The Book Of Numbers

The Purpose and Structure of Numbers

This evening my purpose is to open to the book of numbers and it's twofold. I hope to show you a layout of the book. Look at some key themes so you can remember what this book is all about and as we do that I hope you can get a clearer picture of Christ and his work on our behalf in the book.

Now before I go there, I'd like us to turn to first Corinthians 10. Having said what my purpose is I want us to think about what the purpose of the book of numbers might be. So if you turn to first Corinthians 10, I want us to read a short passage before we get into numbers First Corinthians 10 beginning in verse 1 but I want you to know brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and All drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them and the rock was Christ. We're going to be seeing this event in numbers nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness and Here's the purpose now these things took place as Examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.

Do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 ,000 fell in a single day.

We're going to see both of these events in numbers. We must not put Christ to the test as Some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. We're going to see this event also in numbers now grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Now these things happen to them as an example, but they were written down for our Instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

Let us pray as we open God's Word a loving gracious holy and awesome God. May the words of my mouth Conform to the truth of your scriptures. May the meditations of our heart be informed By a Holy Spirit to apply these words and to be transformed Thereof in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. All right. So now you can turn to the book of Numbers and As you are turning to numbers, I just want to remind you. This is the fourth book in the Bible the last in spring we covered Genesis Exodus and Leviticus and for those of you who remember Long back what we touched upon.

It's important to have an awareness of the thread that happens before we look at numbers so in Genesis, we saw the layout of two big divisions Genesis 1 to 11 the big scheme of creation and the Origin and then from 12 to 50, which is this one person Abraham Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph and we saw four people there and in the first half we saw creation the fall.

We saw the flood and the Tower of Babel we saw these grand schemes that were laid out in God's good purposes that was Corrupted by man's fall and God's redemption right there in Genesis 3 and then through this one person Abraham how God was going to work out his salvation for the whole world and the end of Genesis is picked up with beginning of Exodus.

Exodus broke down into. Well, I told you there's a few ways we could break it down, but the way we did it was there were ten plagues there were ten commandments and There were ten articles in the tabernacle.

So we looked at those three major components of the book of Exodus and we saw how the Lord had grown this one family into a nation in Egypt and how through their slavery God was going to work out a Redemption and then that was going to bring these people from Egypt to the Promised Land.

So we saw the ten plagues of the power of God of Christ revealed. We saw the ten commandments of the law of God the holiness of God that only one person kept them faithfully and there was Christ and then we saw the Tabernacle of God dwelling in the midst of his people and how Jesus tabernacled in our midst.

Then we looked at the book of Leviticus and Leviticus was a little harder for us to break down. The way I recommended was we'll go to the center of the book Leviticus 16 where you have the Day of Atonement.

You know the central piece of how God provides for the entire nation and then we broke it down into three group three I call them ladders. So on either side, it's a chaostic book. So if you go down on either side you have the purity on Leading up to the Day of Atonement and following after your moral purity and ritual purity.

Then we had the priests the next level we see how priests were ordained and how what they were supposed to do. And then we came the first section I called it the practice really it was the sacrifices that were ordained in order to come up to God approach him acceptably and then we saw the Festivals that we were that were given to celebrate and remember what God had done and we saw in all of these Christ is our.

He's the means by which we can approach God he is the perfect sacrifice. He is our priest great high priest and he's the only one who is perfect in keeping all the law and with that with Leviticus Exodus and Leviticus we saw this in Exodus God brings the people out of Egypt and in Leviticus He provides for holiness of this people where he takes the Egypt out of The Israelites so he's purifying them.

And in fact in the beginning of the book of Numbers Let me just read verse 1 the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting in fact, we saw in the beginning of Leviticus God is speaking out from God is in the tent of meeting.

Moses cannot approach it and Leviticus is that means by which people can approach God and Commune with him because they now have the sacrificial system through which God God's holiness Can be met by sinful man and we saw how all of these pre figures the holiness the Work of Christ in the New Testament as these are symbols and shadows of what Christ would eventually fulfill now with that in mind How do we think of the book of Numbers?

How can we divide the book of Numbers? There's several ways to do it. I'm going to recommend one I'm gonna do it geographically. I know I didn't pronounce it, right? So the first Ten chapters are in the region of Mount Sinai and and then you have chapters 26 to 36 the last ten chapters in the plains of Moab as they are about to enter the promised land and between 11 to 25 this Journey in the wilderness is what we are going to be looking at.

In fact the book of Numbers when we think of numbers we think senses and there are two big senses that happen in one to four and then later. Which we will see the senses of the first generation and the senses of the second generation but that's not really the primary theme of the book the in the Septuagint and in the In the Latin it is called numbers, but in the Hebrew Old Testament it is called in the wilderness.

