Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Numbers
Chapter 14: The Rebellion and the Forty Years
This is the great tragedy of the wilderness. Believing the evil report, Israel weeps through the night, murmurs against Moses, and resolves to choose a new captain and go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb plead with them to trust God, and are nearly stoned for it. Moses stands in the breach and pleads God's mercy, and God pardons, yet the unbelieving generation is sentenced to wander and die in the wilderness. It is a sobering chapter about the cost of unbelief and the intercession that turns away wrath.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Numbers chapter 14. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter records Israel's rebellion at Kadesh, Moses' great intercession, and the sentence of forty years in the wilderness. It teaches the tragedy of unbelief, the power of standing in the breach, and the warning not to come short of the promised rest. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Back to Egypt
Believing the evil report, Israel wept, murmured, and resolved to choose a captain and return to slavery.
The LORD Is with Us
Joshua and Caleb pleaded, "fear them not," and were nearly stoned for their faith.
Moses in the Breach
Moses pleaded God's name and His great mercy, and God pardoned the people according to his word.
Forty Years
The unbelieving generation would wander and die in the wilderness, a year for each day the spies had searched.
Let Us Return to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-10)
Believing the evil report, Israel wept and murmured, resolving to go back to Egypt, while Joshua and Caleb pleaded with them to trust the God who was with them.
The LORD Is with Us
"And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all 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 hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were 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 spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through 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 floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence 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 ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."
Hebrew Study
The rebellion's cry reveals the heart's true direction: "would God we had died in... Egypt... let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Unbelief always pulls backward, romanticizing the very bondage God broke. Against the tide stand Joshua and Caleb, rending their clothes: "the LORD is with us; fear them not." The same land, the same giants — but faith sees the LORD who is with them, while unbelief sees only walls and longs for the chains it left behind.
Explanation
The evil report did its work. "All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night," and murmured against Moses and Aaron: "would God that we had died in the land of Egypt!" They accused God of bringing them out "to fall by the sword," and resolved, "let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." They would trade the Promised Land for the house of bondage. Joshua and Caleb "rent their clothes" in grief and pleaded: "the land... is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land." Their appeal was pure faith: "rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us... and the LORD is with us: fear them not." The giants that terrified the ten were, to faith, only "bread," food to be consumed. But the congregation answered faith with stones: they "bade stone them," until "the glory of the LORD appeared."
Gospel Focus
The heart of Israel's sin was a longing to go back. Rather than press forward into God's promise, they wanted to return to the very bondage from which He had redeemed them. This is a peril for every believer. Jesus warned, "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). The road forward has giants, but the road back leads only to slavery. And Caleb's words hold a secret of faith: the giants are "bread for us." What terrifies unbelief can become nourishment to faith; the very obstacles that would devour us, when faced with God, become the food that strengthens us. The difference, again, is "the LORD is with us." With God in the picture, the enemy's "defence is departed from them," and there is no reason to fear. Do not look back to Egypt when the way is hard. The giants ahead are bread; the LORD is with you; press on into the promise.
Moses in the Breach (Numbers 14:11-25)
When God threatened to disinherit the people, Moses pleaded His name and His revealed mercy, and God pardoned them according to his word.
Pardon, According to Thy Mercy
"Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness."
Hebrew Study
"longsuffering," erek appayim (אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם). Moses prays back to God His own self-revelation from Sinai: "the LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy." Erek appayim means "long of nose," slow to anger. The picture is of a wrath that takes a long road before it arrives, and it is that very patience Moses lays hold of as his plea.
"mercy," chesed (חֶסֶד). Chesed is God's steadfast covenant love, the loyal kindness He has bound Himself to show His people. Moses did not appeal to Israel's worth but to God's own character, pleading the mercy God had declared about Himself.
Explanation
God's patience reaches a limit: "how long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me?" He offers to disinherit them and make of Moses "a greater nation." But Moses refuses the offer and instead intercedes. He pleads two things: God's reputation among the nations, "then the Egyptians shall hear it," and God's revealed character, quoting back His words at Sinai, "the LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression." Then the great plea: "pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy." God answers, "I have pardoned according to thy word." Yet pardon did not erase all consequence. Those who had "tempted me now these ten times" would "not see the land." Only Caleb, who "had another spirit... and hath followed me fully," and Joshua, would enter. And God declared, "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD," His purpose undefeated by human sin.
Gospel Focus
Moses standing in the breach is one of the clearest pictures of intercession in Scripture. The Psalmist marveled that God "would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath" (Psalm 106:23). And note the greatness of Moses' heart: offered a nation of his own, he refused personal advancement and pleaded for the people who had just tried to stone his friends. This selfless intercession points to Jesus, our great Intercessor, who "ever liveth to make intercession" for us (Hebrews 7:25) and stands in the breach we could never fill. Moses also teaches us how to pray: not on the ground of our worth, but on the ground of God's own character and mercy, "according unto the greatness of thy mercy." When we plead God's revealed goodness, we pray on the surest ground there is. Yet the chapter is sobering: God pardoned, and still the generation would not enter. Forgiveness of sin does not always cancel every earthly consequence. And through it all shines the promise that God's glory will fill the whole earth, as Habakkuk echoed, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD" (Habakkuk 2:14). Human unbelief cannot finally thwart the purposes of God.
