Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word; but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory— because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it. Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel, which they complain against me. Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But I will bring your little ones that you said should be captured or killed in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’ I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”
The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 20, 22, 24, 25, 33, 34 Hebrew, eye to eye.
Hebrew, eye to eye.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28, 29, 34, 39 Num 14:13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then…
Num 14:13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear [it], (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
Ver. 13. Then the Egyptians shall hear it.] And they will soon make comedies out of the Church’s tragedies.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 37 Then, i.e. in case thou dost utterly destroy them.
Then, i.e. in case thou dost utterly destroy them.
Thou broughtest up this people, whereby thou didst get great honour to thyself, which now thou wilt certainly lose.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv20, 36 We have here God's answer to the prayer of…
We have here God's answer to the prayer of Moses, which sings both of mercy and judgment. It is given privately to Moses (Num 14:20-25), and then directed to be made public to the people, Num 14:26-35. The frequent repetitions of the same things in it speak these resolves to be unalterable. Let us see the particulars.
I. The extremity of the sentence is receded from (Num 14:20): "I have pardoned, so as not to cut them all off at once, and disinherit them." See the power of prayer, and the delight God takes in putting an honour upon it. He designed a pardon, but Moses shall have the praise of obtaining it by prayer: it shall be done according to thy word; thus, as a prince, he has power with God, and prevails. See what countenance and encouragement God gives to our intercessions for others, that we may be public-spirited in prayer. Here is a whole nation rescued from ruin by the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man. See how ready God is to forgive sin, and how easy to be entreated: Pardon, says Moses (Num 14:19); I have pardoned, says God, Num 14:20. David found him thus swift to show mercy, Psa 32:5. He deals not with us after our sins, Psa 103:10.
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II. The glorifying of God's name is, in the general, resolved upon, Num 14:21. It is said, it is sworn, All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Moses in his prayer had shown a great concern for the glory of God. "Let me alone," says God, "to secure that effectually, and to advance it, by this dispensation." All the world shall see how God hates sin even in his own people, and will reckon for it, and yet how gracious and merciful he is, and how slow to anger. Thus when our Saviour prayed, Father, glorify thy name, he was immediately answered, I have glorified it, and will glorify it yet again, Joh 12:28. Note, Those that sincerely seek God's glory may be sure of what they seek. God having turned this prayer for the glorifying of himself into a promise, we may turn it into praise, in concert with the angels, Isa 6:3, The earth is full of his glory.
III. The sin of this people which provoked God to proceed against them is here aggravated, Num 14:22, Num 14:27. It is not made worse than really it was, but is shown to be exceedingly sinful. It was an evil congregation, each bad, but altogether in congregation, very bad. 1. They tempted God - tempted his power, whether he could help them in their straits - his goodness, whether he would - and his faithfulness, whether his promise would be performed. They tempted his justice, whether he would resent their provocations and punish them or no. They dared him, and in effect challenged him, as God does the idols (Isa 41:23), to do good, or do evil. 2. They murmured against him. This is much insisted on, Num 14:27. As they questioned what he would do, so they quarrelled with him for every thing he did or had done, continually fretting and finding fault. It does not appear that they murmured at any of the laws or ordinances that God gave them (though they proved a heavy yoke), but they murmured at the conduct they were under, and the provision made for them. Note, It is much easier to bring ourselves to the external services of religion, and observe all the formalities of devotion, than to live a life of dependence upon, and submission to, the divine Providence in the course of our conversation. 3. They did this after they had seen God's miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, Num 14:2. They would not believe their own eyes, which were witnesses for God that he was in the midst of them of a truth. 4. They had repeated the provocations ten times, that is, very often: the Jewish writers reckon this exactly the tenth time that the body of the congregation had provoked God. First, at the Red Sea, Exo 14:11. In Marah, Exo 15:23, Exo 15:24. In the wilderness of Sin, Exo 16:2. At Rephidim, Exo 17:1, Exo 17:2. The golden calf, Ex. 32. Then at Taberah. Then at Kibroth-Hattaavah, ch. 11. And so this was the tenth. Note, God keeps an account how often we repeat our provocations, and will sooner or later set them in order before us. 5. They had not hearkened to his voice, though he had again and again admonished them of their sin.
