Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 14:4
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Num 14:4
Let us return into Egypt.
The rewards of the future not to be slighted because of a present inconvenience
The proposition of the people illustrates anew the principle that all sin is a species of insanity. They proposed to go back to Egypt. How did they suppose they were going to get back? Could they expect to live in the wilderness without the manna which God gave them? Could they overcome Amalek without Moses to intercede in their behalf? Would God be more likely to deliver them in a cowardly retreat than in a loyal advance? Could they hope again for water to flow from the rock to quench their thirst? or for favouring winds to open a new path through the Red Sea? When some departed from the Saviour, He said to His disciples, Will ye also go away? and they returned the pathetic answer, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. But, alas! the children of Israel were ready to go back from the promised land to the dangers of the wilderness and to the hopeless bondage of Egypt. In the words of Matthew Henry, They wish rather to die criminals under Gods justice than live conquerors in His favour. How base were the spirits in those degenerate Israelites, who, rather than die (if it came to the worst) like soldiers in the field of honour, with their swords in their hands, desire to die like rotten sheep in the wilderness! Similar paradoxes in the conduct of sinners abound in the world. A slight present danger or inconvenience is suffered to blind the eyes to great rewards in the future. A small hazard before us is likely to seem far greater than much more serious dangers behind us. Under the smart of present ills, we are ever ready to shut our eyes to the innumerable ills we know not of. The miners of England cursed the inventor of the safety-lamp because, in reducing the hazard to their lives, it diminished also their wages. Multitudes of young people attempt to evade the trials and self-denials of the ministerial calling or of missionary work, by choosing some profession or business that is more lucrative or gratifying to their ambitions. In this they fail to remember that there is a poverty in other callings than the ministry; that the high-road of selfishness is through a wilderness strewn with the carcasses of those who have fallen hopeless by the way. What is Wall Street but a maelstrom around which are circling innumerable vessels fated to augment the debris of countless wrecks already in the vortex? What is the path to worldly glory and fame but a crowded throroughfare of hungry and thirsty men, the majority of whom are moving on to inevitable disappointment? On the other hand, the path of the righteous, whatever its present shadows, shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. (G. Frederick Wright.)
The folly of impatience
1. It was the greatest folly in the world to wish themselves in Egypt, or to think if they were there it would be better with them than it was. If they durst not go forward to Canaan, yet better be as they were than go back to Egypt. What did they want? What had they to complain of? They had plenty, and peace, and rest; were under a good government, had good company, had the tokens of Gods presence with them, and enough to make them easy even in the wilderness, if they had but hearts to be content. But whither were they thus fond to go to mend themselves? To Egypt! Had they so soon forgot the sore bondage they were in there? Like brute beasts, they mind only that which is present, and their memories, with the other powers of reason, are sacrificed to their passions.(Psa 106:7). We find it threatened (Deu 28:68) as the completing of their misery, that they should be brought into Egypt again, and yet that is it they here wish for. Sinners are enemies to themselves, and those that walk not in Gods counsels consult their own mischief and ruin.
2. It was a most senseless, ridiculous thing to talk of returning thither through the wilderness. Could they expect that Gods cloud would lead them or His manna attend them?
(1) The folly of discontent and impatience under the crosses of our outward condition. But is there any place or condition in this world that has not something in it to make us uneasy if we are disposed to be so? The way to better our condition is to get our spirits into a better frame.
(2) The folly of apostacy from the ways of God. Heaven is the Canaan set before us, a land flowing with milk and honey: those that bring up ever so ill report of it cannot but say that it is indeed a good land, only it is hard to get to it. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
To retreat is to perish
To retreat is to perish. You have most of you read the story of the boy in an American village who climbed the wall of the famous Natural Bridge, and cut his name in the rock above the initials of his fellows, and then became suddenly aware of the impossibility of descending. Voices shouted, Do not look down, try arid reach the top. His only hope was to go right up, up, up, till he landed on the top. Upward was terrible, but downward was destruction. Now, we are all of us in a like condition. By the help of God we have cut our way to positions of usefulness, and to descend is death. To us forward means upward; and therefore forward and upward let us go. While we prayed this morning we committed ourselves beyond all recall. We did that most heartily when we first preached the gospel, and publicly declared, I am my Lords, and He is mine. We put our hand to the plough: thank God, we have not looked back yet. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Let us make a captain] Here was a formal renunciation of the authority of Moses, and flat rebellion against God. And it seems from Ne 9:17 that they had actually appointed another leader, under whose direction they were about to return to Egypt. How astonishing is this! Their lives were made bitter, because of the rigour with which they were made to serve in the land of Egypt; and yet they are willing, yea eager, to get back into the same circumstances again! Great evils, when once some time past, affect the mind less than present ills, though much inferior. They had partly forgot their Egyptian bondage, and now smart under a little discouragement, having totally lost sight of their high calling, and of the power and goodness of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A captain, instead of Moses, one who will be more faithful to our interest than he. This was but a purpose or desire, and yet it is imputed to them as if they had done it, Neh 9:16,17, they appointed a captain, &c., even as Abrahams purpose to offer up Isaac is reckoned for the deed, Heb 11:17.
