26<\/strong>. And<\/em> Jehovah<\/strong> spake<\/em> ] This is P’s immediate sequel to the appearance of Jehovah’s glory in the Tent ( Num 14:10<\/em><\/span>).<\/p>\n 26 39<\/strong>. All the people above twenty years old, except Joshua and Caleb, were condemned to wander for forty years and die in the desert. The spies who brought an evil report died by a plague. The greater part of this section has been assigned to P , but elements from early tradition have been incorporated in it. The ‘forty years’ is alluded to as early as Amos (Num 2:10<\/span>, Num 5:25<\/span>), and the wandering in the wilderness in Hos 2:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n Num 14:26-29<\/span><\/p>\n I have heard the murmurings.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Base murmuring<\/strong><\/p>\n Murmuring is <\/strong>not a simple sin, but involves–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Presumption.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Ingratitude.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Rebellion.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Think who and what He is–the Supremely Wise and Good, &c.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Think of what He had done for the Israelites, and what He has done for us–redeemed, guarded, sustained, &c.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Think of what He had promised to them, and what He has promised to us. How base to murmur against our great Benefactor!<\/p>\n Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.<\/strong>—<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The sentence of God upon the sinful people<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>In the correspondence between the nature of the sin and the nature of the punishment.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>In the correspondence between the duration of the unbelieving exploration and the duration of the punishment.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>In the correspondence between the different degrees of guilt and the different severities of punishment.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Their sorrow had a real and sufficient cause.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Their sorrow was not that of repentance, but of selfishness. (W. Jones<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Verses 31. Your little ones . . . will I bring in<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The duty of parents to their children<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Our first thought is–how completely Almighty God recognises the sense of preciousness which all parents with a spark of heart in them attach to their children, their little children especially; and how God turns the instinct of affection in parents to their children to the parents condemnation, if they will not use their affection in the direction of securing eternal life for those whom they love.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>That children in the providence of God, and according to the rules of Gods government, do, in a certain degree, share their parents privileges, suffer their parents penalties, nay, even sin with their parents sin.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>That although, in a certain degree, the children share the privileges, the penalty, and the sin of their parents, yet there is mercy, ay, and there is justice also.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>That the great cause why the children of Israel refused to go up to the land of Canaan was a want of faith. So the great reason why so-called Christian parents do not take the trouble to prepare their children for eternity is that their own personal belief about the things of eternity is not as strong as it ought to be.<\/p>\n And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron<\/strong>,…. Before he had been only speaking to Moses, who had interceded with him to pardon the people, which he had granted; but at the same time assured him they should not enter into and possess the land of Canaan, and the same he repeats to him and Aaron together:<\/p>\n saying<\/strong>: as follows.<\/p>\n Sentence upon the Murmuring Congregation. – After the Lord had thus declared to Moses in general terms His resolution to punish the incorrigible people, and not suffer them to come to Canaan, He proceeded to tell him what announcement he was to make to the people.<\/p>\n Num 14:27<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> This announcement commences in a tone of anger, with an aposiopesis<\/em>, “ How long this evil congregation<\/em> ” (sc., “shall I forgive it,” the simplest plan being to supply , as Rosenmller<\/em> suggests, from Num 14:18<\/span>), “ that they murmur against Me?<\/em> ”<\/p>\n Num 14:28-31<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> Jehovah swore that it should happen to the murmurers as they had spoken. Their corpses should fall in the desert, even all who had been numbered, from twenty years old and upwards: they should not see the land into which Jehovah had lifted up His hand (see at Exo 6:8<\/span>) to lead them, with the sole exception of Caleb and Joshua. But their children, who, as they said, would be a prey (Num 14:3<\/span>), them Jehovah would bring, and they should learn to know the land which the others had despised.