IV. The sentence passed upon them for this sin. 1. That they should not see the promised land (Num 14:23), nor come into it, Num 14:30. He swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest, Psa 95:11. Note, Disbelief of the promise is a forfeiture of the benefit of it. Those that despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their posterity, but not to them. 2. That they should immediately turn back into the wilderness, Num 14:25. Their next remove should be a retreat. They must face about, and instead of going forward to Canaan, on the very borders of which they now were, they must withdraw towards the Red Sea again. Tomorrow turn you; that is, "Very shortly you shall be brought back to that vast howling wilderness which you are so weary of. And it is time to shift for your own safety, for the Amalekites lie in wait in the valley, ready to attack you if you march forward." Of them they had been distrustfully afraid (Num 13:29), and now with them God justly frightened them. The fear of the wicked shall come upon him. 3. That all those who had now grown up to men's estate should die in the wilderness, not all at once, but by degrees. They wished that they might die in the wilderness, and God said Amen to their passionate wish, and made their sin their ruin, snared them in the words of their mouth, and caused their own tongue to fall upon them, took them at their word, and determined that their carcases should fall in the wilderness, Num 14:28, Num 14:29, and again, Num 14:32, Num 14:35. See with what contempt they are spoken of, now that they had by their sin made themselves vile; the mighty men of valour were but carcases, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from them. They were all as dead men. Their fathers had such a value for Canaan that they desired to have their dead bodies carried thither to be buried, in token of their dependence upon God's promise that they should have that land for a possession: but these, having despised that good land and disbelieved the promise of it, shall not have the honour to be buried in it, but shall have their graves in the wilderness. 4. That in pursuance of this sentence they should wander to and fro in the wilderness, like travellers that have lost themselves, for forty years; that is, so long as to make it full forty years from their coming out of Egypt to their entrance into Canaan, Num 14:33, Num 14:34. Thus long they were kept wandering, (1.) To answer the number of the days in which the spies were searching the land. They were content to wait forty days for the testimony of men, because they could not take God's word; and therefore justly are they kept forty years waiting for the performance of God's promise. (2.) That hereby they might be brought to repentance, and find mercy with God in the other world, whatever became of them in this. Now they had time to bethink themselves, and to consider their ways; and the inconveniences of the wilderness would help to humble them and prove them, and show them what was in their heart, Deu 8:2. Thus long they bore their iniquities, feeling the weight of God's wrath in the punishment. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin that brought it upon them, which was too heavy for them to bear. (3.) That they might sensibly feel what a dangerous thing it is for God's covenant-people to break with him: "You shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin" (for God never leaves any till they first leave him), "and the consequences of it, that it will produce your ruin; you are quite undone when you are thrown out of covenant." (4.) That a new generation might in this time be raised up, which could not be done all of a sudden. And the children, being brought up under the tokens of God's displeasure against their fathers, and so bearing their whoredoms (that is, the punishment of their sins, especially their idolatry about the golden calf, which God now remembered against them), might take warning not to tread in the steps of their fathers' disobedience. And their wandering so long in the wilderness would make Canaan at last the more welcome to them. It should seem that upon occasion of this sentence Moses penned the ninetieth Psalm, which is very apposite to the present state of Israel, and wherein they are taught to pray that since this sentence could not be reversed it might be sanctified, and they might learn to apply their hearts unto wisdom.
V. The mercy that was mixed with this severe sentence.
1. Mercy to Caleb and Joshua, that though they should wander with the rest in the wilderness, yet they, and only they of all that were now above twenty years old, should survive the years of banishment, and live to enter Canaan. Caleb only is spoken of (Num 14:24), and a particular mark of honour put upon him, both, (1.) In the character given of him: he had another spirit, different from the rest of the spies, an after-spirit, which furnished him with second thoughts, and he followed the Lord fully, kept close to his duty, and went through with it, though deserted and threatened; and, (2.) In the recompence promised to him: Him will I bring in due time into the land whereinto he went. Note, [1.] It ought to be the great care and endeavour of every one of us to follow the Lord fully. We must, in a course of obedience to God's will and of service to his honour, follow him universally, without dividing, - uprightly, without dissembling, - cheerfully, without disputing, - and constantly, without declining; and this is following him fully. [2.] Those that would follow God fully must have another spirit, another from the spirit of the world, and another from what their own spirit has been. They must have the spirit of Caleb. [3.] Those that follow God fully in times of general apostasy God will own and honour by singular preservations in times of general calamity. The heavenly Canaan shall be the everlasting inheritance of those that follow the Lord fully. When Caleb is again mentioned (Num 14:30) Joshua stands with him, compassed with the same favours and crowned with the same honours, having stood with him in the same services.
