Who shall ask counsel for him When he requires him so to do, and in important and difficult matters. From this and similar passages, it appears that the authority of the judge, or chief magistrate in Israel, however great, was not arbitrary, since in great emergencies he was obliged to have recourse to the high-priest, who was to ask counsel for him at the oracle. And some weighty matters were proposed to the congregation and princes, or senate of Israel, for their consent or decision. After the judgment of Urim It appears from several passages, particularly 1 Samuel 14:18; 1Sa 23:2; 1 Samuel 28:6; 1 Samuel 30:7; 2 Samuel 5:19, that the high-priest, in consulting the oracle, was clothed with the ephod, or the sacerdotal vestment, to which belonged the breast- plate, and the Urim and Thummim. Thus, when David wanted to consult the oracle, he said to the priest, Bring hither the ephod: see 1 Samuel 30:7. In this and other places God is said to have answered him, but in what manner we are not told, only it appears to have been by a voice, 1 Samuel 30:3. But who uttered that voice, is a question. Spencer is of opinion that it was God himself, or an angel acting by commission from God. Le Clerc again contends that it was the high-priest himself that pronounced the words, but that he spake by divine inspiration: see on Exodus 28:30. At his word shall they go out, &c. That is, at the word of the Lord, delivered by the mouth of the priest. This shows the nature of the Jewish government, and that it is not without reason called a theocracy, or divine government; since no enterprise of moment was to be undertaken without first consulting the oracle of God by the priest. However, this is to be understood principally of their going out, or not going out, to war; upon which occasion chiefly the oracle was consulted, especially to know the event of it: see Judges 1:1; Judges 20:18; 1 Samuel 14:18; 1 Samuel 28:6. We may observe, that though Joshua was greatly inferior to Moses in this respect, he generally consulted God by the high- priest; whereas Moses had immediate access to God himself, and spake with him face to face; (Deuteronomy 34:10;) yet God sometimes vouchsafed the same honour to Joshua, and spake to him without the mediation of the priest: see Joshua 3:7; Joshua 4:1; Joshua 4:15; Joshua 5:13.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 27:21
Numbers 27:21
21 And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.