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You Will Not Be Led -8- All but Two
Joshua & Caleb

Observe carefully those faithful to the LORD and also leaders faithful to Moses. Then listen to the grumbling rabble of the disobedient and see a stark contrast.

Two faithful successors stand out because these contemporaries of Moses (who began this forty year exodus at age 80) stood faithfully with the LORD’s anointed leader: Joshua and Caleb.

So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water so that we may drink!” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”
Joshua did just as Moses told him..
Exodus 17:2, 10a NASB2020

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,
“We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.”
Numbers {In The Wilderness} 13:30 NASB2020

You Will Not Be Led into the Promised Land

We could have begun our pilgrimage much earlier than Noah.

“I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Genesis 9:11

Even though Abraham was far from sinless, the Books of Moses follow his blessings and covenants with the LORD.

As we approached the Promised Land we noted the disobedience of Lot’s wife, sin in the cities pervasive beyond the Jordan near the Dead Sea.

And it would seem that Moses, the LORD’s chosen leader in the wilderness encounters nothing but complaint, disobedience and sin by the ‘chosen’ now stranded in the desert.

While journeying from Mount Sinai to the promised land, although mention is made of important events delaying the Hebrews in the wilderness, I have not dwelled on an important consequence of disobedience we suppose to be just part of the Hebrew journey —

40 YEARS! in the wilderness

Numbers: [Bamidbar] 13:

25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh..

.. “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there!

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel…

Numbers 14:

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes…

10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel…

Moses then pleads for their lives

¹¹And the Lord said, “.. I will strike them with plague and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people up from their midst…

19 .. Please forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” So the Lord said,

“I have forgiven them in accordance with your word..”

וְאוּלָם חַי־אָנִי וְיִמָּלֵא כְבוֹד־יְהוָה אֶת־כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
Numbers 14:21 KJV

Therefore – your punishment!

14:22 כִּי כָל־הָאֲנָשִׁים הָרֹאִים אֶת־כְּבֹדִי וְאֶת־אֹתֹתַי אֲשֶׁר־עָשִׂיתִי בְמִצְרַיִם וּבַמִּדְבָּר וַיְנַסּוּ אֹתִי זֶה עֶשֶׂר פְּעָמִים וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹלִֽי׃
- Because all those men which have seen my glory [kāḇôḏ],
- and my miracles [ôṯ], which I did in Egypt
- and in the wilderness,
- and have tempted [nāsâ]me now these ten times,
  - (i.e. [10 X] they would NOT be led by the LORD!)
- and have not hearkened [šāmaʿ– shaw-mah’ ] to my voice…
shâmaʻ, shaw-mah’ – שָׁמַע

Strong’s Definitions – H8085 matches the Hebrew שָׁמַע (šāmaʿ), which occurs 1,169 times in 1,072 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the NASB

to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.):—× attentively, call (gather) together, × carefully, × certainly, consent, consider, be content, declare, × diligently, discern, give ear, (cause to, let, make to) hear(-ken, tell), × indeed, listen, make (a) noise, (be) obedient, obey, perceive, (make a) proclaim(-ation), publish, regard, report, shew (forth), (make a) sound, × surely, tell, understand, whosoever (heareth), witness.

Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Numbers 14:23 KJV

A spirit of obedience perseveres

24 But as for My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it…
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We read the following previously in "You Will Not Be Led."
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26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying,

27 “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are voicing against Me.

28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you;

‘your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness,’

‘all your numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me…’

31 ‘Your children, however,

whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in,

and they will know the land which you have rejected.

But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.”

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
Numbers 14:33 KJV
Why 40 Years?

The distance from Mount Sinai to the place where the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the promised land is about 400 kilometers or only about 250 miles.

‘In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your [fn]guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition.
Numbers 14:34 NASB2020
The Rabble React

39 Now when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly…

41 But Moses said, “Why then are you violating the command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies.

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up unto the hill top.. (while Moses and the Ark of the Covenant remained) .. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites .. struck them and scattered them…

After Forty YEARS!

Deuteronomy 9:

Shema, Yisroel: Thou art to pass over Yarden today, to go in to possess Goyim greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and walled up to Shomayim
Devarim 9:1 Orthodox Jewish Bible

Hear, O Israel: You are crossing the Jordan today…3 Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God

is he which goeth over before thee;

as a consuming fire he shall destroy them,

and he shall bring them down before thy face:

so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly,

as the Lord hath said unto thee.

a few REMINDERS:
- 4 “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them away from you,
  - ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to take possession of this land.’
  - Rather, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.
- 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to take possession of their land,
  - but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out from before you,
  - and in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 “Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

.. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin.

