Dissatisfaction and Rebellion

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Num. 14:1-2
The report of the ten spies ( 13:26-33 ) spread throughout the masses like a virus on rampage. The words of Caleb and Joshua were not heard.

The people heard about walled cities, strong men, giants, and the fabled Nephilim. The giant clusters of grapes were a portent of doom. If clusters of grapes were as great as these, imagine what the people would be like!

No one talked about God’s grace. None recited his miracles. Forgotten was the act of God where the most powerful nation of their world was stymied at the rushing of waters.

The thunder of Sinai, the fire of God, that he had spoken and delivered and graced his people beyond imagination; all these things were forgotten in their sudden attack of fear. Fear unchecked becomes its own fuel, a self-propelling force that expands.

Verses 1-2 emphasize the pervasiveness of the fear and the outrage of the entire populace.

“all the people of the community” ( v 1 ), “ all the Israelites ” ( v 2 ), and “ the whole assembly ” ( v 2 ). This emphasis on the rebellion, the judgment of God will extend to the entire community.

The entire community was given over to wailing, as only people in the East can do. This was not a scene of passive resignation, of silent regret.

Moses and Aaron became the principal attach of the anger of the nation. They “ grumbled ” against Moses and Aaron ( v 2 ), even as they grumbled against the Lord.

As the people began to wish that they had already died. It seemed to them that it would have been preferable to have died in Egypt or even in the desert than to come this close to their goal, only to discover that it was unattainable.

Their words are understandable from the perspective of weakened, sinful humanity. But from a position of faith, from the stance of belief in God, these words are intolerable; they are self-destructive, self-fulfilling prophecies. The people who wished to have died in the desert will find that is exactly what they will have to do.

Num. 14:3-4
The more the people wailed, the more rambling their words. The more the people cried, the more they protest of rage.

This is what leads to riots, lynching, stormings, and rampages. Now they begin to aim their anger more directly at Yahweh himself.

Moses and Aaron were the fall guys, but the Lord was the one to blame; he had delivered them from Egypt. He had brought Pharaoh to his knees, had cast horse and rider into the sea, had led them through a barren land, and had provided bread from heaven and water from a gushing rock. He had spoken, revealing grace and wonder, power and gentleness, direction and Torah. God was the one at fault! And they began to curse him, to contemn his goodness, to reject his grace.

Forgetful of God’s power against Egypt, surely a nation stronger than any Cannanite city-state, the people worked themselves into such a frenzy of fear that they wished that God had not brought them here at all. Why had he not just left them alone? Slavery began to look good to them. The hovels in Egypt became home again. The memory of a variety of food made the memory of oppressive taskmasters less fearsome.

It was the frightening words of the faithless spies that led to the mourning of the entire community and to their great rebellion against the Lord. They forgot all the miracles that the Lord had done for them; they forgot his mercies and spurned his might. In their ingratitude they preferred death ( v 2 ).

It was death they deserved and death they were to get. The most culpable charge against the grace of God was that concerning their children ( vv 31-33 ). Only their children would survive. All the rest would die in the desert they had chosen over the Land of Promise.

Num. 14:5
In the midst of this riot of rebellion, there were a few voices that still spoke of God’s grace and remembered his power. Four such persons: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. These are the only ones mentioned who were not a part of the larger, rebellious community.

I would think that they were not in fact the only persons in the entire community who were faithful to God. In any period of great apostasy, we; and Scripture; tend to focus on the obstinacy of the rebellion and to minimize the numbers of those who are exceptions to the general depravity.

This was the experience of Elijah at Carmel ( 1 Kings 19:10, 14; v 18 ).

The only voices of reason and faith that we hear in the text are those of Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua. Moses and Aaron to fling themselves to the ground, prostrate before the enraged leaders of the people. In this posture they symbolized their awareness that the anger of the Lord was likely to visit the people in a moment.

Num. 14:6-7
Joshua and Caleb tore at their clothing ( v 6 ), a ritual symbolic of mourning. They were mourning, the loss of faith, the death of hope. Yet even as they mourned, Joshua and Caleb tried to revive the dead. They extolled the land and its virtues with extravagant language. Joshua and Caleb had been there: the land they described to be “exceedingly good” ( v 7 ). They reminded the people that the land still flows with milk and honey.

