Numbers 14:5-15

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces [to the ground] in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community.

6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes

7 and said to the entire Israelite community: "The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.^[a]

8 If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,^[b] and give it to us.

9 Only don't rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.^[c] Their protection^[d] has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don't be afraid of them!"

10 While the whole community threatened to stone them,^[e] the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

God's Judgment of Israel's Rebellion

11 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?^[f]

12 I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are."^[g]

13 But Moses replied to the Lord, "The Egyptians will hear about it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from them.

14 They will tell [it to] the inhabitants of this land.^[h] They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, how You, Lord, are seen face to face, how Your cloud stands over them, and how You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^[i]

15 If You kill this people with a single blow,^{[j] [k]} the nations that have heard of Your fame^[l] will declare,

Numbers 14:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 14

This chapter treats or the murmurings of the children of Israel upon the evil report of the spies, which greatly distressed Moses and Aaron, Nu 14:1-5; and of the endeavours of Joshua and Caleb to quiet the minds of the people with a good account of the land, and of the easy conquest of it, but to no purpose, Nu 14:6-10; and of the Lord's threatening to destroy the people with the pestilence, Nu 14:11,12; and of the intercession of Moses for them, which so far succeeded as to prevent their immediate destruction, Nu 14:13-20; nevertheless they are assured again and again, in the strongest terms, that none of them but Joshua and Caleb should enter into the land, but their carcasses should fall in the wilderness, even all the murmurers of twenty years old and upwards, Nu 14:21-35; and the ten men that brought the evil report of the good land died of a plague immediately, but the other two lived, Nu 14:36-38; and the body of the people that attempted to go up the mountain and enter the land were smitten and discomfited by their enemies, after they had with concern heard what the Lord threatened them with, Nu 14:39-45.

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 13:27; Ex 3:8; Dt 1:25; 3:25
• [b]. Nm 13:17; 16:13-14; Ex 3:8; Lv 20:24
• [c]. Nm 14:3
• [d]. Ps 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 63:7; 91:1; Isa 49:2; 51:16
• [e]. Ex 17:4; Mt 23:37
• [f]. Nm 14:22; Ex 4:1-12:31; 14:11,21-22
• [g]. Gn 12:2; Ex 32:10
• [h]. Ex 15:13-15; Dt 2:25
• [i]. Nm 9:16-17; Ex 13:21-22; Dt 1:33
• [j]. Lit people as one man
• [k]. Ex 32:9-12
• [l]. Dt 2:25; Jos 2:10; 9:9; Isa 66:19; Hab 3:2