Nu. 14: Israel Complains

Well, of course Israel wasn't thrilled to hear 10 of the 12 scouts' reports on the promised land. So they complained amongst themselves, which they were good at, against Moses and Aaron and against God. They wondered why God would take them this far and then let them fall by the sword. And I would wonder why He would do this too. They even wanted to choose a leader for themselves and head back to Egypt, to the comfort of slavery. They knew the promise. I'm sure they were well aware of the history with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a mere two years out of the entire existence of the nation of Israel that they were wandering. And they were ready to give up.

They were not convinced by the faith of Caleb and Joshua. Why would they just roll over and accept what the majority of the 12 explorers said, without giving a lick of consideration to what Caleb and Joshua were saying? Caleb and Joshua didn't contradict what the other ten said, so it wasn't a case of mob rule. The community didn't buy their confidence in God's promise, and were to the point of stoning them. Crushing their skulls with big rocks. Talk about not wanting to hear the truth.

Then God shows up and talks to Moses. God threatens to destroy the lot of them with a plague, but again Moses reminds God of His patience, His power, His promise, and His love. What God had been doing was well known to the surrounding nations, and Moses, the PR Man, was concerned again about how this would look to them, as he was in Ex. 33.

God forgives the people, as Moses asked, but He also had to punish Israel. Just as Israel didn't want to enter the Promised Land, God banned them from ever setting foot in it. For forty years (a year for every day the Promised Land was explored) they would suffer outside the land, and only the kids, 20 and under, would be able to enter it. Even then at a relatively old age. The other thing I note here is that God apparently sets a date for them all to die, at forty years frooooooommm...rightnow. God struck the nay-saying scouts with a plague, while re recognized the faith of Caleb and Joshua, promising that their descendants would inherit that Promised Land.

The Israelites knew they screwed up bad. They said, "We sinned. Ok, we'll go up to the place the LORD has promised." Sorry. The punishment stands. Moses tries to warn them that God will not be with them, and that the Amalekites and the Canaanites will bust them up. Sure enough, because the ark wasn't with them, and because God punished them, they got their butts kicked. So God used the Amalekites and the Canaanites to accomplish his purpose. Without them even knowing it. They just did what came natural, defending their land.