2. Mercy to the children even of these rebels. They should have a seed preserved, and Canaan secured to that seed: Your little ones, now under twenty years old, which you, in your unbelief, said should be a prey, them will I bring in, Num 14:31. They had invidiously charged God with a design to ruin their children, Num 14:3. But God will let them know that he can put a difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off without touching their children. Thus the promise made to Abraham, though it seemed to fail for a time, was kept from failing for evermore; and, though God chastened their transgressions with a rod, yet his loving kindness he would not utterly take away.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–39 And Moses said unto the Lord,.... In an abrupt…
And Moses said unto the Lord,.... In an abrupt manner, as the following words show, his mind being greatly disturbed and distressed by the above threatening:
then the Egyptians shall hear it; that the Lord had smitten the Israelites with the pestilence; the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of the children of the Egyptians who were suffocated in the sea:
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for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; they were once sojourners among them, and slaves unto them, and they were delivered from them by the mighty hand of the Lord upon the Egyptians, destroying their firstborn; and therefore when they shall hear that the Israelites were all destroyed at once by a pestilence in the wilderness, it will be a pleasure to them, as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39 Not able - His power was quite spent in…
Not able - His power was quite spent in bringing them out of Egypt, and could not finish the work he had begun and had sworn to do.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 34, 37 Verse 14. That thy cloud standeth over them] This…
Verse 14. That thy cloud standeth over them] This cloud, the symbol of the Divine glory, and proof of the Divine presence, appears to have assumed three different forms for three important purposes.
1. It appeared by day in the form of a pillar of a sufficient height to be seen by all the camp, and thus went before them to point out their way in the desert. Ex 40:38.
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2. It appeared by night as a pillar of fire to give them light while travelling by night, which they probably sometimes did; (see Nu 9:21;) or to illuminate their tents in their encampment; Ex 13:21-22.
3. It stood at certain times above the whole congregation, overshadowing them from the scorching rays of the sun; and probably at other times condensed the vapours, and precipitated rain or dew for the refreshment of the people. He spread a cloud for their covering; and fire to give light in the night; Ps 105:39. It was probably from this circumstance that the shadow of the Lord was used to signify the Divine protection, not only by the Jews, but also by other Asiatic nations. See Clarke on Nu 14:9, and see particularly Clarke's note on "Ex 13:21".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39 Num 14:16-17. Not able — His power was quite…
Num 14:16-17. Not able — His power was quite spent in bringing them out of Egypt, and could not finish the work he had begun and had sworn to do. Let the power of my Lord be great — That is, appear to be great; discover its greatness; namely, the power of his grace and mercy, or the greatness of his mercy, in pardoning this and their other sins: for to this the following words manifestly restrain it, where the pardon of their sins is the only instance of this power, both described in God’s titles, Num 14:18; and prayed for by Moses, Num 14:19; and granted by God in answer to him, Num 14:20.
Nor is it strange that the pardon of sin, especially such great sins, is spoken of as an act of power in God, because undoubtedly it is an act of omnipotent and infinite goodness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13, 21, 24, 25, 33, 34 The syntax of these verses is singularly broken. As…
The syntax of these verses is singularly broken. As did Paul when deeply moved, so Moses presses his arguments one on the other without pausing to ascertain the grammatical finish of his expressions. He speaks here as if in momentary apprehension of an outbreak of God’s wrath, unless he could perhaps arrest it by crowding in every topic of deprecation and intercession that he could mention on the instant.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 33, 34, 37 That the. The sentence is left imperfect, to signify…
That the. The sentence is left imperfect, to signify the agitation and distress with which Moses was oppressed, as if he had said, Thou wilt thus afford a pretext, that the Egyptians and Chanaanites may say to one another, that thou couldst not perform what thou hadst promised; and therefore, that in vexation thou hadst destroyed thy people. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "Then the Egyptians shall hear it....and will tell it to the inhabitants of this land....because the Lord could not," &c., ver. 16. (Calmet) --- Thus they will blaspheme thy holy name. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17, 21, 22, 24, 25, 30, 34, 36 let the power of my Lord be great--be magnified.
