Numbers 14:30, commentary and pictures

God swore that the generation He had promised to settle in the land would doubtless not enter it, barring those numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against Him to fall and die in the wilderness. The sentence came after the twelve spies were sent from Kadesh to survey Canaan, when the people believed the evil report, refused to trust God and enter, and tempted Him despite seeing His glory and miracles. Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were excepted, because they wholly followed God with another spirit, trusted Him, gave a faithful report, and stood firmly for the right. The little ones their parents said would be a prey would instead be brought in to inherit the despised land, while each day of searching counted for a year of wandering until the guilty carcasses were wasted. That promised dwelling is called His rest, and the exclusion stands as a warning not to harden the heart in unbelief today, since God's promises are fulfilled only to those who obey and follow His leading.

Words and Setting

God swore concerning the land He had sworn to make Israel dwell in that the rebellious Israelites would doubtless not come into it, with only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun excepted from the sentence. The oath fell on those who rebelled after hearing the spies' evil report, and of the vast multitude only those two lived to see and enter the promised land and possess it. The reference places this judgment in the account of the twelve spies sent to explore Canaan, sent from Kadesh to survey it, and of the people's response to their report. The people were sentenced to wander forty years in the wilderness, and when they later tried to enter after the appointed time had passed their enemies were ready, Moses warned distinctly that the Lord was not with them, and going out in disobedience they were overcome and defeated.

The oath barred those numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against God, decreeing that their carcasses would fall and they would die in the wilderness without entering. God shut out the whole rebellious generation except Caleb and Joshua, who had searched the land and survived the judgment because they remained faithful while the rest forfeited all claim to His favor, promise and protection. Those over twenty when they left Egypt were sentenced to die in the wilderness for rebellion and disbelief, and the generation that rejected the land died there while their children would enter it. Caleb was promised entry because he had another spirit and followed God fully, and Caleb and Joshua were spared and rewarded in preference to all the host.

The little ones whom the parents said would be a prey would instead be brought in to know and inherit the land their parents despised. Each of the forty days spent searching the land counted for a year of bearing iniquity, so the guilty generation's children would wander and bear their whoredoms forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt, until the rebellious parents' carcasses were wasted and they all died. The forty days the spies spent exploring the land thus became forty years of wandering shared in consequence of iniquity.

God took the people at their word when they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, doing to them as they had spoken. The sentence followed that rebellion and wish to die in the wilderness, decreeing that all from twenty years old and upward should fall in the wilderness because of rebellion and murmuring against the Lord. Knowing God's breach of promise means fully realizing His punishment that obliged Him to change His purpose toward them, because by rebellion, murmuring and idolatry they had forfeited all claim to His favor, promise and protection and lost their claim to them. Idolatry with rebellious murmurings obliged the Lord to change His purpose concerning them.

Reason for Exclusion

The oath of exclusion fell because Israel rebelled in unbelief after hearing the evil report of the spies, refusing to trust God and to go up and enter, choosing instead to turn back toward Egypt. Though they had seen His glory and miracles, they tempted Him ten times and murmured against Him, and the murmuring generation numbered from twenty years old and upward was sentenced to have their carcasses fall and die in the wilderness without reaching the land. Their rebellion needlessly delayed entrance and brought forty years of wandering, and when they afterward tried to enter after the appointed time had passed their enemies were ready and, Moses having warned that the Lord was not with them, they were defeated.

That sentence followed murmuring and complaining against God and against Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt, with broken promise of obedience, jealousy, idolatry, and repeated grieving of God through the wilderness journey. It came for refusal to be led by God, refusal to follow His leading and submit to Him, and refusal to trust and follow Him in cheerful obedience. Faithful obedience was essential to receiving the promised inheritance, for His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse to obey and follow His leading.

