The Lord’s Delight

August 2, 2009

Lesson: Numbers 14:1-24

Key Verse: Numbers 14:8

Introduction

The people murmured against Moses and Aaron, crying, “Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?” Moses had sent leaders of the various tribes (Num. 13:3-16) to spy out the land of Canaan. On their return the people heard that the land surely flowed with milk and honey. They also heard of the strength of the Amalekites, Hittites, and Jebusites, who lived there (13:27-29). The people turned their eyes away from the Lord, looking at the Promised Land through the eyes of fearful men who brought the evil report. One of the spies, Caleb, a prince of Judah, sought to calm the people with these words of great assurance: “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (13:30).

The answer to the murmurings of God’s people is found in these words of Moses and Aaron, “If the Lord delight in us then he will bring us into this land” (Num. 14:8). Herein lays the reason we are called children of God, why we are forgiven for our sins and why God reconciles rebellious to himself, that we may joyfully call him “our Father.” It is because the Lord finds pleasure, delights himself in this people, that they are moved to obedience, thus receive promised blessings.

We all face enemies that seek our allegiance. In Psalm 35 we see the testimony of king David as he had asked the Lord to plead his cause before his enemy, to take “hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.” He further asked the Lord to stop those who persecute him, and to speak to his soul, saying, “I am thy salvation.” Since there are enemies who rise up against David, he prays that they would be brought to confusion and dishonor. In comparison, David asks of those who stand by his side: “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity (shalom) of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.”

We must remember that we call upon the Lord who delights in his people. He takes pleasure in the health, success, and protection of his people. Therefore, our Savior bears the name, “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). He is the One who truly cares for us. He promised: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

The Congregation Cried –Numbers 14:1-4

This peace the people of God had lost. Not that God had abandoned them, but that they had lost hope by listening to the voice of man, rather than that of their Lord. The spies had been sent out by Moses to appraise the land of Canaan as to the strength of its people, including the fruit of the land. The land was promised to Israel. Why then do the people of God hesitate at times to believe that he will keep his word? After 40 days the men returned to Moses and Aaron, saying that is true that the land flows “with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great.”

Most of the men feared the Amalekites who lived there, saying that would not be able to go up against the people; “for they are stronger than we.” Their fear made the Amalekites seem like giants in stature and as grasshoppers in number. The minority report of Caleb and Joshua was positive. Caleb said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Victory could be theirs as it was with David and Goliath. David stood before the giant, and said, “I come to thee in the name of the Lore of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1 Sam. 17:45).

The people turned their eyes from the Lord, their ears heard only the message of despair. And they cried to the Lord and wept; murmuring against Moses and Aaron. They began to wish that they were back in Egypt. They questioned the Lord as to why He brought them to such a land, seeking to be led as failures back to the land of Egypt.

The contrast between the reports, help us see the measure of faith one has in obedience to the Lord. The majority of spies took God’s word and twisted them. They were to check out the land to see who lived there and what it produced. Their exaggerated report was from fear, purposed to lead the people to believe in their fear. Caleb and Joshua saw the land as the promise of God, and knew that, in this promise, and in the Lord who gave it, they could go and possess the land.

Discussion: What do our murmurings against the Lord reveal about our faith?

Rebel Not against the Lord –Numbers 14:5-10

Moses and Aaron responded to the faithlessness of the people by falling down on their faces before the “congregation of the children of Israel.” Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes. Their hearts were in deep anguish over the response of the people. The people rebelled against their Deliverer. Joshua and Caleb spoke to the people: “The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.” If the Lord delights in his people, he will bring the people “into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”

The people’s distrust in the Lord to deliver is nothing less than a rebellion: “Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” The Canaanites had lost any defenses they may have had; for with the Lord on the side of Israel the enemy is food for the people of God.

However, the hearts of the people was so hardened by their own fear that they sought to stone Joshua and Caleb; and likely Moses and Aaron as well. Yet the Lord will carry out his will and purpose, even to a stubborn people: “And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.” The people were to fear God, not the Canaanites who would be destroyed by God.

God delights in his people, desiring them to be obedient and, therefore, to know that his promises are sure. He comes “with his judgment, and his glory appeared in the tabernacle to all the Israelites; this is to say, the majesty of God flashed out before the eyes of the people in a light which suddenly burst forth from the tabernacle” (Keil-Delitzsch).

How can we escape such a warning? It is not just a word in a book, or a voice from a cloud, but the very presence of the Lord God, Creator and Savior, that rebellious man must face. Judgment comes in the person of the King of kings. And judgment comes first to the people of God. We must first fear the Lord in order that we might warn others that they must fear the Lord and the hell he has provided for those who repent not.

Discussion: How did the people show their distrust of the Lord?

The Lord is Among His People –Numbers 14:11-24

The Lord speaks to his chosen servant, saying, “Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.” The Lord shows his presence to a people who has shown defiance and contempt in the very events of the blessings he has given. Again the Lord promises to strike a rebellious people, as he did at Mt. Sinai.

To Moses, the faithful servant, God promises a greater nation. This faithfulness is seen in his pleading for his people: The first appeal for God’s mercy is that the Lord’s honor is at stake, “the Egyptians shall hear it.” Should our faithlessness reveal the Lord as weak in the sight of the wicked? Are they not now telling of the deliverance, and will continue to tell it to the generations that the people of Israel have a God who dwells among his people, “that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” The second appeal for clemency calls upon the character of God (which is revealed On Mt. Sinai, Ex. 34:6-7); “The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”

Moses implores the Lord to forgive “the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” The Lord responds: “I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” The glory of the Lord is to be seen in his unmerited grace and in his justice. Those who provoked the Lord would not see this Promised Land, but Caleb and his seed would possess it.

The disobedience and rebellion of the people would not hinder the work of the Lord’s salvation. His promises are always sure, and his victory is forever his. In his glory and victory we are victorious: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).

Discussion: Why is it so important that we trust in the Lord who is with us always?