Hebrews 3:16

For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses?

Here is a solemn warning against trusting in a majority or what is popular. The author pointedly reminds his readers that the wilderness failure of Israel was on a national scale, supported by the overwhelming majority, and popularly led and advocated by the great princes of Israel (Numbers 13:3-16). The statement that "all they" rebelled is hyperbole, exaggeration for the sake of emphasis; and, while it is true that Caleb and Joshua refused to be with the majority and survived to enter Canaan, "The exception was so small that the apostle had no scruple in saying that they all provoked God by their disobedience," as Barnes put it.[14] The exception was so small that the names of only two have come down through history as repudiating the majority.

THE LOST GENERATION

The tragic case of that lost generation in the wilderness is of epic proportions. They had begun so gloriously, led of God himself, seeing their enemies humbled by a series of shocking plagues, crossing the Red Sea on dry land, arming themselves from the wreckage of Pharaoh's drowned army, engaging in the most dramatic instantaneous exodus of all time, overcoming all obstacles, and singing the songs of triumph and victory; how could they have failed after all that? If so fantastic a beginning could be nullified by ultimate defeat, surely the apparent reasons for it should be of the most definite concern for believers in all ages. And what are those reasons? (1) They had a morbid fear of hunger and other looming dangers. The relative security of their lives as slaves seemed preferable to the unknown dangers ahead. People have always counted it a privilege to fight and die for liberty, if need be; but here was a generation that simply could not bring themselves to do it. (2) They exaggerated the dangers that confronted them, saying, "The land eateth up the inhabitants thereof" (Numbers 13:32). (3) They failed to manifest that essential self-respect which is an ingredient of all success, saying, "We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (Numbers 13:33). One might call that "the grasshopper complex" and find a great many examples of it today. (4) They accepted the majority report brought in by the ten unfaithful spies. The multitude of Israel looked at the ten instead of the two, blindly following the majority, feeling that wisdom was in that course, and unaware until too late that ignorance, defeat, folly and death lay with the majority. People of the present day are confronted with exactly the same danger. What do the majority say about God, Christ, the church, baptism, the Lord's Supper, Christian living, sobriety, virtue, prayer, and piety? Concerning majorities, people should have the courage of Caleb and Joshua. They should have the grace to accept the sentiments of an old motto once said to be over the gates of the University of Glasgow; "What do they say? Who are they? Who cares?" (5) The most important and all-encompassing reason for their failure was their unbelief, a condition bluntly noted in Hebrews 3:19 and Hebrews 4:2, below. Instead of glorying in their faith and exhorting one another daily to maintain it, they permitted themselves to drift away from it, until in an evil hour they found themselves in a state of rebellion against God.