Commentaries:
No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Numbers 14:5.
Numbers 14:1-11
Excerpted from: Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 7)Numbers 14:1-11 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. [Boy, they were really feeling this.] And the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!" Or "Would God we had died in this wilderness!" And "Wherefore has the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Where it not better for us to return into Egypt?" And they said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spoke unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed thorough to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with mild and honey. Only rebel not you against the LORD, neither fear you the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not." But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, "How long will this people provoke Me? And how long will it be before they believe Me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?"
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?"
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