Numbers 14:1-25 NKJV 14 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.
11 Then the Lord said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 And Moses said to the Lord: “Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people; that You, Lord, are seen face to face and Your cloud stands above them, and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20 Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, according to your word; 21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— 22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. 25 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.”
The whole congregation of Israel rebels against the Lord. They hold the ten spies’ negative assessment of the land to be true and the Lord’s promise to give them the land false. Their rebellion reaches its height when they say to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt” (4). Joshua and Caleb, the two faithful spies, plead with the rest of Israel to take heart. The Canaanites’ protection has departed, and the Lord is with Israel. But Israel refuses to hear, opting to stone the messenger of faith. For their persistent unbelief and rebellion, the Lord will kill all Israel and make Moses into a greater nation.
But Moses intercedes for the people. He asks God to be merciful to them, not for their sake, but for the sake of His reputation. He tells God that He can be powerful, but for mercy rather than judgment. Moses restrains God’s anger by recalling to the Lord what He had revealed to him in Exodus 34:6-7. The Lord hears Moses’ prayer and pardons Israel’s sin. He will, however, punish the rebellious generation by denying them entry to the Promised Land. This will instruct those men—and their children—that God indeed punishes sin; therefore, He is to be feared, and sin and unbelief are to be avoided. Of that generation, only Caleb will enter the land, “because he has a different spirit” (24), that is, a spirit who believes God’s word.
The unfaithful generation of Israel teaches us not to despise God’s promises. God punishes unbelief. If someone continues in unbelief—refusing to believe God’s word and promises—He will punish them by eternally barring them from the Promised Land of everlasting life. With this example, God would lead us to fear His judgment. Caleb, however, teaches us the kind of spirit God desires for us. He wants us to believe His threats against sin, His promise to be with us in temptation and strengthen us so that we do not sin, as well as His promises, especially His promise that if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 2:1).
Let us pray: O Lord, Your power is chiefly demonstrated in showing mercy. Forgive our sins for the sake of your Name and, by Your Holy Spirit, give us a different spirit which heartily believes Your promises as Caleb did. Amen.