Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
God bound Himself by His own life to do to Israel exactly what they had uttered in His hearing. After the twelve spies returned confirming the fruitfulness of Canaan yet most warning that its strong peoples and fortified cities made conquest impossible, the people rebelled, wishing they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, charging that He had led them out to fall by the sword and leave their families a prey, and seeking to appoint a captain to return to Egypt. He therefore turned their own words into their sentence, so that all numbered from twenty years old and upward who had murmured would fall and die in the wilderness and never enter the land He had sworn to give, while only Caleb and Joshua who followed fully would go in, and the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to possess the despised land. Their children would wander forty years until the carcasses of the parents were wasted, a year for each day of searching the land, that they might feel His breach of promise for tempting Him ten times despite His glory and miracles. The abiding principle is that what people speak in His ears about His promise proves true, for those who said they were not able against walled cities, giants and iron chariots were not able and perished in the desert, while those who counted His promise greater than every obstacle and said they were well able were true to their word and entered to eat its fruit, a warning re-enacted by cowardly complaining and drawing back among His people as the second advent nears.
Words and Historical Setting
The declaration is an oath in which God swears by His own life to do to Israel exactly as they have spoken in His ears. It belongs to the return of the twelve spies from Canaan, who confirmed that the land was fertile but most of whom warned that its strong peoples and fortified cities made conquest impossible. After hearing that evil report the people rebelled against God.
What they had spoken in His ears was murmuring that they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They charged that God had brought them out to fall by the sword and to leave their wives and their children a prey. They sought to make a captain and return to Egypt.
The oath came after Moses pleaded for pardon, lest the nations say God could not bring them in. After that plea God pardoned them from total destruction by pestilence and disinheritance, yet still barred the men who had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and had tempted Him ten times without hearkening to His voice.
The forty years of travel need not have happened, for they came because Israel received the evil report of the faithless spies and rebelled. Christ had pledged to lead the people safely to the promised land if they followed His guidance through the leaders through whom He guided them. Heaven's army of angels under His generalship stood ready in the camp of Israel to take them into Canaan long before, a readiness later proved by the leveling of the walls of Jericho without human power.
Sentence Upon That Generation
God heard their murmuring against Him and answered their rebellion, unbelief and distrust by turning their own words into sentence. Because they had wished to die in the wilderness, He swore to do to them exactly as they had spoken in His ears, that all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against Him would have their carcasses fall and die in the wilderness and would not come into the land He swore to give them. The wilderness sentence meant the generation of continual complainers would die before entering the land, suffering what their words and actions had brought upon them.
Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun among those numbered would enter Canaan. Caleb was spared and would enter because he had another spirit and followed fully. The little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land their parents despised, and their children whom they feared would become prey would possess it.
Their children would wander in the wilderness forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt until the parents died and their carcasses were wasted. They would bear their whoredoms after the number of the forty days of searching the land, each day for a year, and Israel's forty years of wandering matched the spies' forty days of exploration. So Israel would know His breach of promise as punishment for idolatry and murmuring that obliged Him to change His purpose to give them Canaan. When they later tried to enter Canaan after the favorable time had passed, their enemies resisted them and they were defeated.
The ten unfaithful spies whose evil report stirred the rebellion were put to death, and their deaths signaled and began the destruction of those over twenty years old. Their repeated disobedience had broken the covenant, and in mercy God directed the people to return toward the Red Sea. The people's grief when they faced that judgment was sorrow for its consequences, not repentance for sin, and it could not reverse the sentence.
When they accepted that this was the Lord's decree they recognized that they had sinned by rebelling against Moses and Aaron, and that the Lord Himself had declared that generation would not go into the promised land but would wander back and forward in the wilderness. Other rebels denied the Lord had thus said and charged that Moses on his own had told them they could not go in. They blamed Moses their ruler for continually reminding them of sins and failures instead of encouraging them and dwelling on righteous acts, flattered themselves that they were right and righteous and holy with no need to be told to be holy, and believed that under Korah they would have a peaceful, prosperous journey straight into the promised land.