It is this time that the Israelites spend in the wilderness and it again comes from verse 1 in the wilderness of Sinai. If you were thinking, you know, I know the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness.

Where in the Bible does it talk about this is the book you want to come to because the first ten chapters. Talk about the first year that the Israelites spent when they left Egypt and they are in Mount Sinai.

They're hearing the law. They're going to celebrate the second Passover and then comes this real tragic time of journeying where there is sin and rebellion and judgment and God's mercy and then there is this repeat over and over again and You get to see the heart of the people in their desire for their own selfish Needs and Forsaking the God who has provided them so richly and God Preserves his holiness by bringing judgment but also protects and there is intercession and we're going to see how Christ is prefigured in the mediation of Moses and how God brings forth his people through these times of this wanderings in the wilderness right to the Across the Jordan ready to enter the promised land.

So we are looking at 37 38 years that are covered in the book of Numbers the bulk of the time and really not a lot of it is talked About you have the first ten chapters, which is like a year the last ten chapters, which is a couple of months.

They're looking there at Moab and then the middle is all the time and you just have some events from that that are captured for Us so we can see what how God dealt with his people. So another way to look at it is the first ten chapters.

You can see the obedience of God as a law of God is given and how they observe the rituals and then you get to see 11 to 25 the disobedience of the people of God and Then as they come to the plains of Moab.

You see the renewal of obedience of the people are getting prepared. The second generation is getting ready to move into the promised land. So with that, let's dive right into the first section in Mount Sinai chronologically.

Chapters 7 through 10 come before chapters 1 through 6. So just keep that in mind, but I'm going to go from chapter 1 and on. So right in chapter 1 we see that this is the Lord speaking to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and it gives you the time.

First day of the second month in the second year out. After they came out of the land of Egypt. So right here you have a year that has passed and In chapter 1 you have the command for the census and that's why the numbering the book is called numbers now.

The first census that happens here as you just tally all these numbers in chapter 1 comes to around 600 men. Excluding the Levites and if you just look at the total number. You're looking at 2 million plus people that are coming out of Egypt two years later.

And they are moving forward two and a half million one of the commentator says so that's the number of people that are gathered right? At the foot of Mount Sinai and among them you get to see the Levites.

How they are not to be numbered there are special people you will see how they are to be. The replacement for the firstborn there is a special way in which God has ordained the Levites. We saw in the book of Leviticus but in chapter 2 you get to see something very interesting how the camp is arranged right in the center of the camp is your Tabernacle and surrounding them is the Levites and then in almost like military formation you have three tribes on each of the north east west and south directions.

Judah being on the head and. There is the sense in which when you look at I mean I'm just thinking if you look aerially you could be seeing like you know here is this mighty army. You know in order and their center is not some great general pattern or someone.

This is God himself. Dwelling in their midst and the people can approach God favorably through the priesthood and the Levitical system. So they can just kind of saunter in and get incinerated. They have the Levites around the tabernacle and So with that if you look through the first few chapters, I just want you to skim through it.

You see the Levites then you see the priests the sons of Aaron you get the duties there and then in chapter 4 you have the Kohathites who are serving in the Tabernacle and then in chapters 5 and 6 you get to see some of the rituals that the Means to purity that God had provided for now.

Why do you think these things are listed here? God cares about how the people worship him. It is not about just going from journey A to B. It is about the people getting to know their God and learning to worship him.

Look at chapter 7 and here you get to see that the people bring forth from their From what they own the offerings to the tabernacle as it gets consecrated and this is why we think this is actually before Chapters 1 through 6 and then you have in chapter 9 the celebration of the Passover.

Let me just read that the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year. After they had come out of the land of Egypt. Saying let the people of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed time on the 14th day of this month at Twilight you shall keep it at its appointed time.

According to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it. So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover and verse 5. This is what the people did you remember in the book of Leviticus?

You have the festivals and Passover is one of them and Exodus showed this demonstration of the power of God as the angel of death passed over and destroyed all the firstborn except Those who had blood on the lintels they had to have this lamb that was slain and the blood posted over and that was the means of redemption for the people that their firstborns would not die.

And as we know this prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf and this annual celebration of the Passover where they remember what God has done as They remember the provision that God has made for them.

Our needs to be Central in their worship of their God and it needs to be the central. It needs to be central as we remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Now Pastor Mike read this and I just want to just point you to this this morning the Aaronic blessing in chapter 6 if we just Go back to chapter 6 verses 22 to 27.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to Aaron and his son saying thus you shall bless the people of Israel. You shall say to them the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So they shall put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them. We have a God who is a covenant-keeping God and the means by which he can bless us where he can grant us his peace is Through the work of Jesus Christ.

