Numbers 14 - Prayer Tents

The People Rebel

14Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.H5712H5375H6963H5414H5971H1058H39152Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. "If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!" they complained.H1121H3478H3885H4872H175H5712H559H3863H4191H776H4714H3863H4191H40573"Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"H3068H935H776H5307H2719H802H2945H957H2896H7725H47144Then they plotted among themselves, "Let's choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!"H559H376H251H5414H7218H7725H47145Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel.H4872H175H5307H6440H6440H6951H5712H1121H34786Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing.H3091H1121H5126H3612H1121H3312H8446H776H7167H8997They said to all the people of Israel, "The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land!H559H5712H1121H3478H559H776H5674H8446H3966H3966H2896H7768And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey.H3068H2654H935H776H5414H776H2100H2461H17069Do not rebel against the LORD, and don't be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"H4775H3068H3372H5971H776H3899H6738H5493H3068H337210But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle

.H5712H559H7275H68H3519H3068H7200H168H4150H1121H347811And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?H3068H559H4872H5971H5006H3808H539H226H6213H713012I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!"H5221H1698H3423H6213H1419H1471H6099

Moses Intercedes for the People

13But Moses objected. "What will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?" he asked the LORD. "They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people from Egypt.H4872H559H3068H4714H8085H5927H5971H3581H713014Now if you destroy them, the Egyptians will send a report to the inhabitants of this land, who have already heard that you live among your people. They know, LORD, that you have appeared to your people face to face and that your pillar of cloud hovers over them. They know that you go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.H559H3427H776H8085H3068H7130H5971H3068H7200H5869H5869H6051H5975H1980H6440H3119H5982H6051H5982H784H391515Now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will say,H4191H5971H259H376H1471H8085H8088H559H55916'The LORD was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.'H3068H1115H3201H935H5971H776H7650H7819H405717"Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed. For you said,H3581H136H1431H834H1696H55918'The LORD is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.'H3068H750H639H7227H2617H5375H5771H6588H5352H5352H6485H5771H1H1121H8029H725619In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt."H5545H5771H5971H1433H2617H5375H5971H4714H200820Then the LORD said, "I will pardon them as you have requested.H3068H559H5545H169721But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD's glory,H199H2416H776H4390H3519H306822not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice.H582H7200H3519H226H6213H4714H4057H5254H853H6235H6471H8085H696323They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.H518H7200H776H7650H1H5006H720024But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.H5650H3612H6118H312H7307H310H4390H935H776H935H2233H342325Now turn around, and don't go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea

."H6003H3669H3427H6010H4279H6437H5265H4057H1870H5488H3220

The Lord Punishes the Israelites

26Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,H3068H1696H4872H175H55927"How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me.H7451H5712H3885H8085H8519H1121H3478H388528Now tell them this: 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.H559H3808H2416H5002H3068H1696H241H621329You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die.H6297H5307H4057H6485H4557H6242H8141H1121H4605H388530You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.H518H935H776H3027H5375H7931H3612H1121H3312H3091H1121H512631"'You said your children would be carried off as plunder. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised.H2945H559H957H935H3045H776H398832But as for you, you will drop dead in this wilderness.H6297H5307H405733And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.H1121H7462H4057H705H8141H5375H2184H6297H8552H405734"'Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy.'H4557H3117H8446H776H705H3117H3117H8141H3117H8141H5375H5771H705H8141H3045H856935I, the LORD, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!"H3068H1696H518H3808H6213H2063H7451H5712H3259H4057H8552H419136The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the LORD with their bad report—H582H4872H7971H8446H776H7725H5712H3885H3885H3318H1681H77637were struck dead with a plague before the LORD.H582H582H3318H7451H1681H776H4191H4046H6440H306838Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive.H3091H1121H5126H3612H1121H3312H1992H582H1980H8446H776H242139When Moses reported the LORD's words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.H4872H1696H1697H1121H3478H5971H56H396640Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. "Let's go," they said. "We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us."H7925H1242H5927H7218H2022H559H2009H5927H4725H3068H559H239841But Moses said, "Why are you now disobeying the LORD's orders to return to the wilderness? It won't work.H4872H559H5674H6310H3068H674342Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the LORD is not with you.H5927H3068H7130H5062H6440H34143When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The LORD will abandon you because you have abandoned the LORD."H6003H3669H6440H5307H2719H7725H310H3068H306844But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the LORD's Covenant left the camp.H6075H5927H2022H7218H727H1285H3068H4872H4185H7130H426445Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.H6003H3381H3669H3427H2022H5221H3807H2767