Numbers 14

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email

Read Numbers 14

The People Rebel

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

13 Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. 14 And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, Lord, are with these people and that you, Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,16 ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

17 “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

20 The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,22 not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 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. 25 Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

26 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— 37 these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. 38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

39 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.40 Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”

41 But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Go Deeper

Numbers 14 serves as a powerful lesson and warning to our unbelief. It is kind of God to preserve it so that we can learn and walk forward differently. All throughout Numbers, God has been preparing them for this moment. However, in their fear, they forget everything that they have seen and learned. We are no different.

Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3 warns us that this generation allowed their hearts to be hardened. It didn’t happen suddenly in response to the report from the 12 spies. We get glimpses into the state of their hearts in the chapters leading up to it. Numbers 11:1 opens with, “the people complained about their hardships” and in 11:4 the people “start wailing” because they aren’t content about what the Lord had been providing them for food. There was evidence that they were beginning to forget. They were becoming blinded by their circumstances. God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, parted the Red Sea and then stopped their enemies in pursuit. Their fear and worry has overcome their ability to trust with discernment and wisdom. The Israelites had returned to their slave mentality instead of holding on in faith. They are a sinful people and so are we.

We see a glimpse of Christ, in Moses interceding on their behalf. As a result, God forgives them (v. 20). However, their sin prevented them from entering the fullness of what the Lord had ahead for them. They were warned but they didn’t listen (Numbers 11:28). They were shown a different path but they didn’t chose it (Numbers 13:30).

So what do we do in our fear and unbelief? Both of these emotions are a part of life. We are offered an alternative example in the text. Joshua and Caleb. Numbers 14:24, “Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly.” These two spies saw the same things as the other 10 but believed in God. Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer wrote a study on the journey to the Promised Land, called One In a Million. There were over two million Jews in the wilderness, but only two men believed and therefore God allowed for them to enter the land He had promised. That makes them one in a million.

We too can have a different spirit, knowing that we are no longer slaves to our sinful fears (Romans 6). We surround ourselves with believers who will encourage us and not allow our hearts to harden (Hebrews 3:13). Finally, we will pray for the Spirit to help us in our weakness (Romans 8:26). Let’s be like Caleb and Joshua.

Questions

  1. What did you learn about God from this text?
  2. What are things in your life that you aren’t believing God for? What fears do you have?
  3. Pray right now to God to not let your fear blind you. Go and confess those fears to your community, asking them to help you see what is true.

Watch This

Watch this sermon from Harris Creek on these chapters in Numbers.

Leave a Comment below

Did you learn something today? Share it with our Bible Reading Plan community by commenting below.

Join the Team

Interested in writing for the Bible Reading Plan? Email hello@biblereadingplan.org.

6 thoughts on “Numbers 14”

  1. Out of our comfort zone
    Here is the moral of the story. We don’t really trust God. We easily forget His faithfulness. And, we complain about His timing. Where are you not trusting God? Where are you complaining about His timing?
    Also are we truly repenting or just mourning when we confess sins? Mourning our sins is just regret, oops we got caught. There is not brokeness of spirit or sorrow for the sin. Do we fall on our faces and seek God’s help? Do we turn away from the ‘sin’ and truly repent?
    Pray, pray and pray some more. Seek God, ask for help, truly turn that “sin”, move away from it. Change playgrounds. Get others to pray and intercede, have someone hold you accountable. BUT GOD rich in mercy!! BUT YOU have to truly want it.

    God thank You for Your mercies being new every morning. Thank You that our redemption is not a vertical one but a permanant one through Your son’s blood that washes it complete, completely away. God as I turn from my sin, thank You for helping me with a new desire to see Your Kingdom come here and now. Give me boldness and the words that will be edifing to and about You, to speak. God I enter Your gates with thanksgiving, and Your courts with praise. Giving thanks to You,I bless Your name (Psalm 100:4). God thank You for today, these minutes of this day, God I desire to abide in You. God guide, lead and direct my path, along with my words for Your glory and honor in Jesus name amen
    WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. 4 “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

    At the beginning of the chapter, the congregation is saying they want to go back to Egypt (and slavery), but at the end of the chapter they want to prematurely go into the Promised Land. In neither case are they pursuing God’s guidance, but just their own restless desires. Not good!

    My lesson: Be content with uncertainty. Pursue God’s guidance.

  3. This chapter reveals the depravity of humanity and the holiness of God. We, by nature, are fickle, fearful, forgetful and rebellious. Yet God who is patient, loving, powerful, holy and just, cannot tolerate our sin. We were created in the image of God to be in relationship with him. Sin fractures and separates us from him, and the consequences are devastating. Let’s be diligent to cast off sin that entangles and strangles our fellowship with God.

  4. Call, what’s interesting? Is that the Lord forgives not initially because of Moses and then he strikes him down but then he’s not willing to forgive him a second time when they actually wanna do it… I mean, I get it. We deserve nothing and especially after that disobedience God can do whatever he wants.

    They’re also is some mystery though because God has always forgive us and will continue to forgive us as we sit in the future, but it’s by the atonement of Jesus, of course… why not just forgive these people one more time and then let them go in the promised land why be short with them now after all this way? after one slip up?

    From a theological point of view, it makes you question things

  5. Diane Frances Rogers

    5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes.
    I can relate to these actions due to the Israelites unbelief because when I hear complaining and doubt, I can just imagine how we hurt God’s heart.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.