Chapter 14

1 The people murmur at the news. 6 Joshua and Caleb labour to still them. 11 God threateneth them. 13 Moses persuadeth God, and obtaineth pardon. 26 The murmurers are deprived of entering into the land. 36 The men who raised the evil report die by a plague. 40 The people that would invade the land against the will of God are smitten.

1. The people wept. As the spies repeated their doubts to the princes of their respective tribes, the evil report spread throughout the camp.

2. Murmured. One can imagine the wild charges that would be raised against Moses and Aaron and the agitation to elect other leaders who would guide them back to Egypt (v. 4).

4. A captain. They went so far as to appoint a leader to replace Moses (Neh. 9:17).

5. Fell on their faces. Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves in despair at the feet of the entire congregation, yet with their thoughts directed toward God.

6. Rent their clothes. Tearing the garments was an ancient method of expressing profound grief (Gen. 37:29, 34; Job 1:20; cf. Joel 2:13).

8. Delight in us. An expression of God’s favor, found in 2 Sam. 22:20, of David; in 1 Kings 10:9, of Solomon; and in Isa. 62:4, of the church.

9. They are bread for us. That is, they will be easy to conquer (see Num. 13:32; 24:8; Deut. 7:16; Ps. 14:4; Jer. 10:25). This expression displayed great faith in God’s ability and willingness to carry out His promises.

Their defence. Literally, “their shadow.” Joshua and Caleb were probably thinking of the cloud of God above the camp of Israel for their guidance and protection, and thereby suggesting the inability of the gods of the heathen to give protection.

10. Glory of the Lord. The glory that appeared on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:16, 17) and filled the tabernacle at its dedication (Ex. 40:34, 35). The appearance of the holy Shekinah no doubt deterred the people from stoning the two spies.

11. Ere they believe me. Throughout their history the Jews have laid great stress on their descent from Abraham, yet they consistently failed in the very thing for which he was honored of God (Gen. 15:6; Gal. 3:7, 9). This lack of faith is what kept them from entering into God’s rest (Heb. 3:19; 4:11).

All the signs. Despite lack of faith in much of the modern world, “signs” in their highest form are a kind of evidence intended to confirm the words of God (see Ex. 14:31; John 12:37).

12. Pestilence. The word denotes a plague or pestilence in general, on both man and beast.

A greater nation. Moses (see Ex. 32:10) would thus become a second Abraham, so realizing all that had been promised to that patriarch (Gen. 12:2; 18:18; Deut. 26:5; Isa. 51:2).

13. Egyptians shall hear. Moses uses these words as an argument with Jehovah in his petition for Israel (see Ex. 32:12; Deut. 9:28; Joshua 7:9; Isa. 48:9, 11; etc.).

14. This land. The reference is to Canaan.

Face to face. Literally, “eye upon eye.” Compare with similar expressions in Num. 12:8; Ex. 33:11; Isa. 52:8.

15. As one man. A figure of complete destruction, as of one man by one stroke (Judges 6:16).

Fame of thee. The Hebrew word means “report” or “tidings,” either true or false.

17. Power of my Lord. The word “Lord” in this verse is not the one translated Jehovah, as in vs. 16 and 18, and therefore is not printed in small capital letters in the KJV (see on Ex. 6:3; 15:2). Here Moses uses an argument based on the nature of God as revealed on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 34:6, 7).

18. Forgiving iniquity and transgression. Literally, “One who lifts up iniquity and transgression.” The word translated “iniquity” means “perversion,” “distortion,” “twisting;” and “transgression,” “rebellion,” “defiance,” “revolt.”

20. According to thy word. The people would yet perish in the wilderness Ex. 32:34),but the prayer of Moses prevented their complete extermination as a nation. In his role as intercessor, Moses was a forerunner of Christ (Ps. 106:23; Jer. 15:1).

21. As I live. The same expression appears in Isa. 49:18; Jer. 22:24; 46:18; Zeph. 2:9. It is used in confirmation of a most solemn statement.