Do YOU turn with the 10 against the Lord in the Wilderness?

And they said to Joshua, “The LORD has indeed handed over to us all the land; furthermore, all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of us.” -Joshua 2:24

OR do you follow His leadership like Joshua & Caleb?
March 19, 2021
You Will Not Be Led -7- Korah’s Rebellion
מִדְבָּר

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.
Numbers 14:18 CSB

Numbers 15: Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them,

‘When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you, then make an offering by fire to the Lord..

32 Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day… 35 Then the Lord said to Moses,

“The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”

complaint of bread from heaven

Do you recall their disobedience during the days of Manna In The Wilderness?

IF you have been following ALL of the disobedience of this people you know this is NOT the first death in the wilderness for disobedience. We can easily look back upon violation after violation of the Commandment and instructions by THE LORD our GOD!

Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field..” Yet it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?”
Exodus 16:25,27-28 NASB20

Korah’s Rebellion

Now Korah .. the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, .. sons of Reuben, took action, and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.

A coup of 250 leaders of the nation sought to appoint their own Levite Priest (Korah) to lead the Nation whatever way they wanted.

3 They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst..

Moses, Israel’s leader anointed by the LORD & Aaron, Israel’s anointed Priest of the Tabernacle now confronted by 250 men of an opposing party. They oppose the LORD and have an agenda of their own.

Do you remember when?

3000 Deaths – Punishment by the LORD!

‘The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people.’
Exodus 32:28

REMEMBER the VOTE about entering the ‘Promised Land?”‘

MOSES lost that vote:
- 10 Leaders AGAINST;
- only Joshua & Caleb FOR.
They had feared the LORD briefly, so they sent Moses to Sinai to Represent them before the Lord God! Then they appointed 120 Elders from the twelve parties (tribes) representing a remnant rabble of redeemed slaves through the wilderness.

Now the MAJORITY brings a force of 250 against just Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, and unnamed loyal followers of the LORD!
The LORD will Prevail

And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. – Lev. 10:2
Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the ears of the LORD; and the LORD heard them and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some at the outskirts of the camp. – Numbers 11:1 Rabble & Rebellion
Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. – Numbers 16:35
WE remember so easily miracles and blessings by the LORD of us, yet how easily we forget our promises to Him and punishments for breaking Commandment, instruction or promise.
Roger @ talk of Jesus {dot}.com

In the Wilderness 16: continued

4 And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: and he spoke to Korah and all his group, saying,

“Tomorrow morning the Lord will make known who is His, and who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself;

indeed, the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself..

.. You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

.. He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? But are you seeking the priesthood as well?

12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up:

Insolence against the LORD!

The answer of Dathan and Abiram to Moses points back to Egypt and their former life in slavery to Pharaoh!

13 Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey.. to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also appoint yourself as master over us?

Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey..

Recall that these were among the 10 who voted against Moses and Joshua and Caleb for continuing into the promised land of the LORD.

.. nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

The LORD instructs Moses to send for them. After receiving their reply, as Korah and the others had gathered before the LORD as instructed by Moses, he replies to the conspirators.

15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord,

“Pay no attention to their offering! I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your group be present before the Lord tomorrow, you and they along with Aaron. And each of you take his censer and put incense on it, and each of you bring his censer before the Lord, 250 censers; also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.”

The Glory of the LORD consumes His enemies!

19 So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation..

²¹“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so that I may consume them instantly.” ..

26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying,

Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their’s, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

30 But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with everything that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have been disrespectful to the Lord.”

Death penalty!

31 Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions.

They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
Numbers 16:33 CSB

34 At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too!”

35 And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense…

And yet another reminder

38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel..

40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses.

They murmured against the LORD’s punishment

41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron..

DO YOU MURMUR AGAINST THE LORD OR LEADERSHIP OF YOUR CHURCH?

