Numbers 14

Oh, how quickly our faith falters when we begin putting our hope, trust, and confidence in human words instead of what God has already said. After hearing the discouraging report from ten of the twelve spies, as documented in Numbers 13, “all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?’ And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt’” (14:1-4). Can you imagine desiring to go back to the burden of slavery to avoid a path that leads to a land that God has promised to you? We may scoff at the idea, but so often people choose the seemingly easier path that leads to destruction instead of the way of Jesus that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).  

Joshua and Caleb, the two other spies sent into Canaan, courageously spoke out against this mounting unbelief, reminding the people of Israel that, as long as the LORD was on their side, victory over the current inhabitants of the Promised Land was assured (vv. 6-9). How were these two men able to exhibit such faith in God? Keep in mind that they had experienced God delivering the Israelites from the yoke of slavery in Egypt, where God displayed His wonderful, mighty, miraculous power in several ways. From that personal encounter, they both had intimate knowledge of who God was and what He could do. Seeing God orchestrate the circumstances surrounding the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt surely had to have strengthened the faith of Joshua and Caleb. As a result, the next time they experienced a seemingly insurmountable situation, they were resolute in their confidence that God would do exactly what He said He would do (bring the Israelites into the Promised Land, in this case). 

Instead of recalling God’s faithfulness themselves, the Israelites’ response to Joshua and Caleb’s exhortation was to stone them, as their collective minds were already made up that moving on toward Canaan was not an option. Fortunately for the two faithful spies, God intervened as His glory “appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.’” (vv. 10-12). Moses wasn’t concerned with prominence, status, or making a name for himself. Instead, he pleads with God to abstain from His impending judgment, appealing to God’s great name, steadfast love, and merciful heart.

God does relent of disavowing Himself from the people of Israel and sending sickness among the camp (which shows prayer matters), but the Israelites would not be exempt from discipline for their rebellion. Specifically, God tells the congregation that only their little children would inherit the Promised Land, and only after forty years wandering in the wilderness would they do so (vv. 31, 33). What about the rest of the people? God declared of them that “your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun” (vv. 29-30). Moreover, the ten spies who brought back a poor report to the camp died immediately at the hand of the LORD (v. 37). Let this be a reminder that it is only those who endure in faith who will be saved (Matthew 24:13). 

“When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly” (v. 39). From their subsequent actions, however, it appears their sorrow was more about the consequences of their sin rather than the sin itself. Resolved now to take hold of their once-promised inheritance, the unfaithful Israelites take it upon themselves to go into the land and fight against its inhabitants. Moses cautions the people not to do so, warning them that God would not be with them. But the people press on and quickly experience defeat. This final passage from Numbers 14 reveals to us that “Israel, guided by God, was an entirely different proposition from Israel attempting to realize the purposes of God without Him.”[i] How true this is of followers of Jesus today as well. We know from experience that we will fall flat on our faces and fail when attempting to do things for God in our own strength, but with God on our side, all things are possible (Philippians 4:13). Will you trust Him?  

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Journal responses to the following prompts:

·       Has there been a time when your faith faltered as you put your hope, trust, and confidence in human words instead of what God had already said? 

·       What would have been your response to Joshua and Caleb’s encouragement to trust in God instead of the disheartening report from the other ten spies? 

[i] Morgan, G. C. (2010). Exposition of the whole Bible. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 68.