Numbers 14:9-10

Joshua and Caleb were here trying to turn their attention to the right things, to turn their assumptions on their head.

"These guys are saying good things. We've got to stone them because we want to feel bad. We want to complain, because it didn't work out exactly like we thought it would."

It is getting pretty bad. God was just about ready to wipe them off the face of the earth. And He would have, except Moses interceded for the people; so He did not kill them.

Their murmuring was rebellion, and the penalty was that they were going to fulfill their own prophecy. They were going to die in the wilderness. And their bones were strewn from one end of it to the other for forty years, because they complained.

Is it not true that even the most uncomplaining among us will complain, at times, about leadership? That is really what the crux of the situation was here. They were not happy with the way God was leading them through Moses and Aaron. It says that very clearly in verse 2. They were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. And if you murmur against His servants, you are murmuring against God! If those servants are generally the righteous kind, they generally do what is good. They generally follow God's commands. And they are trying their best to lead the people in a way that would please God. Then God takes it personally when a servant is attacked.

I think many of us think that we can lead better than our leader. And, you know what, that might be true, because sometimes God picks for leaders those who are not the best suited for it. They have to develop their leadership abilities over time. And they too have things to overcome. Sometimes they slip. But if they are chosen of God, you have to think of Romans 8:28—All things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are the called.

If we believe in God's sovereignty, we have to understand that—if God chose that leader—it was for a reason. And we have to make sure that we learn how to submit and follow that leader without complaining. We do not have to agree, all the time. But we do have to learn to submit without complaining.

Like I said, in this particular case the people murmured at Moses and Aaron, who were generally righteous men. Both of them sinned publicly a time or so. Aaron grievously sinned there at the foot of Mt. Sinai. He allowed the people to talk him into building a golden calf. Blatant idolatry! Aaron was specifically responsible for that. But, you know what? God still honored him as high priest. Could you imagine that?

Could you imagine someone of the stature of, let us say, Herbert Armstrong—leading a Lutheran service? And then God honoring him and still working through him as the leader of His true church? It is hard to imagine, is it not? That never happened, of course. But the point is that, the way God looks at it, there should not have been any complaints. God was working with that man and He would straighten him out. And He did!

You know what? Later on, Aaron himself rebelled against Moses—with Miriam, their sister. And it was for that second time that God told him that he would not enter the Promised Land. And then Moses himself rebelled when he struck the rock. In front of all Israel, he sinned—disobeyed God. He got angry and struck the rock, when God told him just to speak to it. And for that, he was not allowed to enter the Land. He was given the same punishment as the rest of the children of Israel, yet he would die there in the wilderness. But God still honored him as His chosen servant and continued to use him to lead the children of Israel. What a lesson!

Think of the heinous crimes of David—sins (not just crimes) such as adultery in the sight of all Israel. Murder of a righteous man, Uriah—a man who would not even go home but slept at David's doorway until he was needed. Quite a man! And then to publicly kill him, which is basically what David did. "Joab, put … . . .

Numbers 14:5-9

Here is the other side of the story. Caleb and Joshua were not offering an easy solution. As you can see, it was an uphill battle for them because the overwhelming majority was afraid. Were they afraid to just walk in and take over? They were afraid of warfare. They were afraid of the fight that they knew was going to occur.

The next time you read through this, I want you to pay attention to the sense of the terminology. "It is a good land, but..." "Yeah, but..." And, as things continued, the people became increasingly fearful, and the spies—even Joshua and Caleb—expected that there would be confrontation. The whole group—all twelve of them, even the "good report" guys, Joshua and Caleb—most certainly did not understand God's promises in Exodus 23 literally as some carelessly do. They knew that even though God gave those promises, they were going to have to go to war against the people of the land.

The underlying problem was that they did not trust that this warfare would be a cooperative effort. They, in effect, said, "God cannot do it." That was rebellion. That is why Joshua said, "Only rebel you not." They were calling God a liar. They did not trust God—that He would be with them, cooperating with them, fighting on their side against the common enemy—the people of the land—making it easier than it otherwise would have been. But nonetheless, warfare was there, and God would have been with them.

Numbers 14:1-11

It would seem as though Israel had every evidence that God was with them, and that He was clearly powerful enough for them to trust Him. But that evidence—what He did to the Egyptians; the dividing of the Red Sea; His providing two million people plus with manna every day, with water as was needed, and even quails for them, clothing that did not wear out; and He even provided them with shade during the heat of the day—was not enough.

And their faith evaporated when fears (for their own safety, for the preservation of their flesh, and the satisfying of their appetites) overrode the trust of almost everyone. Their fear overcame whatever level of faith they had, and it motivated rebellion. It led directly to the death of everyone over twenty, except for Joshua and Caleb. Do you get the point?

Fear kills! That is its ultimate fruit.

This illustration here in Numbers 13 and 14 is clear evidence that these people were walking by sight. What they saw were giants, and it intimidated them—as if God was not bigger, greater, more powerful, smarter than giants. So God has to ask, "How long is it going to be before they believe Me?" It is like He says, "What can I do that might give them more faith?"

Numbers 14:9

I introduced this verse because it is obvious that the fear that appears in verse 9 appears to be different from the fear of the Lord. But it is not. It is an element of the fear of the Lord. Here the fear of the Lord has to be with being afraid of, in the sense of being in terror of. Let me tell you right now, it is exactly the same word as used in Deuteronomy about fearing God. But here the application leads to another aspect of fear, and that is one of terror, literally being afraid because we want to save our skin.

So what this does is broaden our understanding of the fear of God. The fear of God is not only a deep and reverential awe—a wonder of His magnificence, and His power—it is also tinged with being afraid of Him.

Numbers 14:7-9

The word fear here is exactly the same word that is used back there in Deuteronomy 6 and many, many other places. Do you see what they did is that they feared the wrong people, the wrong things. So, look at what happened when they feared the wrong party. Or, let me just inject those other words. They respected the wrong party. Or, they were in awe of the wrong party. (They were awfully tall.) Or, they were in terror of those giants who were within the Land. It caused them to submit to the men who gave the bad report and, ultimately to the Canaanites, by their refusal to go in and take the Land.

Numbers 14:6-9

I find it interesting this one sentence here: "They are our bread." It means we can eat them up. They do not have a chance. It is already done. But regardless, there was no faith. There was no vision. And as a result, as we are read in chapter 14, verse 9, that God passed judgment on them. And that all those over the age of 20 would not enter the land. They all died on the way because they lacked vision. Only Joshua and Caleb actually entered the Promised Land. Moses died just before going into the land.

Numbers 14:9

This is God's response. I want to read verse 9 because this is Joshua's warning to them.

That's a ringing endorsement for God's sovereignty and His power. Their reaction: