Friday, November 27, 2020

Numbers 14:1-10 comments: Israel regrets leaving Egypt and threaten to stone the two men who call for an immediate invasion of the Canaanite cities

 

Numbers 14:1 ¶  And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2  And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

 

Here is mass hysteria and a lack of faith. Although we can see examples of it in our lives this seems crazy after the supernatural deliverance at the Red Sea the Hebrews saw. But, each of us has been delivered from some potentially catastrophic thing only to cry out again for God’s deliverance and wish we had done something different often showing a complete lack of faith in God’s providential hand and in His mercy. God brought you to the place you are and you wish you had never left the place where you were and yet God has a plan for your life and you are where He wants you to be right now and will see His will bear out in your life.

Notice previous examples of the Hebrew’s whining about “good ole’ Egypt.”

 

Exodus 16:3  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

 

 

Numbers 14:5 ¶  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 7  And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 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. 9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 10  But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

 

Joshua and Caleb plead with the children of Israel not to rebel against God nor fear the Canaanites. At this time they would all have been client states of Egypt whose Pharaoh and army had been destroyed, leaving them dependent on their own abilities in a land where it was more likely that one city would fight another than that they would unite. Of course they will try to unite. But, their defense, the might of Egypt, is gone. At this point it is an ideal time to attack. Hesitation will give them time to do what they do, join forces. The Hebrews threaten to stone the two faithful men.

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