But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
God Himself, present in Christ, sentenced the rebellious generation addressed to die in the wilderness, their bodies falling and being buried there instead of entering and possessing the promised land. The sentence fell after the fearful report of the spies, when the people refused to trust Him to conquer Canaan, believed the faithless spies, sided with rebellion, sought to stone the faithful witnesses and sought to return to Egypt. It rested upon all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against Him, with only Caleb and Joshua excepted and spared, while the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to know the despised land. He did to them as they had spoken in His ears in wishing to die in the wilderness, after they had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness yet tempted Him ten times and would not hearken to His voice, so though Moses interceded and He pardoned them from pestilence and disinheritance, the adult tempters would not see the land sworn to their fathers. Their children must wander forty years and bear their unfaithfulness until the bodies were wasted, a year for each day of searching the land, proving His promises are upon condition of obedience, and the same history is re-enacted today when professed Israel refuses faithful reports and true counsel and perishes by the same unbelief.
Sentence on Faithless Generation
But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness is God's own sentence upon the rebellious Israelites addressed, spoken by Christ, that they would die in the wilderness with their bodies falling and being buried there instead of entering and possessing the promised land.
The sentence came after the spies' evil and fearful report, when the people refused to trust God to conquer Canaan, believed the faithless spies, sided with rebellion inspired by Satan, sought to stone the faithful witnesses, and sought to return to Egypt.
It applies to all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against God, with only Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun excepted and spared, while the little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land they had despised.
God did to them as they had spoken in His ears when they wished they had died in the wilderness, so their death there fulfilled their own wish and their murmuring against God and against their leaders.
The judgment came after great light and deliverance, when those who had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness tempted Him ten times and did not hearken to His voice, passing the boundary of His forbearance. Though Moses interceded, God pardoned them from being smitten with pestilence and disinherited, yet the adult tempters would not see the land sworn to their fathers.
Their children would wander forty years and bear their whoredoms until the carcasses were wasted, each of the forty days of searching the land counted for a year, so they would know His breach of promise and the altering of His purpose, proving His promises are upon condition of obedience.
Because their hearts were filled with bitter murmurings they were in no fit state to appreciate what God would do for them, would not sanctify Him in their hearts and give Him glory, and a display of His power against their enemies would only fill them with pride and self-importance. So He mercifully turned them back to enclose them where they would see neither city nor town until the continual murmurers died, and the perishing of the ten unfaithful spies before their eyes signified the destruction of all above twenty whose unbelief and rebellion cost them all.
The forty years of weary wandering need not have happened and was not an unnecessary delay but followed their cowardly rebellion. God had brought them from bondage to give them Canaan including Jericho forty years before its capture, but wicked murmurings, jealousy, insulting unbelief, rejection of His guidance through Moses, and indulgence of appetite provoked His wrath and forfeited the gift, and their later complaints showed they still distrusted His dealings.
Had Israel obeyed, Christ present in the camp as general with heaven's army of angels would have led them safely into Canaan long before, as was later shown when Jericho's walls were leveled without human power and its capture declared their fathers might have possessed it forty years before had they trusted as their children did.
After God declared the forty years they tried too late to enter Canaan by reversing course. Moses distinctly warned them God would not be with them, but they went up presumptuously contrary to direction and were defeated by their enemies. Their grief over losing the land was sorrow for the judgment, not repentance that could reverse the sentence.
Denial and Warning Today
The sentence that the carcasses would fall in the wilderness is the word of God Himself spoken through Moses, and it must be received as true. Dathan and Abiram with their followers, and Korah with his company, refused to believe that God had said they would die in the wilderness and not enter the promised land, claiming Moses alone had said it and not the Lord, and dismissing it as imposture and deception. They twisted that judgment into charges that Moses was the cause of their not entering Canaan, had arranged never to bring them there, had prevented their inheritance, had brought them out of Egypt—which they called a land flowing with milk and honey—to kill them in the wilderness to enrich himself with their possessions, and had caused the deaths of Korah and his company, and by this denial they utterly refused the authority of Moses and Aaron. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram turned the judgment into a charge that Moses had designed it himself from selfish interest in order to come into possession of their property.
Korah and his company had flattered the people that they were good people wronged by Moses, leaving their minds filled with the rebellious spirit and blind prejudice of those who had perished, so that they were unwilling to believe and submit to the sentence. Their broken ranks and dwindling numbers stood before them as visible signs of the doom God had pronounced, yet the people failed to learn from them and again rebelled by blaming Moses for it. When at last fully convinced of their wrong in unjustly accusing Moses and Aaron and seeing their past rebellion in its true light, they were terrified and compelled to believe the unwelcome fate, crying out that they die and perish. Believing the sentence led them to acknowledge that Moses and Aaron were right, to confess they had sinned against the Lord in rebelling against their authority, and to confess that Korah and those who perished with him were sinners against the Lord who had justly suffered His wrath.
The first generation was condemned to perish in the wilderness by unbelief, and the same spirit of unbelief appeared among their children. The verse shows the end of those who join in cowardly complaining and draw back from action when risks must be met, refusing faithful reports and true counsel. Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, few received the faithful warnings given them of God, and the cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness while the faithful like Caleb and Joshua were spared.
The same history is re-enacted among professed Israel today whose minds have been enlightened by divine wisdom, with the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel manifested. God's burden-bearing servants who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffering privation for the sake of helping His people are seldom better appreciated, and because those 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. Though the Lord has long borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for them to give Him room in their hearts, false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out. As the time of the second advent nears darkness and unbelief do not decrease, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent, few dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, while Satan is wide awake and working warily in these last days, calling for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.
