Numbers 14:11, commentary and pictures

The Lord spoke these words at Kadesh to rebuke Israel for provoking Him by persistent unbelief and distrust, refusing to believe Him despite all the signs and miracles He had shown among them. They had just spent the night weeping and rebelling after the spies returned, forgetting His past deliverance and protection and acting as though victory in Canaan depended only on their own strength, until they were ready to stone Caleb and Joshua for urging trust in His presence. The questions how long reveal Him as long-suffering and full of compassion toward rebellion, yet they also mark a boundary where continued obstinacy passes the limits of His patience and punishment must follow. Joined to the rebuke was the threat to smite them with pestilence and disinherit them, which drew out Moses’ plea from God’s mercy and honor among the nations, so God pardoned according to his word yet sentenced them to forty years of wandering because He could not work through transgressors as before. That history warns the present time, when rebellion grows and sentence against evil seems delayed, that unbelief still makes God’s people slow to repent and resist true counsel, but the Lord will soon vindicate His law and punish transgression.

Setting and Rebuke

The words were spoken at Kadesh, where Israel was encamped when Moses was permitted to send one ruler from each tribe to survey the promised land, and they came after the spies returned with evidence from the land such as a large cluster of grapes. The night after the evil report the people spent in weeping, then cursed Moses and Aaron, reproached God for bringing them to Canaan to die, and planned to choose a captain and return to Egypt. When Caleb and Joshua declared that the Lord was with Israel to possess the land, the congregation turned to stone them with stones in their hands. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle before all Israel and stopped the mob, and God, who was watching the plottings of the congregation, spoke to Moses in the tabernacle to deliver His faithful witnesses.

His question is a rebuke for provoking Him by persistent unbelief, distrust, and rebellion, in refusing to believe and trust Him after all the signs and miracles He had wrought in their behalf. Their evil report and rejection came after great light and opportunities to know His will, with repeated deliverance and provision, yet they accepted suggestions against Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb and resisted their God-appointed leaders. The signs set before them were Christ leading them in cloud and fire, protection and deliverance from Pharaoh, provision of food and water, God present as their leader and defense, revelation of His glory, and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness. Faced with the reported strength of Canaan's peoples and cities, they forgot God's past deliverance and His power, left Him out of the reckoning, distrusted His power to give victory, and acted as if success depended on their own strength and on arms alone.

Patience, Judgment, and Warning

The double question of how long reveals a God long-suffering and full of compassion and love toward rebellion and obstinacy, yet there is a boundary line where continued rebellion and obstinacy pass the bounds of His patience and punishment must follow the transgressor. Israel had reached that point because they would not trust and believe Him despite the signs He had shown among them, after receiving great light and opportunities to know His will through repeated deliverance and provision. Because sentence against evil is not executed speedily, hearts are encouraged in stubborn rebellion instead of being softened by patience.

Joined to the rebuke was the declared threat that He would smite them with pestilence and disinherit them, and make of Moses a greater and mightier nation than they. That threat came as God watched the plottings of the congregation, immediately following His rebuke for weak confidence and unbelief after all the signs and miracles wrought in their behalf.

It drew out Moses' agonizing plea for survival, urged from knowledge of what might have been and the glory God would have revealed in an obedient people. He pleaded God's deliverance of them from Egypt and His presence among them face to face, with His cloud over them and going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He argued that if God killed them as one man, the Egyptians and the inhabitants of the land who had heard of that presence would say the Lord was not able to bring them into the land He swore to them and therefore slew them in the wilderness, bringing dishonor to His name among the nations. He appealed to the Lord's long-suffering and great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression while by no means clearing the guilty, and to His forgiveness of the people from Egypt until now, asking that mercy and patience continue.

God answered that He had pardoned according to Moses' word, yet He could not work through the transgressors as He had done, for it would dishonor His name to do great things for those who in spirit were no better than the heathen around them.

The judgment meant a long delay in entering Canaan, declared as forty years of wandering in the wilderness for their evil report and refusal to trust. When the people then tried to enter too late, their enemies were prepared, Moses warned that the Lord was not with them, and their presumptuous attack ended in defeat. That delay they later resented and wrongly blamed on God and Moses.

The question is applied to the present time, when wickedness, rebellion, defiance of God, violence and crime grow with deeper and broader power until like the old world it reaches unto heaven, the cry of the suffering and oppressed comes up to God for justice, and the law of God is rejected and made void. The Lord is soon to come to vindicate the honor of His law and punish transgression. Israel's history warns that few heed faithful warnings, and that unbelief makes God's people slow to believe and repent, resistant to true counsel and ready to draw back when obedience involves risk.