After hearing the grave report of the ten spies, the people grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They blamed them for bringing them out of Egypt to die in the desert and wanted to choose a new leader to bring them back to Egypt according to verses 1-4. It is common for people to blame others for the hardship in their lives. Are you one of them? In verses 5-12 – Moses together with Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb the two spies who gave a positive report, pleaded with the people to trust God, and not rebel against Him. But they threatened to stone them instead. God’s glory appeared at the tent of meeting and asked Moses when they will stop despising Him despite the miracles He performed to deliver them from Egypt. He will use pestilence to strike them and disown them.

Upon hearing this, Moses pleaded with God to forgive the people in verses 13-19. He said that if the Egyptians heard about it, they would tell everyone that You did so because You were unable to bring them into the Promised Land, so You killed them in the desert. Instead, God should fulfill His promise and to forgive them. As, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

In verses 20-25, God said He will forgive them, and He will keep His promise. But He will not let the people go unpunished. They will not enter the land but only Caleb who followed Him wholeheartedly. He told them to set out for the desert tomorrow by way of the Red Sea since the Amalekites and the Canaanites were in the valley. He told Moses and Aaron in verses 26-38, that He heard the people’s grumbling against Him. They will die in the desert, those twenty years old and up who grumbled against Him, Only Caleb, and Joshua with “the little ones” would enter the land. Their children will be shepherds in the desert for forty years because of their unbelief. According to the number of days they spied the land, each day for a year, they will wander in the desert so they might know they have angered Him. He also proclaimed His punishment on the spies who caused the rebellion by their report. They will be died by plague except for Joshua and Caleb.

The people wept when they heard from Moses. They woke up early in the morning to go up the hill country to the place God had promised them because they had sinned against Him. But Moses asked them why they are going against God’s command to travel through the desert by way of the Red Sea. But they did not listen, and as God said, the Amalekites and the Canaanites defeated them and pursued them even to Hormah.

People react to fear in many ways. The Israelites reacted by blaming their leaders and their God. In their fear, they cannot listen to the pleas of their leaders to stop rebelling, and when God tells them to take a different path. They insist on doing it in their own way to bring more problems for themselves. There are consequences for our sins as well. The Israelites were not able to enter the land, but they will die in the desert instead. Their children will suffer in the desert because of their sins too.

My Prayer: Lord, forgive our grumbling and blaming of You and Your servants who lead us because we cannot agree with them or get them to do what we want of them. Help us to learn to submit to You and Your leadership through them in our lives as well.