John Gill Commentary Numbers 20

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation , &c.] Not immediately after the transaction of the above things, recorded in the preceding chapters; as the sending of the spies into the land of Canaan, and their report of it; the business of Korah, and the giving of several laws respecting the priesthood, and the purification of the people; but thirty eight years after: nor was this the congregation that came out of Egypt; their carcasses, by this time, had fallen in the wilderness, as has been threatened, excepting some few, so that this was a new generation:

what passed during this time we have very little account of, excepting their journeyings from place to place, in (Numbers 33:1–56) , by which it appears, there were eighteen stations between the place they encamped at when the spies were sent, and this they now came to; and that the place from where they came hither was Ezion Geber; from hence they journeyed,

and came unto the desert of Zin ; which is different from the wilderness of Sin, (Exodus 16:1) as appears by their names, which are different, and by the stations of the Israelites, (Numbers 33:11Numbers 33:36) , hither they came

in the first month ; the month of Nisan, on the tenth day of it, according to the Targum of Jonathan, which was the first month of the fortieth year of their coming out of Egypt, so Aben Ezra; with which agrees the Jewish chronologer ^F21 , which says, this was the fortieth year, and the beginning of the month Nisan:

and the people abode in Kadesh : which is by some thought to be different from Kadeshbarnea, from where the spies were sent, and lay to the south of the land of Canaan, whereas this was upon the borders of Edom; but Doctor Lightfoot ^F23 shows them to be the same: it is supposed to be eight hours north or northnorth-west of Mount Sinai, which may be computed to be about twenty miles ^F24 ; here the Israelites abode about four months, see (Numbers 33:38) the above Jewish chronologer says three months, wrongly:

and Miriam died there, and was buried there ; the Jews say ^F25 she died there the tenth day of the month Nisan, which was ten days after the Israelites came to this place; though, according to the Targum of Jonathan, it was the same day they came thither: Patricides, an Arabian writer, says ^F26 she died on the seventh day of Nisan, aged one hundred and twenty seven; no mention is made of the people mourning for her as for Aaron, (Numbers 20:29) and for Moses, (Deuteronomy 34:8) perhaps because of their distress for want of water, as follows.

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 9. p. 25.
• F23: Chorograph. Cent. in Matt. c. 7. p. 8, 9.
• F24: Pococke's Travels, p. 157.
• F25: Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 7. 2. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2.
• F26: Apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 457.

And there was no water for the congregation
Which was so ordered, for the trial of this new generation, to see whether they would behave any better than their fathers had done in a like circumstance, the first year they came out of Egypt, (Exodus 17:1–8)

and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron ;
just as their fathers had done before them, being of the like temper and disposition.

And the people chode with Moses
Contended with him in a wrangling and litigious manner, showing no reverence nor respect unto his person on account of the dignity of his office, and the many favours they had received from him; and this at a time, when, instead of quarrelling with him, they should have condoled him on the loss of his sister, and bewailed their own loss also of one who had been a prophetess to them, and a leader of them, (Micah 6:4)

and spoke, saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died
before the Lord ;
either at Taberah by fire, or as Korah and his company in like manner, or as the fourteen thousand and seven hundred by a pestilence, (Numbers 11:1–3) (Numbers 16:35Numbers 16:49) which they thought a much easier death, either of them, than to die of thirst: they might well call them brethren, not only because of the same nation, and nearly related to them, but because they were of the same temper and disposition, and indeed brethren in iniquity; and they seem to use this appellation, as being of the same sentiments with them, and in vindication of them, and adopt almost their very language; see (Numbers 14:2) .

And why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into
this wilderness
The wilderness of Zin, where by various marches and journeys, and through different stations, they were at length come:

that we and our cattle should die there ?
with thirst; they seem to represent it, as if this was the end, design, and intention of Moses and Aaron in bringing them thither; their language is much the same with their fathers on a like occasion; which shows the bad influence of example, and how careful parents should be of their words and actions, that their posterity be not harmed by them; see (Exodus 17:3) .

And why have you made us to come up out of Egypt
They represent that affair in such a light, as if they were forced out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron against their wills; or at least were overpersuaded by them to do what they had no inclination to, namely, to come out of Egypt; though they were in the utmost bondage and slavery, and their lives were made bitter by it, and they cried by reason of their oppression, and the hardships they endured; but this was all forgot. Aben Ezra says, it is a strange word which is here used, which shows the confusion they were in:

to bring us unto this evil place ;
dry and barren, where there were neither food nor drink, as follows:

it is no place of seed ;
or fit for sowing, as the Targum of Jonathan, any sort of seed, as wheat, barley, rye, rice

or of figs, or vines, or pomegranates ;
it is not a soil fit to plant such trees in, nor would they grow were they planted:

neither is there any water to drink ;
for them and their cattle, and therefore must be a miserable place for so large a body of people to subsist in.