When You're Grumbling Against God, Who's Your Moses?

Numbers 14:1-19 Israel Rebels and Moses Intercedes Again

Day 59. I can’t believe it – 8 weeks and three days of “please stay at home”. Protests grow in number. As do lawsuits. The people and democracy seem to be gaining momentum but as always, there’s a cost. I’ve been called some pretty bad things; others have lost their job. Still others don’t know what to think and millions don’t know what to believe. But hey, we were told this would happen. Of course, everything is not a “knowing conspiracy” but may I remind folks that there are two levels of conspiracy for the Christian: first, the intentional conspiracy of people (think of what has happened to General Flynn that came to light this week); second, I believe there is an evil, Satanically driven conspiracy against God in such a way that even blinds the Devil’s stooges from knowing they’re part of it and certainly fools Christian from seeing it. And this latter kind, takes its sweet, long time, trying time and again, to make any progress it can. But we know the Truth and are freed by Him, press on – praying for the world, its leaders, our country, city, church, family, and ourselves. And we continue studying the Word. Thanks to so many of you joining us regularly in this endeavor.

The Passage

14 Then all the congregation ^[a]lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept ^[b]that night. ² All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and 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! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. ⁶ Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷ and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our ^[c]prey. Their ^[d]protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰ But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? ¹² I will smite them with ^[e]pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

¹³ But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will ^[f]say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have ^[g]declared, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children ^[h]to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Footnotes

1. Numbers 14:1 Lit lifted and gave their voice
2. Numbers 14:1 Lit in that
3. Numbers 14:9 Lit food
4. Numbers 14:9 Lit shadow
5. Numbers 14:12 Lit the pestilence
6. Numbers 14:15 Lit speak, saying
7. Numbers 14:17 Lit spoken, saying
8. Numbers 14:18 Lit on

Thoughts on the Passage

Numbers chapter 14 is a very critical chapter. It is the turning point for Israel. Up to this point, they followed Moses, did some grumbling, but for the most part, they toed the line. Now they become more adamant in their complaining, starting to demand how things should be done. Their story has reached a turning point. In our next study, we’ll hit the actual “most key verses” of the book from God’s perspective. But there’s a lot of meat in these first 19 verses of the chapter.

The previous passage ends with almost all the spies that had gone into the promised land shouting down Caleb who believed that God would allow the Israelites to conquer the inhabitants of the land. And this chapter starts off, we note, with “all the congregation” yelling and crying during the night. How miserable they must have all felt. We’re not talking about some, but “all”. They’d come all this way and now the majority word is there’s no way they can attain the promise of God for a new homeland. What a disappointment that must have been. So, what did they do? They grumbled some more against Moses and Aaron.

David Guzik says this about being angry with God which reflects my own personal position:

“Some counsel it is a healthy thing to be angry with God, and to let it all out, so that God and you can be reconciled, as sort of a matter of counseling therapy. While it is true that one may be angry with God, and should take every such feeling to God, it is wrong to ever assume or imply that such feelings are justified. If we are angry at God, we are in sin, because God has never done anything that deserves us being angry. We should honestly bring such sin before God, but never for a moment feeling it to be justified.”

But what they said is interesting. They preferred to have died in Egypt, and if not there, at least from Egypt to this point in the wilderness. They wanted to know why God was taking them to the promised land so they would die in battle. Well, at least they realized that it was God in control and not Moses or Aaron. They didn’t want their spouses and children raped, etc. So, they wanted to go back to Egypt. They wanted to go back to slavery if need be. And since Moses wasn’t about to do that, then they needed to appoint a new leader. So, you’ve got the picture – angry people afraid of dying if they move forward, willing to go back to slavery, and demanding a new leader to take them back. Robert Jamieson tells us that later on in the Bible, in Nehemiah 9:17, we read that they actually went as far as to appoint such a leader that would lead them on their return to their slavery in Egypt. Don’t you think that would have upset God? I mean they were rejecting His appointment of Moses. 

