Numbers 14:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the harm the evil spies caused by their unfair report. We can suppose that the twelve men chosen to examine Canaan had talked among themselves before they gave their public report. Caleb and Joshua likely did all they could to bring the others to the same view, and if the rest had agreed that Caleb, since he was the spokesman, should speak for them all, things would have gone well. But the evil spies seem to have deliberately stirred up this rebellion, simply to oppose Moses and Aaron, even though they could gain nothing by it, unless they hoped to become leaders in the retreat back to Egypt they were planning.

What happened then? The people they wanted to please were thrown into misery, and by the end of the chapter, they were brought to ruin. First, we see how the people worked themselves into a frenzy. They lifted up their voices and cried (Numbers 14:1). They believed the spies rather than God’s word, and since they thought their situation was hopeless, they gave full control to their passions and lost all self-control. Like foolish, stubborn children, they cried without even knowing clearly what they wanted.

It would have made sense to cry out when the enemy actually attacked and the sons of Anak, the giant descendants of Anak, stood at the gate of their camp. But those who cried when nothing had hurt them yet deserved to have something real to cry about. As if everything were already lost, they spent the night weeping. Unbelief, or distrust of God, is its own punishment. Those who do not trust God keep upsetting themselves. The world has more mourners than God’s people do, and worldly sorrow leads to death.

Second, they turned against their leaders, murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and in doing so they were really speaking against the Lord himself (Numbers 14:2, 14:3). The unrest began with the group of elders (Numbers 14:1), but the trouble quickly spread through the whole camp, because the whole congregation of Israel joined in the complaining. Suspicion and discontent spread fast among crowds that do not think carefully, and such people are quick to despise authority and speak evil of those in high positions.

They looked back with bitter regret for no good reason. They wished they had died in Egypt with the firstborn who were killed there, or in the wilderness with those who had recently died from the plague because they longed for food. See how wild unchecked passion can become. It can make people throw away even life itself, which nature counts most precious. Never had they spent so many months so well as these. Since leaving Egypt, they had been surrounded with honor, blessed with mercy, and given one surprising provision after another. Yet they acted as if all this had not made life worth living, and they wished they had died in Egypt.

They also had such a low view of God’s terrible judgments on their neighbors that they wished they had shared those punishments, rather than risk going into Canaan. They preferred to die as criminals under God’s justice rather than live as conquerors in his favor. Some understand their words as, “If only we had died in Egypt, or in the wilderness. If only we might die.” They wished to die because they were afraid of dying, and they had no sense like the poor lepers who said, “If they kill us, we will only die” (2 Kings 7:4). What weak and shameful spirits these fallen Israelites showed. Rather than face death, if it came to that, like soldiers on the field of honor, with swords in hand, they wanted to die like helpless sheep in the wilderness.

They also looked ahead with hopeless fear, as if it were certain that if they kept going, they would die by the sword. They pretended that their fear came from concern for their wives and children, whom they assumed would become prey for the Canaanites. This is also a wicked insult against God himself, as if he had brought them there on purpose just to have them killed, and to let their wives and children, those innocent ones, be taken as spoil. In effect, they accused the God who is love itself of cruel intent, and the God of truth of deceit, as if all his kind words and all he had done for them so far were only meant to trap them and destroy them. Such bold disrespect! But what will not a tongue say against heaven when it is set on fire by hell?

The devil keeps influence in human hearts by feeding them bad thoughts about God, as if God desired sinners to die and took pleasure in the hardship and suffering of his own servants. Yet God’s thoughts toward us are thoughts of good and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11), whether we understand that or not.

Third, they came at last to this desperate decision: instead of going forward to Canaan, they would go back to Egypt. At first it was only a question, “Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3). But because their minds were already stirred up and ready to welcome anything stubborn and perverse, that question quickly became a settled plan, without any real debate: “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt” (Numbers 14:4). Nehemiah later mourned that in their rebellion they chose a leader to take them back into bondage (Nehemiah 9:17), because they knew Moses would not lead them in that retreat.

This was the greatest folly. Even if they did not dare go forward to Canaan, it would still have been better to stay as they were than to go back to Egypt. What did they lack? What did they have to complain about? They had food, peace, and rest. They were under good leadership, had good company, and had clear signs of God’s presence with them. They already had enough to be content, even in the wilderness, if only they had willing hearts. But where did they want to go to improve things? Egypt. Had they forgotten so quickly the hard slavery they had suffered there? Did they want again to live under harsh taskmasters and make bricks by force?

After all the plagues Egypt had suffered for their sake, could they really expect to be treated better there than before, and not far worse? In less than a year and a half, they had forgotten all the groans of their bondage and all the songs of their rescue. Like brute beasts, they cared only for the present, and their memories, along with the rest of their reason, were swallowed up by their passions. See Psalm 106:7. It was later threatened, as the full measure of their misery, that they would be taken back to Egypt (Deuteronomy 28:68), yet this was exactly what they wanted. Sinners are their own enemies, and those who do not follow God’s ways are choosing their own harm and ruin.

It was a very foolish and absurd idea to talk about going back through the wilderness to Egypt. Could they expect God’s cloud to lead them or his manna to continue with them? If not, then the thousands of Israel would certainly be lost and perish in the desert. Even if conquering Canaan seemed as hard as they thought, going back to Egypt would have been much harder.

From this, we should see the folly of being restless and impatient under the troubles of our outward life. We are uneasy with our present condition, complain about our place and lot in life, and want to change it. But is there any place or condition in this world that does not have something to make us uneasy, if we choose to be that way? The way to improve our condition is to bring our hearts into a better state. Instead of asking, “Would it not be better to go to Egypt?” we should ask, “Would it not be better to be content and make the best of what we have?”

We also see the folly of turning away from God’s ways. Heaven is the Canaan set before us, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of great blessing. Those who speak badly of it still must admit it is truly a good land, though hard to reach. Serious and wholehearted godliness is often seen as impossible, and that keeps many people who started well from going forward. Rather than face the imagined hardships of a godly life, they bring on themselves the sure and deadly results of a sinful life. In this way, they copy the foolishness of Israel, who, when they were just a step from Canaan, wanted a captain and planned to return to Egypt.