Numbers 14:23
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not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Uproar among the People. - Num 14:1-4. This appalling description of Canaan had so depressing an influence upon the whole congregation (cf. Deu 1:28 : they "made their heart melt," i.e., threw them into utter despair), that they raised a loud cry, and wept in the night in consequence. The whole nation murmured against Moses and Aaron their two leaders, saying "Would that we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness! Why will Jehovah bring us into this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should become a prey (be made slaves by the enemy; cf. Deu 1:27-28)? Let us rather return into Egypt! We will appoint a captain, they said one to another, and go back to Egypt."
Open source ↗This chapter gives us an account of that fatal quarrel between God and Israel upon which, for their murmuring and unbelief, he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. Here is, I. The mutiny and rebellion of Israel against God, upon the report of the evil spies (Num 14:1-4). II. The fruitless endeavour of Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua, to still the tumult (Num 14:5-10). III. Their utter ruin justly threatened by an offended God (Num 14:11, Num 14:12). IV. The humble intercession of Moses for them (Num 14:13-19). V. A mitigation of the sentence in answer to the prayer of Moses; they shall not all be cut off, but the decree goes forth ratified with an oath, published to the people, again and again repeated, that this whole congregation should perish in the wilderness, and none of them enter Canaan but Caleb and Joshua only (v. 20-35). VI. The present death of the evil spies (Num 14:36-39). VII. The rebuke given to those who attempted to go forward notwithstanding (Num 14:40-45). And this is written for our admonition, that we "fall not after the same example of unbelief."
Open source ↗14:23-25 Having turned their backs on the Promised Land, the Israelites were now ordered to march the other way. • The Red Sea could refer to bodies of water on either side of the Sinai Peninsula (the Gulf of Aqaba or the Gulf of Suez).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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‘Because they did not follow Me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years of age or older who came out of Egypt will see the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—
Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—
So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,
Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”