Numbers 14:22, commentary and pictures

The verse declares that Israel had seen God's glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet had tempted Him ten times and refused to obey His voice. At Kadesh the spies were sent to survey Canaan, and though God had delivered them before, the people feared its strong nations, believed the fearful report and rejected the faithful report of Caleb and Joshua. For that accumulated unbelief and disobedience God barred that grown generation from the promised land, causing those twenty years old and upward who murmured to fall in the wilderness during forty years of wandering, while only Caleb who wholly followed Him and Joshua, with the little ones, would enter. Moses interceded to protect God's name by pleading His longsuffering mercy, and God pardoned according to his word yet left the sentence standing that those who provoked Him would not see the land, turning Israel back by the way of the Red Sea in pity to spare them from enemies now prepared for war. The same pattern of unbelief when action involves risk is repeated near Christ's second coming, where God's promises remain upon condition of obedience and greater light brings greater accountability.

Rebellion Despite Clear Evidence

The charge is that the men had seen divine glory and miracles performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet they tested God ten times and refused to listen to His voice. That repeated testing despite witnessed glory and power brought exclusion of that generation from the land promised to their fathers. The sentence fell because accumulated unbelief and disobedience had reached its limit, and none who provoked Him in this way would see the sworn land.

The setting was the sending of the spies from Kadesh to survey Canaan. After seeing miracles and receiving deliverance, the people feared the strong nations of Canaan and forgot what had already been done for them. They accepted the fearful report and rejected the good report of Caleb and Joshua, rebelling instead of trusting that God would give them the promised land.

Their rebellion broke out in weeping and murmuring, in wishing to die in Egypt or in the wilderness, and in reproaching God. They sought to appoint a captain to return to Egypt and sought to stone Caleb and Joshua. When tempted, they believed suggestions against Moses and Aaron and against Joshua and Caleb, although they had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities. They had been led by Christ Himself as their invisible Leader in the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, defended against Pharaoh, fed when hungry, and given water from the rock.

The tenfold tempting was wicked rebellion and unbelief that grieved God. It showed an insolent spirit in rejecting the report of Caleb and Joshua and in delaying and murmuring instead of going up at once. That course awakened God's anger and passed the boundary of His forbearance and patience. It was especially blameworthy because unbelief and rebellion continued despite clear evidence of His care and power.

Judgment Tempered With Mercy

Because of accumulated unbelief and disobedience after seeing glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, that generation was sentenced to be barred from the land promised to their fathers, so the adults who left Egypt would not enter the promised land or enter His rest. Seeing His power did not keep them from repeatedly testing Him and refusing to obey His voice, but led them to forget it, accept the fearful report and rebel rather than trust Him to give them the land. Their repeated testing despite clear evidence brought judgment, with Caleb excepted for following the Lord fully.

As they had spoken in His ears, their carcasses from twenty years old and upward who murmured would fall in the wilderness and not come into the land, save Caleb and Joshua, while they would wander there forty years. Their little ones whom they said should be a prey would be brought in to know the despised land. Their wilderness troubles, prolonged journey and exclusion from Canaan resulted from their own murmuring and disobedience, not from mismanagement. Their rejection of the good report brought the sentence to wander forty years, and when they later tried to enter Canaan despite warning the favorable time had passed and they were defeated. They later wrongly called the long sojourn and delay unnecessary, though it came from refusal to trust God.

Only Caleb, because he had another spirit and wholly followed God, and Joshua, the only other man from Egypt, would enter. God would bring Caleb into the land he went into and his seed would possess it. The children would inherit the land the fathers despised, and the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to know it. The unfaithful spies who incited the rebellion were struck down. None who provoked Him would see the land sworn to their fathers.

Moses met the offer to make a greater nation of him by interceding to protect God's fame before the Egyptians and inhabitants of Canaan who had heard the Lord was among Israel face to face with cloud by day and fire by night. He repeated God's own declaration that He is longsuffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression yet by no means clearing the guilty and visiting iniquity to the third and fourth generation, pleading pardon according to great mercy as He had forgiven from Egypt until now. He pleaded that destroying them would cause the nations to say the Lord was not able to bring them in, and appealed to long-suffering and great mercy for pardon. God pardoned according to his word and swore by His life that all the earth shall be filled with His glory. But pardon did not remove exclusion, leaving the sentence in place that those men who saw and still provoked Him would surely not see the land, and Israel was told to turn back into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

Israel was very near Canaan when judged for tenfold tempting, and God would have given them Canaan immediately and led them in sooner if they had obeyed and trusted and submitted to His leading. By rebellion and rejection of the report of Caleb and Joshua they forfeited His protection and brought upon themselves the denunciation that they would never enter the promised land or enter His rest. The command to return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea was pity and mercy to spare them, because during their delay and murmuring the Amalekites and Canaanites had heard of the spies and prepared themselves to make war against them. Their fathers could otherwise have possessed Jericho forty years earlier.

Warning for Today

The repeated testing of God after seeing His glory and miracles, with failure to heed His voice, is the same pattern of unbelief, resistance to faithful warnings, and drawing back when action involves risk that is repeated among God's people near Christ's second coming. The men who saw His glory and His miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet tempted Him ten times and did not hearken to His voice, were condemned not to see the land sworn to their fathers, and none who provoked Him would see it. Only Caleb, because he had another spirit and wholly followed God, would be brought into the land he went into and his seed would possess it, with Joshua the only other man from Egypt to enter.

They had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities, led by Christ Himself as their invisible Leader in the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, defended against Pharaoh, fed when hungry, and given water from the rock, yet when Satan tempted them they believed his suggestions against Moses and Aaron and against Joshua and Caleb. Their tenfold tempting and refusal to hearken awakened God's anger and passed the boundary of His forbearance and patience. Though at Moses' unselfish intercession to protect God's name among the heathen God pardoned according to his word, the pardon left the sentence in place that those men who provoked Him would surely not see the land sworn to their fathers. This shows God's promises are upon condition of obedience.

The same rule holds now as then for obeying or disobeying God's message of warning. Greater light has now been given than to ancient Israel, so more is expected, obedient people are highly favored and blessed as obedient Israel was, but punishment must come to those who depart from God and persist in disobedience until Satan takes control of their minds. During the forty years of wandering the people failed to recognize His light and power and resisted the evidence He gave them, so they fell in the wilderness and did not enter the promised land. Their failure to overcome wrong traits of character kept God from fulfilling His purpose through them, and their repeated failure to trust and obey even after witnessing His miracles warns against letting unbelief take possession during trial.