Numbers 14

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:16utc

This chapter deals with the remainder of what was called in our outline: "The Climactic Failure of Israel at Kadesh." We will consider:

B. Israel Rebels against God 14:1-10

C. Moses Intercedes 14:11-19

D. God Judges Israel 14:20-38

E. Israel Rebels against the Judgment of God 14:39-45B. Israel Rebels against God 14:1-10

The reaction of the people is a pathetic, hysterical all-night-long crying session. About forty years later Moses recounts this episode to the next generation, saying: "You grumbled in your tents and said, 'The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, ' 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' ' "[ 1 ]

The key to this rebellion is the suggestion that God hated them. The Bible is full of proofs that attest to the opposite. John says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,"[ 2 ] and: "God is love.[ 3 ] And the apostle Paul says it over and over again: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."[ 4 ] Or in the benedictions he pronounced: "And the God of love and peace will be with you. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."[ 5 ] What God does for us, says Paul, is "because of his great love for us."[ 6 ] These verses are just samples of the overwhelming proof of God's love for us.

The Israelites attribute to God characteristics that make Him worse than sinful man. They insinuate that the whole exodus, with its demonstration of miraculous powers, was part of a ploy to bring them to a place where they would be exterminated. They imply that they are better than God. If they had said this to their fellowmen, they would have insulted them in the most serious manner. They suggest that Pharaoh was kinder to them than God is, for they propose that it would be better for them to return to Egypt. Everything they say seems to be demonically inspired. They believe the lie of the devil that darkness is better than light. God does not love them; He hates them! What they proclaim is completely opposite to Jesus' teaching: "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"[ 7 ]

The outburst of the people is almost unbelievable. We may allow for some measure of fear for the unknown, but the accusations they hurl at God indicate that all the miracles of the exodus have been completely lost upon them. The suggestion to return to Egypt is completely unreasonable. Return to Egypt was not an option. Yet, they talk about choosing a leader to take them back to Egypt.

The reaction of Moses and Aaron is to seek the Lord in intercessory prayer. We read that they "fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there." So, evidently, the people had come out of their tents and had come together in a public meeting to plan their next step.

At this point Joshua and Caleb get up and give a speech in which they urge the people to change their minds. Some commentators have asked the question why Joshua did not speak up earlier when Caleb spoke. Joshua's silence does not imply, however, that he sided with the other spies and their negative report. Here he stands together with Caleb, and in a dramatic fashion they both rent their clothes. The gist of their speech is that the fear of the people is leading them into rebellion against God.

The words: "Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us," are very revealing. The people in Canaan lived in fortified cities, and they were described as strong and big people. Yet, Joshua and Caleb call them unprotected. Protection is not a matter of city walls and fortifications, but of a supernatural shield. From a human viewpoint the people in Canaan were well protected by their fortifications, and Israel, camping in the open, was unprotected. But Joshua and Caleb show that the opposite is the case. The people in Canaan were not protected by the presence of the Lord, but Israel was. They says: "We will swallow them up. Their protection has been removed from them." The Hebrew word translated "protection" is tsel which is derived from tsalal meaning "shade." Strong's Definition speaks about: "the idea of hovering over." In animistic societies the shadow of a man is more than the image his body projects on the ground in the light; it is a spiritual phenomenon that accompanies him. If a shadow departs from a man, this means that his spirit becomes vulnerable. This may be the idea conveyed here also. David uses the same pictures when he says: "The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand."[ 8 ] And another psalmist says: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."[ 9 ] Joshua and Caleb saw the difference between those who are protected by the Lord and those who are on their own, without any protection against the powers of evil. Fortified cities do not offer protection in spiritual battles.