In response to all this, we now have Moses and Aaron falling on their faces before the people; and Caleb (the spy who said they could take the land), and Joshua (who sided with him) tearing their clothes. They all spoke to the people about the “exceedingly good land”.

But notice what they say: “If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us to this land and give it to us.” Basically, folks, you can’t behave like this and expect the results you want. Keep rebelling, keep fearing the people of that land, and you’ll never get there. Right now, folks, you’re not pleasing the Lord. And not only that, we know that God has rendered our enemies powerless and “He is with us.” Now, can we move forward?

Their reply: “No. I don’t think so. Instead, Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua we all want to stone you.” As one of my daughter’s often says to her children when they can’t understand the reaction of some people to something that happened in their lives, “Sometimes it be like that.” In this case, these four were trying to suggest to the Israelites that they needed to see the error of their way, that they had or were losing their belief in God, and they needed to have faith, and they wanted to do in exchange was to stone them all. Nice. And they would have except, or but, for one thing: The “glory of the Lord appeared in the tent to all of them.” (verse 10) How to stop a fight between siblings the  – just let the parent show up in their full authority.

Now God speaks directly to Moses with a question and a heads up. He knows the people are past listening to Him. “How long will these people reject or repulse me given all I have done for them?” was the question and then His statement: “I will smite with plagues and disinherit them; but you, I will make into a nation larger and stronger than them.” It appears God was distinguishing between those Israelites that left Egypt with Moses and spurned Him, with others like Moses who were faithful. Yet they were all His people. Makes me think about how God is viewing different groups of “His people” today. There certainly is a precedent for Him to be ticked up with some of us.

This special offer to Moses, that he would be the one through whom God would bless His people, was one great offer to Moses. It was not unlike the one he had received in Exodus 32:7-10. [Check it out.] Moses had turned that offer down choosing instead to plead on behalf of his people. And God listened then. Would Moses behave in a similar fashion this time; and would accept his pleading if he did?

With respect to God not speaking directly to the Israelites at this point, David Guzik points out that sometimes Christians who have disobeyed God wonder why He doesn’t speak to them. They seem to forget it is they that have already rejected God and His directions.

Now Moses appeals to God by first telling Him all that He was currently doing for them; and then asking whether it would be good for the Egyptians to hear of the fact that He had slain His own people. Moses told God that if that happened, they would think it was because of God’s inability to deliver what He had promised – taking them to the land of Canaan. And with that Moses pleads to God that He exercise His power and channel it into be “slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” What a plea that was. And if God was to do this, Moses says, that would not mean that He was “clearing the guilty” but instead would visit the wickedness of the guilty on their children for four generations to come. That is understandable by Moses, but He pleads that God forgives the people at this time. Really “once more”, as God had forgiven, he realizes and points out, ever since they were still in Egypt until that point.

David Guzik writes well on this point:

Moses knew God's power and appealed to it; Moses knew God's promise and appealed to it, and Moses knew God's glory and appealed to it. This was a spectacular example of intercession.

i. What made this intercession spectacular was not primarily Moses' method (appealing to God's glory, power, and promise); but Moses' heart. Here, Moses is totally others-centered, not concerned for his own glory, but only for Israel. He displays he shares the heart of God towards His people, and that is what made Moses' intercession spectacular.

ii. This, of course, was God's intention all along: To develop and draw out of Moses just this kind of heart, transforming Moses into the image of His Son (Romans 8;29), long before the time of Jesus.

Are you or I grumbling today? Are we grumbling against God’s leadership and direction? Do we have anyone that would intercede for us like Moses did for his people? Or we might ask, if we know of someone grumbling against God, would we be willing to intercede for them? We all have a part to play going through this life – for ourselves, and for others. It’s not easy. Life is very complex; relationships are very taxing. The goal is to not lose our faith in the God Who saved us. He will see us through to our promised land.  

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.