They failed the test of faith by yielding to appetite and gratifying appetite, being controlled by appetite, choosing their own way, and committing grievous sins, and the bodies of that vast multitude that left Egypt were left in the wilderness under judgment except for Caleb and Joshua. Their fate warns that professed Christians who let appetite rule are not walking in God's favor. The long wandering was not God's good pleasure, for He wanted to lead them there without it, would have led them there sooner and brought them immediately to the promised land had they submitted, obeyed, and loved to be led by Him and trusted in Him alone.

He had called Israel out of slavery in Egypt to lead them into Canaan to make them a people who would reveal His character to the idolatrous nations of the world, and from that exodus He purposed to give them Canaan including Jericho. Had they been obedient to His word they would soon have entered, but because they were disobedient and rebellious, provoking His wrath by wicked murmurings, jealousy and unbelief and insulting Him with unbelief, they journeyed weary years forty years in the wilderness until all of that generation died and never entered.

Caleb Joshua and Heirs

Of the vast multitude and all the adults brought out of slavery in Egypt toward Canaan, only two lived to see the promised land, for disobedience and rebellion kept the rest from entering it. The oath barred all the numbered men from twenty years old and upward who murmured, decreeing their carcasses would fall in the wilderness, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun alone were excepted from that sentence and spared to enter it. Only Caleb and Joshua, who remained faithful, were found faithful enough to enter, while after forty years of wandering the rest of that generation were buried in the wilderness.

Caleb was promised entry because he had another spirit and followed God fully, wholly following Him in preference to all the host. Caleb and Joshua trusted God, remained faithful, spoke truthfully about the land, and their faithful testimony and true counsel stood boldly and firmly for God and the right against the spies' fearful report and the congregation's decision to turn back toward Egypt. Of the twelve spies only those two gave faithful reports, while Israel refused to trust and follow God and would not heed them.

The little ones whom the parents said would be a prey would instead be brought in to know and inherit the land their parents despised. Their children, whom they feared would be lost, would inherit the land instead of them, while the adults who left Egypt were barred for rebellion and broken promise of obedience. God took the people at their word when they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness, decreeing that all from twenty years old and upward should fall dead there because of rebellion, murmuring and idolatry.

Each of the forty days spent searching the land counted for a year of bearing iniquity, a day for a year according to the number of days of searching. The guilty generation's children would wander and bear their whoredoms forty years, reckoned from leaving Egypt, bearing the consequence of iniquity until the rebellious parents' carcasses were wasted and they all died. The people were sentenced to wander forty years in the wilderness, and the forty days the spies spent exploring the land became forty years of wandering.

The word was verified and fulfilled when, though they shared the forty years' wandering with their brethren, Caleb and Joshua were brought into the land and rewarded according to God's word. Because the people disobeyed, only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan and the rest died in the wilderness, which proves the sacredness of God's law. They shared in the land's produce, including the grapes of Eshcol.

Caleb, as courageous as when he set out from Egypt and relying on God's strength, asked for and received the stronghold of the giants as his portion. He drove out the Canaanites in God's strength and possessed the stronghold of the giants where his feet had trodden. He possessed the vineyards and olive groves there, and the men of faith ate of the grapes of Eshcol.

The people received according to their faith and thinking, with words of doubt and faith proving true in what follows. Those who left God out and echoed the unbelieving spies that they were not able against walled cities, giant warriors and iron chariots were not able, for those who looked chiefly at the obstacles saw their fears fulfilled, wore out their lives and perished in the desert. Caleb and Joshua reasoned that they were well able because God's promise was superior to giants, walled cities and chariots of iron, and those who relied on God's strength and trusted His promise entered and inherited the promised land.

Reception and Aftermath

Though pardon was granted in response to intercession for mercy, those who had beheld divine glory and miracles and yet tempted God ten times and murmured against Him were sentenced to have their carcasses fall in the wilderness, with only the two faithful men excepted and the little ones said to become a prey brought in to know the land their parents despised. Moses, Aaron, and the two faithful spies accepted that decree without complaint, while the people mourned the judgment and its consequences rather than their sin, so their sorrow was not repentance and did not reverse the sentence. When at length compelled to believe it was indeed the Lord who had said they would die in the wilderness and not enter the promised land, they were terrified at the prospect that they would all perish. That conviction led them to admit Moses and Aaron were right and to confess they had sinned by rebelling against the Lord and His authority and by opposing Moses and Aaron, even acknowledging that Korah and those who died with him were sinners against the Lord who had justly suffered His wrath.

