Day 47, Numbers 14-15

Since the spies lied about the land they explored, the congregation wept. The frightening words of the faithless spies led to mourning by the entire community, which led to the people rebelling against the Lord. They forgot all the miracles the Lord had done for them, they despised his mercies, and they spurned his might. In their ingratitude, they preferred death.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. This manifestation of God must have been staggering in its sudden and intense display of his majesty and wrath.

“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? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

-Numbers 14:11-12

But of course, Moses steps in and sticks up for the people of Israel like he always does. He reminded God that if he did what he had said, then the Egyptians would hear about it and say it was because the Lord was not able to bring the people into the land he had promised them. So instead of killing them all for being disobedient little shits, it would get turned around into God being unable to hold up his end of the deal. Wow!

So Moses played God yet again and calmed him down, but was really just trying to protect his reputation. Then, he moved from the Lord’s reputation to his character, presenting a quotation of his own words of loyal love for and faithful discipline of his people.

“And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘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.’ 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.

-Numbers 14:17-19

God had pardoned them according to the words Moses spoke to him, but assured him that none of the men who continued to test him and not believe would see the land he had promised their fathers. He would bring Caleb into the land because he had a different spirit and had followed him fully, and his descendants would possess it.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron telling them that the people had grumbled against him long enough! Their dead bodies would fall in the wilderness as they would not go into the land promised to them. All the people 20 years and older, who were counted in the census, were to die in the desert. Caleb and Joshua were the only exceptions, and only their children would survive.

The number of years was equivalent for the number of days the spies were out exploring. 40 days would equal 40 years.

When Moses told the people these words, the people mourned greatly. They decided they would still go to the land, and they got up the next morning and went up to the heights of the hill country. Moses reminded them that the Lord would not go with them and that they wouldn’t be protected; and they would be struck down by their enemies. They went anyway, without the ark of the covenant of the Lord or Moses. The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country pursued and defeated them.

Then, for whatever reason it started talking about and explaining laws about sacrifices and unintentional sins. Why? Why are we repeating these things? In order to help my sanity, I am just linking the post where I already explained in detail all the different offerings. https://liveandlearnjourney.com/day-32-leviticus-1-4/

The only thing somewhat different today, is that now they are to offer wine with the offerings.

Then it told a story about a man who had broken the rule of the Sabbath. He had been out gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, and when he was caught, he was taken to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him into custody while they figured out what to do with him. The Lord told Moses that the man would be put to death. So, they took him outside of the camp, and the entire congregation stoned him to death.

This is actually very disturbing to think about. Could you imagine that death? That would be horrific and awful to experience or even observe, let alone participate in!

Lastly, the Lord told Moses that all the people of Israel would need to make tassels to put on the corner of their clothes. There would be a cord of blue on the tassel, and they would look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and to do them.

As they would walk along, the tassels hanging on the garments would swirl around, serving as a memory prod to obey God’s commandments.

I guess God was really trying everything at this point, because those people damn near refused to listen to him and follow his rules, laws, and commandments. If they already weren’t behaving, I doubt some little tassels was going to do the trick, but I guess there was no harm in trying…