Numbers 14:20

20 The LORD said, "I forgive them, 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...patient, forever loving....He forgives wrongdoing and disobedience....He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children...for their parents' sins to the third and fourth generation....'

19 By your great love, please forgive these people's sins, as you have been forgiving them from the time they left Egypt until now."

20 The LORD said, "I forgive them, as you have asked.

21 But as I live and as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, I solemnly swear that

22 none of the people who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I did in Egypt and in the desert will see the land which I promised their ancestors. They have tested me now ten times and refused to obey me.