The rebels resisted receiving the sentence as the word of God Himself, denying that the Lord had decreed they would not enter and would die in the wilderness. They charged that Moses alone had told them they could not go in, that he had invented the prohibition on his own, treated him as a deceiver and an impostor, blamed him for keeping them from Canaan and for their doom, and defended the rebels who had died. Dathan and Abiram joined this denial, claiming God had never said they would die in the wilderness and accusing Moses of inventing it to keep them from Canaan, which showed rebellion and refusal to accept divine judgment and Moses' authority. To admit Moses was righteous would have been to receive the sentence as the word of God, but Israel was unwilling to believe and submit to it and tried to escape it by believing it an imposture.

Korah, Dathan and Abiram perverted the decree by claiming it was Moses' own design to keep the congregation wandering back and forth until they died so he could come into possession of their property. Flattered into believing themselves righteous, the people were persuaded that under Korah's leadership they would enjoy a peaceful, prosperous journey and be led straight into the promised land instead of wandering under Moses' rebukes for sin. They preferred a leader who flattered them that they were righteous and promised to lead them straight into the land over a ruler who reminded them of their sins and led them back and forth in the wilderness. The people resisted accepting the sentence as God's word because doing so would mean admitting Korah's company was wrong and Moses was right, so instead they wrongly blamed Moses and Aaron, believed different leadership would have brought them straight in, and did not repent or seek God's pardon.

When they afterward determined to go up after the appointed time had passed, that resolve was contrary to the Lord's direction after they had refused when told to go up and take the land. Moses told them distinctly that God would not be with them and warned that their enemies were ready, but they would not heed the warning, went out to battle in disobedience, and were overcome and defeated by their enemies. The broken ranks and missing people remained as signs of divine displeasure, yet the people failed to learn from them and blamed Moses for their doom. They later wrongly blamed God and Moses for the delay, imagining they could have conquered the land sooner, and that complaint showed distrust of God's dealings with them.

The later generation faced the same test in battle but went forward under God's command and won, while the rebellious adults died in the wilderness without possessing the land promised to them. God had purposed from the exodus out of bondage to give Israel Canaan including Jericho, but by wicked murmurings, jealousy and unbelief they provoked His wrath, so He caused them to wander weary years until all who had insulted Him with unbelief died and never entered. The capture of Jericho forty years after the exodus therefore declared that their fathers might have possessed the city forty years before had they trusted Him as their children did, and it magnified His name among the nations. Nearly all those sentenced adults had perished in the wilderness, and Moses and Aaron had also received a sentence barring them from entering Canaan.

Christ Satan and Appetite

Christ Himself, the Son of God, was with Moses and Joshua to lead His favored chosen people through the wilderness toward Canaan, with Moses as the visible leader receiving instruction directly from God. He had pledged to bring them safely to the promised land by a much more direct route if they would be guided by Him, place dependence on Him, and obey the directions given through Moses, for safe arrival depended on following Christ's guidance through Moses. Each person was under His direct leadership and interest and under a safe guide, so that not one who started from Egypt would have fallen prey to disease or death in the wilderness, but unbelief entered and they failed to appreciate the work of their divine Leader.

Israel need not have traveled forty years through the wilderness, for exclusion from Canaan came because they received the evil report of the faithless spies and rebelled, grieving God through the journey until He swore they would not enter. Had they been obedient, heaven's army under the generalship of Christ stood ready to take them into Canaan long before, and God had intended to lead them directly to the land, but failure to submit to His leading brought delay and exclusion. This was impressed when He leveled the walls of Jericho without human power to show angels were in the camp of Israel, for Jesus, greater than Joshua, leads His people to victory when they submit to Him.