All this is lost on the angry masses. They have worked themselves up to a level at which they are no longer responding to reason and reality. Masses can be dangerous entities, if manipulated by individuals with evil intent. Hitler was a master of this kind of manipulation, and it will probably also be the key to the success of the Antichrist that he will be able to get the masses behind him through clever oratory and mass psychosis. Here the people are ready to stone the only individuals who are in their right mind. The scene looks like a prelude to the time when the masses shouted in front of the only righteous one the world had ever known: "Crucify him!" and "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"[ 10 ]

At this point the Lord intervenes. We can understand how Joshua and Caleb must have felt at the very moment the glory of the Lord appeared. They must have thought that their lives had come to an end and that they were going to be killed by the angry mob. The appearance of God's glory saves their lives.

The coming of the glory of the Lord ought to be the ultimate and most ecstatic experience a human being can have. It is the hope of all those who love the Lord. But what must it have meant for those who were at the point of murdering Joshua and Caleb? We do not read how the people reacted, but we can probably describe it best with the words out of the book of Revelations: "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?' "[ 11 ]

C. Moses Intercedes 14:11-19

In these verses we read the first part of a moving dialogue between God and Moses, that takes place at the appearance of the Lord's glory. God starts out by saying: "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" We very rarely realize how God perceives our lack of faith in Him. In being afraid of the enemy, and failing to put their confidence in God, the Israelites treated God with contempt. In our human judicial system, contempt of court is a serious offence. Who much more severe is the offence against the Judge of all the earth?

The Israelites had this advantage over us that the Lord had revealed Himself to them in a way that was physically observable. His presence was undeniable in the form of the visible cloud, and sometimes even, the audible voice. The multitudes of proofs of God's power, both in Egypt and in the desert, gave them no excuse but to accept that fact that they were under the protection of the Almighty. As far as physical evidence is concerned, we are mostly groping in the dark. But we have been given something that the Israelites lacked: the assurance of the indwelling Spirit of God. Jesus said about the Holy Spirit: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you,"[ 12 ] and: "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."[ 13 ] And Paul says: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."[ 14 ] The Holy Spirit drives home to us the importance of the things God does for us. This testimony the Israelites did not have, and that contributes to their failure, in spite of the overwhelming physical evidence they possessed.

We may be sure that the Lord never seriously considered the possibility to annihilate the nation of Israel, as He proposed to Moses. We read that He said: "I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." We must not underestimate the magnitude of this temptation for Moses to become the father of a new nation, greater and stronger than the offspring of Abraham. Yet, it seems that Moses never even considered the option to accept God's offer to him. This fact testifies to the greatness of Moses. His only consideration is the glory of God, not his own glory.

Moses' argument before God is most amazing. He reminds God of His testimony among the people who do not worship Him. In doing so, Moses brings out the fact that Israel's position on earth was to be a kingdom of priests. He does say this in so many words, but it is obvious that the extermination of Israel would not only mean the wiping away of human beings from the face of the earth, but the breakdown of a vital link in God's revelation in this world. Moses says to God: "Think of the reaction You would get among the Egyptians, from whose hands you delivered Israel, and among the inhabitants of Canaan, to whom you are sending them!" They would never understand the moral implications of God's acts. The conclusion they would draw would be: "The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert."

If we pause and ponder how strange this scene must have been: one of God's creature talking to the Almighty God and telling Him was people would think of Him if He acted in such and such a way; we can see that God must have been amused. God must have thought that Moses did very well in presenting his arguments.

Even more powerful becomes Moses' plea before God, when he begins to quote the very words God used to reveal His glory to Moses in the book of Exodus. When Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock, covered by God's hand, God passed by him, proclaiming: "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."[ 15 ] But the most wonderful part of this argument is the introductory sentence: "Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared." According to Moses, God would display His strength, not by killing more than two million people in one blow, but by forgiving sin. These words indicate the depth of Moses' insight into God's character. Love is stronger than death, as the Song of Solomon proclaims.[ 16 ]

Matthew Henry comments at this point: "Here is a whole nation rescued from ruin by the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man. See how ready God is to forgive sin, and how easy to be entreated: Pardon, says Moses (v. 19); I have pardoned, says God, v. 20."