And in fact, this is one of the oldest Texts that we have in the manuscripts. It's a silver scroll from The time of David which is thousand BC and we have a copy of that much older than most of the other manuscripts That we have of the Old Testament.

The Cloud, the Camp, and Ordered Worship at Sinai

Now 1 through 10, we see the people at the base camp as it were but when you come to chapter 10 The people are now getting ready to leave. So look at verse 11 of chapter 10 in the second year in the second month on the 20th day of the month the cloud Lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony.

Let me just back up a bit in the in chapter 9 I missed this section chapter 9 verse 15 on the day The tabernacle was set up the cloud covered the tabernacle the tent of the testimony at evening. It was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning so it was always the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night and Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent after that the people of Israel set out.

And in the place where the cloud settled down there the people of Israel camped at the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out and at the command of the Lord they camped and as long as The cloud rested over the tabernacle.

They remained in the camp. So the Instruction for the movement of the people was not some general finding out what needs to be done. You know, is the is the conditions good for us to go? It is God himself directing them by moving and the people were to follow.

Now the first ten chapters of the people are in Sinai in Exodus. We saw some of the troubles they had you remember when the law was given people were worshipping a golden calf. But as they start to move from Sinai the troubles start to compound.

In fact, the wilderness journey is the second section that we're getting into you can just see them as a series of troubles chapter 11 Chapter 12 chapter 13 chapter 14 chapter 16. It is just one thing after the other as the people Do not look up to their God the God who has rescued them powerfully from Egypt who is providing for them, but instead Show a heart of unbelief what we saw in first Corinthians 10.

So with that in mind, let's look at chapter 11 the first trouble and the first problem. That they face chapter 11 verse 1 the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes and When the Lord heard it his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

Then the people cried out to Moses and Moses prayed interceded to the Lord and the fire died down. So the name of the place was called Tabera because the fire of the Lord burned among them. Here are people traveling through the wilderness they see.

They are discontent with what they meet and they complain against God. You've heard pastor Mike talk about this, you know, there's gungus mess. There's murmurings this complainings. They just are Dissatisfied with their lot that God has provided for them.

They are constantly Looking back at Egypt and saying oh how good things were back there. Forgetting that they were slaves and oppression had cried for deliverance from God and God had redeemed them powerfully by showing his hand his power and rescuing them and just a year has passed and the people forget the goodness of God and instead are consumed by The problems that they face and God judges it by his holiness and then you see in verse 2 Moses prayed to the Lord and this is going to be a Repetitive theme in the book of Numbers.

You're going to see over and over again. These are people who are going to be sinning and they're going to face the judgment of God and then you get to see the gracious intercession of Moses their mediator.

In fact in the next book we are going to be looking at another prophet like Moses who is to come and he is the Great mediator Jesus Christ. He is the one who intercedes on our behalf to the father because he has propitiated the wrath of God he has assuaged God's wrath by taking the fire that was rightly due to us and Satisfying God's wrath against sin our sin by dying on the cross on our behalf.

But you look at verses 1 to 3 and you would think oh, okay. The people have seen their camps in fire and they would change but no that's not the case was for now the rabble That was among them had a strong craving and the people of all Israel also wept again and said Oh that we had meat to eat verse 5.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing the cucumbers the melons the leeks the onions and the garlic. We would seem almost humorous to think of what these people were asking for. But now our strength is dried up and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.

Now the manna was like coriander seed and its appearance was like dillium. You remember manna when God provided for it, they didn't have to work for it. They just had to wake up in the morning go outside the tent everything that they needed was there.

They just had to gather as much as they could eat come prepare and eat. They could prepare it in a number of different ways, but a year has gone by where God has been faithful day in and day out and The people say nothing at all.

But manna in John chapter 6 when people looked at Jesus and Jesus said I am the bread that has come down from heaven. He says that in response to the people saying what sign will you do our fathers ate manna in heaven this is the kind of fathers that their first century Israelites had and This is the kind of fathers That we need to remember and be warned of because they are given as examples to us.

They had this great provision of God and they said no, I want my leeks and my onions and That exposes the heart of these people really it's not a question of you know. Did I like a different taste but it is am I content with what God has provided or am I going to go?

Seeking and craving for those things of the flesh that war against the providence of God that has been so rich and merciful and and and powerful in my life and today as Christians we could look back at Jesus Christ and say, you know, Jesus is the bread of Who has come down from heaven?

