Numbers 14:35, commentary and pictures

God Himself solemnly decreed that the whole evil company banded against Him would certainly be wasted away and die in the wilderness without entering the promised land. The decree came after the return of the spies, when the people rejected the faithful witness, believed that giants, mighty peoples and walled cities made conquest impossible, and rebelled after repeated miracles and provocations, so that all numbered from twenty years upward who murmured would fall in forty years except Caleb and Joshua, while their children would inherit the despised land and the ten faithless spies were struck down at once. Through intercession they were spared instant destruction by plague and disinheritance, yet they received in their own ears what they had spoken, their grief was sorrow over lost blessing rather than repentance and could not reverse the sentence, and when they then pressed up against warning without God with them they were defeated. They refused to accept the doom as God's word, charged it as Moses' own invention for gain to kill them in the wilderness and enrich himself, and even called Egypt the land of plenty while accusing him of withholding the true inheritance, until at last terror compelled them to confess they had sinned and that the judgment was just. The same sentence stands over all who complain, shrink from risk, despise faithful counsel and repeat Israel's unbelief, for the Lord bears long and waits for room in the heart, yet increasing darkness and distrust will consume those who will not stand firmly for the right as the end nears.

Sentence and Its Setting

The Lord Himself swore that He would surely carry out judgment on the whole evil congregation gathered against Him, that they would be consumed and die in the wilderness and would not enter the promised land. To receive Moses as righteous is to receive this doom as certain, for it was God's own word and not an imposture, though the people were unwilling to believe it and submit to it.

The sentence came after the spies returned from Canaan, when the people rejected the faithful report and believed the discouraging report that although the land was fertile its powerful inhabitants, fortified cities and giants made conquest impossible. In so doing they turned to murmuring, unbelief and rebellion after having seen God's glory and miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, having tempted Him ten times and not obeyed His voice. Through Moses' intercession they were spared immediate destruction by pestilence and disinheritance, yet as they had spoken in God's ears so He would do to them, and they would not see the land sworn to their fathers.

All who were numbered from twenty years old and upward who murmured against God would have their carcasses fall in the wilderness during forty years there until that generation died. Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were excepted, while their little ones whom they said would be a prey would be brought in to know the land they had despised. The adults who left Egypt, except Caleb and Joshua, were thus barred from Canaan as punishment for rebellion and unbelief that broke the covenant, and their children rather than they would possess the land. The ten unfaithful spies whose evil report had led the people to murmur and rebel were struck down by God before the people as a sign of the wider destruction caused by unbelief and rebellion.

It was Christ, who led the children of Israel through the wilderness, who said they would die in the wilderness because their history was rebellion and murmuring. The forty years of travel need not have happened but came because Israel received the evil report of the faithless spies and rebelled against God. Had Israel been obedient, heaven's army under the generalship of Christ stood ready to take them into Canaan long before, as was later shown when God leveled the walls of Jericho without human power and gave the city to Israel.

Response and Consequences in Wilderness

The forty years of wandering and long stay in the wilderness need not have happened, for heaven's army stood ready to take an obedient Israel into Canaan long before, as was later shown when the walls of Jericho fell without human power. That delay came as the consequence of receiving the evil report of the faithless spies and rebelling against God, though later complaints treated the stay as unnecessary. The generation that rebelled was to be consumed and die there rather than enter Canaan. Their grief at losing the blessings they had despised was sorrow for the judgment, not repentance for sin, and it could not reverse the sentence.

When told to go up and take the land they refused, and after the sentence was spoken they turned and were determined to go up anyway. Moses told them distinctly that God would not be with them and the favorable time had passed, but they would not heed the warning. Going out to battle contrary to the Lord's direction they were overcome and defeated by their enemies.

The people were unwilling to receive the sentence as God's word and submit to it, for receiving Moses as righteous required receiving this doom as certain. They tried to treat it as an imposture and blamed Moses for leading them and pronouncing their doom, though it was God's, holding instead to the flattery that they were a very good people who had been wronged and abused. In that denial Dathan and Abiram refused to believe God had said they would die there, claiming Moses had said it on his own and had invented the sentence for his own gain. They charged that he had arranged never to bring Israel to Canaan, had led them out to kill them in the wilderness, and had made himself rich with their possessions. In the same denial they called Egypt a land flowing with milk and honey, forgetting their sufferings there and the plagues brought upon it, while charging Moses with failing to bring them into the true land flowing with milk and honey with fields and vineyards.

The broken ranks and missing people were visible signs of God's displeasure, but the people failed to learn from them and again gave in to rebellion. Israel had a safe divine Guide, and obedience to His directions would have preserved them from disease and death, while unbelief and rebellion brought punishment. At length compelled to believe the unwelcome truth was indeed spoken by the Lord, they were terrified at their fate to die in the wilderness. Once convinced of their wrong in unjustly accusing Moses and Aaron and seeing their past rebellion in its true light, they acknowledged that Moses and Aaron were right and confessed they had sinned against the Lord by rebelling against their authority. They recognized 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 because of unbelief, and the same spirit of rebellion appeared in their children, whose murmuring at Kadesh threatened to repeat that failure to receive God's promise.

Warning for Today

The decree stands as a warning that complainers who draw back from action when risks must be met, and who refuse faithful reports and true counsel, shall be consumed and die in the wilderness. It is God's word against the evil congregation gathered against Him, and its sentence reaches beyond that generation. It has an application to God's people today whenever the same cowardly complaining and unwillingness to heed faithful counsel are re-enacted.

That re-enactment appears when self-denying servants who bear the burden of the cause are unappreciated, when ancient Israel's repeated testing and failure is repeated with few receiving God's faithful warnings, and when darkness and unbelief increase as the second advent of Christ nears. Then truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. Before that end the Lord bears long, forgives wanderings, and waits for room in the heart, until false ideas, jealousy, and distrust crowd Him out. Few then dare like Caleb to come boldly forward and stand firmly for God and the right, while those chosen to lead are hated for refusing to turn from integrity to gratify the selfish, and while Satan works warily in these last days, calling for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist him.