In his intercessory prayer Moses concentrated on the glory of God, and this gave him such an access into the heart of God that pardon was obtained instantaneously. Without any hesitation God answers Moses: "I have forgiven them, as you asked." But obtaining forgiveness is not the same as being victorious. The Israelites did not die because of their sin, but they forfeited their entry into the promised land. The whole generation of adults that left Egypt would die in the desert during the forty year period in which they would roam around.

In quoting from God's own words when He revealed His glory to Moses, he does not leave out the phrase: "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished," or the more mysterious clause, "he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." It seems contradictory that God forgives sin and, at the same time, "does not leave the guilty unpunished." The only explanation of this paradox is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, where God punished our sins by putting them on His Son. Unwittingly, Moses reminded God of what Jesus would do, and this swayed God to forgive so spontaneously. By saying this, we put a human frame of mind to the eternal God. But it is obvious that Moses does not tell God anything He did not know, and he did not move God to do things He did not want to do. God was always eager to forgive, but He waited for the intercessor to plead the cause before Him.

The reference to the punishment of certain sins of the fathers to their offspring to the third and fourth generation seems completely out of context here. The opposite is true; the way it works out, the next generation receives the blessing the fathers forfeited by their sins. The clause: "he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation," originates from the Ten Commandments. God says there: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments."[ 17 ] There, the context is idolatry, through which the people would open themselves to the influence of demons, which would be felt in the next three or four generations, unless the children would purposely break the chain by putting themselves under the protection of the blood of the Lamb. The reference to this clause here, could be an indication that Moses was aware of demonic influences that demonstrated themselves in the rebellion of the people.

D. God Judges Israel. 14:20-38

God answers Moses with an oath. By saying: "Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, …" God swears by Himself. The decision is irreversible: "Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-- not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it." God puts the rebellion in its right perspective. He compares the sin of the people with His glory. The glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth, and the men who rebelled against God had seen His glory. Paul defines sin as falling short of the glory of God.[ 18 ] In the face of the people's rebellion God dresses Himself to His full height, so to speak. "As surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, …" are awesome words. The people treated with contempt Him who lives for ever and ever, and they despised the glory of God which will fill the whole earth.

The filling of the earth with the glory of the Lord is given as a promise by the prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk. "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."[ 19 ] "As surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth," are in the present tense in the NIV. Most other translations put the phrase in the future, which seems to agree more with the Hebrew. The truth that the earth is presently filled with God's glory is a biblical concept. Man may not see the earth, in its present condition, filled with God's glory, but that does not mean that the glory is not there. The Seraphim in Isaiah's vision called to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."[ 20 ] If man does not see this, it means that he is blinded by sin. The time will come when the human race will drown, so to speak, in the glory of God, when "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."

So, here is this nation that holds God in contempt, surrounded by the glory of God. They are completely blind to the reality in which they live. The apostle Paul said to the philosophers gathered at the Areopagus, who had no idea who God was: "For in him we live and move and have our being."[ 21 ] The Israelites lived and moved and had their being in God, just as much as the Greek of Paul's time, but they did not know it. Yet, the concept of glory was familiar to them. They saw the cloud, they had heard the voice, and they had witnessed the miracles that brought them out of Egypt and kept them alive in the desert.

A superficial reading would leave us with the impression that there are two reports of God's conversation with Moses: one from vs. 20-25 and the other from vs. 26-35. In the first part only Caleb's name is mentioned as the exception of the ones to be punished, and in the second part both Caleb and Joshua are mentioned. The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "Caleb alone is mentioned here, as if he were the only exception to the sentence just passed upon the generation which came out of Egypt. Taken in connection with ch. xiii. 30, and in contrast with ch. xiv. 6, 30, 38, it has been supposed to point to the interweaving here of two narratives, from the one of which the name of Joshua was intentionally omitted …. The fact, however, is that Joshua is not the only, nor the most remarkable, exception to the general sentence which is not specified here. Moses and Aaron themselves were undoubtedly not included in that sentence at this time, although they afterwards came under the severity of it …. Eleazer, the priest, was one of those who entered with Joshua (Josh. xiv. 1), and it is vain to argue that he might have been under twenty at the time of the numbering (cf. ch. iv. 16). There is, indeed, every reason to believe that the whole tribe of Levi were excepted from the punishment, because they were not compromised in the guilt. They had no representatives among the spies, nor were they called upon to go up and fight; moreover, they had been steadily loyal to Moses since the matter of the gold calf. But if the exception of the Levites was taken for granted, and passed without mention, much more might the exception of Joshua. He did not stand by any means in the same position as Caleb and the other spies; he was the 'minister' and lieutenant of Moses, whose fortunes were obviously bound up, not with those of his tribe, but with those of his master. If Moses had accepted the Divine offer to make him the head of a new chosen race, no doubt Joshua would have been given to him. His subsequent separation as leader, not of Ephraim, but of Israel, was already anticipated in the singularity, at least, of his position. Caleb, on the other hand, was merely a chieftain of the tribe of Judah, with nothing to distinguish him from the mass of the people but his own good conduct. There is, therefore, nothing perplexing in the fact that Caleb alone is mentioned in this place, and nothing to warrant the assumption of a double narrative."

Caleb is worth a character study by itself. He stands out as one Israelites who believed God and acted upon his believe. He should have been representative of the Israelites in general. He was, however, and exception. He is a model in the Bible of what a man of God should look like.

It seems strange that, on the one hand God says to Moses: "I have forgiven them, as you asked." But, immediately following this statement, the punishment for the sins of the people is announced. The Bible teaches that there is a final day of reckoning when all the sins of mankind will be punished once and for all. What we may consider punishment on earth is only an image of the judgment to come. We believe that God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins but turning the cities upside down and covering them with the waters of the Dead Sea. Jesus says to the Galilean cities of His day: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."[ 22 ] From these words, we understand that what happened at the day of the destruction of Tyre and Sidon, and of Sodom, was not the ultimate punishment. Otherwise the phrase "more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you," would make no sense. So when God says to Moses: "I have forgiven them, as you asked," He promised that, on the day of judgment, this rebellion would not be brought up as an accusation against Israel. But this did not take away the temporary judgment of imprisonment in the desert for a term of forty years.

Vs. 25 presents us with a few problems. The first one is, obviously, that the reference to the Amalekites and Canaanites as living in the valleys cannot be the reason for which the Israelites had to turn back to the desert. The people were forbidden to enter Canaan because of their rebellion, not because of the presence of those Canaanite tribes. The Pulpit Commentary says on this point: "It is scarcely credible that an observation of this sort, which would seem unusual and abrupt in any speech, should have formed a part of God's message to Moses. It has no apparent connection with the context. It does not (as often alleged) afford a reason for the command which follows; it was not at all because enemies were already in possession before them that the Israelites had to turn their backs upon the promised land, but because God had withdrawn for the time his promised aid. If the 'valley' be the Rakhmah plateau, they had always known that hostile tribes held it, and that they would have to conquer them. That the words are an interpolation, as the A. V. represent them, seems as certain as internal evidence can make it; but by whom make, and with what intent, is a question which will probably never be answered. It may be worth while to hazard a conjecture that the interpolated words are really connected with what goes before, viz., the promise of inheritance to Caleb. Now that promise was fulfilled in the gift of Hebron to Caleb and his seed (Josh. xiv. 14)."

The second problem is that the text seems to change the location of the Amalekites and the Canaanites, who were supposed to live along the seashore and not in the Southern lowlands. The Pulpit Commentary concludes that roving Amalekites and Canaanites had established themselves in the Southern parts also, in some parts of what was called "the Wady."

Apparently, the verses 26-35 are a double of the pervious section of vs. 21-24, or, at least the content is the same. It could be that God repeated what He had said to Moses in private in the presence of Aaron, although we read in vs. 5 that "Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there."