<\/p>\n Num 14:32-33<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> “ As for you, your carcases will fall in this wilderness. But your sons will be pasturing <\/em> (i.e., will lead a restless shepherd life) in the desert forty years, and bear your whoredom<\/em> (i.e., endure the consequences of your faithless apostasy; see Exo 34:16<\/span>), until your corpses are finished in the desert,<\/em> ” i.e., till you have all passed away.<\/p>\n Num 14:34<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> “ After the number of the forty days that he have searched the land, shall ye bear your iniquity,<\/em> (reckoning) a day for a year, and know My turning away from you,<\/em> ” or , abalienatio <\/em>, from (Num 32:7<\/span>).<\/p>\n Num 14:35<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> As surely as Jehovah had spoken this, would He do it to that evil congregation, to those who had allied themselves against Him ( , to bind themselves together, to conspire; Num 16:11<\/span>; Num 27:3<\/span>). There is no ground whatever for questioning the correctness of the statement, that the spies had travelled through Canaan for forty days, or regarding this as a so-called round number – that is to say, as unhistorical. And if this number is firmly established, there is also no ground for disputing the forty years’ sojourn of the people in the wilderness, although the period during which the rebellious generation, consisting of those who were numbered at Sinai, died out, was actually thirty-eight years, reaching from the autumn of the second year after their departure from Egypt to the middle of the fortieth year of their wanderings, and terminating with the fresh numbering (ch. 26) that was undertaken after the death of Aaron, and took place on the first of the fifth month of the fortieth year ( Num 20:23<\/span>., compared with Num 33:38<\/span>). Instead of these thirty-eight years, the forty years of the sojourn in the desert are placed in connection with the forty days of the spies, because the people had frequently fallen away from God, and been punished in consequence, even during the year and a half before their rejection; and in this respect the year and a half could be combined with the thirty-eight years which followed into one continuous period, during which they bore their iniquity, to set distinctly before the minds of the disobedient people the contrast between that peaceful dwelling in the promised land which they had forfeited, and the restless wandering in the desert, which had been imposed upon them as a punishment, and to impress upon them the causal connection between sin and suffering. “Every year that passed, and was deducted from the forty years of punishment, was a new and solemn exhortation to repent, as it called to mind the occasion of their rejection” ( Kurtz<\/em>). When Knobel<\/em> observes, on the other hand, that “it is utterly improbable that all who came out of Egypt (that is to say, all who were twenty years old and upward when they came out) should have fallen in the desert, with the exception of two, and that there should have been no men found among the Israelites when they entered Canaan who were more than sixty years of age,” the express statement, that on the second numbering there was not a man among those that were numbered who had been included in the numbering at Sinai, except Joshua and Caleb (Num 26:64<\/span>.), is amply sufficient to overthrow this “improbability” as an unfounded fancy. Nor is this statement rendered at all questionable by the fact, that “Aaron’s son Eleazar, who entered Canaan with Joshua” (Jos 14:1<\/span>, etc.), was most likely more than twenty years old at the time of his consecration at Sinai, as the Levites were not qualified for service till their thirtieth or twenty-fifth year. For, in the first place, the regulation concerning the Levites’ age of service is not to be applied without reserve to the priests also, so that we could infer from this that the sons of Aaron must have been at least twenty-five or thirty years old when they were consecrated; and besides this, the priests do not enter into the question at all, for the tribe of Levi was excepted from the numbering in ch. 1, and therefore Aaron’s sons were not included among the persons numbered, who were sentenced to die in the wilderness. Still less does it follow from Jos 24:7<\/span> and Jdg 2:7<\/span>, where it is stated that, after the conquest of Canaan, there were many still alive who had been eye-witnesses of the wonders of God in Egypt, that they must have been more than twenty years old when they came out of Egypt; for youths from ten to nineteen years of age would certainly have been able to remember such miracles as these, even after the lapse of forty or fifty years.<\/p>\n Num 14:36-38<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> But for the purpose of giving to the whole congregation a practical proof of the solemnity of the divine threatening of punishment, the spies who had induced the congregation to revolt, through their evil report concerning the inhabitants of Canaan, were smitten by a “stroke before Jehovah,” i.e., by a sudden death, which proceeded in a visible manner from Jehovah Himself, whilst Joshua and Caleb remained alive.