Strong’s Definitions H3885
לוּן lûwn, loon; or לִין lîyn; a primitive root;
- to stop (usually over night);
- by implication, to stay permanently; hence (in a bad sense)
  - to be obstinate (especially in words, to complain):—abide (all night), continue, dwell, endure, grudge, be left, lie all night, (cause to) lodge (all night, in, -ing, this night),
  - (make to) murmur, remain, tarry (all night, that night).
Don’t WE tend to look back on what the Lord or our pastor did to us?
- Exo 15:24 So the people grumbled H3885 at Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
- Exo 16:2 But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled H3885 against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
- Exo 17:3 But the people were thirsty for water there; and they grumbled H3885 against Moses and said, “Why is it that you have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
“And it will come about that the staff of the man whom I choose will sprout. So I will relieve Myself of the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling H3885 against you.”
Numbers 17:5

Who will survive the Wilderness?

Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.
Numbers 16:45a KJV

For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
Deuteronomy 5:26 KJV

Some would not be led into the promised land. We who have known the great blessings of the Lord our God have seldom recalled the warnings to those who did not obey Almighty God.

NEXT: In the conclusion of this series we will look to the example of Joshua in the wilderness and upon entry into the promised land.
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To be continued... 
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March 17, 2021
You Will Not Be Led -6- Rabble & Rebellion
Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out.
Numbers 9:22 NASB95

From Exodus to Obedience

Previously in You Will Not Be Led -5- Disobedience to Witness we left the rabble who had uncovered their nakedness before their enemies by their idolatry SLAIN by the sword of the Levites ordered by Moses and the LORD.

Moses once again ascends Sinai and receives detailed instructions from the LORD for completing the Tabernacle containing the ark of the testimony. (In the next book {Vayikra (Leviticus)}of five, the LORD provides many instructions for the Levite Priests for worship and application of the LAW.)

Now we journey further with the Hebrews in the wilderness.

Numbers: מִדְבָּר

9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed: they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10: In the Second Year..

11 Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony..

33 Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord journeying in front of them..

כִּ֚י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֵ֥שׁ אֹכְלָ֖ה ה֑וּא אֵ֖ל קַנָּֽא׃ פ
For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24 WLC, KJV

the fire of the Lord burnt among them

Numbers 11:

Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
- Are YOU like that?
- Do you know some of your church who tend to complain at every adversity?
  - Pastor, WHY has GOD brought this on ME?
2 The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out.

3 .. the fire of the Lord burned among them.

The rabble who were among them had greedy desires;
and also the sons of Israel wept again and said,
“Who will give us meat to eat?
Numbers 11:4 NASB95

5 We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”

What is it?

We want to make our people great again, as we were before.

If you want to be our leader, give US something FREE! (for the LORD doesn’t give US anything and WE THE PEOPLE deserve more.) Sound familiar — perhaps even contemporary?

18 Say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying,

“Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat…

19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days.. but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the Lord who is among you ..”

21 But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot..

(and Moses asks how he will feed them)

31 A wind sent by the Lord came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet off the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction. The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels—and they spread them out all around the camp.

33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague…

More murmuring from leaders

Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married..

12:9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow..

Debate on the Hill

13 וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃

2 שְׁלַח־לְךָ֣ אֲנָשִׁ֗ים וְיָתֻ֙רוּ֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֥י נֹתֵ֖ן לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִ֣ישׁ אֶחָד֩ אִ֨ישׁ אֶחָ֜ד לְמַטֵּ֤ה אֲבֹתָיו֙ תִּשְׁלָ֔חוּ כֹּ֖ל נָשִׂ֥יא בָהֶֽם׃

3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel..

25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation…

FOR: 2

AGAINST: 10

The plan of the LORD is defeated.

13:32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel…

Numbers 14:

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

.. 4 So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” ..

10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

נָאַץ

The LORD said to Moses,
“How long will these people despise me?
How long will they not trust in me despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:11 CSB
- despise (8x), provoke (5x), abhor (4x), blaspheme (4x), contemn (2x), flourish (1x), great occasion to blaspheme (1x)
- How long will this people provoke me? – KJV
- “How long will these people reject Me? – NKJV
- “How long will these people treat me with contempt? – NLT
- “How long will this people spurn Me? -NASB95
- :וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה עַד־אָ֥נָה יְנַאֲצֻ֖נִי – WLC
“Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
from the prayer of mōšê to yᵊhōvâ in the wilderness 14:19 NASB95
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To be continued...

{Yes, in this this post on pg. 2 
we will continue with Korah's rebellion; but as you can see
Moses encountered much opposition to the LORD in a short time in the wilderness in leading a majority of rebellious people who did NOT want to obey God.}

Can you wait to hear where the Lord will lead?
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March 10, 2021