Old Testament - Numbers 13-14 - May 10, 2022

5/10/2022 – Numbers 13-14

Numbers 13

The student manual has an important paragraph in its covering of Numbers 13-36. It speaks of the great stories of the Old Testament, and then it reminds us: “But the Old Testament also records many tragedies. The tragedy was not so much in what happened, but in what was lost in what could have been…” It goes on to go over so many who started wonderfully along the right path, but then let their own selfishness, or the let their humility turn into puffed up pride, or they decided they were so good that they could do fine creating their own way instead of the way the Lord had directed them….

But I’m here today to learn from Numbers 13-14. So, in answer to Moses pleas for help, the Lord tells him to choose one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and those men are to be “every one a ruler among” their tribe. (v 2) One of the duties of these men occurred as they “sent to spy out the land of Canaan” to determine “whether it be good or bad” (v 19) as the Lord requested.  The 12 chosen men went to search out the land. They spent 40 days working to determine if the land was a good place for the Israelites.

The report of 10 of the men was that the land was amazing: “surely it floweth with milk and honey”. They brought back an array of the wonderful fruits that flourished there. But they continued their report with the ‘Yes, but…’ information: The people that dwell there are strong, their cities are securely walled. They reported that “we be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” (v 31) They talked of the men of great stature there, who were giants, and who made the Israelites seem more like grasshoppers. 

But then Caleb, who was one of the 12 “stilled the people” and said “Let us go up at once, and possess it: for we are well able to overcome it.”  Caleb had done his job by going forward with the faith that if the Lord told them to go, then they would be working with the Lord’s blessings—and that would make all the difference.

Numbers 14

After hearing all of this the Israelites began, once again, to murmur against Moses and to weep out of fear and to talk of returning to Egypt once again.

But then Joshua and Caleb again spoke out, telling them of the “exceedingly good land” (v 7) that the Lord said they could have. They reminded the Israelites “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us…Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land…the Lord is with us: fear them not.” (v’s 8-9). The crowd responded by throwing stones at both Joshua and Caleb.

That is the moment the “Lord appeared in the tabernacle”....and said to Moses “How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?”  He reminded: “…all those men which have seen my glory…and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice. Surely they shall not see the land…” (v22-23).  So the second stage of the tragedy is that the Israelites, because of their poor actions, lost the right to enter the promised land because of their refusal to follow the Lord. Because of that, they had to wait 40 years for their next opportunity.

And then the Lord tells of the spirit we all should have in our efforts to follow Him: “but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. (v 24)

The Lord spoke again, reminding them of their repeated times of lack of faith, of their constant murmuring, of their poor memories of His miracles, and told them because of that, He would not help them into their promised land at this point of time. Instead, they would wait in the desert for 40 years, and only their children would be given the promised land.

It’s hard to believe that after the Lord had spoken, the 10 men who had let their worries wipe out their faith in the Lord, went forward “and made all the congregation to murmur against him”. (v 36) Those 10 “died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua…and Caleb…which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.” (v 37-38) 

The greater part of the Israelites were like immature children who missed the whole point of the parental punishment they had received. It is in the last 6 or 7 verses in the chapter, Moses clearly explains to them the misdeeds they have done, and he clearly reviews what and why the Lord reacted to their action. They were slow to understand, which means they were slow to change their ways, which means the Amalekites and the Canaanites did come up on them “and smote them, and discomfited them” (v 45) for some time.

The Lord tells us time and time again in the scriptures that to receive all of His blessings, we must choose to follow Him fully to the best of our ability. Russel M Nelson made an interesting comment that certainly caught my attention: “You will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to misery. To prepare to meet God, one keeps ALL of His commandments. It takes faith to obey them, and keeping His commandments will strengthen that faith.”