<\/p>\n Verses 26-35:<\/strong><\/p>\n The census taken earlier numbered 603,550 adult males, <\/strong>twenty years old and upward. Divine judgment decreed that all these were to die in the wilderness, <\/strong>as the result of their unbelief and rebellion. Only Caleb and Joshua were exempt.<\/p>\n The tribe of Levi is not included in this number. Eleazar the priest accompanied Joshua into Canaan, Jos 14:1, and he was over twenty at this time, see Nu 4:16. Levi had no representative in the spy mission. Also the Levites were exempt from battle. In addition, the tribe of Levi had remained loyal to Moses and Jehovah, ever since the golden calf incident, Ex 32:26, 27.<\/p>\n Israel was sentenced to wander in the arid Sinai Peninsula for a total of forty years, one year for each day of the spying expedition. Two years were already passed, so the years of wandering from this point were thirty-eight.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 26. And the Lord spoke unto Moses. (63) I have translated the copula by the word itaque (therefore,) to indicate the connection with what precedes: for Moses does not here recount anything new, but, by way of explanation, repeats a point of great importance, viz., that they, who had refused to enter the land, would be deprived of its possession. He begins with the passionate interrogation: (64) “How long shall this troublesome dregs of a people be borne with, who never cease to murmur against me?” And God says that He “had heard” their turbulent cries; in order that they might more certainly perceive that their pride was intolerable, since God Himself was weary of it, although He is long-suffering and slow to anger. It is in bitter irony that He says He will deal with them in accordance with their own resolution and desire. Nothing, indeed, was further from their intention than to wander in the wilderness, but, since they had held back from entering the land, God says that He will gratify them in a very different sense, viz., that they shall never enjoy the sight of that land, which they had despised. By His oath, He expresses His extreme wrath, as also it is said in Psa 95:11<\/span>, <\/p>\n “<\/p>\n Unto whom I swore in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my rest.” (65) <\/p>\n It was necessary that their stolidity should be thus aroused, lest, when God was so greatly provoked, they should still continue self-satisfied, according to their went. He aggravates their punishment by another circumstance, i.e., that, they were to be deprived of the inheritance which He had sworn to give to Abraham; for the lifting up of the hand (66) (as I have said elsewhere) was a form of oath; just as if God were called down from heaven by the outstretched hand to be witness and judge: and, although this does not indeed literally apply to God, still we know that He commonly transfers to Himself the things that belong to men. Moreover, this was a most severe reproof, that they by their wickedness and self-will should nullify a promise, which God had ratified by an oath, in so far, at least, as its fulfillment affected themselves: for He points out immediately afterwards that, although they had rejected the proffered blessing, he would still be true; and would bestow on their little ones that which they had refused for themselves. It is thus that God tempers His judgments against those hypocrites, who falsely profess to honor His name, so as to preserve a seed for the propagation of His Church: nor is He ever so severe towards the reprobate, as to fail in sustaining His mercy towards His elect. Nay, He here declares that Hie will be gracious towards their children, as a means of inflicting punishment on the fathers. It was an indirect accusation of God, when they lamented over their children, as if they were to be carried away as “a prey;” whereas, God promises that they shall be the possessors of the land, in order to reprove this wicked blasphemy. <\/p>\n (63) “The Lord spoke therefore to Moses,” etc. — Lat. <\/p>\n (64) “Pathetica interrogatio.” — Lat. “Or, Dieu use d’un proeme vehement a la facon d’un homme passione;” now, God uses a vehement exordium, after the fashion of an angry man. — Fr. <\/p>\n (65) “Si introibunt in requiem meam.” — Lat. See Margin A.V., and Heb 4:3<\/span>. <\/p>\n (66) See Num 14:30<\/span>, Margin A.V.Item, vol. 1, p. 131, on Exo 6:8<\/span>. <\/p>\n Yahweh Now Confirms The Future of the Current Generation of Israelites And How Their Children Must Suffer With Them ( Num 14:26-35<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ). <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Later Yahweh came to Moses again and detailed out the position He was now taking up. <\/p>\n a <\/strong> Because of their murmuring the children of Israel will die in the wilderness (Num 14:26-30<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> Their little ones will be brought in and know the land (Num 14:32<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> But first they will wander in the wilderness for forty years for the sake of their fathers’ behaviour (Num 14:33-34<\/span>). <\/p>\n a <\/strong> The evil congregation will die in the wilderness (Num 14:35<\/span>). <\/p>\n Yahweh Confirms The Fate of