Let us return into Egypt. Stupendous madness! Whence should they have protection against the many hazards, and provision against all the wants of the wilderness? Could they expect either Gods cloud to cover and guide them, or manna from Heaven to lead them? Who should conduct them over the Red Sea? or, if they went another way, who should defend them against those nations whose borders they were to pass? What entertainment could they expect if the Egyptians, whom they had deserted and brought to so much ruin?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they said one to another, let us make a captain,…. An head over them instead of Moses, who they knew would never take the government and care of them, should they resolve to return to Egypt as they proposed, and besides were now so disaffected to him, that they might not care he should. Captains they had over their several tribes, but they chose to have one chief commander and general over them all; Nehemiah says they did appoint one; which they either actually did, or this proposal was interpreted as if really put in execution, they being so desirous of it, and bent upon it; wherefore their will is taken for the deed, and so understood; see Ne 9:17;
and let us return into Egypt: which was downright madness, as some interpreters have justly observed; they must not only expect to be deserted by Moses, through whose means so many miracles had been wrought for them, and who was so wise and faithful a governor of them; and by Aaron their priest, who offered their sacrifices, and prayed for them, and blessed them; and by such a valiant general as Joshua, who had fought for them against their enemies; but by the Lord himself, so that they could not expect the manna to be continued as food for them, nor the pillar of cloud and fire as a guide unto them, nor to be protected from their enemies, on the borders of whose countries they must pass; so that their destruction in the wilderness seemed inevitable; and if they could have surmounted these and other difficulties, what manner of reception could they expect to find in Egypt, on whose account all the firstborn of man and beast among them were slain, whom they had spoiled of their riches, and whose king and his army, and in it perhaps the, flower of the nation, were drowned in the Red sea, for their sakes? What therefore could they think of, if they had any sober thought at all, but utter ruin, should they return there again?
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Make a captain This is the repudiation of both Moses and Jehovah. According to Nehemiah (Neh 9:17) they actually “appointed a captain to return to their bondage.” On the low level of mere naturalism they feel no more need of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 14:4. They said one to another, Let us make a captain We learn from Neh 9:17 that they actually appointed a captain in the height of this their mutiny, insolence, and ingratitude, not only against Moses and Aaron, but against the Lord himself, who, in so wonderful a manner, had delivered them from Egypt, and continually demonstrated such miracles of mercy towards them. Bishop Warburton remarks, that this unwillingness to leave Egypt, and impatience to return thither, are convincing proofs of their fondness of its customs and superstitions. “When I consider this,” says he, “I seem more inclined than the generality to excuse the false accounts of the pagan writers concerning the Exodus, or departure of the Israelites, who concur to represent the Jews as expelled or forcibly driven out of Egypt; for so indeed they were; their mistake was only about their driver; the pagans supposed him to be the King of Egypt; when, indeed, it was the God of Israel himself, by the ministry of Moses.”
REFLECTIONS.Discontent now spreads through the camp; every face is overcast; despair sinks the courage of the host, and unmanly tears bespeak their coward-terrors. The bitterest sorrows that the heart knows, are often those which we make ourselves without cause or reason. They clamour loud against Moses and Aaron, and wish they had died in Egypt or the wilderness, rather than been reduced to their present imaginary distresses; and as the devil’s power is then confirmed, when he can suggest hard thoughts of God, they charge that gracious Jehovah, who had fed and preserved them so long and so richly, with the most horrid design of deceiving and destroying them. At last they come to the desperate resolution of returning to Egypt, and resolve to choose a captain in order to head their mutiny, and lead them back to that land of bondage. The purpose was folly, the attempt madness. How were they to return when God had left them without provision or guide? And what could they hope in Egypt, but a repetition of misery to which death itself were preferable? Note; (1.) The headstrong and unmortified passions of sinners hurry them on to their ruin. (2.) They who are discontented under God’s providences, and resolve to mend themselves, will ever make bad worse. (3.) How much need have we to fear, lest, after suffering many toils; we start like Israel at new difficulties, turn back and walk no more with Jesus! Dreadful state of apostacy!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 154
APOSTASY DEPRECATED
Num 14:4-5. And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of Israel.