He has satisfied all my needs or I can say Jesus good. He's died for my sin, but I Crave for Fill in the blank. What is it that your life craves for today if Christ does not satisfy you you're showing a heart of Unbelief see what happens to these people.

So these people When Moses was 10 heard the people weeping the anger of the Lord blazed hotly and Moses was displeased and you get to see that God is not Just winking at this sin of these people when they are Rejecting the God who has provided for them now in verse 16 God actually Helps Moses in sharing this burden by giving them giving 70 elders to Minister with him, but I want you to go down a little bit and see verse 18 God says to Moses say to the people Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat.

For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying who will give us meat to eat for it is better for us in Egypt therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day or two days or five days.

Or ten days or twenty days, but a whole month until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes Loathsome to you because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and I wept before him saying why? Did we come out of Egypt.

And if you just continue reading the passage is just like Moses who knows God who has stood in the rock and seen his glory pass by he's like Lord. We are in the wilderness Whole month, how do you how do you do these things.

And look at God's response in verse 23 is the Lord's hand shortened. Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not. And so Moses goes out tells the people and We get to see what happens in Verse 31 a wind from the Lord sprang up and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside this.

Beside the camp about a day's journey on its side and a day's journey on the other side around the camp about two Cubits above the ground. Imagine that you have to wade through these quails. To get through it the people rose all the day all the night and all the next day and gathered the quail.

Those who gathered least gathered ten homers and they spread them out among themselves all around the camp. Is this a blessing? Or is it a curse? Where's 33 while the meat was yet between their teeth before it was consumed.

The anger of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord struck down the people with a great plague. You're gonna be seeing events like this through the book of Numbers there are going to be things that You'd be thinking.

Oh, you know, the people just asked for food and God was so gracious to give the food and then BAM Judgment there was there was death in the camp and there is death filling the books the pages of Numbers and You need to be very careful when you're reading this in this particular event.

It says clearly what the problems of the people was. We saw that in verse 10 the anger of the Lord burned Blazed hotly because these people had rebelled against God and it is explicitly laid out. It won't be always laid out in all the different events that we are going to be seeing in some cases you will just see them do something and you'll see God's anger come back and You need to be asking yourself How am I reading these texts in this particular text it exposes the heart of unbelief a Rejection of this good and benevolent God that was in their midst and God while providing for their craving Showcases that there is a he is a holy God and not want to be trifled with and he will judge unrighteousness and wickedness in the camp.

And there's going to be other places and I'm going to point them out to you. You need to remember that our God is a holy God a God is a God of justice. He is not a capricious God. He does exactly according to what his holiness Dictates so when you look at these people asking for things what you should be Saying is it's not that they needed meat.

But they needed faith in the one who provides their meat. These were not people who said Well, thank you Lord. These are people who just ran out two days Continuously just like meat meat meat. They had rejected the God.

They had not given thanks to the God who is the God who provides for them and you and I need to be very careful. When we look at the trials and troubles that we go through there are times when there are genuine need.

Maybe there is no meat. There is no food. You want to ask God for food, but ask not by Demanding how dare God do this and place you in the circumstance, but come with prayer and supplication. But Thanksgiving, I don't see any Thanksgiving in chapter 11.

We want to come before God Seeking him as our father the one who has rescued us out of Egypt the one who has saved us from sin and hell and damnation. Who provides us for all things in Jesus Christ and when he provides we don't want to be just going off and celebrating The provision, but we want to be celebrating the one who provides for all our needs in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So here in chapter 11 what ought to have been a celebration of the miracle of God and providing in the wilderness turns into a Condemnation of the people. Chapter 12 you think oh, it was just the rabble who do these types of things.

No, you have Miriam and Aaron demanding that Moses was at Lauding it over them and God has to come down and I'm going to just read one verse from here. So you can see what happens a couple of verses so Verse 2 of chapter 12.

They said has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses has he not spoken through us also and The Lord heard it be very careful when you go against those whom God has placed an authority if you look at verse 9 and 10 the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed when the cloud removed from over the tent behold Miriam was leprous like snow and Aaron turned toward Miriam and behold she was leprous.

Aaron said to Moses. Oh my lord. Do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned and Then in verse 13 Moses cried to the Lord. Oh God, please heal her. Please you can just see the tender Affection that Moses has for the for his brother and sister and The Lord said to Moses if her father had but spit in her face.

Should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days and after that she may be brought in again. So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days. The people did not set out on the march until Miriam was brought in again.

I want you to be thinking about two things in chapter 11 you have the rabble those who have unbelief who are not believers who are in the camp and they need to be dealt with and this is judgment and You have Miriam and Aaron Who have been serving.

Aaron's been ordained as the priest and he too Struggles with sin. On the one hand there is judgment and condemnation and on the other hand you have chastisement for Miriam. There's Miriam. Enter the promised land.

We're gonna see it does Moses enter the promised land. We need to be very careful when we think about what it is that God does to his people. While we are on this pilgrimage this journey while we are here on this side of eternity while we go up into heaven We are going to be.

We are redeemed not because we Defeated the king of Egypt and the Pharaoh and got out. We are justified by the finished work of Christ. We are Transformed into the image of Christ as God works in us and transforms us.

Yeah the Levitical priest the Levitical sacrifices that were there in the book of Leviticus they were Meant to remind people of the holiness of God to approach him acceptably through the sacrifice and today as we are in Christ We remember that God has already done the work on our behalf.

We remember that we have a holy God, but we have a holy Intercessor on our behalf. He has provided the sacrifice and he is mediating on our behalf. And when we sin he our God is not a God who just lets us go, but he chastises.

He brings us back to him and we are going to see both Moses Miriam and Aaron and even Moses how the Lord works in their life before They reach the promised land. But chapter 12 is this next trial and chapter 13 comes to this tragic event of the spies.

You all know the story very well. There are 12 spies one from each of the tribes. Each of the 12 tribes they are asked to go into the land Scouted and bring back a report of what is out there before they are to go.

In fact, I want you to just notice one thing in verse 1 and 2 the Lord spoke to Moses saying Send men to spy out to the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. So it's a Lord's command that these people go out.

These people go out spend 40 days Scouting the land they come back in what is a report that they give? At the end of 40 days verse 25 they return from spying out the land. They brought back word to a Moses and Aaron and to the congregation showed them the fruit of the land.

They told him We come to the land to which we came to the land to which you sent us it flows with milk and honey and this is Its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large.

Besides we saw the descendants of Anak there. Is that all true? Yes, indeed. This is exactly what they saw. Nothing sinful in what they just said. Verse 30 Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and occupy it for we are well able to Overcome it and this is where the sin is in verse 31.

The men who had gone up with him said we are not able to go up against these people. Why for they are stronger than we are? So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out saying the land through which we have Gone out gone to spy it out is a land which devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw in it are of great height.

We saw the Nephilim the sons of Anak who came from Nephilim. We seem to ourselves like grasshoppers and so we seemed to them so here through the eyes of the flesh. They saw their trials the the what lay before them and they had forgotten that the God in the beginning of chapter 13 had said This is the land that I give I am giving to the people of Israel.

It is the God who had rescued them out of Egypt who is promising him and promising them this land this Impossible land to get into because they had a God who was mightier than everything else that they saw but they would see through the eyes of flesh rather than the eyes of faith trusting in the God who said he would provide and then in the Beginning in the first half of chapter 14 is this tragic tragic?

Situation where you have all the congregation crying out loudly and they rebel against Moses and Aaron they say, you know what? Forget this. We're gonna just get another leader and get back to Egypt. We're done with this exercise we'd rather go back and Listen to what they say in verse 3.

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword our wives and our little ones will become prey? Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt and that's when they decide to choose a leader and go back.

No matter Moses Aaron Joshua they try to convince the people but there is no convincing. They've made up their mind and And they want to go back but I want you to look at What God says in verses 11 and 12.

He is displeased with what they have done and he is ready to Disinherit them and there you have once again the Intercession of Moses and what does Moses say verse 18? This is who the Lord is. The Lord is slow to anger abounding in steadfast love For giving iniquity and transgression and then in verse 19, please pardon the iniquity of these people and verse 20 I have pardoned but as I live the earth will be filled with the glory and Look at verse 22.

None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet have put me to the test these ten times have not obeyed my voice shall see the land that I swore to their fathers and He allows for Joe Joshua and Caleb and then In verse 28 as I live says the Lord what you have said in my hearing I will do to you.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness and of all your number. Listed in the census from 20 years old and upward who have grumbled against me no one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell except Caleb the son of Japheth and Joshua the son of Nun and verse 31.

But your little ones whom you said will become a prey I will bring in and they will know the land that you have Rejected but as for you your dead bodies shall fall in the wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness 40 years and shall suffer for your faithlessness.

Until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of days in which you spied out the land 40 days a year for each day. You shall bear your iniquity 40 years and you shall know my displeasure.

The people said by our by our arm we cannot Accomplish what is there? They had forgotten that they have a God who has rescued them who had promised them that he will take them into the promised land. They did not trust in the God who said he will do what he has promised and they said this is what we fear.

If we go we will die and so will our children and God says here is your judgment according to your word. Will it be to you you shall die in the wilderness, but your children whom you said Will perish.