Numbers 14:2, commentary and pictures

On the border of Canaan the whole congregation lifted up its voice and cried and wept through the night after the spies brought back an evil, discouraging report about the land. They murmured against Moses and Aaron in lamentation, faultfinding and bitter complaint, wishing they had died in Egypt or died in the wilderness rather than trust God to bring them into Canaan. To murmur against Moses and Aaron was to murmur against the Lord Himself who had sent them, accusing Him of dealing deceitfully and bringing them out only to fall by the sword, forgetting His judgments on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and all the miracles by which He had led them safely thus far. Because this was apostasy and rebellion, God took them at their word and answered by doing to them as they had spoken, so that all from twenty years old and upward who had murmured would fall dead in the wilderness and never enter Canaan except Caleb and Joshua, with the wandering set at forty years for the forty days of the search. The outcry shows to what desperation unbelief will bring people, for words of distrust are as seeds that bear fruit, warning against exaggerated reports that stir panic and halt God's work, and teaching that when defeat and disaster fill the thoughts, silence is eloquence and no word of unbelief should be spoken.

Setting in Israel's Journey

Numbers 14:2 belongs to Israel's response on the border of Canaan as the people prepared to enter, after the spies brought back an evil, discouraging report about the land. The whole congregation murmured against Moses and against Aaron in lamentation, mourning and faultfinding, and in great disappointment wished they had died in the land of Egypt or died in the wilderness. Their fear and unbelief turned them against their leaders and against the prospect of entering the land God had promised, expressing distrust of His purpose in bringing them to Canaan. This murmuring was apostasy and rebellion, joined to the demand to appoint a captain and return to Egypt, for which they were sentenced to wander forty years in the wilderness.

The evil report came from ten unfaithful spies sent to view Canaan upon reaching Jordan, working under the control of Satan and the wily foe to break down the courage of all Israel, confuse minds, and leaven the people with unbelief. At first they spoke in faith about the beauty and fertility of the land, acknowledged its advantages, and displayed its fruit, then magnified the difficulties with unbelief, bore false witness, and discouraged all Israel. They told of strong people, great walled cities and the sons of Anak, breaking down courage and doing Satan's intended work at cross-purposes with God when He had planned easy access into Canaan. That report about walled cities and giant inhabitants was largely correct, but Israel's fatal mistake was distrusting God's power, which alone prevented them from entering the land then.

That night the whole congregation lifted up its voice and cried and wept, then murmured against Moses and against Aaron and wished for death in Egypt or in the wilderness. They gave vent to disappointment with bitter reproaches and wailing instead of waiting and reflecting and reasoning that God who had brought them out thus far would certainly give them the land. At this outburst Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly.

Israel had on its side the mighty powers of heaven, with the One enshrouded in the pillar of cloud leading them through the wilderness and fighting for them. He had fulfilled His word to Abraham that after four hundred years of bondage He would deliver them, had visited Egypt with fearful judgments and brought His people out, and had destroyed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea when they pursued Israel. His power had been displayed when the waters parted to leave a plain path, yet on the border of the promised land Israel dishonored God by giving way to unbelief.

The rebellion went further than murmuring, for the people resolved to choose a commander and actually proposed making a captain to lead them back to Egypt where they had been slaves and suffered hardships. In doing so they discarded Moses their patient suffering leader, rejected him as leader, and rejected God's command to advance. They also sought to kill the two faithful spies rather than trust God to defeat the inhabitants and give them the land.

What the Murmuring Meant

The whole congregation joined in murmuring against Moses and Aaron, pouring out lamentation and mourning, faultfinding and bitter complaints, reproaches and wailing in grief, fear and despair. Instead of waiting and reflecting and reasoning that the God who had brought them out thus far would certainly give them the land, they gave vent at once to disappointment and yielded to discouragement. Their reaction was cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks had to be faced, an unwillingness to heed faithful warnings and true counsel.

They wished they had died in the land of Egypt or had died in the wilderness rather than trust God to bring them into Canaan and face its apparent dangers. Filled with unbelief, they murmured against their leaders and wished for death rather than face the conquest, their despair arising from accepting the unfaithful spies' report. Their grief and fear deepened into rebellion and discontent, with weeping that night turning into open complaint.