the Rebellious People (14:26-30). <\/p>\n Num 14:26<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n ‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,’ <\/p>\n Again it is confirmed that this is Yahweh’s word to Moses which is being recorded. <\/p>\n Num 14:27<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, who murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.” <\/p>\n Yahweh first expressed His exasperation at the behaviour of His people. He wanted it to be quite clear that He had heard the murmurings of the people against Him, and that He was not sure how long He could put up with them. This was of course speaking of God from a human point of view. He had in fact known all along that this would happen. What He wanted them to face up to was what it was like and the appearance that it gave and that they must watch out for themselves. In fact as Deuteronomy points out His mercy did continue. He would continue to put up with them and would continually watch over them so that they did not become too poverty stricken and fall apart. There Moses could say of them, ‘Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the works of your hand. He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing’ (Deu 2:7<\/span>). But Numbers tells us nothing about it at this stage. The emphasis here is on their punishment. <\/p>\n Num 14:28-30<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> Say to them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me, surely you will not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell in it, apart from Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.’ ” <\/p>\n Moses was to point out to them the consequences of their actions. They had wished that they had died in the wilderness. Well, they would have their wish. Their dead bodies would fall in the wilderness. And this applied to all who earlier with such confidence had been numbered and mobilised as Yahweh’s host in Numbers 1-2. Under no circumstances would they enter the land which He had promised them, the only exception being Caleb and Joshua. They had been numbered with such hope. Now their numbering would count against them. <\/p>\n Here Caleb is mentioned first as the man who had stood out against the majority. But of course Joshua was also to be included. <\/p>\n Num 14:31<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> But your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.” <\/p>\n But in startling contrast, their little ones, of whom they had declared that they feared that they would be victims of the Canaanites, they would be brought in and know the land, the land which these had rejected. Rather than being a prey they would make others a prey and hunt them down and destroy them, Anakim and all. Rather than being a prey they would possess the land. <\/p>\n Num 14:32<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.” <\/p>\n But as for the faithless adults of Israel, their dead bodies would fall in the wilderness just as they had wished (Num 14:2<\/span>). One by one they would die until none remained. <\/p>\n Num 14:33<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> And your children will be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and will bear your whoredoms (unfaithfulness), until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.” <\/p>\n Meanwhile their children would have to bear the punishment of their fathers’ unfaithfulness by wandering with them in the wilderness for forty years (of which they had already done two) as shepherds, until their fathers’ dead bodies were consumed in the wilderness. They would have no settled lifestyle. They would possess no land of their own. Note the stress on the fate of the adults. That their carcasses would fall in the wilderness is repeated three times for emphasis and for certainty (Num 14:29<\/span>; Num 14:32-33<\/span>. See also Num 14:35<\/span>). <\/p>\n Num 14:34<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my alienation.” <\/p>\n So would their punishment fit their crime. For forty days they had spied out the land through their chieftains, so having despised it now they would suffer a year for a day, forty years in the wilderness. During that period the covenant would be suspended as regards its final fulfilment. They would be aware that His full favour was not towards them. For them the covenant would not be one of glorious hope. As far as entry into the land was concerned, He was alienated from them, and they from Him. <\/p>\n Num 14:35<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> I, Yahweh, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.” <\/p>\n The words were certain, for they were the words of Yahweh. Yahweh had spoken. Thus there would be no turning back from it. All who had gathered together against him, as the adult males of the tribes had, would be consumed in the wilderness. And there would they die. For they were an evil congregation, one which would not trust Yahweh and had rebelled against Him. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/strong> The Judgment Pronounced<\/p>\n v. 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,<\/strong> <\/p>\n v. 27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against Me?