let the power of my Lord be great--be magnified.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 13. The Egyptians shall hear — They who had…
13. The Egyptians shall hear — They who had felt the judgments of Jehovah in terrible national judgments on account of Israel will gladly hear of his downfall, and spread the news abroad among all the nations, especially among the Canaanites, who “faint” because of their terror of the Hebrews. Jos_2:9. The arguments of Moses in this intercession are exactly such as man would use with man. This implies that Moses conceived of God as personal, and possessing reason and sensibilities corresponding to those faculties in the human race, who are created in his image. The philosophic conception of God of which deism boasts affords no motive to believing and importunate prayer.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 17, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 34, 37, 39 13–16. The thought of Jehovah destroying His own people…
13–16. The thought of Jehovah destroying His own people raised a great problem. Jehovah must maintain justice, and yet He must also maintain His own honour among the surrounding nations. The same problem was felt by Ezekiel in regard to the punishment of the exile, but he solved it by the certainty of a glorious return of a purified people in the future (Eze_36:18-28; Eze_39:21-29).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv13, 17, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 39 (13, 14) And Moses said unto the Lord .…
(13, 14) And Moses said unto the Lord . . . —There is considerable difficulty as to the correct rendering of these verses. They may be rendered in accordance with the Authorised Version, or they may be rendered as follows:—And Moses said unto the LORD, The Egyptians have both heard that thou hast brought up this people from among them by thy might, and they have also told (it) to the inhabitants of this land (i.e., the land of Canaan, as in Num_14:3); they (i.e., the Egyptians and the Canaanites) have heard that thou LORD art in the midst of this people, for thou LORD art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, &c. &c. Reference may be made to the following passages in illustration of the argument by which Moses enforced his intercessory prayer on behalf of Israel:—Deu_32:26-27; Jos_7:9; Isa_48:9; Isa_48:11; Eze_36:22-23.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 37, 39 And Moses said unto the Lord. The words which…
And Moses said unto the Lord. The words which follow are so confused, and the construction so dislocated, that they afford the strongest evidence that we have here the ipsissima verba of the mediator, disordered as they were in the moment of utterance by passionate earnestness and an agonizing fear. Had Moses been ever so eloquent, a facility of speech at such a moment would have been alike unnatural and unlovely. What we can see in the words is this: that Moses had no thought for himself, and that it never occurred to him to entertain the tempting offer made to him by God; that he knew God too well, and (if we may say so) cared for God too much, to let him so compromise his honour among the nations, and so thwart his own purposes, without making one effort (however audacious) to turn his wrath aside. We can see that it is (as in Exo_32:11, Exo_32:12, only much more boldly and abruptly) the thought of what the heathen would say which he wishes to thrust upon the Almighty; but we cannot be sure of the right translation of the words. The most literal rendering would seem to be, "Both the Egyptians have heard (Wmvw) that thou broughtest out this people from among them with thy might, and they have told it (Wrmaw) to the inhabitants of this land; they have heard (Wmv, repeated) that thou, Lord, art amongst this people," &c. The Septuagint, however, translates the first verb by a future (;kai akousetai Aiguptov ), and, as this gives a much clearer sense, it is followed by the Targum Palestine and most of the versions.
Vers. 13-19. Moses" view of the position.
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God has presented some of the considerations which needed to be presented; Moses now presents others; and all taken together produce the decision actually arrived at. What God had said it was not for Moses to say, and so what Moses said it was not for God to say; nevertheless, all needed to be said.