Their words rejected God's deliverance from Egypt and His promise to give them the land. They preferred returning to the bondage from which He had delivered them, blaming their leaders for bringing them out and acting as though they could manage their future without His help. Their despair joined accusation against Him and desire to go back despite His past deliverance and presence among them.

Murmuring against Moses and Aaron was murmuring against the Lord Himself, who had sent Moses to be their deliverer. God heard their speech after long bearing with the congregation, His presence witnessed the outburst, and He was displeased with it. What was spoken bitterly against Moses was really spoken against God.

They charged the Lord with bringing them into Canaan to fall by the sword and leave their wives and children as prey. They accused Him of dealing deceitfully by promising a land they thought they could not possess and were unable to possess. In this they reproached Moses, discarded their patient suffering leader, and rejected Him as leader.

They forgot and limited the power of the Holy One instead of trusting Him to give them the land. They accepted the spies' distorted account despite God's past care and the signs He had given them, failing to trust that He who had brought them out of Egypt and safely through the sea would fulfill His promise. They forgot the strong arm of Omnipotence that had brought them out by a series of miracles, the miracles by which He had brought them out of slavery and led them safely thus far. They forgot their bitter service in Egypt and the goodness and power of God displayed in deliverance from bondage, how their children were spared when the destroying angel passed over Egypt, and the grand exhibition of divine power at the Red Sea where the waters parted to leave a plain path for safe crossing while the armies of their enemies attempting to follow were overwhelmed. With the One enshrouded in the pillar of cloud leading them through the wilderness and fighting for them, Israel had on its side the mighty powers of heaven.

Their outcry shows to what desperation unbelief will bring people. Words of unbelief and distrust are as seeds that spring up and bear fruit, and when circumstances are difficult people speak defeat and disaster instead of trusting God.

God's Judgment in Response

The murmuring was apostasy and rebellion, joined to the demand to appoint a captain and return to Egypt, so great that it called for God's own presence to adjust matters and moved His purpose to destroy them. God had long borne with the congregation, but He heard this evil murmuring against Moses and Aaron as murmuring against Himself. He answered by doing to them as they had spoken, taking them at their word and turning their wish for death in Egypt or in the wilderness into sentence. Their wish to die in the wilderness was fulfilled in the declaration that they would wander forty years and know His breach of promise.

All who had left Egypt from twenty years old and upward and had murmured would fall dead in the wilderness and never enter Canaan. Only Caleb and Joshua were excepted and would go into Canaan. The little ones said to be prey would be brought in to know the land their parents had despised. Those over twenty who rebelled, despairing instead of trusting God to defeat the inhabitants and rejecting His command to advance, would die before reaching the promised land.

The wandering was set at forty years, corresponding to the forty days the spies searched the land, a day for a year, until the rebellious parents died. That sentence was punishment for rebellion and murmuring expressing distrust of God's purpose in bringing them to Canaan. They would know the breach of promise as punishment for idolatry and rebellious murmuring that obliged God to change His purpose toward them. For this rebellion and perversity, including charging the Lord with bringing them in to fall by the sword and leave wives and children as prey, the Lord declared they would wander forty years in the wilderness.

After God declared the forty years, the favorable time had passed and the opportunity was lost, because unbelief had kept them from making the right move at the right time while the Lord was holding back the armies that inhabited Canaan. Warned that the Lord was not with them, they tried to enter the land anyway and went up presumptuously. They followed human impulses in an attempt to avert the pronounced judgment instead of waiting until His devised plan had every advantage, and were defeated with plainly disastrous results. Their complaint afterward arose from resentment over the long delay before entering Canaan after their rebellion at the spies' report; they blamed God and Moses, imagined they could have conquered the land earlier, became discontented with everything, and viewed the wilderness years as an unnecessary delay.