<\/strong> being incorrigible in their dissatisfied opposition to the ways of the Lord’s dispensation. I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against Me,<\/strong> for they were continually engaged in grumbling of this kind. <\/p>\n v. 28. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you,<\/strong> Cf v. 2: <\/p>\n v. 29. your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness;<\/strong> literally, “in this very wilderness shall fall your dead bodies”; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me,<\/strong> <\/p>\n v. 30. doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware,<\/strong> by a solemn lifting up of the hand, to make you dwell therein, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. <\/strong> They would see for themselves whether the oath which the Lord had now sworn by His own life would be fulfilled; they would find out whether a single one of the dissatisfied murmurers would reach the Land of Promise. <\/p>\n v. 31. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey,<\/strong> <\/p>\n v. 3. them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. <\/p>\n v. 32. But as for you,<\/strong> as the Lord here repeats for the sake of emphasis, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. <\/p>\n v. 33. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years,<\/strong> sustaining themselves as nomads with their herds in the wastes of the Sinaitic Peninsula, and bear your whoredoms,<\/strong> to expiate, in a way, the spiritual unfaithfulness of their fathers, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness,<\/strong> until the desert had consumed even the last of them. <\/p>\n v. 34. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days,<\/strong> Num 13:25<\/span>, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise;<\/strong> they would experience what it means when the Lord turns from a people in anger, being obliged to withdraw or to change His original promise. <\/p>\n v. 35. I, the Lord, have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation that are gathered together against Me; in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. <\/p>\n v. 36. And the men which Moses sent to search the land, who” returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,<\/strong> by misrepresenting the facts about Canaan and exaggerating the difficulties of conquering its people, <\/p>\n v. 37. even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord;<\/strong> the punishment struck them very suddenly, and struck them down as the first among the rebellious people. <\/p>\n v. 38. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still,<\/strong> their preservation, in the circumstances, being all the more remarkable, and substantiating the word of the Lord. The judgment upon such as were leaders in the Church and abused the trust placed in them by leading their people astray, will be especially harsh. <\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Murmuring without any cause.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Murmuring against the best being.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Murmuring of long continuance. There are many to-day who are habitual grumblers; murmuring is not occasional. How great is their sin l how great, also, is the patience of God with them!<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>Murmurings known to god. God hears every bitter complaint; He perceives every unthankful and rebellious mood.<\/p>\n
V. <\/strong>Murmuring punished by god. These Israelite murmurers were excluded from the Promised Land. The murmurer excludes himself from the Canaan of joy, and peace, and contentment. Murmuring is a self-punishing sin. God has made it so. (W. Jones<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I<\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>The sentence. Was conspicuously just. Its justice is manifest.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The sentence was utterly irreversible.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The sentence caused great sorrow.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>I propose to extract from our text some permanent and root principles with respect to the relations between parents and children, that God would have us pay special heed to; and then from these root principles I shall endeavour to draw a few practical instructions for our conduct with our children at home.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Now let me put these principles into a practical shape for our instruction. What is the way in which our great God and Father, who has put us into the responsible and blessed position of parents towards children whom we love, would have us fulfil that responsibility? First of all, He would have us fulfil it in careful, and exact, and regular instruction concerning the things of God. Do not be content to leave this duty to others, but ascertain for yourselves what your children are actually learning about their Lord and Saviour, how far they feel it and know it. And then about example. It is a very good thing to teach your children out of the Word of God; but it is as good to teach them in your own daily life and conversation. There is one thing more–prayer. (Bp. Thorold<\/em>.)<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n