22. Tempted me. The Hebrew word here used means “to test,” “to put to the proof,” and not “to tempt” in the modern sense. Compare the following use of the same verb translated “prove,” meaning “test”: Ex. 15:25; 20:20; Dan. 1:12, 14; Mal. 3:10.

24. My servant Caleb. The fulfillment of this promise appears in Joshua 14:6–15; Judges 1:20.

Another spirit. That is, the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the personal spirit of Caleb (see Judges 3:10; 6:34; Isa. 59:19; 61:1).

Followed me fully. This is repeated several times (see Joshua 14:8; Num. 32:11; Deut. 1:36).

25. In the valley. If they should seek to enter the Holy Land through the valley, the Amalekites and Canaanites would defeat them.

Turn you. The people were thus commanded to retrace their steps, in a southeast direction to the Red Sea.

29. Your carcases. Used of the dead bodies of men (Amos 8:3) and animals (Gen. 15:11), here in contempt (see Lev. 26:30; Eze. 6:5).

From twenty years old. It is generally thought that the Levites were excluded from this prediction, because they were not among those numbered from 20 years of age, but from one month (ch. 3:15) or from twenty yearss (ch. 4:3). Moreover, they had had no representative among the spies. This is borne out by the fact that Aaron’s son Eleazar, who was evidently over 30 when he became a priest, survived (Joshua 17:4; 24:33).

30. Which I sware. Literally, “which I lifted up my hand” (see Gen. 14:22; Deut. 32:40; Eze. 20:5, 6, 15, 23).

31. Your little ones. Under 20 years of age (see v. 3; Deut. 1:39).

33. Wander. Literally, “be shepherds.” (The same original word occurs in Gen. 13:7; 47:3; Ex. 2:17; Isa. 31:4; Jer. 6:3; etc.) The people were to wander about in the wilderness, taking care of their flocks.

Wasted. The word thus translated does not mean “to waste away” or “to rot,” but “to be used up,” “to be competed,” “to be ended.” Thus it refers to the complete toll to be taken of those condemned to die. Compare the following verses, in which the same word is translated “is spent” (Gen. 47:18), “had done” (Joshua 5:8), “are ended” (Job 31:40) “is perfect” (Isa. 18:5).

34. Each day. From yom, a word rendered variously as “day,” “time” (Gen. 26:8), “season” (Gen. 40:4), “age” (Gen. 18:11), “when” (Lev. 14:57), “now” (Deut. 31:21), “a while” (1 Sam. 9:27), “full” (2 Sam. 13:23), “for evermore” (2 Kings 17:37), “long life” (Ps. 91:16), “so long as I live” (Job 27:6), “weather” (Prov. 25:20), and “year” (Ex. 13:10). Yom, obviously, was much more flexible in meaning than is our word “day.” In common Hebrew usage yamin, “days,” was often used for “year” (see Ex. 13:10; Lev. 25:29; Num. 9:22; Joshua 13:1; Judges 11:40; 17:10; 21:19; 1 Sam. 1:3, 21; 2:19; 20:6; 27:7; 2 Sam. 14:26; 1 Kings 1:1; 2 Chron. 21:19; Amos 4:4).

The word yom is a softened form of chom, “heat,” from the root yacham, “to be warm” (see on Gen. 9:2). Each day was said to be composed of “evening,” the dark or “cool” part of the day (Gen. 1:4, 5; 3:8), and “morning,” the light part or “heat” of the day (Gen. 1:4, 5; 18:1). Similarly, a year was composed of the cold of winter and the heat of summer (see Gen. 8:22). Thus, with respect to their temperature cycles, a significant characteristic common to both, the day and year resembled each other. In Gen. 8:22 the various expressions, “seedtime and harvest,” “cold and heat,” “summer and winter,” and “day and night” are used in this parallel sense. The first two couplets are the product, or result, of the last two. In the first two, heat follows cold; in the last two, cold follows heat. Note particularly the strict parallelism of the last two couplets, where the heart and cold of the year parallel the heat and cold of the day.

