Numbers 14:25, commentary and pictures

At Kadesh on the border of the promised land after the rulers had surveyed the country, Israel was told not to go forward into the valley because the Amalekites and the Canaanites occupied it, but to turn back on the morrow into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. Their weeping, murmuring, desire to return to Egypt, and rejection of Caleb and Joshua forfeited God's protection so He would not go with them forward, yet in answer to Moses' plea on the ground of His longsuffering and great mercy He pardoned them from being smitten and disinherited, while swearing that those who had seen His glory and miracles and tempted Him would not see the land sworn to their fathers. That sentence was carried out in the order to turn back, that all numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured should fall in the wilderness through forty years of wandering, with only Caleb who followed fully and Joshua entering, while the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to know and possess the despised land. Had they received the faithful report and gone up at once in trust God would have given them Canaan despite walled cities and giants, and the turning back was also mercy and the safest course because the enemy had heard of the spies and prepared for war. The turning back stands as warning now as then against complaining, drawing back from risk, and presumptuous going after the opportunity has passed, yet it shows that even when mistakes bring wandering God does not desert His people but goes before them and at last brings the faithful into the promise.

Setting and Direction

Israel was encamped at Kadesh, near the border of the promised land, when a ruler from each tribe was sent to survey the country and its inhabitants. The Amalekites and the Canaanites occupied the valley, so Israel was not to proceed into it at that time but to turn away from it. The direction was to leave that Canaanite territory and go by the way of the Red Sea.

The command was to turn on the morrow and go back from Canaan into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. It was given when Israel was very near the good land, standing at its border. That turning back toward the wilderness began the forty-year sojourn that followed the refusal to trust God and enter the promised land.

The turn back followed the evil report of the spies and the congregation's refusal to trust God and enter. The people wept, murmured that they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, and charged God with bringing them to fall by the sword and make their wives and children a prey. They proposed making a captain to return to Egypt. They tried to stone Caleb and Joshua when the two declared the land exceeding good and urged them not to rebel and not to fear because the Lord was with them.

Judgment Tempered With Mercy

Their wicked rebellion, unbelief, insolence and arrogance, and their echoing of the unbelieving spies, forfeited God's protection and miraculous working with them, so that He would not go with them if they went forward then. Leaving God out of the question, the multitude feared walled cities, giant warriors and chariots of iron and lost sight of Canaan's beauty and fruitfulness. After Moses interceded on the ground of God's longsuffering, great mercy, forgiveness of iniquity and transgression, and mercy shown from Egypt until now, God pardoned according to Moses' word and spared Israel from being smitten and disinherited. That sparing kept the nations from saying He was not able to bring them in.

Pardon did not remove consequence, for God swore by His life that all the earth shall be filled with His glory, yet all those men who saw His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and tempted Him ten times and did not hearken to His voice should not see the land sworn to their fathers, and none who provoked Him should see it. The order to turn into the wilderness on the morrow carries out that sentence of exclusion from Canaan because of provocation and unbelief. All numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured would have their carcasses fall in the wilderness and wear out their lives in the desert over forty years of wandering, with none coming into the land except Caleb, who had another spirit and followed fully, and Joshua. Their little ones whom they said should be a prey would be brought in to know the land they had despised and would possess it, while the adults' bodies would be buried in the wilderness.

Had they received the report of Caleb and Joshua and gone up at once in trust, God would have given them Canaan. Caleb and Joshua counted God's promise superior to walled cities, giant warriors and chariots of iron and said they were well able to overcome, while the multitude said they were not able to go up, and their words proved true. The return was also pity, mercy and the safest course, because while Israel delayed and murmured the Amalekites and Canaanites heard of the spies and prepared to make war and attack, so turning back spared the people from that danger.

The command tested whether their apparent submission was genuine, and their refusal showed their hearts remained unchanged. When they later tried to go up presumptuously after the opportunity had passed, their enemies were prepared and the attempt ended in defeat. Even in turning them back for their great and multiplied mistakes, God did not desert them but went before them every day in the cloud of His presence. Caleb and Joshua though sharing the forty years' wandering entered the promise, with Caleb as courageous as when he set out from Egypt asking for and receiving the stronghold of the giants as his portion, driving out the Canaanites in God's strength, possessing the vineyards and olive-groves where his feet had trodden, and with Joshua eating of the grapes of Eschol.

Warning for Today

The history of the twelve spies and the turning back into the wilderness has an application to God's people today, and the command to turn means just as much now as then for whether God's message of warning is obeyed or disobeyed. The same cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks are to be encountered, and the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua, are re-enacted now. Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, with few receiving the faithful warnings given them of God.

Darkness and unbelief do not decrease as the time of the second advent nears. Truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. Long has the Lord borne with His people, forgiving their wanderings and waiting for them to give Him room in their hearts, and giving His servants continual evidences of His wisdom and assistance lest they become discouraged, but false ideas, jealousy and distrust have crowded Him out. Few whose minds have been enlightened by revelations of divine wisdom dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right. Because those chosen to conduct His work will not be turned from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated, they become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood, for Satan is wide awake and working warily in these last days, and God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices. The servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffering of privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated now than then.

With much greater light given now more is expected, with blessing and high favor to the obedient and sure punishment to those who depart in disobedience until Satan takes control of their minds. Provoking God brings condemnation and withdrawal of His prosperity. The setting illustrates the danger of acting presumptuously after disregarding God's direction, for the opportunity to enter had passed, and when they later tried to go up their enemies were prepared and the attempt ended in defeat. Yet even when great and multiplied mistakes forced the turn back into the wilderness at the border of the land, God did not desert them but went before them every day in the cloud of His presence, showing that His people may make mistakes without being abandoned by the Lord, whose mercy still blesses despite mistakes as in beginning the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium.