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Numbers 14 Bible study: They weren't able to enter in
The people wished they had died in the wilderness (14:2), and the LORD answered, "as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you" (14:28); the little ones they feared for were the ones he would bring in (14:31). Moses prayed the LORD's own words back to him and he pardoned (14:18-20), yet Hebrews says "they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19).
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“Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”
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“In Numbers 14, the people wish they had died in the wilderness, and the LORD says, "as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you."”
Is that in Numbers 14, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"As you have spoken in my ears"
The people's wish has two halves: "We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!" (14:2). The LORD answers the second half with their own words: "surely as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness" (14:28-29). Their fear comes back to them too. They said, "Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed!" (14:3), and the LORD says, "I will bring in your little ones that you said should be captured or killed, and they shall know the land which you have rejected" (14:31). The ones they feared for are the ones he says he will bring in.
Where it leads to Jesus
Whose bodies fell in the wilderness
Numbers 14:29leads toHebrews 3:17-19
The LORD asked, "How long will they not believe in me" (14:11), and said, "Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness" (14:29). Hebrews tells the same people's story to its readers: "With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?" (Hebrews 3:17), "To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?" (Hebrews 3:18), and "We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). It names them as "all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses" (Hebrews 3:16). Just before, it tells its readers, "we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end" (Hebrews 3:14), and it began by asking them to "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 14
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 14 is waiting in Favor
- What the LORD calls it
- Pardoned, and forty years
- Going up without the LORD
- Moses prays again
- How the rest of the Bible tells it
- Hormah, twice
- 15 questions as you read
- 9 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Numbers 14 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
סָלַחsalachsay sa-LACH
Strong's: "to forgive". Brown-Driver-Briggs: "forgive, pardon". Moses asks, "Please pardon the iniquity of this people" (14:19), and the LORD answers with the same verb, "I have pardoned according to your word" (14:20). Its first use in the Hebrew Bible was Moses' prayer after the calf: "pardon our iniquity and our sin" (Exodus 34:9). This is where Numbers first uses it. Through Jeremiah the LORD promises a new covenant, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).
For your group
Numbers 14 Bible study questions
- 1Joshua and Caleb saw the same land and the same people as the others, and said, "the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them" (14:7-9). What is in front of you right now that looks too big, and what would it look like to see it the way they did?
- 2The people's fear was for their little ones (14:3), and those were the very ones the LORD brought in (14:31). Is there someone you love that you're afraid for? How could you bring that fear to God this week?
- 3The people said, "we have sinned", and then went up anyway, without the LORD (14:40-44). When have you tried to put a wrong right in your own way instead of listening to what God said?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 14 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home