Numbers 14 - Mob Rule

Slavish mobs will always pull you towards fear. Faithfully stand strong in the LORD.

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... Explorers were sent ahead to scope out the Promised Land. They return with an impressive display of the land's bounty, but also terrifying tales of the "fortified cities and men of great size" the Israelites would need to overcome.

Numbers 14 (NIV)

14 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

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Moses then pleads with the LORD to spare Israel for the sake of His great name, asking Him to display His power through covenant mercy rather than destroy the people and give the nations cause to doubt His glory.

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²⁰ The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, ²² not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their fathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

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²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: ²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 124

Q. What does the third request of the Lord's Prayer mean?

A. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” means,

Help us and all people

to reject our own wills

and to obey your will without any back talk.

Your will alone is good.

Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to,

as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven.

Summary

At this point, it's been thirteen months since the final plague struck down all of the first born in Egypt. The opening verses of today's passage mark the fifth time now in this very short span that the Israelites have raised their voices, grumbling against Moses and Aaron and blaming the LORD for bringing them to this land only to let them die.

They'd witnessed the most powerful army on earth flounder as the Red Sea collapsed upon them, seen the power of the LORD's glory in their midst, heard His voice thunder down from Sinai and tasted water that sprang up out of rock and manna that fell from heaven at God's command, but they conclude that this God that's brought them this far can't overcome some men of great size. It was somewhat understandable that the people feared the Canaanites, but inexcusable that they wouldn't trust the LORD.

Moses is out of words at this point. All he and his brother Aaron could do was to fall facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly. Prayer, in the most humble posture possible, was their only recourse. The job of trying to talk sense to the mob then fell to the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb. They remind the people that the Canaanites' protection is gone. The Egyptian army had provided security for these outlying areas, but God had already sunk them. Much more importantly, they remind Israel that the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.

But, as one commentator puts it, "a key aspect of evil men is their intense self-pity." Joshua and Caleb's words fall on ears attached to brainwashed dolts that were already gathering stones to execute God's faithful leaders and looking for a new leader to bring them back to Egypt.

  Dig Deeper  

Once again we have ugly proof that God's patience is not unlimited. As His glory appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites (what a sight that must have been!), He tells Moses He's done. After all the signs He'd performed among them, they refuse to believe. God would strike them down with a plague and then raise Moses into a nation greater and stronger than they.

But Moses appeals to God's honor and reputation amongst the nations, who would conclude that the LORD was unable to deliver. He repeats back to the LORD what the LORD had told him, that He's slow to anger, abounding in love, and forgives sin and rebellion.

The LORD hears Moses' prayer and forgives them, as Moses asked. But He also answers the unholy prayers of the people and gives them exactly what they asked for. He wouldn't lead them against the Canaanite men of great size. Rather, He'd lead them back out into the wilderness where their bodies would fall - every one of them over the age of twenty, with the exception of faithful Joshua and Caleb.

The security this world offers will almost always seem more appealing than the darkest valley the LORD calls you to walk through with Him at your side. But this world's security comes at a steep price: slavery to it. Like Joshua and Caleb, faithfully follow where the LORD leads, knowing that your Savior has already conquered sin and death, so that you need not fear any evil.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you can break free of the slavish mob pulling you into a life of fear so that you can be faithful like Joshua and Caleb;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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