Principle and Present Warning
The verse lays down the principle that God does to people as they have spoken in His ears, so that their own words about His promise prove true. When Israel stood on the borders of Canaan and left God out, echoing the unbelieving spies that they were not able to go up against walled cities, giants, and iron chariots, they were not able, but wore out their lives and perished in the desert. When Caleb and Joshua counted God's promise superior to giants, walled cities, and chariots of iron and said they were well able to overcome, their word was true, and though they shared the forty years' wandering with their brethren they entered the land of promise and ate of its fruit.
God took Israel at their own word and turned their rebellious speech into sentence, telling them through Moses and Aaron that because they had said they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, that wish would happen to them. All numbered from twenty years old and upward who had murmured would fall and die in the wilderness because of rebellion and murmuring, and the generation of continual complainers would die before entering the land. Only Caleb and Joshua would enter Canaan, while the little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land their parents despised. Their children would wander forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt until the parents died and their carcasses were wasted, bearing that iniquity forty years, a year for each day of searching the land, so Israel would know His breach of promise as punishment for idolatry and murmuring that obliged Him to change His purpose to give them Canaan, and the deaths of the ten unfaithful spies whose report stirred the rebellion signaled and began the destruction of those over twenty years old.
Their words of distrust and complaint are treated as evidence of rebellion, and the verse declares the consequences of unbelief. Judgment comes because of rebellion and lack of trust, with Israel facing what they had spoken as punishment for unbelief, rebellion, and murmuring against the leaders through whom He guided them, though Christ had pledged to lead the people safely to the promised land if they followed His guidance.
The history of the twelve spies has an application to God's people today as the time of the second advent nears, with the same cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be met being re-enacted now, and the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, and few received the faithful warnings given them, and darkness and unbelief do not decrease as that time nears, with truth becoming less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. The servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffer privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated now than then, and few enlightened by divine wisdom dare come boldly forward as Caleb did to stand firmly for God and the right. Long has the Lord borne with His people, forgiving their wanderings and waiting for them to give Him room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out, and because those He has chosen to conduct His work will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated they become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood. 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.
God bound Himself by His own life to do to Israel exactly what they had uttered in His hearing. After the twelve spies returned confirming the fruitfulness of Canaan yet most warning that its strong peoples and fortified cities made conquest impossible, the people rebelled, wishing they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, charging that He had led them out to fall by the sword and leave their families a prey, and seeking to appoint a captain to return to Egypt. He therefore turned their own words into their sentence, so that all numbered from twenty years old and upward who had murmured would fall and die in the wilderness and never enter the land He had sworn to give, while only Caleb and Joshua who followed fully would go in, and the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to possess the despised land. Their children would wander forty years until the carcasses of the parents were wasted, a year for each day of searching the land, that they might feel His breach of promise for tempting Him ten times despite His glory and miracles. The abiding principle is that what people speak in His ears about His promise proves true, for those who said they were not able against walled cities, giants and iron chariots were not able and perished in the desert, while those who counted His promise greater than every obstacle and said they were well able were true to their word and entered to eat its fruit, a warning re-enacted by cowardly complaining and drawing back among His people as the second advent nears.
Words and Historical Setting
The declaration is an oath in which God swears by His own life to do to Israel exactly as they have spoken in His ears. It belongs to the return of the twelve spies from Canaan, who confirmed that the land was fertile but most of whom warned that its strong peoples and fortified cities made conquest impossible. After hearing that evil report the people rebelled against God.
What they had spoken in His ears was murmuring that they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They charged that God had brought them out to fall by the sword and to leave their wives and their children a prey. They sought to make a captain and return to Egypt.
The oath came after Moses pleaded for pardon, lest the nations say God could not bring them in. After that plea God pardoned them from total destruction by pestilence and disinheritance, yet still barred the men who had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and had tempted Him ten times without hearkening to His voice.
The forty years of travel need not have happened, for they came because Israel received the evil report of the faithless spies and rebelled. Christ had pledged to lead the people safely to the promised land if they followed His guidance through the leaders through whom He guided them. Heaven's army of angels under His generalship stood ready in the camp of Israel to take them into Canaan long before, a readiness later proved by the leveling of the walls of Jericho without human power.
