Psalms 106:24

SIN NO. 5

This sin was the rebellion of Israel following the shameful report of the ten unfaithful spies (Numbers 13-14).

"Yea, they despised the pleasant land,

They believed not his word.

But murmured in their tents,

And hearkened not unto the voice of Jehovah.

Therefore he sware unto them,

That he would overthrow them in the wilderness,

And that he would overthrow their seed among the nations,

And scatter them in the lands."

"They despised the pleasant land" (Psalms 106:24). The last half of Numbers 13, reports this. The ten spies brought back an evil report of the land of Canaan, affirming in the strongest terms possible that the Israelites would never be able to take it. "And they brought up an evil report of the land" (Numbers 13:32).

"They murmured in their tents" (Psalms 106:25). The Jerusalem Bible reads this, "They stayed in their camp and muttered treason."[17] Their actual words were:

"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness! Wherefore doth Jehovah bring us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little one will be a prey; were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" (Numbers 14:2-3).

"Their seed among the nations ... scatter them in the lands" (Psalms 106:27). This threat of the scattering of Israel among the nations "is founded upon Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28."[18]