Numbers 14:20

20 Then the Lord said, "I do forgive, just as you have asked;

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 abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.'

19 Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now."

20 Then the Lord said, "I do forgive, just as you have asked;

21 nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—

22 none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,