Faithless Gossips (Numbers 14)

Do our congregations murmur against God or godly leadership? Can we expect God to bless us without faith in His word? Let’s look at Number 14.

Did Israel again murmur against Moses? Does gossip affect the atmosphere in our churches?

All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.” (Numbers 14:1-4 WEB)

Of the original twelve scouts, who were the only faithful two?

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembled Israelite community. But Joshua, Nun’s son, and Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, from those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we crossed through to explore is an exceptionally good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he’ll bring us into this land and give it to us. It’s a land that’s full of milk and honey. Only don’t rebel against the Lord and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are our prey. Their defense has deserted them, but the Lord is with us. So don’t be afraid of them.” But the entire community intended to stone them. (Numbers 14:5-10a CEB)

What did God intend to do with these rebellious people?

But just then, the Lord appeared in a cloud at the sacred tent. The Lord said to Moses, “I have done great things for these people, and they still reject me by refusing to believe in my power. So they will no longer be my people. I will destroy them, but I will make you the ancestor of a nation even stronger than theirs.” (Numbers 14:10b-12 CEV)

What did Moses pray on behalf of the nation of Israel?

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” (Numbers 14:13-19 ESV)

How did God respond to Moses’ prayer on behalf of his people? Will God still reward those who follow Him completely like Caleb?

The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it. But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.” (Numbers 14:20-25 HCSB)

Is our church a wicked assembly of complainers? Could that keep us from the eternal promised land?

Then the Lord told Moses and Aaron, “How long will this wicked assembly keep complaining about me? I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelis that they’ve been murmuring against me. So tell them that as long as I live—consider this to be an oracle from the Lord—as certainly as you’ve spoken right into my ears, that’s how I’m going to treat you. Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—every single one of you who has been counted among you, according to your number from years and above, who complained against me. You will certainly never enter the land about which I made an oath with my uplifted hand to settle you in it, except for Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua. However, I’ll bring your little ones—the ones whom you claimed would become war victims—into the land so that they’ll know by experience the land that you’ve rejected. (Numbers 14:26-31 ISV)