Numbers 14 Footnotes

14:20-38 The Lord spares the present generation from the immediate judgment it deserves for the sake of the next generation which would inherit the promised land. The entire generation of men of military age would die during the wilderness sojourn (those age sixty or above) with the exception of the faithful spies Caleb and Joshua.

Was God’s judgment on the people too severe? The text emphasizes their repeated rebellion against God (ten times) to which he has now responded. In rejecting entry into the promised land, they were rejecting an essential part of their covenant with Yahweh, a covenant which was in turn founded in the Lord’s covenant with Abraham (Gn 12:1-3,7; 13:14-18; 15:18-21; 17:7-8).