Numbers 14 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson
The worst of the spy episode is in Numbers 14. These verses narrate the nadir of Israel’s unbelief and rebellion. It starts bad and ends showing Israel’s presumption. At the end of 45 verses of bad news, they rebel again as told to us in v. 39ff. But that comes later. Verses 1 -2 finds the Jews crying and grumbling against Moses and Aaron. Now that don’t merely want to return to Egypt (11:18) but they would rather die in the wilderness or preferred to have died in Egypt. Optimistic and full or hope, aren’t they? They are convinced God is a taker not a giver.
The Hebrews think their present experience is so bad they would rather have died in Egypt or died in the wilderness. They accuse God of wanting to kill them! Kill them? He redeemed them from slavery, delivered them from the forces of Pharoah, protected them, fed them manna from heaven and now He wants to kill them? Being of the party of Adam, they want to elect a leader who will take them back to Egypt. What a brilliant idea.
Moses and Aaron grasp the significance of their horrendous sin. These Hebrews are in outright rebellion against the purpose and will of God. Joshua and Caleb try to reason with them. Like Moses and Aaron, they show excessive grief by tearing their clothes. “We saw this land. It is a good land. If God delights in us, He will bring us in. But do not do this. You are rebelling against God. If God is for us this conquering the land will be a piece of cake. God will overcome them. Don’t be afraid of them! Don’t you remember the first night of Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the first night of manna?”
Now God had enough. In v. 11 ff God threatens to destroy the Hebrews and make a nation out of Moses. But godly Moses, as if on cue, says what God knew he would say. Moses is a great Lawgiver, author, leader but a great intercessor as well. He prays so well. Moses’ prayer is God-centered appealing to God’s glory and fame. Moses, in v. 18, repeats God’s words back to God. He then prays for God to forgive these people, “according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now“ v. 19.
God does according to Moses’ word, but God will have the last say. Judgment is coming. God decrees that all those who did not believe in God, will not enter the land. He allows Caleb and Joshua to enter but the rest are turned to the wilderness.
In verse 26ff , we hear the continuation of judgement. Three times the word grumble is used in v. 27. The grumbling is against God which makes it worse. God decrees that anyone over 20 who grumbled will die in the wilderness. And as God is the God of the widow and the fatherless, He seemed to take special affront that the grumblers said the men’s wives and children would die (14:3) God says the children will go into the land. They would wander 1 year for every day the spies were spying in Canaan. That is 40 years of walking in circles. “. . . You shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.” They walk until all the adults die. Funeral after funeral. Burial after burial. Then in vs. 36-38, the ten spies died from God’s judgment.
So, this is a low point in the narrative. You may think, ‘Well, they should be good from now on.’ You might be tempted to think, ‘No more sinning. They have learned a hard lesson and will suffer the consequences for 40 years.’ But you would be wrong. In v. 39ff, the Hebrews won’t take “No” for an answer. They presume upon God. They almost say, “Since we sinned by not wanting to go into the promised land. We will go in now. Not now You say? That is okay. We will go into the promised land now anyway. No, You still say? We have already left.” Of course, they were defeated.
We notice how utterly dismissive the Hebrews are to God’s revealed will. They don’t think the taking of the promised land is possible, so they listen and act upon their fears. They saw the exodus, the first Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, ect. But they developed a heart of fear not a heart of faith. They could see but they couldn’t see what could be (and would be) with God leading the way. They had seen so many miracles but maybe they were afraid of war which was inevitable since they were forcibly removing people from their land. Or maybe they never really believed in the God who cared for them.
We want to dissuade you from the notion that if you saw miracles or lived at the time of Christ you would certainly believe. Faith is a gift from God. Most who saw miracles were momentarily moved but without genuine faith, that feeling faded. Faith is a precious gift to be nurtured, fed, and seen as an instrument. Faith does not save us. Only Christ can save. But the instrument of receiving that gift of salvation is faith.
Dear Heavenly Father, I am weak in faith as You know. I need to constantly look to the Lord Jesus in every area of my life. While I do have genuine faith that is living, growing, and getting stronger, I also experience a stagnant, close to dead, and weak faith at times. I need to believe in the gospel as a Christian to help my areas of weakness. Father, You are strong to save. Come Thou Almighty King and bring me to Yourself. Help me serve You on earth for soon I will be with You in the most beautiful, glorious, outstanding place in all the universe. In Christ’s most precious name. Amen.