ETB Numbers 14:11-24

Session 4: Rebellion and Judgment p.37

Fill in the blank of this question that you have either heard or asked:

“If everybody else ________, would you?”

The question is supposed to help the person look at their decision making from another perspective, but it does not always work. Often “peer pressure” for younger people does not correlate to rational decisions. The two questions in the book are interesting.

Ask: How much does the opinion of others affect your decision-making? How much should it affect it?

I think the answers to these questions emphasize the need to surround ourselves with wise counsel and godly friends. But even when we do, sometimes we still do not make good decisions. If you are reading along with the church calendar and the Historical Plan, then yesterday you read how Rehoboam had both good and bad council about how to treat the people once he became king of Israel. Both wise and foolish advice were heard, but the young king took the council of those “like him” and it led to the split kingdom. This was under God’s direction, but it is another example of leadership decisions affecting the nation.

Understand the Context

When God’s people arrived at Canaan’s southern edge, Moses sent twelve spies into the land to scout it out and to bring back a report (Num. 13:1-20). The men spent forty days exploring the land and returned with their findings (13:21-26). However, they also suggested that the obstacles in the land would be too difficult to overcome (13:27-29). Two scouts, Caleb and Joshua, encouraged the people to conquer the land (13:30), but the others insisted the inhabitants were too strong to overcome (13:31-33).

The entire Israelite community wept when they heard the scouts’ report (14:1). They also complained to Moses and Aaron, suggesting that they all should have stayed in Egypt. They believed their wives and children would become plunder in the wilderness (14:2-3). Some even suggested a return to Egypt (14:4)!

Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, while Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in lament (14:5-9). The land was extremely good; and with God’s help, they could take it! But the people threatened to stone them (14:10). [LifeWay Adults (2025). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide, Fall 2025]

The people had received both wise and ungodly reports and counsel about the Promised Land. Unfortunately, they chose to believe and act upon the one that went against God’s plans and intent for the nation. This sin had generational consequences and nearly delayed entry into the Promised Land for much more than 40 years.

Numbers 14:11–16 ESV

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” 13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, 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. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’

How long?

This question being asked by an eternal being should give us a pause to consider that God’s patience with us is not endless. He does have His limits that He has already set and we can overstep them. Just read Revelation.

The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 14

Let us be warned by this fact that there is a limit to the long-suffering of God, and especially when it is tried by distrust. He may bear with unbelief for a long time, for he remembers that we are dust. But when it comes to willful perseverance in unbelief, the Lord will not forever be thus provoked.

this people despise me

The word despise suggests deep contempt for someone. The word often appears in the Old Testament to describe people spurning or rejecting God. Isaiah denounced Judah for despising God and His Word (Isa. 1:4; 5:24), while Jeremiah decried the lies false prophets (Jer. 23:17).

In a positive sense, this word describes Abraham’s trust that his descendants would outnumber the stars (Gen. 15:6). The Israelites briefly put their trust in God when He parted the Red Sea (Ex. 14:31). However, the challenges of the desert shook their faith (Num. 14:2). [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

Notice how God correlates despising Him with not believing in Him. It really is not that they people did not believe God was not real (they saw His pillar day and night) but their actions and heart responses did not act upon this belief. Some of the conceptual translations help clarify this by translating the phrase as “treat me with contempt?” The people were not just forgetful, they chose not to recall what God had done and acted according to their own desires or distractions.

Sound familiar?

I will bring pestilence and disinherit

Pestilence or disease has the same connotations today as then. God was going to kill them with sickness, which was quite common in the time. But disinheriting someone is not something as common today.

What does disinheriting mean to you? Do you have a personal example?

This inheritance was not something that was gain from a predecessor directly like we may receive when someone in our family dies. This was a promise provision for the people from God.

What were some of the things that God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that would be removed?

God could also remove the blessings that Jacob/Israel pronounced upon each of the tribal heads.

What examples in Scripture come to mind when you think of God “removing His hand” from someone?

Now imagine that same amount of missed blessings on a national scale. This was the threat that God was voicing to Moses.

I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.

Ask: How would you have felt if you were in Moses’s situation as God considered wiping out the people and starting fresh with you?

