Israel’s Rebellion
(Deuteronomy 1:26–33)
Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept. Deu 1:45Num 11:1-4 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Exo 15:24Exo 17:3Num 16:411Co 10:10Exo 16:2-3Jud 1:16Num 14:27-29Php 2:14-15 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” Jer 9:3Num 14:31-32Psa 78:40
So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” Act 7:39Neh 9:16-17Deu 17:16Luk 17:32Deu 28:68Heb 11:152Pe 2:21-22Heb 10:38-39
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel. Num 16:4Num 16:22Num 16:451Ch 21:16Ezk 9:8Gen 17:3Jos 5:14Lev 9:24
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes Num 13:30Num 14:30Gen 37:29Gen 37:34Num 13:6Num 13:8Num 14:382Ki 18:37 and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land. Num 13:27Deu 1:25Deu 6:10-11Deu 8:7-9 If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us. 2Sa 22:20Isa 62:4Num 13:27Deu 10:15Psa 147:10-11Rom 8:311Ki 10:9Psa 22:8 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!” Deu 7:18Deu 31:6Rom 8:31Deu 31:8Num 24:8Psa 74:142Ch 20:172Ch 32:8
But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Exo 17:41Sa 30:6Lev 9:23Exo 16:10Exo 16:7Mat 23:37Num 16:19Num 16:42
Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them? Psa 78:32Psa 106:24Psa 78:22Deu 9:22-23Psa 78:41-42Deu 1:32Heb 3:8Jhn 12:37 I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.” Exo 32:102Sa 24:1Num 16:46-49Num 25:92Sa 24:12-15Exo 5:3
Moses Intercedes for Israel
But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. Psa 106:23Deu 32:27Exo 32:11-14Ezk 20:9Deu 9:26-28Ezk 20:14Jos 7:8-9 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Exo 15:14Exo 13:21-22Neh 9:12Deu 5:4Exo 33:11Exo 40:38Gen 32:30Jhn 1:18
If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, Jdg 6:16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ Deu 9:28Jos 7:7Jos 7:9Deu 32:26-27
So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: Mat 9:6Mat 9:8Mic 3:8 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, 1 forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ Exo 34:6-7Psa 145:8Exo 20:5Jon 4:2Nam 1:2-3Psa 103:8Mic 7:18Deu 5:9
Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.” Exo 34:9Psa 106:45Psa 78:38Exo 32:32Jon 4:2Psa 51:1-21Jn 5:14-161Ki 8:34
God’s Forgiveness and Judgment
(Deuteronomy 1:34–40)
“I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied. Mic 7:18-20Jas 5:16Psa 106:23 “Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD, Hab 2:14Psa 72:19Isa 6:3Deu 32:40Isa 49:18Mat 6:10Ezk 18:3Ezk 33:11 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times— Heb 3:17-18Gen 31:7Job 19:3Deu 1:31-35Exo 32:1Psa 106:26Exo 17:21Co 10:5 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. Num 32:11Ezk 20:15Num 26:64Deu 1:35-45Heb 3:17-18Heb 4:3Neh 9:23Psa 106:26
But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it. Jos 14:6-14Num 14:6-9Num 32:11-12Act 11:23Deu 1:36Eph 6:6Num 13:30Num 26:65
Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea. 2” Deu 1:40Num 13:29Num 14:4Pro 1:31Psa 81:11-13
Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me. Exo 16:121Co 10:10Exo 16:28Mrk 9:19Num 14:11Mat 17:7 So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. Num 14:21Heb 3:17Num 14:2Deu 1:35Num 14:23Num 26:64-65Num 32:11Psa 90:8-9 Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me. Num 1:45Num 26:641Co 10:5Heb 3:17Jud 1:5Num 14:32-33
Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. Deu 1:36-38Num 14:38Gen 14:22Num 26:65Num 32:12 But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it. Deu 1:39Psa 106:24Num 14:3Num 26:6Num 26:64Act 13:41Gen 25:34Heb 12:16-17 As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 1Co 10:5Num 14:29Heb 3:17
Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. Ezk 23:35Num 32:13Deu 2:14Psa 107:40Deu 1:3Ezk 23:45-49Hos 9:1Jer 3:1-2 In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation. Ezk 4:6Num 13:25Jer 18:9-10Dan 9:241Sa 2:302Ch 36:21Deu 31:16-17Heb 4:1
I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.” Num 23:191Co 10:5Heb 3:19Num 26:651Co 10:11Num 14:27-29
The Plague on the Ten Spies
So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land— Num 13:31-33Num 13:4-16 those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD. 1Co 10:10Num 16:49Heb 3:17Num 14:12Jer 28:16-17Jer 29:32Jud 1:5Num 25:9 Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive. Jos 14:6-10Num 26:65
And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly. Exo 33:4Heb 12:17Mat 8:12Pro 19:3Isa 26:16
The Defeat at Hormah
(Deuteronomy 1:41–46)
Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.” Deu 1:41Ecc 9:3Luk 13:25Mat 7:21-23Mat 26:11-12
But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed! 2Ch 24:20Jer 2:37Jer 32:5Job 4:9Num 14:25 Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you. Deu 1:42Jos 7:12Jos 7:8Psa 44:1-11 For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.” 2Ch 15:2Num 13:29Num 14:251Ch 28:9Deu 28:25Hos 9:12Isa 63:10Jdg 16:20
But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the LORD moved from the camp. Deu 1:431Sa 4:3-11Num 10:33Num 15:30Num 31:6 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah. Num 21:3Deu 1:44Jdg 1:17Num 14:43Deu 32:30Exo 17:16Jos 7:11-12Jos 7:5