They were almost there:
So near and yet so far!
What happened?
The report of the spies was devastating!
(Num 14:1 NKJV) So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
The people turn to complaining again.
(Num 14:2) And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! . . . (4) So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."
Moses and Aaron “Speak.”
(Num 14:5) Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
Caleb and Joshua Speak
(Num 14:8) "If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.' {9} "Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them."
Note the people’s response to this great plea!
(Num 14:10) And all the congregation said to stone them with stones.
That’s it!
They just crossed the line,
and there is no return!
It’s judgment day!
It’s over!
They lose!
There is now no place for repentance!
It’s too late for that!
God speaks in judgment: the verdict!
Here He is:
(Num 14:10b) Now the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. {11} Then the LORD said to Moses: "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed 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:
(Num 14:19) "Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
God Responds:
(Num 14:20) Then the LORD said: "I have pardoned, according to your word;
(Num 14:21) "but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD; {22} "because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice,
Now the Verdict—On the guilty:
(Num 14:23) "they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
Now the Verdict—for the innocent:
(Num 14:24) "But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.
[further verdict for the guilty] {25} "Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea."
This begins the Wilderness Wandering
More details of the Verdict for the guilty:
(Num 14:26) And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, {27} [Reason for the verdict] "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.
Restating the Verdict and clarifying the guilty:
(Num 14:28) "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:
Remember what they said!
(Num 14:2) And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
(Num 14:29) 'The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
More clarification of the innocent:
(Num 14:30) 'Except for [1] Caleb the son of Jephunneh and [2] Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. {31} 'But [3] your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
“The land which you have despised.”
Would they have said they despised the land? The ten faithless spies had said,
(Num 13:27) Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.”
That was the “good news!”
Now here comes their “bad news!”
(Num 13:28-33 NKJV) "Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
“So how had they despised the land?”
They had despised it in that they were not willing to make the sacrifices, and the effort needed to secure the land for their possession.
(Num 14:32) 'But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. {33} 'And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
‘Your sons shall bear the brunt of your infidelity’
This was not because of the sins of the children, but innocent children often bear the brunt of their parents sins or mistakes.
Why “in the wilderness forty years”
(Num 14:34) 'According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
‘for each day you shall bear your guilt one year’
This is a principle which is often used in prophecy as well.
(Dan 9:24-25 NKJV) "Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. {25} "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.”
I thought I had presented this dating in an earlier lesson, but I could not find it. The dating is very accurate if the 69 weeks are multiplied by 7days/week, we get a span of 483 years which is very close, if not exact, as to the time this was fulfilled. The day for a year is a key to under-standing some prophetic scriptures, but we will not go into further details at this time.
“you shall know My rejection.”
This is a final verdict.
The people took rejecting God very lightly. Now they will understand what it means to be rejected by God.
(Num 14:35) 'I the LORD have spoken this; I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.'" {36} Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land,
(Num 14:37) those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the LORD. {38} But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.
“. . .died by the plague before the LORD.”
Some translations have “a plague” instead of “the plague.” I am not sure which one is more accurate. If “a plague” is correct, then this would appear to be an immediate judgment. If it is “the plague,” I would think it is referring to a plague with more details elsewhere such as we have in Numbers 16. In either case, these died immediately, or very soon. They did not wander and die a natural death.
(Num 14:39) Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
“The people mourned greatly,” but they did not truly repent or seek God’s forgiveness. Instead their defiance continues. If they are told to go, they won’t go. It told to stay, they decide to go.
(Num 14:40) And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned!"
What the people are saying in this verse makes no sense: “we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised”—His promise has been withdrawn!
for we have sinned!" So why sin further by doing what He says not to do? What would have happened had they truly repented? We’ll never know in this life time. God might have forgiven them, we do not know. They didn’t try that because of their heart—their attitude!
Moses tried to convince them not to go.
(Num 14:41) And Moses said, "Now why do you transgress the command of the LORD? For this will not succeed. {42} "Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the LORD is not among you.
(Num 14:43) "For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned away from the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." {44} But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop; nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses departed from the camp.
There was nothing to indicate God’s blessings, His Presence, or His Guidance.
They were alone.
They should have known what the results would be.
They weren’t thinking right.
They soon realized the mistake they had made.
(Num 14:45) Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as Hormah.
(Deu 1:42-45) "And the LORD said to me, 'Tell them, "Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies."' (Deu 1:43) "So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain. {44} "And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. {45} "Then you returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.
(Heb 3:7-12 NKJV) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, {8} Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, {9} Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. {10} Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' {11} So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" {12} Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
My Sunday Evening Lessons Bible Study with Harley