Bible Commentaries
Numbers 13

Verses 1-41

V

EVENTS AT KADESH-BARNEA

Numbers 13-15

Kadesh-barnea is the most noted place, except Sinai and in some respects not even excepting that, during the whole of the forty years from Egypt to the Holy Land. In Genesis 14 in the account of the march of Chedorlaorner, it is stated that he passed on the east side of the Jordan and came down nearly to Sinai and then turned north until he reached Enmishpat, that was Kadesh, and means the foundation of judgment. Moses, writing much later, gives it the name that it had acquired from the transactions of this passage. The real name of the place is Rithmah, as you will find in the enumeration given of the stopping places later in this book. Generally speaking, it was in the wilderness of Paran. Specially speaking, it was in the wilderness of Zin. You have the wilderness of Paran mentioned in this passage, a little later, Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran, and still later, Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. All these names refer to the same place. In the last chapter I told you how they got from Mount Sinai to the wilderness of Paran, or the wilderness of Zin. See the magnificent argument on the location of this place, as set forth in Trumbull’s ’’Kadesh-Barnea." The time of this chapter is the summer of the second year of the Exodus. The text states that it was the time of the first ripe grapes, about the first of July. The great transaction that took place here was the sending out of the spies to view the Promised Land.

The first point in connection with the sending out of these spies is found in Deuteronomy 1:22, which tells that the original suggestion to send out the spies came from the people. Numbers tells us that God commanded it to be done. But the original suggestion came from the people, who did not trust God, and did not want to move until they knew something about where they were going. So God permitted them to have their way, and he commands Moses to send out the spies. That delayed matters for forty days, the time while the spies were gone.

There were twelve spies, one from each tribe. They were prominent men, famous in the history of the people. They were to go through the south country where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived. They were to start right up the mountains surrounding Kadesh-barnea, which was in a valley, and were to make a straight march to the north to the old town of Hebron.

What commission was given to these twelve men? "See the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes" (Numbers 13:18-20). How much of the country were they to examine? (Numbers 13:21). They were to go to Hamath, which is the most northern part of the Holy Land. My son, Harvey, once visited that place and wrote me a very fine description of Hamath. They were to examine the highlands and the lowlands, and an expedition of that extent would take forty days. As they came back they stopped at Eshcol. By that time it was in August and the grapes were full ripe. They brought back one bunch so large that two men had to carry it on a pole between them. Brother Penn, in his preaching, tells us that the cluster of grapes from Eshcol brought back from the Promised Land before they had reached it, has a spiritual signification; that here on earth, before the Christian gets to the Promised Land, God gives him an earnest of the inheritance that he ia to receive. Sometimes in a mighty revival we get a taste of the grapes from Eshcol.

They have fully complied with their duty, and when they come to report, there is a majority and a minority report. The two reports do not differ on the first point. All agree that it is a glorious land, flowing with milk and honey, in every respect what God had promised them. "Howbeit the people that dwell therein are strong and the cities are fortified and very great." The people were very much agitated at that part of the report, and that there were great giants there. "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are able to overcome it." That is a great text. I heard a missionary take that for a text when I was a boy and it is a good mission text now. Now we come to the divergence. Ten of these men squarely dissented: (1) "We are not able to go up against them, for they are stronger than we are"; (2) An evil report of the land: "It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof"; (3) "The men are of great stature, the Nephilim. We were in our own sight and in their sight as grasshoppers." Now) whenever any man in the world conceives himself to be a grasshopper, he is whipped inside and out. If you want to take two great texts and put one against the other, take those divergent opinions about their ability to possess the land. Now we have come to what is called the second great breach of the covenant. The first breach was when they worshiped the golden calf. This is a great rebellion. The people lifted up their voice and wept that night. Think of two or three million people sitting up all night and crying! All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron: "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness. Wherefore doth Jehovah bring us unto this land to fall by the sword?" There they murmur against God: "Our women and our little ones will be & prey." They put it off on the women and children. "We would be plucky enough if we were by ourselves." Many a time have I heard that expedient fall from men’s lips. I once heard a man say that he did not want to see a show but that he went to take the women and children.