I NOTE THE CHARACTER IN WHICH MOSES CHIEFLY APPEARS. His first words indicate a concern for the reputation of Jehovah among the nations, and it would be wrong to suppose that this was not a matter of real concern, but it is evident the chief thought in his mind was how to secure mercy for rebellious Israel. He is the intercessor. All considerations he can appropriately urge are urged with the ingenuity of one who feels the calamity of others as his own. He is consistent here with past appearances on similar occasions.
II NOTE THE CONSIDERATIONS WHICH HE URGES.
1. He makes no attempt to extenuate the wickedness of the people. He can say nothing by way of excuse, lie does not plead as Abraham concerning Sodom, on the chance of a righteous remnant being found in the multitude. He does not distinctly plead for another trial, like the dresser in the vineyard. (Luk_13:8, Luk_13:9) The sin was fresh, patent, monstrous, coming as the climax of so much that had gone before. He does not attempt to make the sin of the people look less than the sin of the spies, but leaves all in its enormity. So we may say it is better for us not to go excusing self, when too often excuse but adds to existing sin. Our danger is to underestimate our sin, to think of our sorrows and trials rather than our disobedience and ingratitude. God knows what may be said for us. At all times, and in all our transgressions, he remembers that we are dust. Let us rather aim to get a due sense of how much, how very much, needs to be done in us to make us holy and perfect.
2. He makes God"s reputation among surrounding nations a matter of great concern. In God"s government of the world, the consideration of his real glory is ever to be kept in view, and this of course is not dependent on what any man may think. Nevertheless, what men may think and say is by no means to be neglected. Whatever is done, some will criticize and jeer. Strange things have been said, and are said still, concerning the God revealed in the history of Israel. A monster of hideous attributes is conjured up and represented as the Deity of the Hebrews. Now as among men it is a consideration that their good should not be evil spoken of, if they can possibly arrange it otherwise, so, reverently be it said, a similar consideration may be present to God when he reveals himself in human affairs. What he said here asserted that there was no need for further probation of these Israelites. What Moses now suggests is that there was no need to cut them down at once, and good reason to do otherwise, so as to stop the mouth of Egypt and the nations of Canaan.
3. One more act of mercy would be consistent with God"s character. God had said, upon the making of the two tables to replace the former two, (Ex 34) that though he could not treat iniquity as a trifle, and must ever stamp on it signs of the serious way in which he regarded it, yet he was a God merciful and gracious, and disposed to pardon. Moses now humbly reminds God of these words, and pleads an application of them to the present transgression, tie does not seem to have meant much by the word pardon; it was simply that God might turn away the pestilence. Indeed, for anything more it was not in the power of Moses to ask. A full pardon, a full reconciliation to God, these demand, as a pre-requisite, full repentance. And so far Israel had made no sign. Perhaps the people were dumb and stupefied with terror. Other people may ask pardon for us in a certain sense, but such pardon as will be complete can only come from the cry of awakened, enlightened, and truly penitent souls. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13, 20, 24, 25, 26, 33 Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people.
Num_14:13-19
Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people.
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Moses expostulation
What book but the Bible has the courage to represent a man standing in this attitude before his God and addressing his Sovereign in such persuasive terms? This incident brings before us the vast subject of the collateral considerations which are always operating in human life. Things are not straight and simple, lying in rows of direct lines to be numbered off, checked off and done with. Lines bisect and intersect and thicken into great knots and tangle, and who can unravel or disentangle the great heap? Things bear relations which can only be detected by the imagination, which cannot be compassed by arithmetical numbers, but which force upon men a new science of calculation, and create a species of moral algebra, by which, through the medium and help of symbols, that is done which was impossible to common arithmetic. Moses was a great leader; he thought of Egypt: what will the enemy say? The enemy will put a false construction upon this. As if he had said, This will be turned against Heaven; the Egyptians do not care what becomes of the people, if they can laugh at the Providence which they superstitiously trusted; the verdict passed by the heathen will be:--God was not able to do what He promised, so He had recourse to the vulgar artifice of murder. The Lord in this way developed Moses. In reality, Moses was not anticipating the Divine purpose, but God was training the man by saying what He, the Lord, would do, and by the very exaggeration of His strength called up Moses to his noblest consciousness. We do this amongst ourselves. By using a species of language adapted to touch the innermost nerve and feeling of our hearers, we call those hearers to their best selves. If the Lord had spoken a hesitant language, or had fallen into what we may call a tone of despair, Moses himself might have been seduced into a kindred dejection; but the Lord said, I will smite, I will disinherit, I will make an end; and Moses became priest, intercessor, mighty pleader--the very purpose which God had in view--to keep the head right, the leading man in tune with His purposes. So Moses said, Pardon; the Lord said, Smite; and Moses said, Pardon--that is the true smiting. The Lord meant it; the Lord taught Moses that prayer which Moses seemed to invent himself. The Lord trains us, sometimes, by shocking our sensibilities; and by the very denunciation of His judgments He drives us to tenderer prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The intercession of Moses for the doomed nation