Timeless Warnings and Applications

The outcry on the border of Canaan stands as cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks had to be faced, an unwillingness to heed faithful warnings and true counsel that is repeated in later generations. It warns against doing again the work of the spies, for their exaggerated, discouraging report and impressions stirred distrust and opposition to leaders, drove the congregation to panic and complaint and to wish for death in Egypt or in the wilderness, turned them from the forward path God had set, undermined confidence, and halted the advance of His work. When circumstances are difficult people still speak defeat and disaster instead of trusting God, and the night of lifting up the voice and crying and weeping shows to what desperation unbelief will bring even those who have on their side the mighty powers of heaven, the One enshrouded in the pillar of cloud leading through the wilderness and fighting for them, whose power parted the Red Sea into a plain path. Words of unbelief and distrust are as seeds that spring up and bear fruit after minds are leavened by faithless talk of walled cities, though at first there was speech of the beauty and fertility of the land, so when such thoughts come silence is eloquence and no word of unbelief should be spoken, but there should be less talking and more praying, opening the door of the heart to let Jesus enter and giving His Spirit opportunity to work mightily for His people instead of thinking and speaking of difficulties and forgetting to trust the Lord.

Murmuring against Moses was murmuring against God who sent him as deliverer, and it displeased Him after He in a marvelous manner had brought the people out of bondage in Egypt to elevate and ennoble them and make them a praise in the earth, bringing them from degradation to fit them to occupy an honorable place among the nations and to receive important and sacred trusts, for which bearing difficulties, weariness, privations and hardships was necessary. Their complaining came from seeing and feeling only present inconveniences and trials and talking of the hardness of the way and wondering when the weary pilgrimage would end, instead of saying God had done great things for them and from slaves was making them a great nation, and from not considering that they were receiving everything of value. It came from forgetting bitter service in Egypt, forgetting the goodness and power of God in deliverance from bondage, forgetting how their children were spared when the destroying angel passed over Egypt, and forgetting the grand exhibition of divine power at the Red Sea where the waters were rolled together as a solid wall for safe crossing while the armies of enemies attempting to follow were overwhelmed. The heat, dust, roughness of the way, thirst, heat and fatigue of forty years traveling on foot over rocks and arid desert drew murmuring and sighs of fatigue from many who trod that weary way, and their murmuring measures human weariness under hardship, so that people furnished with every convenience would murmur even more if obliged to cross a barren desert on foot.

The same temptation comes upon men and women to complain and murmur against him who stands in the most responsible position in the cause and work of God when constant pressure of care and labor is upon him, just as Israel murmured against Moses when in adverse circumstances and faced adversity. Murmuring includes finding fault with one thing and another, censuring the leaders’ course as not conservative enough, as not seeking to please the people, as talking too plainly and reproving too sharply, picking at straws such as dress, expressing dissatisfaction with their course, and passing remarks from one to another questioning them, while others listen and are pleased to gather up detrimental views and impressions. Every such word is written by an unseen angel in the book that will be opened to the view of God and angels. Refusal to accept correction and self-justifying rebellion in wishing for death in Egypt or in the wilderness became a pattern for modern Israel who resist reproof and discipline, but such resistance does not show that correction is unnecessary, since discipline is essential to the health of the community and the salvation of the soul.

The backward turn from the journey to Canaan, with the desire in the next verses to return to Egypt, represents an influence that leads away from the heavenly Canaan, and the turning back in fear just as the people were preparing to enter shows how crimes and other evils could hinder them from entering the land. The defeat through the testimony of the unfaithful spies, when the whole congregation murmured in unbelief and failed to make the right moves at the right time while the Lord was holding back the armies that inhabited Canaan, so that the opportunity was lost, warns against rushing one movement upon the heels of another and confusing the work God has outlined, and against letting desire to get out of Battle Creek and dispose of school property cut across His designs. It warns against then following human impulses to avert the judgment God has pronounced instead of waiting until His devised plan has every advantage and He indicates what to do next. The same work of Satan to confuse the minds of youth and those older when Israel was about to enter Canaan, in murmuring against Moses and Aaron, appears when ministers of the gospel lose their bearings and lead others to walk in strange paths, drawing great numbers of people to a place where few are converted and where the true medical missionary work for the world is not shown.