THAT the journeying of the Israelites in the wilderness is typical of our journey towards the heavenly Canaan is so generally known amongst you, that I need not insist upon it [Note: If this should be the subject of an Address to young people after Confirmation, this sentiment may be modified according to circumstances. But, if it be used on a common occasion, our baptismal engagements maybe substituted for those that are here specified.]. That being kept in mind, you will at once see the bearing of my present subject on the solemnities in which you have been engaged. The Israelites had now arrived at the borders of Canaan: and they sent spies, one from every tribe, to search out the land. They all agreed respecting the fertility of the country: but ten of the spies represented the attempt to conquer it as altogether hopeless. This report discouraged the whole congregation; who bitterly bewailed their disappointment, cast severe reflections on Jehovah himself as having deceived and betrayed them, and proposed to make a captain over them and to return to Egypt.
Let us consider the circumstances here recorded; and,
I.
The proposal made by the people
[The report given by the spies was very unfavourable: the cities were represented as impregnable, being walled up to heaven; and the people of such a gigantic stature, that the Israelites were no more than as grasshoppers before them. The climate, too, was represented as so unhealthy, that the land ate up the inhabitants thereof [Note: Num 13:31-33.]. Hence the people were led to despise the land as unworthy of their pursuit [Note: Psa 106:24.], and to despair of attaining it against such formidable enemies: yea, they impiously wished that they had died in Egypt, when the Egyptian first-born were slain; or in the wilderness, when God sent a plague among the people for worshipping the golden calf.
Under the influence of their unbelieving fears, they proposed to make a captain over them, and to return to Egypt, from whence they had come out. They judged this to be so wise a measure, that no one could doubt of its expediency: Were it not better for us to return into Egypt [Note: ver. 3.]?
And are we not likely to hear of similar proposals at this time? You profess now to have dedicated yourselves to Almighty God, and to be bent on the attainment of the heavenly Canaan. But are you prepared to encounter the discouragements which you will meet with in the way? You have promised, before God, to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; but are you girt for the warfare, and ready to go forth, in the strength of Christ, against these mighty foes? What reports, alas! will you hear! The mortality amongst the Canaanites, which the spies represented as arising from the climate, was no other than that occasioned by the hornets, which God, according to his promise, had sent, to weaken the people of the land, and thereby to facilitate the entrance of Israel into it [Note: Compare Exo 23:28; Deu 7:20; Jos 24:12.]: yet was that made an additional ground for desisting from the enterprise. In like manner, the very exercises of mind, whereby God weakens the corruptions of his peoples hearts, and ensures to them a final victory over all their enemies, are urged, by ignorant and unbelieving men, as reasons for declining all attempts to secure the heavenly inheritance: and you will hear repentance itself decried as melancholy, and denounced as little better than a prelude to insanity. In addition to such obstacles from without, (for I confine myself to those which arise from report only, without noticing any from actual opposition,) will not your own hearts suggest, that to overcome such potent enemies, as the world, the flesh, and the devil, will be impossible, especially for persons so young, or so circumstanced, as you?
The result of such misrepresentations and misconceptions is but too likely to appear amongst you at no distant period. You will not in a formal manner actually appoint a captain over you, because every one can act for himself, without any combination with others; but that many of you will be like-minded, in relation to this matter, is greatly to be feared; and that you will even justify the measure as wise, saying, Is it not better that we go back again to the world?]
But let us turn our attention to,
II.
The effect of that proposal on Gods faithful servants
[Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of Israel; filled, no doubt, with grief and shame at so foolish and impious a proposal. What prospect could they have of succeeding in such an enterprise? Could they suppose that God would go before them; and cause the manna and the water to attend them in their retrograde motions, as he had done when moving according to his will? If not, without any enemy whatever, or any special judgment inflicted on them, they must all die of hunger and thirst in a few days. Or, supposing them to get back to Egypt, what would be their reception there? Would not the rigours of their bondage be increased by their vindictive oppressors to the utmost extent of human endurance? Granting that all their fears respecting the Canaanites were well founded, what could they suffer worse by manfully contending with them, than they would infallibly bring upon themselves by the measure they proposed?
But the impiety of the proposal was, if possible, still greater than the folly. What a contempt of the promised inheritance did it argue, when they did not deem it to be worth a manly contest! What a distrust of God, too, who had already shewn himself so mighty to save, and had engaged that not one of their enemies should be able to stand before them! What base ingratitude, also, did this express, when they could so soon forget all the wonders that God had wrought for them, and all the benefits he had conferred upon them!
