Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Their defense - tsillam , their shadow, a metaphor highly expressive of protection and support in the sultry eastern countries. The protection of God is so called; see Psalms 91:1; Psalms 121:5; see also Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 49:2; Isaiah 30:2.
The Arabs and Persians have the same word to express the same thing.
nemayeed zulli doulet mamdood bad .
"May the shadow of thy prosperity be extended!"
nemayced zulli doulet ber mufareki khayr khwahen mamdood bad .
"May the shadow of thy prosperity be spread over the heads of thy well-wishers!"
They have also the following elegant distich: -
Sayahat kem mubad az seri ma
Bast Allah zullikem abeda .
"May thy protection never be removed from my head!
May God extend thy shadow eternally!"
Here the Arabic zull answers exactly to the Hebrew tsel , both signifying that which overspreads or overshadows. See the note on Numbers 14:14.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Numbers 14:9:
Numbers 14:14
Psalms 14:4
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