Numbers 14 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Numbers 14

The People Rebel

14:1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

13 But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people. For you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

God Promises Judgment

20 Then the LORD said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

26 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

Israel Defeated in Battle

39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.

Commentary

This chapter relates the effects of the bad report brought back by the ten spies.

v1: The whole nation, having travelled many miles already, wept and cried all night. But they had not realised that they were closer to Canaan than to Egypt. This is implied by the timing of the sending of the spies.

v2: The people began to murmur against Moses and Aaron.

v3: Their unbelief, thinking that the Lord had brought them out to kill them in Canaan; contrast Ex 14.12. They did not really know God's character; it is ludicrous that He would deliver many thousands of people from Egypt, with the intention of killing them!

v4: They planned to return to Egypt. This indicates that they had forgotten the suffering they had experienced.

v5: Moses and Aaron fell down before the people, looking to God to vindicate them. We see that Caleb and Joshua reacted differently; we do recognise that godly men do react in different ways. The Lord looks for faith and obedience in all of us.

v6-9: This provided an opportunity for Caleb, now joined by Joshua, to declare that they were well able, trusting in God, to enter the land. At this point, such words fell on deaf ears. But we do see that they had understood God's promises;

"the land .. is exceedingly good"; contrast 13.32, "the land devours those living in it";
"the Lord will lead us into that land"; contrast 13.31, "we can't attack those people";
they saw that the land was "a land flowing with milk and honey", as God had long before promised;
"do not be afraid of the people, their protection is gone"; contrast 13.31-33, "they are stronger than we are, all the people we saw there are of great size, we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes";
"the Lord is with us"; God had promised to bring them into the land, and nothing could prevent that. Even so, the challenge here was to faith and obedience. The biggest problem was not the enemy outside, but rebellion within.

'We notice the positive attitude and the explicit mention of "Lord" in their words. The ten spies don't even mention the Lord only what they have seen that terrifies them.' (Through it all, by Gabriel Adusei)

v10: The people responded by threatening to stone Caleb and Joshua.

v11-12: The Lord's anger at the people's unbelief. The judgment threatened was only averted by Moses' prayer. The Lord has the power to destroy the people.

v13-19: Moses' prayer argues the Name and character of God; there was nothing in the people to use as an argument before God.

v13-14: Moses' argument began with the testimony of the Lord's work thus far; the people had been delivered from Egypt, and He had miraculously provided for them. The Gentiles round about had heard of all this (see Josh 2.10-11).

v15-16: Moses' argument was that the testimony of God's power and patience would be marred should He destroy the whole nation. They would not appreciate that God had every reason to destroy the people. The Gentiles would need to see something obvious.

v17-19: Moses prayed that the Lord would display His forgiveness and mercy towards the people, that they might have a future. Such is God's mercy that the next generation did inherit the land.

v20: The Lord forgave; by His word and His power, the people experienced forgiveness immediately.

v21: The wider picture of God's glory, which would be displayed throughout all the world.

v22: The ten rebellions; Ex14.11; 15.24; 16.2-5; 16.27; 17.2-3; 20.18-19; 32; Lev 10.1-2; Num 11.1; within a period of around 2 years.

v23: God's mercy and justice would be displayed; none, over 20 years old (v29), would see the land, for they had treated the Lord with contempt. The persistent rebellion and unbelief would have its consequences.

They would not be destroyed “all at one time” (v15), but over a long period.

v24: Caleb, and also Joshua (v30), were exceptions, and treated as such.

v25: Since they were not to go forward, they could not stay were they were, with enemies close by; see v43. They must “turn back.” How sad!

v29: The people who had been numbered were 20 years old or more, and all these were to be held responsible for their unbelief. A fresh census was carried out after they had all died.

v31-32: The people had despised God's blessing, and would now suffer. Like Esau, they preferred the physical, and neglected the spiritual. The specific comment about the children being taken as plunder is not recorded (see 13.26-33), but the Lord would give the land to the children.

v33: The children would suffer for their parents' unfaithfulness, but would then enter the land. The children would be "shepherded" (alternative rendering); since God would grant goodness AND severity, so that there remained a provision for them, even as they endured His judgment.

v35: The wicked community would be put to death. God would not treat the righteous like the wicked.

v36-37: Immediately, the ten spies who had brought the bad report were struck down by the Lord.

v39-45: Some of the Israelites decided to go now, to enter the land. But they went without the Lord's approval and presence. Although Moses warned them (v41-42), they went up, but were soon driven back by the Canaanites and Amalekites.

During ch 13-14, the people were at Kadesh Barnea, see Deut 1.19. It was from here that they moved forward 38 years later (20.22; Deut 1.46). They remained at this point, with some aimless wanderings for the 38 years.