Numbers 14 (NET)

The Israelites Respond in Unbelief1

1 Then all the community raised a loud cry,2 and the people wept3 that night. 2 And all the Israelites murmured4 against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died5 in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished6 in this wilderness! 3 Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another,7 “Let’s appoint8 a leader9 and return10 to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground11 before the whole assembled community12 of the Israelites. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments. 7 They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly13 good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey.14 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us.15 Their protection16 has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!”

10 However, the whole community threatened to stone them.17 But18 the glory19 of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent20 of meeting.

The Punishment from God

11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise21 me, and how long will they not believe22 in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence,23 and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”

13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear24 it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them – 14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants25 of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face,26 that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 If you kill27 this entire people at once,28 then the nations that have heard of your fame will say, 16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 So now, let the power of my Lord29 be great, just as you have said, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love,30 forgiving iniquity and transgression,31 but by no means clearing32 the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’33 19 Please forgive34 the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love,35 just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

20 Then the Lord said, “I have forgiven them as you asked.36 21 But truly, as I live,37 all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22 For all the people have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tempted38 me now these ten times,39 and have not obeyed me,40 23 they will by no means41 see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it. 24 Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully – I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants42 will possess it. 25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites were living in the valleys.)43 Tomorrow, turn and journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”

26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long must I bear44 with this evil congregation45 that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,46 says47 the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing.48 29 Your dead bodies49 will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me. 30 You will by no means enter into the land where50 I swore51 to settle52 you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war,53 and they will enjoy54 the land that you have despised. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, 33 and your children will wander55 in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness,56 until your dead bodies lie finished57 in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for58 your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me.59 35 I, the Lord, have said, “I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!”’”

36 The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing60 an evil report about the land, 37 those men who produced the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. 38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among61 the men who went to investigate the land, lived. 39 When Moses told62 these things to all the Israelites, the people mourned63 greatly.

40 And early64 in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country,65 saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded,66 for we have sinned.”67 41 But Moses said, “Why68 are you now transgressing the commandment69 of the Lord? It will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, and you will be70 defeated before your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”

44 But they dared71 to go up to the crest of the hill, although72 neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. 45 So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country swooped73 down and attacked them74 as far as Hormah.75