Sentence Upon That Generation
God heard their murmuring against Him and answered their rebellion, unbelief and distrust by turning their own words into sentence. Because they had wished to die in the wilderness, He swore to do to them exactly as they had spoken in His ears, that all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against Him would have their carcasses fall and die in the wilderness and would not come into the land He swore to give them. The wilderness sentence meant the generation of continual complainers would die before entering the land, suffering what their words and actions had brought upon them.
Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun among those numbered would enter Canaan. Caleb was spared and would enter because he had another spirit and followed fully. The little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land their parents despised, and their children whom they feared would become prey would possess it.
Their children would wander in the wilderness forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt until the parents died and their carcasses were wasted. They would bear their whoredoms after the number of the forty days of searching the land, each day for a year, and Israel's forty years of wandering matched the spies' forty days of exploration. So Israel would know His breach of promise as punishment for idolatry and murmuring that obliged Him to change His purpose to give them Canaan. When they later tried to enter Canaan after the favorable time had passed, their enemies resisted them and they were defeated.
The ten unfaithful spies whose evil report stirred the rebellion were put to death, and their deaths signaled and began the destruction of those over twenty years old. Their repeated disobedience had broken the covenant, and in mercy God directed the people to return toward the Red Sea. The people's grief when they faced that judgment was sorrow for its consequences, not repentance for sin, and it could not reverse the sentence.
When they accepted that this was the Lord's decree they recognized that they had sinned by rebelling against Moses and Aaron, and that the Lord Himself had declared that generation would not go into the promised land but would wander back and forward in the wilderness. Other rebels denied the Lord had thus said and charged that Moses on his own had told them they could not go in. They blamed Moses their ruler for continually reminding them of sins and failures instead of encouraging them and dwelling on righteous acts, flattered themselves that they were right and righteous and holy with no need to be told to be holy, and believed that under Korah they would have a peaceful, prosperous journey straight into the promised land.
Principle and Present Warning
The verse lays down the principle that God does to people as they have spoken in His ears, so that their own words about His promise prove true. When Israel stood on the borders of Canaan and left God out, echoing the unbelieving spies that they were not able to go up against walled cities, giants, and iron chariots, they were not able, but wore out their lives and perished in the desert. When Caleb and Joshua counted God's promise superior to giants, walled cities, and chariots of iron and said they were well able to overcome, their word was true, and though they shared the forty years' wandering with their brethren they entered the land of promise and ate of its fruit.
God took Israel at their own word and turned their rebellious speech into sentence, telling them through Moses and Aaron that because they had said they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, that wish would happen to them. All numbered from twenty years old and upward who had murmured would fall and die in the wilderness because of rebellion and murmuring, and the generation of continual complainers would die before entering the land. Only Caleb and Joshua would enter Canaan, while the little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land their parents despised. Their children would wander forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt until the parents died and their carcasses were wasted, bearing that iniquity forty years, a year for each day of searching the land, so Israel would know His breach of promise as punishment for idolatry and murmuring that obliged Him to change His purpose to give them Canaan, and the deaths of the ten unfaithful spies whose report stirred the rebellion signaled and began the destruction of those over twenty years old.
Their words of distrust and complaint are treated as evidence of rebellion, and the verse declares the consequences of unbelief. Judgment comes because of rebellion and lack of trust, with Israel facing what they had spoken as punishment for unbelief, rebellion, and murmuring against the leaders through whom He guided them, though Christ had pledged to lead the people safely to the promised land if they followed His guidance.
The history of the twelve spies has an application to God's people today as the time of the second advent nears, with the same cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be met being re-enacted now, and the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, and few received the faithful warnings given them, and darkness and unbelief do not decrease as that time nears, with truth becoming less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. The servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffer privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated now than then, and few enlightened by divine wisdom dare come boldly forward as Caleb did to stand firmly for God and the right. Long has the Lord borne with His people, forgiving their wanderings and waiting for them to give Him room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out, and because those He has chosen to conduct His work will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated they become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood. 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.