Numbers 14

Numbers 14

After the negative report from several of the spies, the people of Israel decide that it would have been best for them to have remained in Egypt. They no longer believe that they will one day inherit the land that God had promised them. So they cry out against Moses, and then Aaron, demanding to find a new leader that will take them back to their slavery in Egypt. So Joshua and Caleb step in to calm the people down, telling them that they believe that God will still give them the land. They knew that God had promised the Israelites that they would be able to overcome all the peoples that inhabited Canaan at that time so that the Israelites could re-inherit the land. So they asked the people to reconsider, remember what God had done for them, remember His promises to them, and get ready to conquer the land. But the people cried out against them as well, threatening to stone them. So God interceded by proclaiming that because of their lack of trust in Him, He was going to destroy the people of Israel and start over again with Moses. Look back at Numbers 13 for an explanation on why we must be careful at becoming angry with the Israelites (remember that we do the same thing sometimes).

Moses then spoke with God, asking Him to reconsider. Moses did not intercede because of the people primarily. He did not intercede for his own life either. Moses interceded on their behalf primarily for God’s name, for His glory. He was concerned that if God struck down His own people that the nations around who had heard of His great power and how He provided for the Israelites would begin to question His power. God would lose credibility with the other nations, and they would not turn to Him. Remember that God had said all the nations would be blessed through Israel. God’s big picture plan was to redeem all the nations unto Himself, but He began with Israel. As a result of this discussion, God decided that He would pardon Israel for the sake of His name, for the sake of His glory. It is important to understand that He did not spare their lives because of something they had done or because they deserved it. He spared them in order to show that He will always uphold His end of the covenant (even when we break our end). He spared them in order to preserve His name among the nations.

Although God spared them from His wrath at this moment, He also let them know that there would be consequences for their actions. As a result of their continual lack of faith in God, He would no longer allow them to enter the land. He still held to His promise that Abraham’s descendants would one day enter the land, but that day would not come for another 40 years. God was going to kill off every person in Israel that was 20 years of age or older. That meant that all the children would become the new leaders of Israel by the time they entered the Promised Land. The only other exceptions were Moses, Caleb, and Joshua at this time. Because of their faithfulness to God, they would still be protected and allowed entrance into the land. It is not always easy to do the right thing, especially when everyone else around you is trying to lead you in the wrong direction. But these 3 men stood against the rest of the people and held fast to what they knew was true. As a result, God chose to protect them and allow them to lead His people in the coming years.

After hearing these words, the people were greatly distressed, and they decided that they would basically test God. Moses had just told them that they would never be able to inherit the land, but they decided to try it anyways. So they marched into the land for battle, only to find that the Lord did not go with them (as He had already told them). Many died that day, trying to possess the land that God had refused to give to that generation of people. Within a day of God’s judgment and Moses’ prophesy that none of them would inherit the land, a great number of Israelites died in the wilderness. As if the sudden lack of trust in God was not bad enough, now the Israelites were blatantly disobeying God’s Word.

Matt