Here (Num. 14:34) occurs the first use of the words “day” and “year” together in a correlative sense, in a prophetic setting. The spies had spent 40 days searching the land of Canaan and had reported unfavorably on prospects for occupying it. In so doing they demonstrated a lack of faith in God’s promises and in His power to fulfill those promises, yet their report was accepted by the people (see on v. 4). As a result of this decision the nation was sentenced to 40 years of suffering in the wilderness. The 40 literal days thus became prophetic of 40 literal years—one year of remedial wandering about in the desert for each faithless day spent wandering about in the Promised Land. That this is not an isolated instance of the use of the year-day principle in prophecy is evident from Eze. 4:6, where the same principle is again applied. God specifically told Ezekiel, “I have appointed thee each day for a year,” and in so doing confirmed the principle established in Num. 14:34.

My breach. From a verb meaning “to hinder,” “to frustrate,” “to restrain.” It is also translated “disallow” (ch. 30:5, 8, 11); “discourage” (ch. 32:7, 9); and “maketh … of none effect” (Ps. 33:10). They had set themselves in opposition to God and alienated themselves from Him. In order that they might learn to cooperate with God, He ordained that they should experience His opposition, His frustration of their plans.

37. By the plague. Literally, a “stroke.” The same word is used of the ten Egyptian plagues (Ex. 9:14), of the plague following the insurrection of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16:48, 49), and of slaughter by the sword (1 Sam. 4:17; 2 Sam. 17:9; 18:7). The type of “stroke” here visited upon the people is not disclosed.

Before the Lord. That is, the “plague” was a divine judgment.

40. The mountain. That is, “the mountain of the Amorites” (Deut. 1:19, 20), or the hilly country of the Negeb, to the north of Kadesh-barnea (see on Num. 13:17).

Lo, we be here. An acknowledgment that they were ready to do as Caleb and Joshua had pleaded with them to do (chs. 13:30; 14:9).

41. Wherefore now. God had commanded them to retrace their steps (v. 25), not to advance.

42. Not among you. The ark would not accompany them (Num. 14:44; cf. Joshua 6:8, 9), neither would the cloud go before them.

44. They presumed. A glaring case of foolhardy and presumptuous conduct against the will of God.

The ark. The cloud rested over the tabernacle; therefore Moses made no move to leave the camp, and the Levites did not bear the ark before the people (chs. 9:21, 22; 10:33). Apparently, aside from the Levites, all the other tribes set out.

45. Hormah. Meaning, “devoted to destruction.” A city afterward allotted to Judah or Simeon, Hormah is mentioned several times in the Scriptures (Num. 21:3; Judges 1:17; 1 Sam. 30:30). The line of pursuit is given more fully in Deut. 1:44. Its length suggests that the number of wounded and slain was not small.

Ellen G. White comments

1-45PP 389-394; SR 159-163; 4T 149-154; 5T 377-380

1     5T 377

1, 2 4T 149

1-5PP 389; SR 159

2     PP 391; SR 163; 4T 150

2-45T 377

3     4T 150

4     SR 160; 4T 150

5     4T 149, 151; 5T 377

6     4T 149; 5T 377

6-8SR 175

7-9PP 390; SR 160; 4T 149, 151; 5T 377

9     MH 510

10   EW 14; 4T 151; 5T 378

10-12PP 390

11-16SR 161

12   PK 312; 4T 152

13-164T 152

16   5T 378

17-19PK 313; PP 390; SR 162; 4T 152

19   ML 288

20   ML 20, 288

20, 21  PK 313

20-24SR 162

21   ML 288

23, 24  4T 153

24   PP 391; 5T 303, 378, 380

25   SR 162

26-30SR 163

28, 29  PP 391

29   4T 153

29, 30  FE 508; Te 13; 4T 1538

30   Ed 149; FE 505

31   PP 391; SR 163; 4T 153

33   FE 505; SR 163

34   DA 233; Ev 696; GC 324; PK 698; PP 391; SR 163

36, 37  PP 398

37   4T 153

39, 40  PP 392

41-43PP 393

43-454T 154

44, 45  PP 437