I. The petition which he presented.
II. The pleas by which he urged his petition.
1. The honour of the Divine name amongst the heathen.
(1) The relations of God with Israel and His doings for Israel were well known amongst neighbouring nations.
(2) If God should destroy Israel at a stroke, that also would be known amongst these nations.
(3) The interpretation of such destruction by the nations would be such as would reflect on the honour of God. They would conclude that His resources were exhausted; that His power had failed to sustain and lead Israel onward: and thus His glory would be tarnished.
(4) That this might not be the case Moses entreats the Lord not to disinherit the rebellious people.
2. The Divine character as revealed to Moses.
3. The truth of the Divine word.
4. The forgiveness which God had already bestowed.
Conclusion: From this intercession of Moses let us learn--
1. How to plead with God for ourselves.
2. How to plead with God for others, and especially for His people. (W. Jones.)
Gods pardoning grace in the past an encouragement to seek for the same in the present
I. God is as able and as willing to forgive now as ever he has been.
II. Man is now, as much as ever he has been, the object of Gods compassion.
III. Gods purpose with regard to the human race is now what it ever has been. (David Lloyd.)
The power of intercession
The intercession of Christians, who are already formed, is the leaven which is to leaven the whole earth with Christianity. It is one of the destined instruments, in the hand of God, for hastening the glory of the latter days. Take the world at large, and the doctrine of intercession, as an engine of mighty power, is derided as one of the reveries of fanaticism. This is a subject on which the men of the world are in a deep slumber; but there are watchmen who never hold their peace day nor night, and to them God addresses these remarkable words: Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (T. Chalmers.)
The mercy of God
(Num_14:18):--
I. What we are to understand by the mercy of god. It is His goodness to them that are in misery, or liable to it. Thus the mercy of God is usually, in Scripture, set forth to us by the affection of pity and compassion; which is an affection that causeth a sensible commotion in us, upon the apprehension of some great evil that lies upon another, or hangs over him. Hence it is that God is said, in Scripture, to be grieved and afflicted for the miseries of men. But though God is pleased in this manner to set forth His mercy and tenderness towards us, yet we must take heed how we clothe the Divine nature with the infirmities of human passions. When God is said to pity us, we must take away the imperfection of His passion, the commotion and disturbance of it, and not imagine any such thing in God; but we are to conceive that the mercy and compassion of God, without producing the disquiet, do produce the effects of the most sensible pity.
II. That this perfection belongs to God. I will only produce some of those many texts of Scripture which attribute this perfection to God. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious (Exo_34:6). The Lord thy God is a merciful God (Deu_4:31). The Lord your God is gracious and merciful (2Ch_34:9). Ready to pardon, gracious and merciful (Neh_9:17). All the paths of the Lord are mercy (Psa_25:10). Unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy (Psa_62:12). Merciful and gracious (Psa_103:8). With the Lord there is mercy (Psa_130:7). And so (Jer_3:12; Joe_2:13; Jon_4:2; Luk_6:36), Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. The Scripture speaks of this as most natural to Him. In 2Co_1:3, He is called the Father of mercies.
III. The degree of it. A God of great mercy. Scripture speaks of it as if God was wholly taken up with it, as if it was His constant employment, so that, in comparison of it, He doth hardly display any other excellency; All the paths of the Lord are mercy (Psa_25:10); as if, in this world, God had a design to advance His mercy above His other attributes. The mercy of God is now in the throne; this is the day of mercy; and God doth display it, many times, with a seeming dishonour to His other attributes, His justice, and holiness, and truth.
