Num 14:29-35 | KingComments | STEP | God hears the prayer and forgives. This does not mean that He leaves evil unpunished, but that He postpones judgment. He saves the people and does not consume them immediately. He will punish evil in the continuation of the wilderness journey. Never will the disobedient enter the land ( ). The bodies of all the rebellious will fall in the wilderness. The next command to set out will not be to continue on the way to the promised land, but to go back in the direction of the Red Sea. They want to return to Egypt ( )? Then they can go that way. They want to die in the wilderness ( )? They will die in the wilderness. Their bodies shall not be buried in the promised land, as Joseph’s body shall ( ; ; ), because they have despised that land. Only Caleb and Joshua will enter the land. The LORD calls Caleb “my servant Caleb” ( ). He is a picture of the faithful Servant, the Lord Jesus. This is also evident from the following character sketch: with him is “a different spirit” than with the unbelievers. Caleb does not let his mind be influenced by what he has seen, but by what the LORD has said. Through this “different spirit” in him it becomes visible to the outside that he “followed” the LORD “fully” ( ; ; ; ). In a few words, a portrait of a believer of old is given here, which we wish to take as an example. Obedience to the Lord and not let himself being influenced by the human spirit, which prevails in professing Christianity, are the conditions to fully follow the Lord. Children under the age of twenty will also enter the land. They are a new generation. The old generation is full of Egypt. They are in the wilderness, but their hearts are still fully in Egypt. The children only know the wilderness, not Egypt. God takes these children for His account. This is also a great encouragement for parents who care about their children because of the time they live in. There is more and more open revolt against God and His Word. There is hardly anything Christian any more present in once Christian countries. But God has a way for every generation to walk. That way can be found in His Word. If the children read in it and take it to heart, they will have their own experiences with an unchanging God Who knows all circumstances and is above them. God’s people must roam in the wilderness for forty years. This is reflected in the two thousand years of professing Christianity. The good ones suffer in it with the evil ones. Caleb and Joshua, as well as the children, have to travel through the wilderness for forty years. They have to wait for forty years before they can enter the land. Those forty years will be used by God to teach them who they are and who He is ( ). They will have faith experiences and learn to distinguish between what is and what is not of God. Throughout it all, Caleb and Joshua will have kept theirs eyes constantly on the impressions they have gained as spies of the land. What they have already tasted and enjoyed of the fruit of the land, will have given them strength to continue. They will thus have encouraged the children to persevere. The people have become a people of vagrants. They have been pilgrims, travelers on a journey to the promised land. Now they are vagrants, without a fixed goal wandering around in the wilderness. This is their punishment, because they have “despised the pleasant land” that God has wanted to give them, for “they did not believe in His word” ( ). To deny what God gives is in fact to deny God Himself. We know little about the forty years in the wilderness. Only a few events are mentioned to us in Scripture, but they are characteristic of their entire stay in the wilderness. They have been written down so that we may learn from them ( ). The children must also learn that what is in the parents’ hearts is also in their own hearts. They do come into the land, but not because they are better than their parents. If we can know and enjoy anything of the heavenly blessings it is not because we are any better than others who do not know these blessings.

‏ Numbers 14:29-35

The LORD Judges

God hears the prayer and forgives. This does not mean that He leaves evil unpunished, but that He postpones judgment. He saves the people and does not consume them immediately. He will punish evil in the continuation of the wilderness journey. Never will the disobedient enter the land (Psa 95:10-11). The bodies of all the rebellious will fall in the wilderness.

The next command to set out will not be to continue on the way to the promised land, but to go back in the direction of the Red Sea. They want to return to Egypt (Num 14:3)? Then they can go that way. They want to die in the wilderness (Num 14:2)? They will die in the wilderness. Their bodies shall not be buried in the promised land, as Joseph’s body shall (Gen 50:25; Exo 13:19; Jos 24:32), because they have despised that land.

Only Caleb and Joshua will enter the land. The LORD calls Caleb “my servant Caleb” (Num 14:24). He is a picture of the faithful Servant, the Lord Jesus. This is also evident from the following character sketch: with him is “a different spirit” than with the unbelievers. Caleb does not let his mind be influenced by what he has seen, but by what the LORD has said. Through this “different spirit” in him it becomes visible to the outside that he “followed” the LORD “fully” (Num 14:24; Num 32:12; Deu 1:35-36; Jos 14:8-9 ; 14).

In a few words, a portrait of a believer of old is given here, which we wish to take as an example. Obedience to the Lord and not let himself being influenced by the human spirit, which prevails in professing Christianity, are the conditions to fully follow the Lord.

Children under the age of twenty will also enter the land. They are a new generation. The old generation is full of Egypt. They are in the wilderness, but their hearts are still fully in Egypt. The children only know the wilderness, not Egypt. God takes these children for His account.

This is also a great encouragement for parents who care about their children because of the time they live in. There is more and more open revolt against God and His Word. There is hardly anything Christian any more present in once Christian countries. But God has a way for every generation to walk. That way can be found in His Word. If the children read in it and take it to heart, they will have their own experiences with an unchanging God Who knows all circumstances and is above them.

God’s people must roam in the wilderness for forty years. This is reflected in the two thousand years of professing Christianity. The good ones suffer in it with the evil ones. Caleb and Joshua, as well as the children, have to travel through the wilderness for forty years. They have to wait for forty years before they can enter the land. Those forty years will be used by God to teach them who they are and who He is (Deu 8:2). They will have faith experiences and learn to distinguish between what is and what is not of God.

Throughout it all, Caleb and Joshua will have kept theirs eyes constantly on the impressions they have gained as spies of the land. What they have already tasted and enjoyed of the fruit of the land, will have given them strength to continue. They will thus have encouraged the children to persevere.

The people have become a people of vagrants. They have been pilgrims, travelers on a journey to the promised land. Now they are vagrants, without a fixed goal wandering around in the wilderness. This is their punishment, because they have “despised the pleasant land” that God has wanted to give them, for “they did not believe in His word” (Psa 106:24). To deny what God gives is in fact to deny God Himself.

We know little about the forty years in the wilderness. Only a few events are mentioned to us in Scripture, but they are characteristic of their entire stay in the wilderness. They have been written down so that we may learn from them (1Cor 10:5-11).

The children must also learn that what is in the parents’ hearts is also in their own hearts. They do come into the land, but not because they are better than their parents. If we can know and enjoy anything of the heavenly blessings it is not because we are any better than others who do not know these blessings.