Israel Fails God Again (MP 51)

Despite Israel’s repeated wayward flings,
God gave in to Moses’ beseeching pleas,
Reducing His threatened punishing stings
By inflicting much lighter penalties!
He led them on to Canaan’s golden strand;
They camped outside, and ten were sent to spy;
Eight reported the people in the land
Were giants, too strong for Israel to try!
The Israelites accepted their account,
Grumbling, why God had brought them here to die,
As if He could not Canaanites surmount,
Though Moses assured them God would supply!
The whole tribe, God said again, He would destroy;
Moses pled Him a lesser fate employ!

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SPECIAL NOTICE: Beginning MARCH 9, I will start a new series in God’s Master Plan for the world---PROHECIES OF THE COMING MESSIAH! With Israel settled in Canaan, God revealed 340 forecasts of the future life of JESUS OF NAZARETH to them, every one of which was fulfilled! You will not want to miss any of these amazing prophecies and proofs of their fulillment! WILLIAM J.B. CRITTENDEN
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Scripture Quoted: Excerpts from Numbers 14:26-39 (NIV)
“… ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more… Not one of you will enter this land … except Caleb … and Joshua … For forty years … you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you …’ So the men Moses had sent to explore the land … those men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died in a plague before the Lord … only Joshua … and Caleb … survived.”

Commentary on: Numbers 10:11-14:45 (NIV)
God kept Israel in camp at Sinai about ten months, and He gave them a system of priests and religious laws, plus He organized the twelve tribes with social laws and a network of judges within the tribes to assist Moses in administering the new nation. Moses was given the total leadership as the chief priest as well as chief ruler. God organized their camp into assigned places for every tribe, civil and religious functions. The Sabbath day was a day of rest; no one was allowed to work. The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was their guide; when it left the new tabernacle, they broke camp and moved on in a specified order; when the pillar stopped, they camped. Moses’ function was a shadow of that which is prophesied for Jesus Christ—Christ is to combine His leadership of the Kingdom of God as both King and High Priest, and He is to reign forever.

But the Israelites were a contentious people. They grew tired of eating the same food—manna and quail—and grumbled about not having the delicious fish and vegetables they had enjoyed in Egypt. They complained to Moses, until He asked God what he was to do; God’s response was to rain more quail upon the camp to a height of three feet deep. The Israelites had to eat it all for a month. Even His own siblings, Aaron and Miriam, spoke against Moses; God punished them by giving them leprosy; Miriam had to be confined outside the camp for seven days to become clean again, after Moses prayed to God to forgive them.

When they came near to Canaan, the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob over 500 years before, they camped outside the border and sent 10 men into the land to explore its fertility, military strength and other information. After all the seemingly impossible things God had already done to get them to this point, you would think they would just go right in fearlessly, depending upon His omnipotence to give them victory; but no, they had to evaluate the situation for themselves, evidently depending upon their human strength, rather than depending upon the Lord. Of course, God cannot help but be offended when His followers depend solely on their own power rather than counting on Him to assist. The spies were gone 40 days; they brought back samples of the grapes and produce of the land, saying it was truly a land “flowing with milk and honey”. But eight of them reported falsely that the people were giants, much too strong for them to defeat in battle. Caleb and Joshua, the other two spies, disagreed, advising that Israel should immediately go in and take the land. The people, of course, believed the eight, and wailed that God had brought them out of Egypt into the desert to die, though Moses fell on his face before them, pleading for immediate invasion. God became so angry with Israel, that He struck down the eight false spies; then He turned the nation back, giving them 40 more years of wandering in the desert. All adults above 20 years of age, except Joshua and Caleb, would die; only the younger Israelites would go into Canaan. Of course, the wishy-washy Israelites repented and mounted an attack on their own without God, and got defeated with thousands of casualties.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)