Numbers 14:10-12

Nevertheless the congregation violently rejected their pleas to trust and obey God (Numbers 14:10). God Himself prevented the people from stoning Caleb and Joshua by manifesting Himself (Numbers 14:10).

". . . the majesty of God flashed out before the eyes of the people in a light which suddenly burst forth from the tabernacle (see at Ex. xxv. 10)." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:92.]

As a faithful mediator Moses again interceded for the disobedient Israelites.

The failure of the Israelites grew out of unbelief (Numbers 14:11; cf. Hebrews 3:19). They failed to believe that God would give them the land of their enemies as He had promised.

"Like Pharaoh, they were hardening their hearts and ignoring God’s clear command (cf. Psalms 95:7-8) . . ." [Note: Herbert M. Wolf, An Introduction to the Old Testament Pentateuch, p. 194.]

Often in Scripture we read of people asking God, "How long?" (e.g., Psalms 6:3; Psalms 13:1-2; Psalms 35:17; et al.). However here it is God who asked this of Moses (cf. Exodus 16:28). This illustrates the intimate relationship that Moses and God enjoyed (Numbers 12:7-8).

Was God’s threatened action a real possibility, or was He only testing Moses’ reaction with this offer? God had threatened a similar punishment at Sinai when the Israelites had made the golden calf (Exodus 32:10). God could have fulfilled His promises to Abraham by destroying and dispossessing all the other living Israelites and by sparing only Moses and his descendants. However, God could not have fulfilled the prophetic promises that He had given through Jacob (Genesis 49) and done so. There would have to be descendants of Judah from whom a great ruler would come (Genesis 49:10) as well as some future for the other tribes. Perhaps God meant that He would completely destroy that older generation of Israelites immediately (cf. Exodus 32:10). He said that He would also give Moses and his descendants a much larger place in the nation. Perhaps then other peoples would regard Moses as the father of the Israelite nation.

". . . this passage intends to show that the people failed to inherit the Promised Land and hence died in the wilderness without inheriting the blessing, not so much for a specific act of disobedience or for fear of the battles that lay ahead, but rather for the simple fact of their unbelief. They failed to trust in God." [Note: Sailhamer, p. 388.]