Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 14:8
If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
If by our rebellion and ingratitude we do not provoke God to loathe and forsake us.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. a land flowing with milk andhoneya general expression, descriptive of a rich and fertilecountry. The two articles specified were among the principal productsof the Holy Land.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If the Lord delight in us,…. Continue to delight in them as he had, and as appears by what he had done for, them in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; see De 10:15;
then he will bring us into this land, and give it us, as he has promised,
a land which floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord himself hath described it, and as the unbelieving spies themselves had owned it;
Nu 13:27.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. If the Lord delight in us Here Joshua and Caleb revealed the ground of their confidence the ability of Jehovah to make good his promise, which they viewed not as absolute, but as conditioned upon the demeanour of the nation. The weakness of the report of the ten lies in its Godlessness. In estimating the possibility of the conquest Jehovah is counted out.
Milk and honey This is a poetical description of a country rich in pasturage and flowers. For the abundance of honey in ancient Canaan see Jdg 14:8; 1Sa 14:25-26; of both wheat and honey, see Psa 81:16. Sceptics, in view of the comparative sterility of modern Palestine, allege that this must be a false view of Canaan, and they question the inspiration of the Scriptures containing this oft-repeated statement. But there are causes which make modern Palestine barren: 1.) The destruction of the timber in the long series of sieges and invasions which that unhappy land has suffered has greatly reduced the moisture of the atmosphere by cutting off evaporation through the leaves. Hence rains are less frequent, and the sources of artificial irrigation are diminished. 2.) The decay of the terraces necessary to retain the soil on the steep slopes of the round hills. This is owing to the misrule and lack of security to the fruits of industry which have for generations been the lot of the cultivators.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
If the LORD delight in us. This is the secret of all blessing. Deu 10:15. 2Sa 15:25, 2Sa 15:26; 2Sa 22:20. 1Ki 10:9. Psa 22:8; Psa 147:10, Psa 147:11. Isa 62:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
delight: Deu 10:15, 2Sa 15:25, 2Sa 15:26, 2Sa 22:20, 1Ki 10:9, Psa 22:8, Psa 147:10, Psa 147:11, Isa 62:4, Jer 32:41, Zep 3:17, Rom 8:31
a land which: Num 13:27
Reciprocal: Exo 3:8 – unto a good Exo 33:3 – a land Deu 1:21 – fear not Deu 27:3 – a land Jos 14:12 – if so be 2Ki 18:32 – like your own Psa 44:3 – because Jer 2:7 – brought Eze 20:6 – flowing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE EXCEEDING GOOD LAND
If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us.
Num 14:8
Let us notice in reference to the heavenly Canaan:
I. Who they are in whom the Lord delights.(1) He delights not in the unpardoned sinner. How should He? The carnal mind is enmity against God. The unconverted man is Gods enemy by his wicked works. And how can two walk together except they be agreed? Instead of delighting in the wicked, we are told God is angry with the wicked every day. He is ever whetting His glittering sword; and were it not for the great Intercessor crying out, Spare him this year also, He would say, Ah, I will ease Me of My adversaries. That rebellious sinner I have sworn shall never enter into My rest. It is the very nature of God to loathe and abhor that which is sinful. Thou art not a God, says David, that delighteth in wickedness. Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked. It matters not whether we profess to be the Lords people or not. If our sins are unpardoned, and our hearts unchanged, God delights not in us. These 603,550 Israelites were Gods professed people, but they never saw the promised land. It is impossible for God to view unpardoned sinners with delight. He has long patience towards them, hoping that His long-suffering will lead them to repentance, but after a time His patience is exhausted, and He at length cries, Bind them hand and foot, and cast them into outer darkness.
Do you ask then, In whom does the Lord delight? (2) He delights in the justified believer. The Lords delight is in them that fear Him, and that put their trust in His mercy. He delights in those who are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. Christ hath loved us, says St. Paul, and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. God delights in the justified believer, who depends upon the death of Christ. He smelt a sweet savour in the sacrifice Noah offered after the Flood. So is He pleased with the atoning blood offered in sacrifice for the believers iniquities. When He passed through the land of Egypt on that memorable night of Israels deliverance He delighted in sparing those houses on which He saw the blood. So does He delight to spare all those whose hearts are sprinkled with the precious blood of Jesus. When He sees you a poor sinner, broken under a deep sense of sin, reviewing your past life, and grieving over your numberless iniquities, and looking with the eye of faith upon your crucified Lord, what does His eye then see? Why, He sees the precious blood of Jesus sprinkled upon your soul, and in you He is infinitely delighted. He sees you dipped, as it were, in the blood of the Redeemer. He looks upon you as having suffered all that Christ suffered.
And how will He manifest His delight in you? This is my next subject. I have described who they are in whom the Lord delights. Now let us consider:
II. Their sure prospect of heaven.You see the argument of Caleb and Joshua. If the Lord delight in us, then we are safe, then we may depend upon His promise, then will He bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. You say there are many difficulties in the way. And was it not so with Israel? The cities were walled and very great. The inhabitants were gigantic and strong, and they were but as grasshoppers before them; and yet all these difficulties gave way under the guidance and power of their God. And so shall it be with yourselves. God will bring you into this land. Who shall interfere to prevent?
The land is an exceeding good land. It is a land that floweth, indeed, with milk and honey. There everlasting spring abides, and never-withering flowers. Moses said to the Israelites, For the land whither thou goest in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out; but the land whither ye go to possess it is a land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. How much rather may we use that language concerning our better Canaan! The land is, indeed, a land which God careth for. It is His own residence and pavilion. His eyes are ever upon it, because He dwells there. How exceeding good then must be that inheritance!
Canon Clayton.
Illustration
Every one of the twelve saw fertile fields and vineyards; every one of them saw battlements and towers. Yet though they saw the same things, how differently did they see them! What a diverse note there was in the two reports! How different was everything in the eyes of Caleb and Joshua, from what it was in the eyes of the other ten! And the point we can never dwell upon too seriously is, that this sharp contrast in the vision of the land, sprang, not from any difference of eyesight, but from the presence and the lack of faith. It was a laud of possession to Caleb and to Joshua, because they trusted in Jehovah and delighted in Him. It was a land of fearfulness to the other ten, because their faith in the living God was feeble. Both parties had the same facts to report upon, yet how strangely divergent was their tale, and the divergence was the measure of belief. We must learn that priceless lesson when we are young. It is our heart that gives the meaning to all we see. We are all of us spies, and the reports we bring depend not on what we see, but on what we are. That is why we are never too young to pray, Create in me a clean heart, O, God; that is why, even in our earliest years, we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight; for a clean heart and an unclean heart (like the twelve spies) look out on the same faces and the same world, yet to the one the presence of God is everywhere, and to the other there is nothing glorious nor great.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Num 14:8-9. If the Lord delight in us If by our rebellion and ingratitude we do not provoke God to leave and forsake us. They are bread for us We shall destroy them as easily as we eat our bread. Their defence Their conduct and courage, and especially God, who was pleased to afford them his protection, till their iniquities were full, is utterly departed from them, and hath given them up as a prey to us. The Lord is with us By his special grace and almighty power, to save us from them and all our enemies. Only rebel not against the Lord Nothing can ruin sinners but their own rebellion. If God leave them, it is because they drive him from them, and they die, because they will die.