Numbers

Numbers 14:1-4

The negative leaders always seem to sway a crowd to the negative twice as easy as anyone could convince folks to have a positive outlook and take a chance.  Doom and gloom is easy to believe and there is always company at that camp.  However, this was no normal situation.  The God who delivered them out of Egypt had brought them to this place of His promise.  They had seen his presence and His miraculous care and provision, yet they join together in complaining. 

These people had a history of complaint and seemed to be looking for something to complain about.  They assumed the presence of the people in the land meant sure death to them.  They forgot that leaving Egypt also meant sure death but God delivered them anyway.  Their fear led the people to apostasy.  Fear will destroy your faith. 

Numbers 14:5-10

Moses and Aaron fall on their faces to beg the congregation to reconsider their rebellion.  They knew the Lord would punish the rebellion.  Joshua and Caleb mourned at the rebellion.  They attempted to get them to understand that it was a good a land.  They were not to fear these people, the Lord would fight them.  Joshua saw them and their work as their future provision.  We can see that Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua and Caleb all had faith in the Lord. 

The congregation decided that stoning these people was a good idea.  There really was no basis for this, it wouldn't fix their situation or change the outcome.  They were disrespecting God.  When the glory of the Lord appeared before Israel, I imagine it silenced the complaints instantly.  Moses and Aaron likely knew what was coming.   

Numbers 14:11-19

What would it take for them to believe God's promises?  The 10 plagues, crossing the Red Sea, the pillar of fire, Manna and much more.  The people wanted to stone Moses.  God wanted to strike the people with pestilence and be done with them.  God would just build another nation – He didn't need Israel, they needed Him. 

Moses interceded for the people, showing himself as a leader to them.  God provided that opportunity for all the people to see that Moses, the one they were about to stone, was pleading for their life before God. 

Moses detailed the Lord's goodness and kindness in His prayer to the Lord, before the people.  He wasn't reminded God, he was reminding the people how awesome God was. 

Numbers 14:20-25

The Lord pardoned their offense, answering Moses' prayer.  All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, these men would not stop it.  The world was to come to know God by the testimony of Israel.  Yet, Israel seems bent on rebellion.  God's reputation and glory was already widely known. 

Because of their repeated test and rebellion, the Lord would not all any of these adults enter the promised land with the exception of Caleb.  He was of a different spirit, one of faith and belief. 

The Lord moved them away from Kadesh toward the wilderness to avoid interaction with the tribes in the land. 

Numbers 14:26-38

We see God's justice and mercy in these passages.  He provides for these rebellious people.  The unrepentant seeds of rebellion are dealt with.  Others, suffer the consequences of their rebellion, but are not judged.  The Lord asked Moses and Aaron how long He should put up with the rebellion.  They were complaining again the God who saved them.  Why didn't they just leave?  Their complaint was that God brought them out into the wilderness to die – in verse three they accused God of even bringing their wives and children out there to die with them.  They were sure of it and seemed compelled to convince others of the same.  The Lord accommodated them and gave them exactly what they expected and accused God of.  He said not a one of them would survive the wilderness.  At least four times (v. 29, 32, 33, 35), the Lord confirmed they would fall in the wilderness.  This was one year for every hour the spies spent in the Promised Land. 

The men who brought the evil report and initiated this latest round of complaint died by a plague from the Lord.  All those 20 years and above would not enter in the land, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb.

Numbers 14:39-45

First they didn't want to go into the land and then they did.  With their rebellious hearts they attempted to overthrow God's punishment.  They realized their sin, after the fact, and decided to go into the land any way.  It was against Moses' warning.  The Lord was not with them and the people of the land drove them back to Hormah, meaning destruction. 

© 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater