The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 14 -

(Deuteronomy 1:26–33)

That night, all the Israelite people cried loudly.

The next day they all complained against Aaron and Moses. All the men said, “We wish that we had died in Egypt, or in this wilderness!

Why is Yahweh bringing us to this land, where we men will be killed with swords? And they will take away our wives and children to be their slaves. Instead of going to Canaan, it would be better for us to return to Egypt!”

Then some of them said to each other, “We should choose a leader who will take us back to Egypt!”

Then Aaron and Moses bowed down to pray in front of all the Israelite people who had gathered there.

Joshua and Caleb, two of the men who had explored the land, tore their clothes because they were very dismayed.

They said to the Israelite people, “The land that we explored is very good.

If Yahweh is pleased with us, he will lead us into that very fertile land, and he will give it to us.

So do not rebel against Yahweh! And do not be afraid of the people in that land! We will gobble them up! They do not have anyone who will protect them, but Yahweh will be with us and help us. So do not be afraid of them!”

Then all the Israelite people talked about killing Caleb and Joshua by throwing stones at them. But suddenly Yahweh’s glory appeared to them at the sacred tent.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, ”How long will these people reject me? I am tired of them not believing in what I can do, in spite of all the miracles I have performed among them.

So I will send a plague among them and get rid of them. But I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. They will be a nation that is much greater and stronger than these people are.”

Moses Intercedes for Israel

But Moses replied to Yahweh, “Please do not do that, because the people of Egypt will hear about it! You brought these Israelite people from Egypt by your great power,

and the people of Egypt will tell that to the descendants of Canaan who live in this land. Yahweh, they have already heard about you. They know that you have been with these people and that they have seen you face to face. They have heard that your cloud is like a huge pillar that stays over them, and by that cloud you lead them during the day, and that the cloud becomes like a fire at night to give them light.

If you kill these people all at one time, the people groups who have heard about your power will say,

‘Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land that he promised to give to them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’

So Yahweh, now show that you are very powerful. You said,

‘I do not quickly become angry. Instead, I love people greatly, and I forgive people for having sinned and having disobeyed my laws. But I will always punish people who are guilty of doing what is wrong. When parents sin, I will punish them, but I will also punish their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren and their great-great-grandchildren.’

So, because you love your people with a great covenant loyalty, forgive these people for the sins that they have committed, just like you have continued to forgive them ever since they left Egypt.”

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

(Deuteronomy 1:34–40)

Then Yahweh replied, “I have forgiven them, as you requested me to.

But, just as certainly as I live and that people all over the world can see my glory, I solemnly declare that

all these people saw my glory and all the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they disobeyed me, and many times they tested whether they could continue to do evil things without my punishing them.

Because of that, not one of them will see the land that I promised their ancestors that I would give to them. No one who rejected me will see that land.

But Caleb, who serves me well, is different from the others. He obeys me completely. So I will bring him into that land that he has already seen, and his descendants will inherit some of it.

So, since the descendants of Amalek and Canaan who are living in the valleys in Canaan are very strong, when you leave here tomorrow, instead of traveling toward Canaan, go back along the road through the wilderness toward the Sea of Reeds.”

Then Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses,

“How long will the wicked people of this nation keep complaining about me? I have heard everything that they have grumbled against me.

So now tell them this: ’Just as certainly as I, Yahweh, live, I will do exactly what you said would happen.

I will cause all of you to die here in this wilderness! Because you grumbled against me, none of you who are more than twenty years old and who were counted when Moses counted everyone

will enter the land that I solemnly promised to give to you. Only Caleb and Joshua will enter that land.

You said that your children would be taken from you to become slaves, but I will take them into the land, and they will enjoy living in the land that you rejected.

But as for you adults, you will die here in this wilderness.

Your children will wander around in this wilderness as shepherds for forty years. Because you adults were not loyal to me, your children will suffer until you all die in the wilderness.

You will suffer for your sins for forty years. That will be one year for each of the forty days that the twelve men explored Canaan land. And I will be like an enemy to you.

This will certainly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it! I will do these things to every one in this group that has plotted against me. They will all die right here in this wilderness!’”

The Plague on the Ten Spies

Then Yahweh attacked the ten men who had discouraged the people, so that they died.

These were the men who had explored Canaan and then told the people that they would not be able to take over the land. It was because of the men that the people spoke against Moses.

Of the twelve men who had explored Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.

When Moses reported to the Israelite people what Yahweh had said, many of them were very sad.

The Defeat at Hormah

(Deuteronomy 1:41–46)

So the people got up early the next morning and started to go toward the hill country in Canaan. They said, “We know that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land that Yahweh promised to give to us.”

But Moses said, “Yahweh commanded you to return to the desert, so why are you now disobeying him? It will not succeed.

Do not try to enter the land now! If you try, your enemies will defeat you, because Yahweh will not be with you.

When you begin to fight the descendants of Amalek and Canaan, they will slaughter you! Yahweh will abandon you, because you have abandoned him.”

But even though Moses did not leave the camp, and the sacred chest that contained the Ten Commandments was not taken from the camp, the people began to go toward the hill country in Canaan.

Then the descendants of Amalek and Canaan who lived in those hills came down and attacked them; they chased them as far south as Hormah.

(Deuteronomy 1:26–33)

All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!

Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”

They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.

They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.

If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.

Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”

But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.

The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?

I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for Israel

Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.

They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are among this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and 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.

Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,

‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’

Now please let the power of the Lord(a) be great, according as you have spoken, saying,

‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

God’s Forgiveness and Judgment

(Deuteronomy 1:34–40)

The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;

but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—

because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;

surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.

Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me.

Tell them, ‘As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,

surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

But I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.

Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.

After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’

I, the LORD, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

The Plague on the Ten Spies

The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,

even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.

Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

The Defeat at Hormah

(Deuteronomy 1:41–46)

They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned.”

Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper?

Don’t go up, for the LORD isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.

For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following the LORD; therefore the LORD will not be with you.”

But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of the LORD’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp.

Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.

Footnotes

(a)14:17 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”