Numbers 14:20

"And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word; but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah; because all those men that have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea."

"I have pardoned according to thy word ..." Moses' prayer was answered, and God forgave the people and refrained from destroying them; however, he at once swore with an oath that the punishment of their "ten rebellions" would not be withheld.

Smick pointed out that the words, "As I live," introduced a formal oath that reaches through Numbers 14:23. He gave this paraphrase of it:

"Surely as I live and as the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord, none of the men who saw my glory and my signs which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, but who have tried me now tenfold, and have not hearkened to my voice, shall see the land which I sware to their fathers."[15]

"These ten times ..." (Numbers 14:22). "Ten is the number which signifies completeness."[16] "It seems to refer to the ten evil spies."[17] "The Talmud understood this literally."[18] Dummelow thought that ten is a "round number indicating `full measure'."[19] "Rabbi Judah from the second century enumerated ten instances of Israel's rebellion."[20] Gray listed these as follows:

"There were two instances at the Red Sea, Exodus 14:11; Psalms 106:11; two in demanding water, Exodus 15:23; Exodus 17:2; two for food, Exodus 16:27; two for flesh, Exodus 16:3; Numbers 11:4; in the matter of the golden calf, and in the sending out of the spies."[21]

"But my servant Caleb ... (Numbers 14:24)." Neither Aaron nor Joshua was mentioned here because "they were no longer in the ranks of the people, but standing with Moses."[22]

Another possible reason for the omission of Joshua's name here might have derived from the modesty of Joshua, to whom some writers ascribe the addition of certain passages in the Pentateuch. Among such, there stands the name of the illustrious Sir Isaac Newton.[23] Certainly this is another of several options that are far more reasonable than the old knee-jerk response of the critics who find "various sources" everywhere they look.

"Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley ..." (Numbers 25). All of the nonsense about this contradicting other passages (Numbers 14:25). All of the nonsense about this contradicting other passages which do not thus describe the habitations of the Amalekites and the Canaanites is frustrated by a true understanding of what is meant here. This verse is not speaking of the permanent residences of those peoples, but of their locations at that very moment in one of the adjacent valleys to Israel's encampment, waiting to fall upon them in ambush, a thing they promptly did when Israel disobeyed God and attempted to mount an assault on Canaan. Those peoples had long anticipated Israel's push into Canaan; and "the valley" mentioned here was where they had prepared their ambush.

"By way of the Red Sea ..." The simple meaning of this is merely, "in the direction of the Red Sea." It is regrettable that many very recent commentaries (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, The New Layman's Bible Commentary, etc.) state unequivocally that, "Red Sea is generally translated `Reed Sea'," thus paying lip-service to one of the most fraudulent renditions ever associated with the Bible. It is high time that this "dead duck" about the "Reed Sea" was laid to rest forever. Within the last few months (1984), the most recent scholarship of the highest rank has declared "Reed Sea" to be a monstrous error.[24]

(See the special discussion of this in my commentary on Exodus at the end of Exodus 13.)