Numbers 14:5 - Meaning and Application

The friends of Israel stepped in here to keep the people from ruining themselves, but it did not help. The best warning had been given, but they would not listen. Like a sick person who refuses medicine, and a people who ignore their watchmen, they would not be healed or warned, so the blame lay on their own heads.

Moses and Aaron did their part, even though the people were grumbling against them (Numbers 14:2). They set aside the insult and showed themselves to be faithful friends to people who were acting like enemies. Because the crowd was so loud, they could not easily be heard, so they fell on their faces before the people. This showed their humble prayer to God, their deep grief, and their urgent appeal to the people to stop rebelling. They were pleading with them, as though God himself were pleading through them, to be reconciled, meaning brought back into peace, with God.

Moses and Aaron were not too proud to lower themselves for the people’s good. Those who truly care about precious souls will do whatever they can to help save them. Moses later repeats what he said here: “Do not be afraid; the Lord your God will fight for you” (Deuteronomy 1:29-30).

Caleb and Joshua also did their part. They tore their clothes in holy grief, both because of the people’s sin and because of God’s coming judgment. It grieved them all the more because the trouble had been stirred up by the other spies, who had been sent with them. So they spoke clearly and strongly, trying to calm the people and turn them back.

They first said that the land was truly good, “very, very good” (Numbers 14:7). It was worth going after, and it was nothing like the bad report had made it seem. If people were really convinced of the value of religion and obedience to God, they would not make such a fuss over the work it requires.

Then they made light of the dangers. “Do not fear the people of the land” (Numbers 14:9). The enemies seemed fierce, but they were not as strong as they looked. “They are bread for us,” meaning they would be easy to defeat and would become, as it were, food for Israel. As Pharaoh was once given as food to Israel (Psalm 74:14), so the Canaanites would be too.

The spies also showed that the real issue was not the strength of the Canaanites, but the favor of God. The Canaanites lived in walled cities, but their protection had left them. Common providence, the ordinary care by which God protects nations, had been withdrawn from them. No people are safe when they have pushed God away. Israel, though living in tents, were actually protected, because “the Lord is with us,” and his name is a strong tower. As long as God is with his people, they need not fear even the strongest enemy.

They made the matter plain: Israel’s danger came from their own distrust and discontent. If the Lord delighted in them, he would bring them into the good land (Numbers 14:8). They would surely receive it by his favor and the light of his countenance, his smile and approval (Psalm 44:3), if only they did not throw away that favor by their own folly. In the end, everything came down to this: “Only do not rebel against the Lord” (Numbers 14:9). Nothing can destroy sinners except their own rebellion. No one is kept out of the heavenly Canaan, the promised rest of God’s people, except those who shut themselves out.

Could anything have been said more clearly? Could they have been urged more earnestly? Yet it was useless. The whole crowd turned against them and wanted to stone them (Numbers 14:10). The leaders, and the great men among them, pushed the common people to attack these faithful men. It is a sad thing when leaders guide people into sin. Those who are fixed on doing evil often grow angry at the very people who give them good advice. They hate reform, and they hate those who try to reform them, because those messengers tell them the truth.

So Israel began early to mistreat the prophets and stone those sent to them, and this helped fill up the measure of their sin (Matthew 23:37). “Stone them with stones” was their cry, though no crime could be found against Caleb and Joshua. The truth itself was tormenting stubborn unbelief (Revelation 11:10). Caleb and Joshua had just said, “The Lord is with us; do not fear them” (Numbers 14:9). If Israel would not use those words to calm themselves, the two men could use them to strengthen their own hearts against the angry crowd, as David did in a similar crisis (1 Samuel 30:6). Those who cannot persuade others with wise counsel should at least strengthen their own souls.

Caleb and Joshua knew they stood for God and for his glory, so they were sure God would stand for them and protect them. They were not disappointed. Right away, the glory of the Lord appeared, striking fear and confusion into those who were ready to stone the servants of God.

When the people spoke against God in Numbers 14:3, his glory did appear, but it did not at once silence their blasphemies. Yet when they turned against Caleb and Joshua, they had touched the apple of his eye, and his glory appeared at once. This shows that those who faithfully put themselves at risk for God are sure to come under his special protection. They will be hidden from the anger of people, either here under heaven or in heaven itself.