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Text -- Numbers 14:1-36 (NET)
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Context
The Israelites Respond in Unbelief
14:1 Then all the community raised a loud cry , and the people wept that night .
14:2 And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron , and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt , or if only we had perished in this wilderness !
14:3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword , that our wives and our children should become plunder ? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt ?”
14:4 So they said to one another , “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt .”
14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground before the whole assembled community of the Israelites .
14:6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh , two of those who had investigated the land , tore their garments .
14:7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites , “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land .
14:8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us– a land that is flowing with milk and honey .
14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord , and do not fear the people of the land , for they are bread for us. Their protection has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”
14:10 However, the whole community threatened to stone them. But the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting .
The Punishment from God
14:11 The Lord said to Moses , “How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?
14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence , and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”
14:13 Moses said to the Lord , “When the Egyptians hear it– for you brought up this people by your power from among them–
14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land . They have heard that you , Lord , are among this people , that you , Lord , are seen face to face , that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night .
14:15 If you kill this entire people at once , then the nations that have heard of your fame will say ,
14:16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness .’
14:17 So now , let the power of my Lord be great , just as you have said ,
14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love , forgiving iniquity and transgression , but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’
14:19 Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love , just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now .”
14:20 Then the Lord said , “I have forgiven them as you asked .
14:21 But truly , as I live , all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord .
14:22 For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness , and yet have tempted me now these ten times , and have not obeyed me ,
14:23 they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers , nor will any of them who despised me see it.
14:24 Only my servant Caleb , because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully – I will bring him into the land where he had gone , and his descendants will possess it.
14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys .) Tomorrow , turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea .”
14:26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron :
14:27 “How long must I bear with this evil congregation that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.
14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live , says the Lord , I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing .
14:29 Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered , according to your full number , from twenty years old and upward , who have murmured against me.
14:30 You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun .
14:31 But I will bring in your little ones , whom you said would become victims of war , and they will enjoy the land that you have despised .
14:32 But as for you , your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness ,
14:33 and your children will wander in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness , until your dead bodies lie finished in the wilderness .
14:34 According to the number of the days you have investigated this land , forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for your iniquities , forty years , and you will know what it means to thwart me.
14:35 I , the Lord , have said , “I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished , and there they will die !”’”
14:36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land , who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing an evil report about the land ,
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Moses |
Caleb |
Apostasy |
Complaint |
EXODUS, THE BOOK OF, 2 |
Exodus |
Israel |
NUMBERS, BOOK OF |
Intercession |
Disobedience to God |
Judgments |
Sin |
WANDERINGS OF ISRAEL |
Trouble |
Unpardonable Sin |
Holy Spirit |
Reprobacy |
Wandering |
Government |
Infidelity |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Num 14:1; Num 14:1; Num 14:1; Num 14:2; Num 14:2; Num 14:2; Num 14:4; Num 14:4; Num 14:4; Num 14:4; Num 14:5; Num 14:5; Num 14:7; Num 14:8; Num 14:9; Num 14:9; Num 14:10; Num 14:10; Num 14:10; Num 14:10; Num 14:11; Num 14:11; Num 14:12; Num 14:13; Num 14:14; Num 14:14; Num 14:15; Num 14:15; Num 14:17; Num 14:18; Num 14:18; Num 14:18; Num 14:18; Num 14:19; Num 14:19; Num 14:20; Num 14:21; Num 14:22; Num 14:22; Num 14:22; Num 14:23; Num 14:24; Num 14:25; Num 14:27; Num 14:27; Num 14:28; Num 14:28; Num 14:28; Num 14:28; Num 14:29; Num 14:30; Num 14:30; Num 14:30; Num 14:31; Num 14:31; Num 14:33; Num 14:33; Num 14:33; Num 14:34; Num 14:34; Num 14:36
NET Notes: Num 14:1 There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repen...
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NET Notes: Num 14:4 The form is a cohortative with a vav (ו) prefixed. After the preceding cohortative this could also be interpreted as a purpose or result clause ...
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NET Notes: Num 14:7 The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”
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NET Notes: Num 14:8 The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (...
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NET Notes: Num 14:9 Heb “their shade.” The figure compares the shade from the sun with the protection from the enemy. It is also possible that the text is all...
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NET Notes: Num 14:11 The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. T...
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NET Notes: Num 14:13 The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequenc...
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NET Notes: Num 14:14 “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possi...
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NET Notes: Num 14:17 The form in the text is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay), the word that is usually used in place of the tetragrammato...
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NET Notes: Num 14:18 The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are pass...
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NET Notes: Num 14:19 The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.
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NET Notes: Num 14:23 The word אִם (’im) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In...
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NET Notes: Num 14:25 The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who ...
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NET Notes: Num 14:27 It is worth mentioning in passing that this is one of the Rabbinic proof texts for having at least ten men to form a congregation and have prayer. If ...
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NET Notes: Num 14:28 They had expressed the longing to have died in the wilderness, and not in war. God will now give them that. They would not say to God “your will...
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NET Notes: Num 14:33 The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express...
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NET Notes: Num 14:34 The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּ...
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