Your Carcases Shall Fall (Numbers 14:26-45)
The unbelieving generation was sentenced to wander forty years and die in the wilderness, and when they presumed to go up without God, they were defeated.
Forty Years, a Year for a Day
"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah."
Hebrew Study
The punishment is measured with terrible precision: "after the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year... forty years." The generation that would not enter would wander one year for each day their spies distrusted God. Then, told the door was shut, they presumed to force their way up — and were routed. Presumption is unbelief's twin: first they would not go when God said go, then they went when God said stay. Both refuse to move at the mouth of the LORD.
Explanation
God pronounces the sentence. Those "from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me," would not enter the land: "your carcases shall fall in this wilderness." Only Caleb and Joshua would go in. Their children, whom they had feared would be "a prey," would enter instead, but only after wandering "in the wilderness forty years," a year for each of the forty days the spies had searched. The generation that would not go forward in faith would spend the rest of their lives going in circles. Then came a final, tragic irony. Stung by the sentence, the people suddenly decided to go up and take the land after all, "we will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised." But it was too late; Moses warned them not to, "the LORD is not among you." They "presumed to go up," while "the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp," and they were struck down and "discomfited... even unto Hormah." Having refused to go with God, they could not now prevail without Him.
Gospel Focus
The forty years of wandering are a lasting warning about the cost of unbelief, and the New Testament presses it on us. Hebrews holds up this very generation: "they could not enter in because of unbelief," and then urges, "let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Hebrews 4:1). Unbelief left a whole generation to die in the wilderness within sight of the promise; we are warned not to follow their example. And the closing scene exposes the twin of unbelief: presumption. Having refused to go up when God said go, they now went up when God said stay, and were crushed. Unbelief and presumption are two sides of one coin; both act apart from God, one by refusing to move when He leads, the other by moving when He does not. The safe path is neither cowardice nor presumption, but obedient faith that goes when God goes and waits when God waits. When "the ark... departed not out of the camp," to go anyway was ruin. Follow God on His terms and His timing; do not shrink back in unbelief, and do not rush ahead in presumption.
Chapter 14 in Review
Numbers 14 is the tragedy of the wilderness. Believing the evil report, Israel wept, murmured, and resolved to choose a captain and return to Egypt, and would have stoned Joshua and Caleb, who pleaded, "the LORD is with us: fear them not." When God threatened to disinherit the people, Moses stood in the breach, refusing a nation of his own and pleading God's name and His great mercy, and God pardoned, "according to thy word." Yet the unbelieving generation was sentenced to wander forty years and die in the wilderness, and when they presumed to go up without God, they were defeated at Hormah.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a solemn warning and a shining picture. The sin of longing to return to Egypt reminds us never to look back to the bondage we were saved from; the way forward has giants, but they are "bread for us," and "the LORD is with us." Moses in the breach, refusing his own advancement to plead God's mercy for the people, points to Jesus, our Intercessor, who "ever liveth to make intercession." And the forty years warn us, as Hebrews warns, not to "come short" of God's rest through unbelief, nor to presume by acting without Him. Do not look back, do not shrink back, and do not run ahead; follow God in obedient faith all the way into the promise.
- Israel's sin was longing to return to Egypt; do not look back to the bondage God saved you from (14:3-4; Luke 9:62).
- To faith the giants are "bread for us," for "the LORD is with us: fear them not" (14:9).
- Moses in the breach, refusing his own advancement, pictures Christ our Intercessor who "ever liveth to make intercession" (14:13-19; Psalm 106:23; Hebrews 7:25).
- God pardoned, yet consequences remained; forgiveness does not always cancel every earthly cost (14:20-23).
- Unbelief and presumption are twins; both act apart from God, so we must not come short of His rest (14:34, 44-45; Hebrews 4:1).
Questions for Reflection
- When the way is hard, are you tempted to look back toward the bondage God delivered you from?
- Do you intercede for others, pleading God's mercy rather than their worth, as Moses did?
- Are you guarding against both unbelief and presumption, following God on His terms and His timing?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The rebellion, longing for Egypt, and the faith of Joshua and Caleb: Numbers 14:1-10; Luke 9:62.
- Moses' intercession, God's mercy, and His undefeated glory: Numbers 14:11-25; Psalm 106:23; Hebrews 7:25; Habakkuk 2:14.
- The forty years, presumption, and the warning against coming short: Numbers 14:26-45; Hebrews 4:1.