Num. 14:8
These righteous men present it is still possible to gain the land and to enjoy its fruit. The only thing necessary is that “ the LORD is pleased with us. ”

Faith believes in the great grace of God, the Lord of mercy, who desires to smile over his people.

Num. 14:9
Two things were needful: the people needed to stop their rebellion against the Lord, and they must cease to be afraid of the people of the land.

The depth of the faith of Joshua and Caleb is seen particularly in this vivid expression of the loss of the protective shade in Canaan. There are no walls, no fortification, no factors of size or bearing, and certainly no gods that can withstand the onslaught of the people of God when they know that the Lord is with them.

Num. 14:10
Despite the language of Joshua and Caleb and the portent of the prostrate forms of Moses and Aaron, the people were deaf to mercy, blind to truth.

The people began to shout to one another, “ Stone them! ”

Certainly one of the more chilling lines in Scripture is the description of the Lord’s presence in the middle of v 10. In the midst of the peoples’ rage, which was building into a storm that might lead to the stoning of the righteous, the holy God in an awesome display of his wonder burst into their midst at the entrance of the tabernacle.

Moses and Aaron had a foreboding this would happen; likely this is why they were prostrate ( v 5 ). There they lay, grieving and praying; there they lay, waiting for God. The sudden appearance of the Lord at this moment must have been awesome in its abrupt and intense display of his wonder and wrath.

Num. 14:11
When God appears, he does not thunder against the people; but he speaks to his servant Moses about their outrageous behavior. His words have the sense of lack of belief: “ How long will these people treat me with contempt? ”

As we think of God’s promise to bless those who bless Israel and to curse the individual who treats the people with less than a sense of dignity and respect ( Gen 12:3 ), we wonder what must be in store for one who holds God in contempt!

This was the main issue. By refusing to believe in the power of the Lord, especially in view of all the wonders they had experienced themselves, the people of Israel were holding him in contempt by their unbelief.

Num. 14:12
The anger of God against his people is at fever pitch. By a plague the populace could be reduced to a handful. And God could begin again.

For the second time since the Exodus, God speaks of starting over with Moses in creating a people faithful to himself ( Exod 32:10 ).

One is aware of the real anger of the Lord,

God does not lead his people into temptation, but he does allow them to pass through the tempering fires of stress. He does not do this to break them but for the righteous to have the opportunity to demonstrate what they really believe.

This book is for the second generation, the sons and daughters of these people who blundered so badly. The second generation was to learn a lesson that their parents did not learn: God can be provoked only so far. Finally, his wrath is kindled.

Moderns tend to ignore passages that speak of God’s wrath, preferring more comfortable passages. The question they ask is inescapable: Do we or do we not really believe in the judgment of God? And if we do believe that finally he will bring judgment on the wicked, those who hold him in contempt?

No one dares remain unmoved by these words of the expression of the wrath of God. We remember that this wrath was not against Canaanites or Hittites, not against the Egyptians or the Assyrians, but against his own people. When God is forced to rise up in judgment against his own people, we are made to feel what that anger means to him.

Recap

We can comment on the weakness shown by the Israelites with their complaining about so much; even after witnessing so many of the Lord’s mercies.

Today we are just as bad as we find the most menial things to complain about and not trusting in the Lord to have it work out to His Glory.

The Israelites thought they were overwhelmed with the conditions of the Promised Land and how many times do we feel overwhelmed by our conditions?

They did not go to the Lord and many times we fail to do the same. They wanted to give up and we can do the same.

As you go through this lesson can you see yourself in any part of it?

Do we moan about the length of the message or I don’t like that type of music or that was not done the way I wanted and on and on.

Lay your troubles, concerns and fears at the feet of Jesus and ask Him for help.

Can we live by any of the actions of Joshua and Caleb?

To follow Jesus allows us to claim His promises but it does not allow us to expect our lives to be free of hardships.

Prayer:
Dear Father in Heaven I pray we all come to You with our concerns and do as the song says “ Leaning on the Everlasting Arms “. Lord it is all about You and not about ourselves and therefore we have nothing to complain about only to give You thanks and praise. Thank You Lord.

In the name of Jesus. Amen

TGIF



All of us have experienced the fatigue effect of people who sometimes play the role of an “EGR” in our lives “ Extra Grace Required ”. Before we respond with avoidance and criticism, we would do well to remember that we may play a similar role with others, and we certainly do before God.