The punishment is meant for the men twenty years old or more who were counted in the census of ch. 1:18, 19. In ch. 1:3 we read: "You [Moses] and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army." The Pulpit Commentary says here: "All that had been enrolled as the soldiers of the Lord, to fight his battles and their own, but had refused, and had incurred the guilt of mutiny." God court-martialed the whole army because of the general mutiny of which there were guilty. But as always, one never sins alone. Others are always dragged into our crime and punishment. The whole nation of Israel would suffer for forty years, older people, women and children included. The whole conscripted army is condemned to death in the desert. The youngest, who would have been twenty years old at the census, would die at the age of sixty, or before.

In their mutiny the people had said: "Our wives and children will be taken as plunder." The Lord uses those very words, saying: "As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected." He adds to this: "Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert." The KJV renders vs. 33 as: "And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness." The Hebrew word is ra' ah, which Strong's defines as "to tend a flock; i.e. pasture it; intransitively, to graze." The intent is, probably, no so much that they will tend their flocks in the desert, but that they will be the flock themselves. There is a soft and sweet suggestion in these words that the Lord will be their shepherd and that, consequently, they will not lack anything.

Lest we think that the concept of a generation gap is a modern one, God shows us here a picture of a generation gap. The second generation of those who left Egypt was handed a spiritual debt that far surpassed any budget deficit that we leave to our children. God had lead the fathers out of Egypt in order to bring them to the promised land, but they rebelled against the Lord. Those men left a heritage of rebellion to their children; but, miraculously, God takes over the younger generation, shepherds them for forty years in a place of death, the place Moses called: "that vast and dreadful desert,"[ 23 ] and God says: "I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected." The God of our fathers is also the God of the next generation. If we take Peter's words for ourselves that we "were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers," we may also believe that God's promises are valid for our children, and that He will bring them where He wants them to be, in spite of our failures.

In vs. 34 God says: "you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you." The last part of this sentence has been the object of controversies. The KJV says here: "ye shall know my breach of promise," which gives the impression that God would have broken His promises toward Israel. It is clear, however, that the people were not prevented from entering Canaan because God changed His mind, or broke His promise, but because they themselves refused to enter in.

The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary says about this clause: "[My breach of promise]-- i. e., that in consequence of your violation of the covenant between you and me, by breaking the terms of it, it shall be null and void on my part, as I shall withhold the blessings I promised in that covenant to confer on you on condition of your obedience. [Wiyda'tem … 'et … tªnuw'aatiy …, and ye shall know my withdrawal, my alienation, my holding back.] 'The translation in the present King James Version is harsh, and merely conjectural, not warranted by the Hebrew original. Some of our older English translators had a more inoffensive and a juster rendering than our last version here happens to have. Coverdale's Bible of 1535 renders, "ye may know what it is, when I withdraw my hand." Matthewe's Bible of 1537 has, "ye shall fele my vengeance." The Great Bible of 1539, "ye shall know my displeasure. The Geneva translators of 1560 first ventured to say," ye shall fele my breach of promise;" but then they added a marginal note to soften it-- namely, "whether my promise is true or no." Dr. Parker's Bible of 1568 altered it into, "ye shall know my breach of promise," leaving no note at all in the margin; and the last translation, following Parker's, reads the text as before, only throwing in another softer version into the margin-- namely, "altering of my purpose" ' (Waterlands' 'Scripture Vindicated'). The Hebrew word occurs only in one other passage, namely, <Job 33:10>, where it is rendered by our translators, "occasion against" ('disallowances against me') (Carey's 'Job')."

The Interlinear Bible uses "my breach of promise," following the rendering of the KJV. But Strong's defines the Hebrew term tªnuw'aatiy as derived from "tenuw'ah … alienation; by implication, enmity." The Brown Driver Brigg's Definition gives: "opposition, alienation, enmity."