God Himself, present in Christ, sentenced the rebellious generation addressed to die in the wilderness, their bodies falling and being buried there instead of entering and possessing the promised land. The sentence fell after the fearful report of the spies, when the people refused to trust Him to conquer Canaan, believed the faithless spies, sided with rebellion, sought to stone the faithful witnesses and sought to return to Egypt. It rested upon all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against Him, with only Caleb and Joshua excepted and spared, while the little ones said to be a prey would be brought in to know the despised land. He did to them as they had spoken in His ears in wishing to die in the wilderness, after they had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness yet tempted Him ten times and would not hearken to His voice, so though Moses interceded and He pardoned them from pestilence and disinheritance, the adult tempters would not see the land sworn to their fathers. Their children must wander forty years and bear their unfaithfulness until the bodies were wasted, a year for each day of searching the land, proving His promises are upon condition of obedience, and the same history is re-enacted today when professed Israel refuses faithful reports and true counsel and perishes by the same unbelief.
Sentence on Faithless Generation
But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness is God's own sentence upon the rebellious Israelites addressed, spoken by Christ, that they would die in the wilderness with their bodies falling and being buried there instead of entering and possessing the promised land.
The sentence came after the spies' evil and fearful report, when the people refused to trust God to conquer Canaan, believed the faithless spies, sided with rebellion inspired by Satan, sought to stone the faithful witnesses, and sought to return to Egypt.
It applies to all who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against God, with only Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun excepted and spared, while the little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land they had despised.
God did to them as they had spoken in His ears when they wished they had died in the wilderness, so their death there fulfilled their own wish and their murmuring against God and against their leaders.
The judgment came after great light and deliverance, when those who had seen His glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness tempted Him ten times and did not hearken to His voice, passing the boundary of His forbearance. Though Moses interceded, God pardoned them from being smitten with pestilence and disinherited, yet the adult tempters would not see the land sworn to their fathers.
Their children would wander forty years and bear their whoredoms until the carcasses were wasted, each of the forty days of searching the land counted for a year, so they would know His breach of promise and the altering of His purpose, proving His promises are upon condition of obedience.
Because their hearts were filled with bitter murmurings they were in no fit state to appreciate what God would do for them, would not sanctify Him in their hearts and give Him glory, and a display of His power against their enemies would only fill them with pride and self-importance. So He mercifully turned them back to enclose them where they would see neither city nor town until the continual murmurers died, and the perishing of the ten unfaithful spies before their eyes signified the destruction of all above twenty whose unbelief and rebellion cost them all.
The forty years of weary wandering need not have happened and was not an unnecessary delay but followed their cowardly rebellion. God had brought them from bondage to give them Canaan including Jericho forty years before its capture, but wicked murmurings, jealousy, insulting unbelief, rejection of His guidance through Moses, and indulgence of appetite provoked His wrath and forfeited the gift, and their later complaints showed they still distrusted His dealings.
Had Israel obeyed, Christ present in the camp as general with heaven's army of angels would have led them safely into Canaan long before, as was later shown when Jericho's walls were leveled without human power and its capture declared their fathers might have possessed it forty years before had they trusted as their children did.
After God declared the forty years they tried too late to enter Canaan by reversing course. Moses distinctly warned them God would not be with them, but they went up presumptuously contrary to direction and were defeated by their enemies. Their grief over losing the land was sorrow for the judgment, not repentance that could reverse the sentence.
Denial and Warning Today
The sentence that the carcasses would fall in the wilderness is the word of God Himself spoken through Moses, and it must be received as true. Dathan and Abiram with their followers, and Korah with his company, refused to believe that God had said they would die in the wilderness and not enter the promised land, claiming Moses alone had said it and not the Lord, and dismissing it as imposture and deception. They twisted that judgment into charges that Moses was the cause of their not entering Canaan, had arranged never to bring them there, had prevented their inheritance, had brought them out of Egypt—which they called a land flowing with milk and honey—to kill them in the wilderness to enrich himself with their possessions, and had caused the deaths of Korah and his company, and by this denial they utterly refused the authority of Moses and Aaron. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram turned the judgment into a charge that Moses had designed it himself from selfish interest in order to come into possession of their property.
Korah and his company had flattered the people that they were good people wronged by Moses, leaving their minds filled with the rebellious spirit and blind prejudice of those who had perished, so that they were unwilling to believe and submit to the sentence. Their broken ranks and dwindling numbers stood before them as visible signs of the doom God had pronounced, yet the people failed to learn from them and again rebelled by blaming Moses for it. When at last fully convinced of their wrong in unjustly accusing Moses and Aaron and seeing their past rebellion in its true light, they were terrified and compelled to believe the unwelcome fate, crying out that they die and perish. Believing the sentence led them to acknowledge that Moses and Aaron were right, to confess they had sinned against the Lord in rebelling against their authority, and to confess that Korah and those who perished with him were sinners against the Lord who had justly suffered His wrath.
The first generation was condemned to perish in the wilderness by unbelief, and the same spirit of unbelief appeared among their children. The verse shows the end of those who join in cowardly complaining and draw back from action when risks must be met, refusing faithful reports and true counsel. Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, few received the faithful warnings given them of God, and the cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness while the faithful like Caleb and Joshua were spared.
The same history is re-enacted among professed Israel today whose minds have been enlightened by divine wisdom, with the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel manifested. God's burden-bearing servants who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffering privation for the sake of helping His people are seldom better appreciated, and because those 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. Though the Lord has long borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for them to give Him room in their hearts, false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out. As the time of the second advent nears darkness and unbelief do not decrease, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent, few dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, while Satan is wide awake and working warily in these last days, calling for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.