Satan worked to produce rebellion and murmuring among them as God brought them from the bondage of slavery toward Canaan under His own guidance, despite wonderful evidences that God was working in their behalf and positive evidence that He rules in the heavens. Rebellion was punished with death and the wanderings were extended until that generation was buried in the wilderness, which was the result Satan sought to produce among them. Satan overthrew nearly all who left Egypt through gratification of appetite and temptation, so that nearly all died in the wilderness and did not enter Canaan. He boasted of this as proof that he could defeat God's purpose by tempting the chosen people, and that Christ could not resist his power and carry out God's purpose to bring them to Canaan.

Faith Rest and Warning

The land sworn for Israel to dwell in is called His rest, and in wrath God swore that the disobedient generation that grieved Him through the wilderness should not enter into His rest, save Caleb and Joshua who wholly followed Him. The long wandering was not His good pleasure, for He would have led them there directly, immediately and sooner had they submitted, obeyed and loved to be led by Him. His covenant advantages of the goodly land were granted with large, full and abundant privileges, deliverance from Egyptian slavery and care in all their travels, yet were to be theirs only if obedient with cheerful and devoted loyalty, for privileges mean responsibilities and His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse to obey and follow His leading. Even repeated pleading for them could not change the result when they acted out natural selfishness and hereditary tendencies to wrong by murmuring, complaining, fierce jealousy and little gratitude, bringing His displeasure upon them. He requires His people to trust in Him alone rather than to seek or receive help from those who do not serve Him.

Their fate warns that disobedience and idolatry bring judgment and forfeit favor, while humble obedience, faithfulness and wholly following Him bring blessing. Those who yielded to appetite and rebellion perished under judgment in the wilderness and did not enter the land sworn to them, showing that professed Christians who let appetite rule are not walking in His favor. That history applies to His professed people today as the second advent nears, where the same scenes are re-enacted. Ancient Israel when repeatedly tested was found wanting in cowardly complaining, drawing back from action when risks were to be encountered, and unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel, for of the twelve spies only Caleb and Joshua stood boldly and firmly for God and the right. Now few enlightened by divine wisdom dare come forward as Caleb did, self-denying servants bearing the burden of the cause in privation to help His people are no better appreciated than then, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent, darkness and unbelief do not decrease, and those chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood, while Satan is wide awake and working warily, so God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.

Satan worked to produce rebellion among them as God brought them from bondage toward Canaan under His own guidance with Moses as visible leader receiving instruction directly from God, and despite wonderful evidences in their behalf and positive proof that He rules in the heavens they continually murmured and rebelled, so rebellion was punished with death and their wanderings were extended until the rest were buried in the wilderness. Satan today uses the same devising to introduce the same evils with the same results that laid so many in their graves, as when Israel in sight of the mount where His power had been displayed turned aside while Moses was in the mount with God and worshiped a golden calf. The exclusion stands as a warning to hear His voice today and not harden the heart in provocation as in the wilderness, to take heed against an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. All but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness because they obstinately refused warnings from God and persistently pursued backsliding through obstinacy, unbelief and idolatry, for which wrath was poured out for destruction, and their children who entered Canaan were warned to refrain from following the course their fathers had taken, lest through unbelief there be failure to enter into rest.

Because the people disobeyed, the spoken word was verified with only two entering and the rest dying, which proves the sacredness of His law and that He will vindicate His word today if leaders of His people depart from His commandments. The first generation was barred by unbelief, and the same spirit of unbelief appeared in their children, putting their inheritance of the promise in question. That same spirit will be imbibed by children now unless parents keep them close and away so far as possible from worldly evil influences and educate them line upon line and precept upon precept in the truths of the Word preparatory to the higher school above, lest unbelief shut them out of the future immortal life as it shut Israel out of the promised land.