And
the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: “How long shall this
wicked1
congregation complain against me?2
I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain
against me. Say to them, ‘As I live’, says the Lord, ‘I will do
to you the very things I heard you say:your dead bodies shall fall in
this very wilderness;3
and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old
and upwards, who have complained against me, not one of you shall
come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son
of Jephunneh and Joshua4
son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become booty, I
will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.5
But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And
your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years,
and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead
bodies lies in the wilderness.6
According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land,
forty days, for every day a year,7
you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my
displeasure.’ I the Lord have spoken; surely I will do thus8
to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this
wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall
die.”
And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land— the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the Lord.9 But Joshua son of Nun10 and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.
And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land— the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the Lord.9 But Joshua son of Nun10 and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.
1
“Wicked” is quite a strong word
2
God's primary issue si that the Israelites complain, despite God's
care for them.
3
As punishment, God will do the exact thing they were afraid would
happen.
4
Joshua is present again.
5
The children will not have the sins of their parents visited fully
upon them.
6
However, the children do suffer for what their parents have done.
7
That makes the punishment seem far out of proportion to the crime.
8
That God will surely do what he has said contrasts the Israelites,
who do not always do what is said.
9
For the sake of fairness, the punishment against them is even worse.
10
Joshua reappears
Take-home: Those who did not trust in the Lord are punished for their complaints and lack of faith.
Take-home: Those who did not trust in the Lord are punished for their complaints and lack of faith.
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