Numbers 14:3

3 Why did Yahweh bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little children will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return [to] Egypt?"

Numbers 14:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:3

Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land
Unto the borders of it: their murmuring did not cease at Moses and Aaron, the instruments, but proceeded against God himself, who had done such wonderful things for them, not only in bringing them out of Egypt, but since they had been in the wilderness; and yet so ungrateful to complain of him and argue with him about favours bestowed on them, as if they were injuries done to them; and particularly as if God had no other intention in bringing them out of Egypt to the place where they were, but

to fall by the sword:
the sword of the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan adds:

that our wives and our children shall be a prey?
to the same people; they supposed they should be killed, their wives abused, and their children made slaves of:

were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
and so escape the hands of the inhabitants of Canaan, of whom they had terrible apprehensions from the report made of them.

Numbers 14:3 In-Context

1 Then all the community {lifted up their voices}, and the people wept during that night.

2 And all the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and all the community said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt or in this desert!

3 Why did Yahweh bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little children will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return [to] Egypt?"

4 {They said to each other}, "Let us appoint a leader, and we will return [to] Egypt."

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces {before} the assembly of the community of the {Israelites}.