1. Preventing mercy. Does not that man owe more to his physician who prevents his sickness, than he who, after the languishing, the pains of several months, is at length cured by him?
2. Forbearing mercy. And this is the patience of God, which consists in the deferring or moderating of our deserved punishment. Hence it is that slow to anger, and of great mercy, do so often go together.
3. Comforting mercy (2Co_1:3).
4. His relieving mercy, in supplying those that are in want, and delivering those that are in trouble.
5. Pardoning mercy. And here the greatness and fulness of Gods mercy appears, because our sins are great (Psa_78:38). And the multitude of Gods mercies because our sins are many (Psa_51:1).
Uses--
1. We ought with thankfulness to acknowledge and admire the great mercy of God to us.
2. The great mercy of God to us should stir up in us shame and sorrow for sin. The judgments of God may break us; but the consideration of Gods mercy should rather melt us into tears (Luk_7:47).
3. Let us imitate the merciful nature of God.
4. If the mercy of God be so great, this may comfort us against despair.
5. By way of caution against the presumptuous sinner. If there be any that encourage themselves in sin, upon the hopes of His mercy; let such know that God is just, as well as merciful. (Abp. Tillotson.)
Long-suffering of God
We may safely assert that Jeremy Taylor is none the less vigorous for illustrating the long-suffering of God by the Rabbinical story that the archangel Michael, being Gods messenger of vengeance, had but one wing, that he might labour in his flight, while Gabriel had two wings, that he might fly swiftly when bringing the message of peace. (J. Pilkington.)
Great mercy
Gods mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God. As John Bunyan well says, It must be great mercy or no mercy, for little mercy will never serve my turn. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v19
Numbers
MOSES THE INTERCESSOR
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Num 14:19.
See how in this story a divine threat is averted and a divine promise is broken, thus revealing a standing law that these in Scripture are conditional.
This striking incident of Moses’ intercession suggests to us some thoughts as to
I. The ground of the divine forgiveness.
The appeal is not based on anything in the people. God is not asked to forgive because of their repentance or their faith. True, these are the conditions on which His pardon is received by us, but they are not the reasons why it is given by Him. Nor does Moses appeal to any sacrifices that had been offered and were conceived to placate God. But he goes deeper than all such pleas, and lays hold, with sublime confidence, on God’s own nature as his all-powerful plea. ‘The greatness of Thy mercy’ is the ground of the divine forgiveness, and the mightiest plea that human lips can urge. It suggests that His very nature is pardoning love; that ‘mercy’ is proper to Him, that it is the motive and impulse of His acts. He forgives because He is mercy. That is the foundation truth. It is the deep spring from which by inherent impulse all the streams of forgiveness well up.
What was true when Moses prayed for the rebels is true to-day. Christ’s work is the consequence, not the cause, of God’s pardoning love. It is the channel through which the waters reach us, but the waters made the channel for themselves.
II. The persistency of the divine pardon.
‘As thou hast forgiven . . .even until now.’
His past is the guarantee of His future. This is true of every one of His attributes. There is no limitation to the divine forgiveness; you cannot exhaust it.
Sometimes there may be long tracts of almost utter godlessness, or times of apathy. Sometimes there may be bursts of great and unsanctified evil after many professions of fidelity, as in David’s case. Sometimes there may be but a daily experience in which there is little apparent progress, little consciousness of growing mastery over sin, little of deepening holiness and spiritual power. Be it so! To all such, and to every other form of Christian unfaithfulness, this blessed thought applies.
We are apt to think as if our many pardons in the past made future pardons less likely, whereas the truth is that we have received forgiveness so often in the past that we may be quite sure that it will never fail us in the future. God has established a precedent in His dealings with us. He binds Himself by His past.
