The Israelites learn Repentance even with the right Deeds and Words, means nothing without a change of Heart.

Numbers 14:36-45 The Immediate Consequences of the Israelites’ Disobedience

Day 61 and still no word from our Premier on further openings in our province. No problem, we’re getting used to this.  But, hey, that’s exactly what they want. More and more in the world are standing up for their rights. Politicians just need a little more time to “save face”.  No problem. Meanwhile we’re finding gems in our study of Numbers.

The Passage

³⁶ As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land,³⁷ even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹ When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly.⁴⁰ In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ^[a]ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; ^[b]we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the ^[c]commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed? ⁴² Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.”⁴⁴ But they went up heedlessly to the ^[d]ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp.

⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 14:40 Or top of the mountain
2. Numbers 14:40 Or and we will go up...for we have sinned
3. Numbers 14:41 Lit mouth
4. Numbers 14:44 Or top of the mountain

Thoughts on the Passage

The people grumbled, Moses intercedes, God forgives (again) but issues His justice (none of the grumblers will enter into the Promised Land), and the Israelites will spend forty more years in the wilderness. But are there are immediate consequences? Absolutely. This passage tells us that all those that caused the grumbling or stirred up the grumblers, plus all the spies that gave a negative report died by a plague God allowed. And of course, that caused all to mourn. But as Matthew Henry suggests, by these deaths God was communicating a message to the people – He could have wiped them all out just like that; just like the spies. Sometimes we have close calls due to our sinning or disobedience and we still fail to recognize the lesson God is trying to teach us.

The spies that had faith in God’s ability to deliver, Caleb and Joshua, were spared. These days, living in the 21^stcentury, it is not always acceptable to answer the question of why did so and so live, while others die by saying “perhaps because God wanted to spare them due to their faith and obedience to Him”.  That wouldn’t fly well today, but yet that is exactly the situation we have in this passage. And I believe it is still sometimes (not always) the situation as we try to address that question of “why”?

But by the morning, the people had come to their senses, albeit too late. They realized they had sinned and now wanted to go the land God had promised them. There was no more talk of returning to Egypt. Yes, they were sorry, no doubt like many of us are often sorry about the sins we commit. But as David Guzik says perhaps they were not sorry enough to turn their hearts into a genuine trust and reliance on the Lord going forward. Uttering the right words and even doing the right things without a change of heart does not cut it in these circumstances. Sometimes, folks, we take too long to come to our senses. Sometimes we run to make things right without really seeking to change in the way God wants us to change. As a consequence, we get to watch the train we missed leave the station.

Moses tries to knock some real sense into their heads knowing that God had said that had they gone to get the land now, it would be a disaster. He warned them not to go up and try to take the Promised Land because the Lord was not “among them” at this time. Doing so now would be further sin against the Lord. And it would also be outright insanely dangerous. Thank God for some people that God sends to warn us of potential disaster. But did the Israelites listen even then?

No? Instead, they went right up to the land to take it. We are told that the ark of the covenant and Moses (and we assume Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua, among others) remained behind in the camp.

And like clockwork, as God had said, and as Moses had warned them of, the Amalekites and the Canaanites came down and “struck them and beat them down” as far as Hormah. We cannot change what God has determined will happen. For the Israelites, Hormah represents the beginning of the judgment that was to last forty years – allowing the carcases of the “old men” to die in the wilderness.

Hormah, means “devotion – a place laid waste” and according to Robert Jamieson was named afterwards as such in memory of the immense slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion. We need to be cautious of our potential “Hormah” and avoid it all costs.

What is the-big picture lesson for us? For me, at least, it is this: God is not to be ignored for He has the right to do with us as He said He would, both with respect to our obedience and more critically for us, in respect to our disobedience. I often ask myself, even at my age, “Have I really learned that lesson yet?” And I often wonder how many more times God will say about me as He said about the Israelites to Moses, “How long shall I bear with this evil man who is sinning against Me?”  May He, remembering the years of prayers my mother (and after her, my wife) uttered on my behalf, and also say, “I have pardoned him [again] according to their word.” May it be like that for you as well.

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

God's Mercy and Grace is Exercised with Justice w.r.t. the Israelites

Numbers 14:20-35 God Responds Again to the Grumbling and to Moses’ Plea

Day 60. It is a Sunday and as I have done for three weeks now (with my wife accompanying me for two) we met a friend at the parking lot of our church. The Associate pastor came out to say hello and we gave him our offering (saves the postage) and asked him to pray with us. We just don’t want to get too comfortably out of practice of going to church and we know the Enemy has that very thing in mind. But with no shopping to do today, the rest of the day has us staying in our homes or outside in our yards.  I feel sorry for those that don’t have them although parks are now supposedly open. We press on.  Last time, we studied how the Israelites once again grumbled against God and how Moses pleaded with God to forgive them. And now we study God’s response.