Only a truly humble man of God could hear this promise and then say “no, don’t do it God.”

Was Moses always this way?

When Moses begins voicing his reasons for it not to be done, does he show any concern or express any sadness over possibly losing the million plus complainers?

What is Moses concern?

When uncomfortable situations arise in your life, are you more concerned about “How God will get glory?” or “How I’m going to resolve this quickly?”

Moses understood his role as an intercessor, and this wasn’t the first time he had taken on that task (see Num. 11:1-2; 12:1-16). While he did not argue about the people deserving punishment, he respectfully began appealing to God’s reputation as a reason for mercy. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

the Egyptians will hear of it

This phrasing reminds us that all of these things happening to the people throughout their journey was not done in complete isolation, but the surrounding peoples and nations were noticing and possibly even discussing it between themselves. The Egyptians had family members in the camp and allies in the surrounding people groups. It may not have been as quick as videos on the internet or a text or phone call but somehow, the news of desolation or deliverance would make it back to the people from which they had been delivered.

they will tell the inhabitants

This phrasing implies a two-way communication between Israel’s old oppressors and their new enemies that were currently occupying the land which they were told would be theirs. This also implies that if news was sent to “assist” them other things like people and weapons could have been shared as well.

because the Lord was not able

This view is still common today. If something does not go as man planned it and asked God to bless it, then it is God’s powerlessness that must be this issue. A faulty view of God and bad logic skills continue today, but that is still a perception that Moses did not want the surrounding nations to even consider.

Ask: What impact does our faithfulness to God have on our witness? Or, Can our faithfulness help dispel the misperception of God’s powerlessness?

Numbers 14:17–19 ESV

17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

let the power of the Lord be great

This is the remedy to the false thinking in the previous verse, something so undeniably supernatural that it cannot be ignored. It may be incorrectly ascribed to natural phenomenon or even other “spiritual beings”, but God’s power cannot be ignored. You can deny that the sun exists all you want during the night. You can even turn your back to it and claim you still do not acknowledge it, but when you look down on the ground - your own shadow will prove there is a sun.

One day all those that have denied that Jesus was God and is the Christ will kneel before Him, and their sin will be revealed, and The Son’s presence will prove true.

The Lord is

Moses’s words echoed part of what God had said about Himself when He passed in front of him on Mount Sinai (Ex. 34:6-7). The message that God is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love resounds throughout the Old Testament. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

Verse 18 quotes several verses from Exodus in describing God.

The first few reveal His merciful nature: Slow to anger, Abounding in love, and Forgiving.

The next few reveal His righteous justice: No mean clear the guilty and visiting iniquity.

He had promised both to remove guilt or to press it upon the people, now Moses is pleading for the mercies to overshadow the just judgements of the people’s sin.

Life Application Bible Notes Chapter 14

Moses pleaded with God, asking him to forgive his people. His plea reveals several characteristics of God: (1) God is immensely patient; (2) God’s love is one promise we can always count on; (3) God forgives again and again; (4) God is merciful, listening to and answering our requests. God has not changed since Moses’ day. Like Moses, we can rely on God’s love, patience, forgiveness, and mercy.

The book on page 42 asks: What are some appropriate ways of appealing to God’s character when praying?

My question is: What other parts of God’s character do you appeal to regularly?

Sin always brings consequences. People who drive under the influence of alcohol can receive God’s forgiveness, but the consequences of an accident remain. Those who accumulate massive debt can experience God’s forgiveness for their poor stewardship, but they may need years to become financially sound again. An unmarried couple can repent for engaging in premarital sex, but they still must navigate an unplanned pregnancy. People who think, “I’ll just go ahead with my sin, but ask forgiveness later” confuse forgiveness with consequences, and they often pay a higher price than they ever imagined. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children

The wording in the ESV and other translations make this sound like a causative action by the Lord, but

“The word refers to someone (usually God) paying attention to persons.” [The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament 2003: 913. Print.]

The CSB in the book renders this phrase as “bringing the consequences” on the fathers. God is reminding the people that sin is contagious and will be noticed by Him for many generations to come if His plans for atonement and repentance are not followed.

Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Numbers 14:17–19

“You visit every generation,” Moses continued, “giving them a chance to repent and change their ways. That’s where Your greatness is.”

Are there any consequences of past sins of those who lived before us being seen today in our country?

Do you think that God has vented His full judgement and wrath upon us for them?

Is there anything that we can do personally to help eliminate this “visiting” upon us?

Please pardon the iniquity of this people

The Hebrew word for pardon (salach) denotes forgiveness or the setting aside of punishment due for sin. It signifies mercy that only comes from God. In that sense, it differs from the word rendered “forgiving” in verse 18 (nasa), which can describe either God forgiving people or people forgiving one another. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

I think this is the prayer we need. Not denying the wrong, but acknowledging the sin and its greatness, but also that God’s greatness, power, and mercy are even bigger. We need Him to “pardon us” and set aside the punishment due to us until that time when His full wrath will be vented on all nations and all the sin of the earth. He forgave the people of Israel several times already in our study of Exodus and the first part of Numbers, and He will do so some more throughout the rest of the Old and New Testament. We still need to ask for this though because God will not forgive unless we confess.

Numbers 14:20–24 ESV

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

I have pardoned, according to your word

According to whose word?

Moses was quoting Scripture and was being inspired by the Spirit to say and write what he did.

I like some of the other English translations that read like “I have forgiven, as you have asked.” This gives Moses the credit for the prayers being offered, but not the words and thoughts being formed by a human.

none of the men who have seen my glory… will enter the land

I think this is the moment the Moses knew he was not going to be entering the Promised Land. Although I am not sure if he ever really expected to. Although it would take 40 years, these were those consequences of sin that would affect the next generation. Because of this rebellion, all the young people would be forced to grow up quickly and take over family leadership, some before the week was over.

If God did follow through on his initial threat against “all the people”, what happens to the promise God made about, “all people being blessed” through Abraham’s seed? Or “crushing the head and bruising the heel” promised to Adam and Eve. Or the blessing of Jacob upon his sons and that, “Genesis 49:10 (ESV)

10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

The same promise of “visiting iniquity” upon three and four generations, included a blessing for a thousand generation for the righteous. God would not punish 2 families because of all the sins of the rest.

But my servant Caleb… has a different spirit.

This spirit of righteousness is also contagious and generational for it protected his tribe and our Savior.

1 Corinthians 2:12 “12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

While others saw only obstacles, Caleb trusted God’s promise and power. He had obeyed God fully, a quality also emphasized when he actually entered the promised land in the book of Joshua (Josh. 14:8,14). [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 14

Caleb, the faithful scout from the tribe of Judah, would join Hoshea (Joshua) of Ephraim as one of only two exceptions to God’s judgment against the ten scouts who had issued the majority report (v. 30)

Even if God had followed through with His declaration to start over, Caleb and Joshua would have still been spared so that the line of Judah, and eventually Jesus would be preserved.

The very lands that he had seen and declared that “it” could be conquered where the lands that would become Jesus’ hometown.

We can continue to accept Caleb’s “good report” even today. It may not be about physical location or literal enemies to be conquered, but there are battles of the mind and spirit to be won through the power of God and His enabling every day.

There is deep philosophical and theological question in the book, I think on page 44 right before the “Bible Skill” section.

Ask: Since God is willing to grant forgiveness for our sin, why do you think He does not remove the consequences as well?

Apply the Text

Bow the knee Trust the heart of your Father When the answer goes beyond what you can see Bow the knee Lift your eyes toward heaven And believe the One who holds eternity And when you don't understand The purpose of His plan In the presence of the King Bow the knee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVEr4GNz70U

Pray: God to help us to recognize Your glory in the world and to act faithfully in honoring You each day. Guide us in how we may show You honor throughout our daily activities by living out our trust of You and Your will before those around us. God we are so thankful that we can rely on You to act according to Your perfect character in every situation. Help us to see that when it does not align with our desires or perceptions. Lord, we know that sin has consequences not only for us but maybe even for our families for generations to come. Help us to repent quickly and accept Your forgiveness to minimize these lasting effects and point others to Your righteous and merciful ways.