Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites. Some thus resolve these words; "Although the Amalekites dwell in the valley;" and others thus: "Since the Amalekites abide in the valleys to lay ambuscades." Others think that their object is to inspire terror, lest the Israelites should remain too long in the enemy's country, since they would be daily exposed to fresh attacks. I am, however, rather of opinion that they are spoken in reproach. For they had already arrived at the borders of the inhabited land, so that their enemies might be put to the rout at once: whereas God commands them to retire, and thus expels them from the land, which they had actually reached. Still I do not deny that He sets before them the necessity of the case, and thus enforces their obedience; as if He had said, that nothing now remained but to retreat, and again to throw themselves into the desert.

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.

(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites (l) dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the (m) wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
(l) And lie in wait for you.
(m) For I will not defend you.

And now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley,.... 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 Deuteronomy 1:19; this may seem contrary to what is said 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" (z) in the valley, as it may be rendered, in ambush, there lying in wait for the children of Israel, as in Psalm 10:8; and so Aben Ezra interprets it of their sitting there, to lie in wait for them: and now, though these people had so sadly provoked the Lord, yet such was his goodness to them, as to warn them of the design of their enemies, and of the danger by them, to provide for their safety, by giving them the following instruction:
tomorrow turn you; do not go forward, lest ye fall into their ambushment, but turn about, and go the contrary way; return in the way, or towards the parts from whence ye came: this they are bid to do tomorrow, but did not till some time after; for, contrary to the command of God, they went up the mount, where they were defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites, after which they stayed in Kadesh some days, Deuteronomy 1:44,
and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea; or in the way towards it; and so they would be in the way to Egypt, where the people were desirous of returning again; but as they were always a rebellious and disobedient people, and acted contrary to God, so in this case; for when he bid them go back towards the Red sea again, then they were for going forward, and entering into the land of Canaan, Numbers 14:40; though when he bid them go up, and possess it, then they were for returning to Egypt, Numbers 14:4.
(z) "sedet", Drusius, Piscator.

(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.

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 Genesis 36:12, and Exodus 17:8. The term Canaanites is a general epithet applied to all the inhabitants of Canaan, instead of the Amorites mentioned in Deuteronomy 1:44, who held the southern mountains of Canaan. "The valley" is no doubt the broad Wady Murreh (see at Numbers 13:21), including a portion of the Negeb, in which the Amalekites led a nomad life, whilst the Canaanites really dwelt upon the mountains (Numbers 14:45), close up to the Wady Murreh.

In the valley - Beyond the mountain, at the foot whereof they now were, Numbers 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 Amalekites and Canaanites, because God would not assist nor defend them. By the way of the Red - sea - That leadeth to the Red - sea, and to Egypt, the place whither you desire to return.