"You will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you." Those are terrible words. This is the essence of the suffering of hell to see that God against us, and to realize that God holds us in contempt if we hold Him in contempt. On the other hand, how comforting it is to know that God is for us. The Apostle Paul expresses this assurance beautifully when he says: "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-- more than that, who was raised to life-- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."[ 24 ] We may travel safely through the desert if we know that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.

Having God against us reduces our lives to meaninglessness. There is no clearer picture of the emptiness of human existence than the forty years wandering of Israel in the desert. The only goal of this travel for those who had rebelled was to die, and the only hope of the younger generation was the death of the older generation. What a terrible atmosphere this must have created among the nation; and that for forty long years!

I believe it was in this period of meaninglessness and emptiness of life that Moses wrote the ninetieth psalm: "You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men.' For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-- though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble."[ 25 ] The heart of wisdom, as a result of the numbering aright of our days, is the heart of repentance and confession of sin.

Matthew Henry's Commentary says about the punishment: "That all those who had now grown up to men's estate should die in the wilderness, not all at once, but by degrees. They wished that they might die in the wilderness, and God said Amen to their passionate wish, and made their sin their ruin, snared them in the words of their mouth, and caused their own tongue to fall upon them, took them at their word, and determined that their carcases should fall in the wilderness, v. 28, 29, and again, v. 32, 35. See with what contempt they are spoken of, now that they had by their sin made themselves vile; the mighty men of valour were but carcases, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from them. They were all as dead men. Their fathers had such a value for Canaan that they desired to have their dead bodies carried thither to be buried, in token of their dependence upon God's promise that they should have that land for a possession: but these, having despised that good land and disbelieved the promise of it, shall not have the honour to be buried in it, but shall have their graves in the wilderness." It is true that the presence of Joseph's coffin among them was a strong reminder of the faith the forefathers of this generation of Israelites had had in the fulfillment of God's promises. But as is often the case, the spiritual heritage of ages past was considered to be irrelevant to the present.

There is no greater discrepancy imaginable than between the glory of the Lord that fills the whole earth and this band of aimless wanderers in the desert. The difference is in the vision of man. All these people wanted to do was die in the wilderness, and die they did, with the exception of Caleb, Joshua and most of the Levites. The difference was the spirit that indwelled them. God said about Caleb: "But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it." Those words applied to all those who would enter the promised land: they had a different spirit and they followed the Lord.

The writer of the Hebrew epistle captures the essence of the moment when he says: "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.' Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest.' And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: 'And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.' And again in the passage above he says, 'They shall never enter my rest.' It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience."[ 26 ]

This quote from Hebrews gives a new spiritual dimension to what happens here at the border of Canaan. The Israelites were given the opportunity to enter a land with geographical borders, inhabited by human being that would oppose them. God wants us to enter into a land with spiritual borders, which is called "God's rest," of which the Sabbath was a shadow. Our reaction to the preaching of the Gospel should be that we enter into the rest of God. The result of this is that we cease to live the way we used to live. As the author of the Hebrew epistle said: "for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his." Entering into God's rest by faith means: enjoying God's creation, both old and new.

The verses 36-38 tell us that the spies were punished instantly, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. We are not told exactly what happened, only that they "were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD." The word "plague" can, of course, mean different kinds of disaster; not necessarily the fatal sickness that goes by that name. Since the order God had given was to turn around the next day, those men must have died that same day, which, probably, meant that they did not die of a sickness. Before we question the justice of this swift punishment, we have to remember that those men were guilty of treason. They had not given an honest, objective report about the land, which turned out to be negative, but they had willfully and maliciously twisted the facts. The had said: "The land we explored devours those living in it," and "we saw the Nephilim there." Thus they suggested that the promised land was not what it had been made out to be. God had been trying to sell them a piece of marshland. Their sin was not just a lack of faith, but slander of the integrity of God.