1sn This chapter forms part of the story already begun. There are three major sections here: dissatisfaction with the reports (vv. 1-10), the threat of divine punishment (vv. 11-38), and the defeat of the Israelites (vv. 39-45). See K. D. Sakenfeld, “The Problem of Divine Forgiveness in Num 14,” CBQ 37 (1975): 317-30; also J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 1-10. 2tn The two verbs “lifted up their voice and cried” form a hendiadys; the idiom of raising the voice means that they cried aloud. 3tn There are a number of things that the verb “to weep” or “wail” can connote. It could reflect joy, grief, lamentation, or repentance, but here it reflects fear, hopelessness, or vexation at the thought of coming all this way and being defeated by the Canaanite armies. See Judg 20:23, 26. 4tn The Hebrew verb “to murmur” is לוּן (lun). It is a strong word, signifying far more than complaining or grumbling, as some of the modern translations have it. The word is most often connected to the wilderness experience. It is paralleled in the literature with the word “to rebel.” The murmuring is like a parliamentary vote of no confidence, for they no longer trusted their leaders and wished to choose a new leader and return. This “return to Egypt” becomes a symbol of their lack of faith in the Lord. 5tn The optative is expressed by לוּ (lu) and then the verb, here the perfect tense מַתְנוּ (matnu) – “O that we had died….” Had they wanted to die in Egypt they should not have cried out to the Lord to deliver them from bondage. Here the people became consumed with the fear and worry of what lay ahead, and in their panic they revealed a lack of trust in God. 6tn Heb “died.” 7tn Heb “a man to his brother.” 8tn The verb is נָתַן (natan, “to give”), but this verb has quite a wide range of meanings in the Bible. Here it must mean “to make,” “to choose,” “to designate” or the like. 9tn The word “head” (רֹאשׁ, ro’sh) probably refers to a tribal chief who was capable to judge and to lead to war (see J. R. Bartlett, “The Use of the Word רֹאשׁ as a Title in the Old Testament,” VT 19 [1969]: 1-10). 10tn The form is a cohortative with a vav (ו) prefixed. After the preceding cohortative this could also be interpreted as a purpose or result clause – in order that we may return. 11sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign Lord. They are not bowing before the people here, but in front of the people they bow before God. According to Num 17:6-15 this prostration is for the purpose of intercessory prayer. Here it prevents immediate wrath from God. 12tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.” 13tn The repetition of the adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od) is used to express this: “very, very [good].” 14tn The subjective genitives “milk and honey” are symbols of the wealth of the land, second only to bread. Milk was a sign of such abundance (Gen 49:12; Isa 7:21,22). Because of the climate the milk would thicken quickly and become curds, eaten with bread or turned into butter. The honey mentioned here is the wild honey (see Deut 32:13; Judg 14:8-9). It signified sweetness, or the finer things of life (Ezek 3:3). 15sn The expression must indicate that they could destroy the enemies as easily as they could eat bread. 16tn Heb “their shade.” The figure compares the shade from the sun with the protection from the enemy. It is also possible that the text is alluding to their deities here. 17tn Heb “said to stone them with stones.” The verb and the object are not from the same root, but the combination nonetheless forms an emphasis equal to the cognate accusative. 18tn The vav (ו) on the noun “glory” indicates a strong contrast, one that interrupts their threatened attack. 19sn The glory of the Lord refers to the reality of the Lord’s presence in a manifestation of his power and splendor. It showed to all that God was a living God. The appearance of the glory indicated blessing for the obedient, but disaster for the disobedient. 20tc The Greek, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in the cloud over the tent.” 21tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste. 22tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said. 23tc The Greek version has “death.” 24tn The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.” 25tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land. 26tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible. 27tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת (mut), וְהֵמַתָּה (vÿhemattah). The vav (ו) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause. 28tn Heb “as one man.” 29tc The form in the text is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay), the word that is usually used in place of the tetragrammaton. It is the plural form with the pronominal suffix, and so must refer to God. 30tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love. 31tn Or “rebellion.” 32tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain. 33sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation. 34tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command. 35tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier. 36tn Heb “forgiven according to your word.” The direct object, “them,” is implied. 37sn This is the oath formula, but in the Pentateuch it occurs here and in v. 28. 38tn The verb נָסָה (nasah) means “to test, to tempt, to prove.” It can be used to indicate things are tried or proven, or for testing in a good sense, or tempting in the bad sense, i.e., putting God to the test. In all uses there is uncertainty or doubt about the outcome. Some uses of the verb are positive: If God tests Abraham in Genesis 22:1, it is because there is uncertainty whether he fears the Lord or not; if people like Gideon put out the fleece and test the Lord, it is done by faith but in order to be certain of the Lord’s presence. But here, when these people put God to the test ten times, it was because they doubted the goodness and ability of God, and this was a major weakness. They had proof to the contrary, but chose to challenge God. 39tn “Ten” is here a round figure, emphasizing the complete testing. But see F. V. Winnett, The Mosaic Tradition, 121-54. 40tn Heb “listened to my voice.” 41tn The word אִם (’im) indicates a negative oath formula: “if” means “they will not.” It is elliptical. In a human oath one would be saying: “The Lord do to me if they see…,” meaning “they will by no means see.” Here God is swearing that they will not see the land. 42tn Heb “seed.” 43sn The judgment on Israel is that they turn back to the desert and not attack the tribes in the land. So a parenthetical clause is inserted to state who was living there. They would surely block the entrance to the land from the south – unless God removed them. And he is not going to do that for Israel. 44tn The figure is aposiopesis, or sudden silence. The main verb is deleted from the line, “how long…this evil community.” The intensity of the emotion is the reason for the ellipsis. 45sn It is worth mentioning in passing that this is one of the Rabbinic proof texts for having at least ten men to form a congregation and have prayer. If God called ten men (the bad spies) a “congregation,” then a congregation must have ten men. But here the word “community/congregation” refers in this context to the people of Israel as a whole, not just to the ten spies. 46sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it. 47tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.” 48tn Heb “in my ears.”sn They had expressed the longing to have died in the wilderness, and not in war. God will now give them that. They would not say to God “your will be done,” so he says to them, “your will be done” (to borrow from C. S. Lewis). 49tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33). 50tn The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.” 51tn The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath. 52tn Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.” 53tn Or “plunder.” 54tn Heb “know.” 55tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land. 56tn Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods. 57tn The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15; Deut 2:15. 58tn Heb “you shall bear.” 59tn The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה (tÿnu’ah) occurs in Job 33:10 (perhaps). The related verb occurs in Num 30:6 HT (30:5 ET) and 32:7 with the sense of “disallow, discourage.” The sense of the expression adopted in this translation comes from the meticulous study of R. Loewe, “Divine Frustration Exegetically Frustrated,” Words and Meanings, 137-58. 60tn The verb is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition from the root יָצָא (yatsa’, “to bring out”). The use of the infinitive here is epexegetical, that is, explaining how they caused the people to murmur. 61tn The Hebrew text uses the preposition “from,” “some of” – “from those men.” The relative pronoun is added to make a smoother reading. 62tn The preterite here is subordinated to the next preterite to form a temporal clause. 63tn The word אָבַל (’aval) is rare, used mostly for mourning over deaths, but it is used here of mourning over bad news (see also Exod 33:4; 1 Sam 15:35; 16:1; etc.). 64tn The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ (vayyashkimu) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.” 65tn The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country. 66tn The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight. 67sn Their sin was unbelief. They could have gone and conquered the area if they had trusted the Lord for their victory. They did not, and so they were condemned to perish in the wilderness. Now, thinking that by going they can undo all that, they plan to go. But this is also disobedience, for the Lord said they would not now take the land, and yet they think they can. Here is their second sin, presumption. 68tn The line literally has, “Why is this [that] you are transgressing….” The demonstrative pronoun is enclitic; it brings the force of “why in the world are you doing this now?” 69tn Heb “mouth.” 70tn This verb could also be subordinated to the preceding: “that you be not smitten.” 71tn N. H. Snaith compares Arabic ’afala (“to swell”) and gafala (“reckless, headstrong”; Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 248). The wordעֹפֶל (’ofel) means a “rounded hill” or a “tumor.” The idea behind the verb may be that of “swelling,” and so “act presumptuously.” 72tn The disjunctive vav (ו) here introduces a circumstantial clause; the most appropriate one here would be the concessive “although.” 73tn Heb “came down.” 74tn The verb used here means “crush by beating,” or “pounded” them. The Greek text used “cut them in pieces.” 75tn The name “Hormah” means “destruction”; it is from the word that means “ban, devote” for either destruction or temple use.