Numbers 32:15

15 If you turn away from him, he will turn away again to abandon Israel in the desert. Then you will destroy this entire people."

Numbers 32:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:15

For if ye turn away from after him
From following him in the way of his commandments, from attending his word, worship, and ordinances, and from walking after him, who went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire, as it is suggested they would, should they stop short here and not go over Jordan into the land of Canaan:

he will yet again leave them in the wilderness;
as he did at the time of the affair of the spies, when they were ordered to turn and get into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, and where they had been ever since unto this time, ( Numbers 14:25 ) ,

and ye shall destroy all this people;
be the cause of their destruction, if the Lord should in such a manner resent this step of theirs, as to order them back into the wilderness again, though they were now as they were before, on the border of the land of Canaan.

Numbers 32:15 In-Context

13 The LORD became angry with the Israelites and made them wander in the desert for forty years until the entire generation had died, which had done evil in the LORD's eyes.

14 Now you've taken the place of your ancestors, a group of sinful men, to intensify the LORD's anger against Israel.

15 If you turn away from him, he will turn away again to abandon Israel in the desert. Then you will destroy this entire people."

16 So they approached him and said, "We will build walled enclosures here for our livestock and towns for our children.

17 Then we will eagerly fight in front of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Our children will live in the fortified cities because of the land's inhabitants.