As in His creative energy, the forces that flung the whole universe forth were not exhausted by the act, but subsist continually to sustain it, as ‘He fainteth not, neither is weary,’ so in the works of His providence, and more especially of His grace, there is nothing in the exercise of any of His attributes to exhaust that attribute, nothing in the constant appeal which we make to His forgiving grace to weary out that grace. And thus we may learn, even from the unfading glories of the heavens and the undimmed splendours of His creative works, the lesson that, in the holier region of His love, and His pardoning mercy, there is no exhaustion, and that all the past instances of His pardoning grace only make the broader, firmer ground of certainty as to His continuous present and future forgiveness for all our iniquity. He who has proposed to us the ‘seventy times seven’ as the number of our forgivenesses will not let His own fall short of that tale. Our iniquities may be ‘more than the hairs of our heads,’ but as the psalmist who found his to be so comforted himself with thinking, God’s ‘thoughts which are to usward’ were ‘more than can be numbered.’ There would be a pardoning thought for every sin, and after all sins had been forgiven, there would be ‘multitudes of redemptions’ still available for penitent souls.
There is but one thing that limits the divine pardon, and that is continuous rejection of it.
Whoever seeks to be pardoned is pardoned.
III. The manner of the divine forgiveness.
He pardoned, but He also inflicted punishment, and in both He loves equally. The worst, that is the spiritual, consequences {which are the punishments} of sin, namely separation and alienation from God, He removes in the very act of forgiveness, but His pardon does not affect the natural consequences. ‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them and tookest vengeance of their inventions,’ says a psalmist in reference to this very incident. Thank God that He loves us too wisely and well not to let us by experience ‘know that it is a bitter thing to forsake the Lord.’
It is a blessing that He does so, and a sign that we are pardoned, if we rightly use it.
IV. The vehicle of the divine forgiveness.
The Mediator. Moses here may be taken as a dim shadow of Christ.
‘Moses was faithful in all his house’ but Jesus is the true Mediator, whose intercession consists in presenting the constant efficacy of His sacrifice, and to whom God ever says, ‘I have pardoned according to Thy word.’
Trust utterly to Him. You cannot weary out the forgiving love of God. ‘Christ ever liveth to make intercession’; with God is ‘plenteous redemption.’ ‘He shall redeem Israel out of all his iniquities.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v23 Kadesh-barnea is, by the unbelief of Israel there, and…
Surely
Kadesh-barnea is, by the unbelief of Israel there, and the divine comment on that unbelief Num 14:22-38; Deu 1:19-40; 1Co 10:1-5; Heb 3:12-19 invested with immense spiritual significance. The people had faith to sprinkle the blood of atonement Exo 12:28 and to come out of Egypt (the world), but had not faith to enter their Canaan rest. Therefore, though redeemed, they were a forty years’ grief to Jehovah. The spiritual application is made in Heb 6:3-11:
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(See Scofield "Heb 6:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv26, 39 The Judgment Pronounced
The Judgment Pronounced
v. 26. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
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v. 27. How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur against Me? 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, for they were continually engaged in grumbling of this kind.
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, Cf v. 2:
v. 29. your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; 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,
v. 30. doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware, 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. 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.
v. 31. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey,
v. 3. them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
v. 32. But as for you, as the Lord here repeats for the sake of emphasis, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.
v. 33. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, sustaining themselves as nomads with their herds in the wastes of the Sinaitic Peninsula, and bear your whoredoms, to expiate, in a way, the spiritual unfaithfulness of their fathers, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness, until the desert had consumed even the last of them.
v. 34. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, Num 13:25, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know My breach of promise; 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.
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.
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, by misrepresenting the facts about Canaan and exaggerating the difficulties of conquering its people,
v. 37. even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord; the punishment struck them very suddenly, and struck them down as the first among the rebellious people.
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, 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.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15, 17, 20, 23, 26, 28, 31, 34, 36, 39 you are seen face to face
you are seen face to face
Possible meanings are 1) Moses speaks of God showing himself to his people as if God had allowed them to actually see his face. AT: "they have seen you" or 2) Moses speaks of the intimate relationship between him and God as if Moses could see God's face when God spoke to him. This can be stated in active form. AT: "you speak directly to me" (See: Metaphorand Active or Passive)
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translationWords
Egypt
face
column
fire
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 28, 34, 39 14:13-25 Moses interceded on behalf of his people, reminding…
14:13-25 Moses interceded on behalf of his people, reminding God that his reputation was bound up with that of Israel and appealing to his faithfulness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.