Numbers 14:15

15 Now [if] thou shalt kill [all] this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

Numbers 14:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:15

Now [if] thou shall kill [all] this people, as one man
Suddenly, and at once, as might be done by a pestilence; and as 185,000 were smitten at once, and as thought by the same disease, by the Angel of the Lord in the camp of the Assyrians, in later times, ( 2 Kings 19:35 ) ;

then the nations which have heard the fame of thee;
the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others, as Aben Ezra observes; who had heard the report of the wonderful things done by him for Israel, and of the great favours he had bestowed upon them, and so of his power, and goodness, and other perfections displayed therein, which made him appear to be preferable to all the gods of the Gentiles:

will speak, saying;
as follows.

Numbers 14:15 In-Context

13 And Moses said to the LORD, Then the Egyptians will hear [it], (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)

14 And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for] they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud standeth over them, and [that] thou goest before them, by day-time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.

15 Now [if] thou shalt kill [all] this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,