We wonder not that Moses and Aaron, who were able to form a just estimate of their conduct, were so deeply affected with it.
And shall not we also fall on our faces with grief and shame, my dear young friends, if we see you forgetting the vows that are upon you, and turning back again, and abandoning those glorious prospects which have just opened upon you? For, what can you gain by going back to the world? I will suppose you gain all that the world can give. What is it? What satisfaction can it all afford? and how long will you retain it? Or, supposing you could retain it ever so long, would it repay you for the loss of heaven? To what a state, too, will your defection reduce you! Of all the men who came out of Egypt, not so much as one was suffered to enter the promised land, except Caleb and Joshua, who continued faithful in the midst of this general apostasy. A fearful type and pledge of the doom that awaits you [Note: Num 26:64-65 with Jude, ver. 5 and 1Co 10:11.]! Hear what God says on this subject, in the Epistle to the Hebrews: If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him [Note: Heb 10:38.]. Ah! know of a certainty, that all who draw back, draw back unto perdition [Note: Heb 10:39.]: and if, after you have escaped the corruptions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, you are again entangled therein and overcome, your latter end will be worse than your beginning: for it would have been better that you had never known the way of righteousness at all, than, after you have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto you [Note: 2Pe 2:20-21.]. You have all doubtless heard of Lots wife, who, though brought out of Sodom, was turned into a pillar of salt, because she looked back towards the city, when she should have thought of nothing but of pressing onward to the destined place of refuge. Ah! remember Lots wife [Note: Luk 17:32.], as our blessed Lord has warned you; for if you only look back, after having put your hand to the plough, you are not fit for the kingdom of God [Note: Luk 9:61-62.]. How can your ministers, who have watched over you, contemplate such an issue of their labours, and not weep and mourn before God on your behalf [Note: Jer 13:16-17.]? I pray you, beloved, let not this be the recompence of all the pains we have bestowed on you: let us not have the grief of seeing that the very privileges you have enjoyed have only fitted you, like Capernaum of old, for a deeper and heavier condemnation: but let us have joy over you, in beholding your spiritual advancement; and let us have the sweet and blessed hope of having you for our joy and crown of rejoicing to all eternity. Be not afraid of any enemies: for God is with you: if he be with you, who can be against you? Read the exhortation of Caleb and Joshua to their unbelieving brethren, and apply it to your own souls [Note: ver. 79.]: and, instead of listening to the ruinous suggestions of unbelief [Note: Heb 3:18.], be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.] Let me, in conclusion, address myself to the elder part of this audience
[You must not forget, that the subject equally concerns you. For you also must endure unto the end, if ever you would be saved: and it is only by a patient continuance in well-doing, that you can attain to glory and honour and immortality.
But that which I would particularly impress on your minds at this time, is the vast importance of your watching over the young people who have now consecrated themselves unto the Lord. Set them a good example yourselves; and do all you can to induce them to follow it. Take the part that Caleb and Joshua took on this occasion: strengthen their hands: encourage their hearts: tell them what a gracious and powerful and faithful God they have to help them in every time of need. Speak to them of the laud that floweth with milk and honey. Invite them to taste of the grapes of Eshcol, which you have taken thence. Watch over the very lambs of the flock, and carry them in your bosom. So shall all of us, ministers and people, rejoice together, and have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Num 14:4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Ver. 4. Let us make a captain. ] Thus they proceeded from bad to worse. Passions, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom. Whether this people did make them such a captain, for such a purpose, is uncertain; but howsoever their very intention of doing it, is charged upon them, as if they had done it. Neh 9:16-17
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
captain. At Horeb they made a “calf”; at Kadesh they would make a “captain”. Two notable occasions.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Deu 17:16, Deu 28:68, Neh 9:16, Neh 9:17, Luk 17:32, Act 7:39, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39, Heb 11:15, 2Pe 2:21, 2Pe 2:22
Reciprocal: Num 14:25 – turn you Psa 78:41 – Yea Heb 3:16 – some
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 14:4. A captain Instead of Moses, one who will be more faithful to our interest than he. Nehemiah tells us they actually appointed them a captain. Into Egypt Stupendous madness, insolence, and ingratitude! Had not God both delivered them from Egypt by a train of unparalleled wonders, and followed them ever since with continued miracles of mercy? But whence should they have protection against the hazards, and provisions against all the wants of the wilderness? Could they expect either Gods cloud to cover and guide them, or manna from heaven to feed them? Who could conduct them over the Red sea? Or, if they went another way, who should defend them against those nations whose borders they were to pass? What entertainment could they expect from the Egyptians, whom they had deserted and brought to so much ruin?