The Passage

²⁰ So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; ²¹ but indeed, as I live, ^[i]all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. ²² Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, ²³ shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. ²⁴ But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, ^[j]I will bring into the land ^[k]which he entered, and his ^[l]descendants shall take possession of it. ²⁵ Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the ^[m]Red Sea.”

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are ^[n]making against Me. ²⁸ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; ²⁹ your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your ^[o]numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Surely you shall not come into the land in which I ^[p]swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹ Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will ^[q]suffer for your ^[r]unfaithfulness, until your corpses ^[s]lie in the wilderness. ³⁴ According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your ^[t]guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’”

Footnotes

i.      and all

j.      him I

k.     where

l.      seed

m.   Sea of Reeds

n.     Complaining

o.     mustered

p.      raised My hand

q.     bear

r.      fornications

s.     are finished

t.      or iniquities

Thoughts on the Passage

God right away responds to Moses and once again grants his prayer immediately. He pardons His people. What is key for us to note here is that the fervent prayer of those who love others is not wasted on God. Our prayers can and do make a difference – perhaps not always the way we want or to the degree that we want, but I believe God listens and consider our prayers, and where appropriate may ‘adjust’ (for lack of a better word) His judgment on those on whose behalf we are petitioning Him.  God said He did this, the pardoning, “according to [Moses’] word”.

However, those who have seen God’s glory and signs, and were yet testing Him (the passage says “ten times” – really just means “many times”), or who spurned Him, were not to see the Promised Land. Those two verses of this 14^th chapter – verses 22 and 23 are seen by many as the most key verses in the whole book. You can be pardoned by God, and all may not be lost – but you may not necessarily have the easiest of lives for the rest of your days. We must remember that sinning against God in this most blatant manner as carried out by the Israelites is not a small matter. There are still consequences to our sins. David Guzik has an interesting comment on this. He points out that we should remember how earlier they were saying, “Oh, if only we had died in this wilderness.” We studied that recently. Well, God, was going to grant the grumblers that wish or complaint as well. The alternative Matthew Henry points out is that God could have cut them off all at once (including the children) and disinherited them. One could almost say the Israelites got a deal that day.

Caleb, on the other hand, would see the land because of his different “spirit” and because he had followed God “fully”. And his descendants were also to benefit from that. Robert Jamieson says that Caleb was perhaps not named here because he was already not among the people that God wanted addressed as he was already assigned to be a constant attendant to Moses.

Is there something there for us? Caleb would see the Promised Land because of his heart and obedience, and so would his descendants. Is there a possibility that God might save our descendants simply because of our heart and obedience? But doesn’t the New Testament require each of us to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as savior on our own? It does. So, did something change between the two Testaments? I don’t think so. I think we need more study here. One possibility is that Canaan and heaven are not one and the same. So we can’t draw the same conclusion for who can get into heaven by looking at who God allowed to enter Canaan.

And God does not want to debate His decision with Moses, but simply told him that the Canaanites and Amalekites lived in the valley before them, and the next day he was to lead the people back to the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, and away from the land they were to have possessed.

Some English translations put this comment amount the Canaanites and Amalekites in parenthesis, as a secondary comment.  It is not.  This was central to the story. God did not want even these faithless and unprepared, spiritually and perhaps physically, people and their children to be slaughtered by those they feared. But would the people obey Moses instructions? (We’ll find out in our next study.) For now, we know that God had brought them to the borders or edges of the Promised Land – they could have possessed it, they could have taken it – with His help. But they lost their faith and they were disobedient.  So, it was back to “boot camp” in the wilderness for more training that would allow, not them but their descendants, to take the land. Forty more years – what a price to pay for disobedience.

Then God addressed Moses and Aaron together. He asked them how long He was expected to put up with these ‘evil’ grumblers. He wanted Moses and Aaron to tell them that they would fall dead in the wilderness – every single one of those that grumbled and were over twenty years of age. Only Caleb and Joshua were going to make it to the land that God had promised. And here God next extends His goodness to their generations as well. They would see the Promised Land that their fathers rejected. And by the way, the Israelites were to be told that they were to spend forty years in the wilderness as shepherds suffering in life for the unfaithfulness of their fathers.

If you remember back to Numbers 14 and verse 3, the Israelites had accused God of not caring for their children and that He was gone to allow them to be murdered in the wilderness. Well, as Guzik points out, ironically, God was going to see that their children made it to the promised and that they, the parents, were going to die in the wilderness.

