Numbers · chapter 14 of 36
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Numbers 14 tells how the people, frightened by the spies' report, weep all night and want to go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb urge them to trust the Lord, but the congregation wants to stone them. God threatens to destroy the people, Moses intercedes and the Lord pardons, but he decrees that that generation will die in the wilderness over forty years, and only Caleb and Joshua will enter the land.
Numbers 13 ended with a divided report: Caleb called the people to go up, the other ten sowed fear. In chapter 14 the outcome is seen. It is the turning point of the book: the people who left Egypt and received the law at Sinai reject the promise that was almost within sight, and a journey of days will become forty years. But the chapter also shows the mercy of God.
The whole congregation raises its voice and weeps that night. They grumble against Moses and Aaron and say they wish they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They ask why the Lord is bringing them to the land only to die by the sword, and they propose choosing a leader and returning to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces. Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and urge the people not to rebel or fear the inhabitants, because their protection has been removed and the Lord is with them. The congregation talks of stoning them, but then the glory of the Lord appears at the tent of meeting.
The Lord asks Moses how long the people will despise him and proposes to strike them down and make Moses into a greater nation. Moses intercedes: if God kills this people, the nations will say he was not able to bring them into the land. He appeals to the Lord's character, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and asks for pardon. The Lord answers that he pardons according to Moses' word, but that none of those who saw his signs and tested him ten times will see the land. Caleb, who has a different spirit and followed the Lord fully, will enter.
The judgment is made concrete: the bodies of those twenty and older will fall in the wilderness, and their children will enter, but they must bear the burden of their unfaithfulness for forty years, a year for each day of the exploration. The ten spies die of a plague; only Joshua and Caleb live. The people mourn, and the next morning they try to go up on their own, though Moses warns that the Lord is not with them. The Amalekites and the Canaanites defeat them as far as Hormah.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The people wish they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness and accuse the Lord of bringing them to die by the sword. The rebellion goes so far as to prefer slavery, and fear makes them doubt God's goodness.
Joshua and Caleb urge the people not to rebel or fear the inhabitants, because their cover has been removed and the Lord is with Israel. Their faith does not deny the danger but places it under God's care.
Moses reminds the Lord that he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, yet by no means clearing the guilty. This prayer joins forgiveness and justice, and it returns throughout the Old Testament.
The forty days of exploration become forty years of wandering, a year for each day. The sentence is proportionate and serves to teach that generation the consequences of their unbelief.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Choose a leader and go back to Egypt. — Numbers 14:4
Answer: They tore their clothes and urged the people not to rebel or fear, because the Lord was with them. — Numbers 14:6-9
Answer: Strike them with pestilence and make Moses into a greater nation. — Numbers 14:12
Answer: That he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. — Numbers 14:18
Answer: Because he had a different spirit and followed the Lord fully. — Numbers 14:24
Answer: Forty years, a year for each of the forty days of exploration. — Numbers 14:34
Numbers 14 shows that unbelief is never only an inner matter: it has consequences for a whole generation. The people prefer fear to the promise and pay the price. In Sunday school you can ask where you are listening more to fear than to God's word today. There is also a warning against late and misdirected repentance: going up the mountain without the Lord was another mistake.
But the chapter also teaches us to intercede. Moses does not abandon the people or defend their rebellion: he appeals to God's character and asks for pardon. And God pardons. Believers can pray for their families, churches and communities with the same confidence in a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Numbers 14 leaves a generation condemned to wander the wilderness and God, even so, faithful to his promise for the children. Numbers 15 opens the section of laws for the new generation, with instructions about offerings to be given when they enter the land.
Because, even after seeing the signs in Egypt and receiving the promise, the people despised God's word and refused to trust. The text sums it up by saying they had tested him ten times. God pardoned them, but the consequence of their unbelief was that they would not see the land.
They went up on their own although Moses told them the Lord was not with them, and the ark did not leave the camp. The Amalekites and the Canaanites defeated them and chased them as far as Hormah. Without God's presence, their effort was futile.