Numbers 14:11-12

The Punishment from God

14:11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise ¹  me, and how long will they not believe ²  in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them? 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, ³  and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”

Numbers 14:28-35

14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, ⁴  says ⁵  the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. ⁶  14:29 Your dead bodies ⁷  will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me. 14:30 You will by no means enter into the land where ⁸  I swore ⁹  to settle ¹⁰  you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 14:31 But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, ¹¹  and they will enjoy ¹²  the land that you have despised. 14:32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, 14:33 and your children will wander ¹³  in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, ¹⁴  until your dead bodies lie finished ¹⁵  in the wilderness. 14:34 According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days – one day for a year – you will suffer for ¹⁶  your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. ¹⁷  14:35 I, the Lord, have said, “I will surely do so to all this evil congregation that has gathered together against me. In this wilderness they will be finished, and there they will die!”’”

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¹ tn The verb נָאַץ (na’ats) means “to condemn, spurn” (BDB 610 s.v.). Coats suggests that in some contexts the word means actual rejection or renunciation (Rebellion in the Wilderness, 146, 7). This would include the idea of distaste.

² tn The verb “to believe” (root אָמַן, ’aman) has the basic idea of support, dependability for the root. The Hiphil has a declarative sense, namely, to consider something reliable or dependable and to act on it. The people did not trust what the Lord said.

³ tc The Greek version has “death.”

⁴ sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.

⁵ tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”

⁶ tn Heb “in my ears.”

sn They had expressed the longing to have died in the wilderness, and not in war. God will now give them that. They would not say to God “your will be done,” so he says to them, “your will be done” (to borrow from C. S. Lewis).

⁷ tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).

⁸ tn The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.”

¹¹ tn Or “plunder.”

¹² tn Heb “know.”

¹³ tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.

¹⁴ tn Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods.

¹⁵ tn The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15; Deut 2:15.

¹⁶ tn Heb “you shall bear.”

¹⁷ tn The phrase refers to the consequences of open hostility to God, or perhaps abandonment of God. The noun תְּנוּאָה (tÿnu’ah) occurs in Job 33:10 (perhaps). The related verb occurs in Num 30:6 HT (30:5 ET) and 32:7 with the sense of “disallow, discourage.” The sense of the expression adopted in this translation comes from the meticulous study of R. Loewe, “Divine Frustration Exegetically Frustrated,” Words and Meanings, 137-58.