Numbers 14:20

20 Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them as you have requested.

Numbers 14:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:20

And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word.
] So as not to kill them utterly as one man: which is an instance of his being plenteous in mercy, and ready to forgive; and of the virtue and efficacy of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, and of the great regard the Lord has to the prayers of a good man for others. The Jerusalem Targum is,

``and the Word of the Lord said, lo, I have remitted and forgiven according to thy word;''

which must be understood of Christ, the essential Word, and shows, according to the sense of the Targumist, that he has a power to forgive sin, and must be a divine Person, for none can forgive sin but God; see ( Mark 2:7 Mark 2:10 ) .

Numbers 14:20 In-Context

18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’

19 In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

20 Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them as you have requested.

21 But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD ’s glory,

22 not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.