a portion of the Negeb, in which the Amalekites led a nomad life, whilst the Canaanites really dwelt upon…”