E. Israel Rebels against the Judgment of God 14:39-45

The first reaction of the people upon hearing God's verdict is that they mourned bitterly. But this mourning is followed immediately by another act of rebellion; instead of obeying the command of the Lord and return to the desert, they decided to try to enter the promised land. God told them to go back, but they go forward. The Bible calls this presumption. It was not only and act of disobedience, but in going against the Lord's specific orders, they presumed that the presence of the Lord was not indispensable to conquer the enemy. Before, they overestimated the enemy, by calling them "Nephilim," now they underestimate him. The Apostle John says: "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."[ 27 ] But Peter warns us, saying: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."[ 28 ] We do well to picture our spiritual enemy as a roaring lion, but if the Holy Spirit is in us we have nothing to fear. The danger is the presumption that God is in us when He is not, or to believe that we would be able to face the lion in our own strength. Paul advises us: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-- unless, of course, you fail the test?"[ 29 ] This presumption cost Samson his eyes, and, eventually, his life. We read that when he was betrayed by Delilah: "He awoke from his sleep and thought, 'I'll go out as before and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the LORD had left him."[ 30 ]

The Pulpit Commentary says about the action of the Israelites: "Thus they added to an evil distrust in the power of God an almost more evil trust in their own power. It does not seem correct to say that 'unbelief' was the real cause of both errors – unbelief, first in God's promises, and secondly in his threats. It was rather one of those many cases in which men seek to atone for a fault on one side by rushing into as great a fault on the other side. They spoke brave words about the place which the Lord hath promised,' as though it were indeed obedience and trust which spurred them on, instead of presumption and selfishness."

Adam Clarke's Commentary comments on vs. 40: "Nature, poor, fallen human nature, is ever running into extremes. This miserable people, a short time ago, thought that though they had Omnipotence with them they could not conquer and possess the land! Now they imagine that though God himself go not with them, yet they shall be sufficient to drive out the inhabitants and take possession of their country! Man is ever supposing he can either do all things or do nothing; he is therefore sometimes presumptuous, and at other times in despair."

The expedition ends in a humiliating defeat. Recounting the event forty years later, Moses says: "The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah."[ 31 ] "They chased you like a swarm of bees!" There was not even a resemblance of a fight.

The place name "Hormah" has caused endless problems for Bible scholars. The Pulpit Commentary says: "This mention of Hormah is extremely perplexing." The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary says: "The name was afterward given to that place in memory of the immense slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion." Nobody has been able to pinpoint the location of the place with any amount of certainty, and it seems that the places that have been suggested do not fit the vague description in the text.

The New Unger's Bible Dictionary translates the name Hormah as "a devoted place, destruction." And it adds: "Hormah has not been positively identified, and several leading scholars have their candidates." The point of identification of the local is, of course, of no great importance to our study. Suffice it to understand that Israel was soundly defeated when it tried to enter Canaan in its own strength.

[ 1 ] Deut. 1:27-28

[ 2 ] John 3:16

[ 3 ] I John 4:8

[ 4 ] Rom. 5:8

[ 5 ] II Cor 13:11,14

[ 6 ] Eph. 2:4

[ 7 ] Matt. 7:9-11

[ 8 ] Ps. 121:5

[ 9 ] Ps. 91:1

[ 10 ] Matt. 27:23, 25

[ 11 ] Rev. 6:15-17

[ 12 ] John 14:26

[ 13 ] John 16:13

[ 14 ] Rom. 8:16

[ 15 ] Ex. 34:6-7

[ 16 ] Song of Sol. 8:6

[ 17 ] Ex. 20:4-6

[ 18 ] Rom. 3:23

[ 19 ] Isaiah 11:9; Hab. 2:14

[ 20 ] Isaiah 6:3

[ 21 ] Acts 17:28

[ 22 ] Matt. 11:21-24

[ 23 ] Deut. 1:19

[ 24 ] Rom. 8:31-34

[ 25 ] Ps. 90:3-15

[ 26 ] Heb. 3:7-4:11

[ 27 ] I John 4:4

[ 28 ] I Pet. 5:8

[ 29 ] II Cor. 13:5

[ 30 ] Judg. 16:20

[ 31 ] Deut. 1:44