Now we come to the crowning act: "And they said one to another, Let us make a captain and return into Egypt." That meant to turn their backs upon the pillar of fire and the cloud and the tabernacle and all their glorious history and from the divinely appointed leaders, Moses and Aaron, to renounce the government of God, and go back into the bondage from which they had been delivered. When they said that, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, for they knew that an awful sin had been committed. While Moses and Aaron are lying on their faces, see the heroic deed of Joshua and Caleb: "And Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes; and they spake unto the children of Israel saying, The land which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If Jehovah delight in us, then he will bring us unto this land) and give it unto us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land." There are Moses and Aaron on their faces, and here are Joshua and Caleb with their clothes rent, in the presence of the blasphemers, making a final plea before the bolt of divine judgment falls on them. "But all the congregation bade stone them with stones." "Kill the men that tell us the truth." Now the cloud comes down. It was up in the air. The cloud descended upon the ark of the tabernacle as an indication that the Lord God Almighty was about to speak: "How long will this people despise me?" You remember the first oration of Cicero against Catiline: "How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience?" "How long will they not believe in me for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with pestilence and disinherit them." That shows the breach of the covenant. "I will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. I am going to take a nation into the promised land, but I will blot the whole of them out."

Now comes grace. You will see what Moses says to God. He is the mediator and type of the Saviour: "And Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou, Jehovah, art in the midst of this people; for thou, Jehovah, art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, and thou goest before them. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore hath he slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, Jehovah is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." I do know that he was a great man. God instantly answers that he will do just what Moses asks:

"Now, I will pardon, but I will pardon in accordance with my nature, which says, I will not acquit the guilty. This sin shall rest on them, but I won’t blot the whole nation out." The women and the little children had nothing to do with it, but every grown man that participated in it is cut off from the Promised Land. A year for a day. As it took forty days to view the land, their pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan shall be forty years. The whole of it could be made in a rapid journey of a few days. "Every one of them shall die and their carcasses shall fall in this wilderness and their bones shall whiten. But I will take care of the children and bring them into the Promised Land. As I live, saith Jehovah, Surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you." He is giving oath. Joshua and Caleb are the only ones allowed to live. Now the Lord expostulates directly with Moses and Aaron, telling them how they shall carry out this sentence. Moses announced the sentence, that God considered the covenant broken, and that they were disinherited, but that pardon was extended for all under twenty years, but that the rest of them should perish. They say, "But here we are now and we will go up." Moses says, "But the cloud won’t lead and the ark won’t go before you. If you go, you will go as an uncovenanted people and without God among you." But they did go and they got an awful drubbing from their enemies.

That is the great rebellion and it commands the careful study of every Bible student.

Now comes numbers 15 with some hopeful legislation: "When ye come into the land of your habitation." That precedes every act. "I have just announced that the men over twenty years old will die. Lest the awful sentence cause the hearts of the rest of you to despair, I will instantly give you some legislation that will cheer you and cause you to hope." There is something in this legislation that I want to call your attention to: "If a person sin unwittingly, the priest shall make atonement for that soul. But the soul that doeth aught with a high hand, whether he be home-born or a sojourner, the same blasphemeth Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of Jehovah, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." There is the unpardonable sin. Every man from twenty years old and upward with the exception of Caleb and Joshua had committed that sin. That is what is meant by sinning with a high hand.

A man was gathering sticks on the sabbath day. He violated one of the Ten Commandments and was stoned to death.

Finally they were commanded to make fringes on the border of their garments, so that when they looked at the blue fringe, they would remember their sin and God’s penalty.

QUESTIONS

1. Kadesh-barnea – what back-reference, its meaning, how came it to be called Kadesh, real name, definite location and what work commended?

2. The date of this lesson?

3. The spies – Who suggested sending them, how a lack of faith, how long gone, how many, their commission, how much country to examine, what evidence did they bring as to the fruit of the land, and its spiritual signification?

4. Their report – How agreed, how disagreed, the majority report, the minority, a missionary text, fate of the ten cowards and the good destiny of the two faithful ones?

5. The second great breach of the covenant – What the first, this one how against God, how against the women and children, the crowning act and its meaning, action of Moses and Aaron, of Joshua and Caleb, of the congregation, of the cloud?

6. What Jehovah’s communication to Moses and what does it show? Moses’ reply and prayer?

7. What was Jehovah’s oath and answer to Moses?

8. Upon the announcement of their fate by Moses what did the people do and the result?

9. What hope does Jehovah hold out to those now under twenty years of age?

10. Give the reference to the unpardonable sin here, and who had committed it?

11. What instance of the violation of one of the Ten Commandments in this connection?

12. What was the law of fringes?