(26) Lifted up his hand.--Not to strike, but to give emphasis to the oath pronounced against the sinners. (See Exodus 6:8, margin; Deuteronomy 32:40; comp. Psalm 144:8.) The substance of the oath here referred to is given in Numbers 14:28-35.

Verse 26. - Therefore he lifted up his hand against them (comp. Numbers 14:30, marginal rendering). The phrase is used with reference to the uplifting of the hand width accompanied an oath. To overthrow them in the wilderness (see Numbers 14:29, 32, 37). The death in the wilderness of the entire generation which had set out from Egypt, save only Joshua and Caleb, is the "overthrow" intended.

106:13-33 Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach. Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies are healthful, have leanness in their souls: no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite for the Bread of life, and then the soul must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls. Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed. If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.Therefore he lifted up his hand against them,.... A gesture used in swearing, Genesis 14:22. So the Targum understands it here,

"and he lifted up his hand with an oath, because of them:''

and so it is interpreted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and agrees with Numbers 14:28. The same gesture was used by the Heathens in swearing, as by Latinus (s). Or he lifted up his hand, in a way of judgment, to strike the blow; and which, when it lights on man with the indignation of his anger, falls heavy; see Isaiah 26:11. To overthrow them in the wilderness; as he did all the murmuring generation that came out of Egypt, all but Caleb and Joshua; all from twenty years and upwards, their carcasses fell in the wilderness; there they were wasted, consumed, and died, Numbers 14:32.

(s) "----Tenditque ad sidera dextram--Terram, mare, sidera juro", Virg. Aeneid. 12.