But did you notice that not even Moses or Aaron were excluded from those that would not make it? No sir. They didn’t make it for their own separate reasons as we’ll learn later. But even here, we can point out that Moses also played a part in God’s anger as he had agreed to sending spies to the land rather than trusting God and just going in and taking it.

In fact, God said that the number of years the Israelites had to spend in the desert were based on the number of days the spies spied out the land. During that period, they would bear their guilt and know His anger and opposition to their behavior. [The King James version says His “breach of promise” but I see it as a temporary breach of forty years.] So, God pronounced a verdict and He was going to carry it out -- death in the wilderness after a forty-year period of suffering. Wow. You see, God was not going to allow any “old man of disbelief” into His promised land. They had to die in the wilderness. Similarly, there is no room for those who are unbelievers in the Kingdom.

But perhaps there were other reasons why God sent them back into the wilderness for forty years. Henry suggests the following. First, that time was needed for another adult generation to grow up and be able to take the land in battle. Second, and perhaps more representative of the character of God was that now, in the wilderness, having understood their sin, having been forgiven, some of the grumblers could get their hearts and lives right before, and with, God. Henry says it this way:

“That hereby they might be brought to repentance, and find mercy with God in the other world, whatever became of them in this. Now they had time to bethink themselves, and to consider their ways.”

Once again, God shows us that “mercy there was great” in His dealings with His people.  It reminds me of the that wonderful hymn, At Calvary by the Collingsworth family.

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

Fascinated by 'Numbers'. No, not the 'math' kind. The 4th Book of the Pentateuch -- an intro to its gems.

Day 32 of our self-isolation and we’re all hanging in.  Well, some of us more than others. I must admit I am very confused as to the authenticity of what we are told is going on. Everything I read and hear is putting to this being another fraud or scandal of the global elitists. Yes, people are dying and yesterday we received word of the second person that we could identify with that had died of Covid-19.  The first was a medical doctor and parent of our grand-daughters close friend at university. The second was my wife’s maid of honor. This is real. But does it merit the actions taken by government? Will it merit the use some will make of it to bring us closer to being totally under their control? That remains to be seen. Part of my frustration is that our church leaders are being ever so quiet about the whole thing.

We press on. I’m excited today to introduce you to the fourth book of the Old Testament – Numbers. We’re going hunting for gems together.  Hang in there.  Here goes.

An Introduction to the Book of Numbers

(I am indebted here to the publishers of the New American Standard Bible for the following comments on this, the fourth book of Moses.)

Numbers is a record of the wanderings of the Israelites after God led them out of Egypt and slavery. Its name comes from the two numberings (census taking) they experienced. The book’s lesson is very clear: While we may have to pass through the wilderness, we do not need to end up living there. Unfortunately, it took the Israelites 40-years to learn that lesson, the length of what otherwise would have been an 11-day journey back then.

There is, once again, sufficient ‘external’ and ‘internal’ evidence to support the belief that Moses was indeed the author. Even the use of the third person in parts was a common practice in the ancient world. Caesar was a prime example of such writing.

While Leviticus covered a timespan of only one month, Numbers covers almost 39 years (c. 1444-1405 BC). Its record covers Israel’s movement from the last twenty days at Mount Sinai, their wanderings, and finally their arrival in the plains of Moab in the fortieth year. According to the census in the book, over 2.5 million people were involved. Miraculously, God fed and sustained them, as well as preserved their clothing in the desert, no less.

Believe it or not, we will actually see Christ being referred to in this book. But we may have to wait until chapters 21 and 24 to discover the reference.

The ‘key’ word in the study of Numbers is the word “wanderings”. This is the story of the failure of Israel to believe in the promise of God and the resulting judgment of wanderings in the wilderness for forty years. I often wonder if we are all suffering from the “judgment of wanderings” in our world today because we fail to believe in the promise of God – not so much by what we say or what we think we believe – but by how we live. Until we make that believe the very modus operandi of how we walk and breathe each day, maybe we’ll never get out of our personal wilderness. Hopefully, we will learn to do that from the experiences of the Israelites.

There are some very key verses in the book which we will discover, and I’ll point those out when the time comes.  And even before that, we’ll come to the key chapter of Numbers and a critical turning point in the history of Israel.

Remember, throughout this book of Numbers, we see Israel changing dramatically. It begins as an infant nation in one sense (only 13 months after the exodus) but at the same time it is made up of the “old generation” described in Numbers 1:1-10:10. It then moves through a tragic “transitional period” (Numbers 10:11-25:18), and finally ends with the “new generation” (chapters 26-36) at the doorway to the land of Canaan.

Join us next time as we venture into this journey together.

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