Numbers 14:11-3911And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? 12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. 13And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. 17And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 18The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. 19Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. 20And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: 24But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 25(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 26And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 28Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. 32But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. 36And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord. 38But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. 39And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. (Numbers 14:11‑39)
ISRAEL were now only a step from Canaan; but in their rebellion they refused to go into the land. Then the glory of the Lord appeared. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? How long will it be before they believe me? “I will smite them with pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.”
It is wonderful to see the spirit in which Moses intercedes now for the people. He has not a thought for himself and will not hear of being made anything of. His first thought is, What will the Egyptians say and the inhabitants of the land? The Lord’s word and honor is what fills his heart; and to keep His name from being dishonored he prays that Israel might be forgiven.
The nations, he says, would say that the Lord was not able to bring the people into the land. He clings to God’s own words and to His ways of mercy and grace with Israel all the way from Egypt until now. He had spared them this far; it was unthinkable that He would give them up now.
It is indeed wonderful to hear Moses thus taking God at His word, telling Him that according to the character He had given of Himself He must act in mercy and long-suffering. And it is very beautiful to see how he always comforts himself by what God is in Himself. Here was one who had come to know the Lord and he loved and trusted Him with his whole heart.
God hears Moses’ prayer and passes over the people’s sin, while maintaining His own honor. He would pardon and show mercy, but He would by no means clear the guilty; for, said He, those men who have seen My glory and My miracles, and have tempted Me these ten times and have not obeyed My voice, they shall not see the land. Every one that was numbered from twenty years old and upward should die in the wilderness.
However, Caleb would live and go in and possess the land because he had fully followed the Lord. Joshua too would live.
We read in verse 10 that “the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation bore all the children of Israel.” In a coming day God who ever maintains the honor of His name, will show mercy to Israel but will display His righteousness in judgment. Then His glory shall fill the earth. For a time Israel have been driven from the land; the ungodly shall never possess it. But there is mercy for “the little ones” — the remnant, who shall enter in and possess that good land. How sweet to see in Moses the Spirit of Christ pleading for His people that these purposes of love might all be brought to pass.
ML-10/07/1973