Numbers 13 & 14 (selected)
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Summary
- The people are unwilling to trust God to give them the land of Canaan. Because of this, they must remain in the wilderness until all who didn't trust him are dead.
Details and/or Comments
- Twelve men were sent to spy on the land of Canaan – to find out what it was like, to get information about the people and the crops.
- The people focus on the size of the people in the land, rather than on God's power and greatness, even though they had witnessed his power and greatness many times.
- Once sin occurs, there are CONSEQUENCES which cannot be undone, even if there is repentance or remorse.
Scripture
Numbers 13:23-33; 14:6-11, 17-24, 27-45 – Giant things in the land of Canaan; consequences of sin.
- See also: God Fights for His People. The people had already seen examples of this happening (such as when they crossed the Red Sea - Exodus 14:13-14). But when they refused to trust God, God refused to fight for them.
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Num 13:23 They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
Num 13:24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from there. Num 13:25 They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. |
HUGE grapes! |
| Num 13:26 They went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Num 13:27 They told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit. |
Acknowledge the huge grapes, i.e., a land of plenty. |
| Num 13:28 However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Num 13:29 Amalek dwells in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan. |
… But there's also HUGE people! |
| Num 13:30 Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. | Focus on the power of God and trust him for the victory... |
| Num 13:31 But the men who went up with him said, We aren't able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Num 13:32 They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature. Num 13:33 There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. |
… or focus on the size of the people and be fearful.
Nothing in the Scriptures that came later would suggest that there were very many really huge people in the land. They were the exception, rather than the rule! The people have to decide where their focus will be - which is a reflection of their values. |
The people do not trust God; they complain and want to return to Egypt.
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Num 14:6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes:
Num 14:7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. Num 14:8 If Yahweh delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. Num 14:9 Only don't rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us: don't fear them. Num 14:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. ... |
“Trust GOD, don't be rebellious!” (After all, God has repeatedly said that he would do the fighting, and that he would give Israel the land!)
The people refuse to trust God, who has made such promises. |
| ... The glory of Yahweh appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
Num 14:11 Yahweh said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them? |
God threatens to destroy the people; and they deserve it!
They have seen his power displayed so often, they had no excuse. |
Moses intervenes on their behalf.
| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Num 14:17 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
Num 14:18 Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation. Num 14:19 Pardon, Please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. |
Moses appeals to God on the basis of God's very description of himself (in Exodus 34). |
| Num 14:20 Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to your word:
Num 14:21 but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh; Num 14:22 because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; Num 14:23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it: Num 14:24 but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it. |
God pardons, so they are not immediately destroyed. But the people who did the rebelling will never enter the land of Canaan (basically everyone over 20 years of age).
Verse 22 – more description of the revelation the people had seen (and ignored/rejected). "Ten times" probably refers to the "complete" (or full) number of instances. (It did not have to be the exact number.)
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| Scripture Passage | Comments and Links |
| Num 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Num 14:28 Tell them, As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you: Num 14:29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, Num 14:30 surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. Num 14:31 But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. Num 14:32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Num 14:33 Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. Num 14:34 After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation. Num 14:35 I, Yahweh, have spoken, surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. |
The people will be given the very thing they claimed would happen to them (rather than what God would have given them, if they had trusted him).
"Prostitution" - God was to be like a husband to Israel. Their refusal to be faithful to God (by their rebellion) was "spiritual prostitution." |
| Num 14:36 The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,
Num 14:37 even those men who did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh. Num 14:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. |
Those who tempted the people to rebel were killed by the plague. |
| Num 14:39 Moses told these words to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
Num 14:40 They rose up early in the morning, and got them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned. Num 14:41 Moses said, Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, seeing it shall not prosper? Num 14:42 Don't go up, for Yahweh isn't among you; that you not be struck down before your enemies. Num 14:43 For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because you are turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you. Num 14:44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, didn't depart out of the camp. Num 14:45 Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down, even to Hormah. |
Repentance (or remorse) DOES NOT CHANGE THE CONSEQUENCES. |
11:(1-9, 18-23, 31-34) • Ch. 13 & 14 (selected) • 16:23-35, 41-50 • 20:2-12 • 21:4-9 • 22:21-35 |
Scripture Passages
(Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.)
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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——
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The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.
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Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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