Numbers 14:1-28

The Israelites Respond in Unbelief

14:1 ¹ Then all the community raised a loud cry, ²  and the people wept ³  that night. 14:2 And all the Israelites murmured ⁴  against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died ⁵  in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished ⁶  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, ⁷  “Let’s appoint ⁸  a leader ⁹  and return ¹⁰  to Egypt.”

14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground ¹¹  before the whole assembled community ¹²  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 ¹³  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  14:9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. ¹⁵  Their protection ¹⁶  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. ¹⁷  But ¹⁸  the glory ¹⁹  of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent ²⁰  of meeting.

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ²¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, ²³  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 ²⁴  it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them – 14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ²⁵  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ²⁶  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 ²⁷  this entire people at once, ²⁸  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 ²⁹  be great, just as you have said, 14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ³⁰  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ³¹  but by no means clearing ³²  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ³³  14:19 Please forgive ³⁴  the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, ³⁵  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. ³⁶  14:21 But truly, as I live, ³⁷  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 ³⁸  me now these ten times, ³⁹  and have not obeyed me, ⁴⁰  14:23 they will by no means ⁴¹  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 ⁴²  will possess it. 14:25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.) ⁴³  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 ⁴⁴  with this evil congregation ⁴⁵  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, ⁴⁶  says ⁴⁷  the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. ⁴⁸ 

[14:1]  ¹ sn This chapter forms part of the story already begun. There are three major sections here: dissatisfaction with the reports (vv. 1-10), the threat of divine punishment (vv. 11-38), and the defeat of the Israelites (vv. 39-45). See K. D. Sakenfeld, “The Problem of Divine Forgiveness in Num 14,” CBQ 37 (1975): 317-30; also J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 1-10.

[14:1]  ² tn The two verbs “lifted up their voice and cried” form a hendiadys; the idiom of raising the voice means that they cried aloud.

[14:1]  ³ tn There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repentance, but here it reflects fear, hopelessness, or vexation at the thought of coming all this way and being defeated by the Canaanite armies. See Judg 20:23, 26.

[14:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord.

[14:2]  ⁵ tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God.

[14:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “died.”

[14:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man to his brother.”

[14:4]  ⁸ tn The verb is נָתַן (natan, “to give”), but this verb has quite a wide range of meanings in the Bible. Here it must mean “to make,” “to choose,” “to designate” or the like.

[14:4]  ⁹ tn The word “head” (רֹאשׁ, ro’sh) probably refers to a tribal chief who was capable to judge and to lead to war (see J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 [1969]: 1-10).

[14:4]  ¹⁰ tn 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 – in order that we may return.

[14:5]  ¹¹ sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign Lord. They are not bowing before the people here, but in front of the people they bow before God. According to Num 17:6-15 this prostration is for the purpose of intercessory prayer. Here it prevents immediate wrath from God.

[14:5]  ¹² tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”

[14:7]  ¹³ tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].”

[14:8]  ¹⁴ tn 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 (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3).

[14:9]  ¹⁵ sn The expression must indicate that they could destroy the enemies as easily as they could eat bread.

[14:9]  ¹⁶ tn 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 alluding to their deities here.

[14:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “said to stone them with stones.” The verb and the object are not from the same root, but the combination nonetheless forms an emphasis equal to the cognate accusative.

[14:10]  ¹⁸ tn The vav (ו) on the noun “glory” indicates a strong contrast, one that interrupts their threatened attack.

[14:10]  ¹⁹ sn The glory of the Lord refers to the reality of the Lord’s presence in a manifestation of his power and splendor. It showed to all that God was a living God. The appearance of the glory indicated blessing for the obedient, but disaster for the disobedient.

[14:10]  ²⁰ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in the cloud over the tent.”

[14:11]  ²¹ tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.

[14:11]  ²² tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.

[14:12]  ²³ tc The Greek version has “death.”

[14:13]  ²⁴ tn 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 sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.”

[14:14]  ²⁵ tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ²⁶ tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[14:15]  ²⁷ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת (mut), וְהֵמַתָּה (vÿhemattah). The vav (ו) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause.

[14:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “as one man.”

[14:17]  ²⁹ tc The form in the text is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay), the word that is usually used in place of the tetragrammaton. It is the plural form with the pronominal suffix, and so must refer to God.

[14:18]  ³⁰ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ³¹ tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ³² tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ³³ sn 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 passed on to the next generation.

[14:19]  ³⁴ tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.

[14:19]  ³⁵ tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.

[14:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “forgiven according to your word.” The direct object, “them,” is implied.

[14:21]  ³⁷ sn This is the oath formula, but in the Pentateuch it occurs here and in v. 28.

[14:22]  ³⁸ tn The verb נָסָה (nasah) means “to test, to tempt, to prove.” It can be used to indicate things are tried or proven, or for testing in a good sense, or tempting in the bad sense, i.e., putting God to the test. In all uses there is uncertainty or doubt about the outcome. Some uses of the verb are positive: If God tests Abraham in Genesis 22:1, it is because there is uncertainty whether he fears the Lord or not; if people like Gideon put out the fleece and test the Lord, it is done by faith but in order to be certain of the Lord’s presence. But here, when these people put God to the test ten times, it was because they doubted the goodness and ability of God, and this was a major weakness. They had proof to the contrary, but chose to challenge God.

[14:22]  ³⁹ tn “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition, 121-54.

[14:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[14:23]  ⁴¹ tn The word אִם (’im) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In a human oath one would be saying: “The Lord do to me if they see…,” meaning “they will by no means see.” Here God is swearing that they will not see the land.

[14:24]  ⁴² tn Heb “seed.”

[14:25]  ⁴³ sn 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 was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel.

[14:27]  ⁴⁴ tn The figure is aposiopesis, or sudden silence. The main verb is deleted from the line, “how long…this evil community.” The intensity of the emotion is the reason for the ellipsis.

[14:27]  ⁴⁵ sn 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 God called ten men (the bad spies) a “congregation,” then a congregation must have ten men. But here the word “community/congregation” refers in this context to the people of Israel as a whole, not just to the ten spies.

[14:28]  ⁴⁶ sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.

[14:28]  ⁴⁷ tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”

[14:28]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “in my ears.”