Shannon Armstrong
Interpretive Paper 1
GBST 103-B01
In Numbers chapter 14, we are given the account of why God cursed the Israelites to 40
years of wandering in the wilderness instead of inhabiting the land of Canaan who God delivered
them out of Egypt. But before we can understand the why, we have to know how they came to be
cursed. In Numbers Ch. 13, Moses sends 12 men to explore the land and bring back a report of it.
After spending 40 days traveling throughout Canaan, the men come back and tell the Israelites
what they discovered. It was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey as the LORD had
promised. It also was inhabited by the Amalekites, Hitties, Jebusites, and Amorites, as well as
having large and fortified cities. [Bib13] Two of the men, Caleb and Joshua, encouraged the
people to trust God and take the land, but the other 10 feared the people living there and
discouraged the people by spreading lies and discord. The Israelites had forgotten how God had
delivered them from Pharaoh not once but twice, when He brought them out of Egypt and at the
Red Sea. They didn’t take into account the fact God had fed them with manna and gave them
water from the rock, and had seen His glory at the foot of the mountain. Despite all the wonders
they had witnessed and provision God had given them, they still didn’t believe the promise of
God to give them victory over their enemies. As a result the Israelites accused God of bringing
them and their children out of Egypt to die in the wilderness and thought it would be better to go
back. It was because of this disbelief and lack of faith that God cursed them to 40 years in the
wilderness, one year for each day spent exploring Canaan.
Numbers 23:19 says “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he
should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not
fulfill?”[Bib15]. What’s important about this curse is that even though they had angered God and
He gave them their desire, He still had compassion on them. He remembered His promise to
Shannon Armstrong
Interpretive Paper 1
GBST 103-B01
Abraham so instead of killing everyone, He spared the children under 20 years old. This was
because He didn’t want any of the old ways of thinking to enter into the Promised Land. God
wanted to be sure that the Israelites who entered would trust Him completely. God’s oaths are
binding and He is obligated to fulfill them; however that doesn’t mean He won’t have mercy on
His people.
Now that we are no longer under the law but under grace, we as the church have to be
very careful not to allow disbelief or evil thoughts cause us to not trust God’s word. Instead we
should be encouraging each other and helping our brother and sister to remain faithful to the
work and call of Christ. As the body of Christ, we do not need to discourage anyone, rather we
should be uplifting them and reminding them of how God has provided in the past.
As a Christian, I was deeply convicted while writing this paper. Too many times I’ve
complained and blamed God for not being who I thought He should be or doing what I wanted
Him to do based on my situation. With all the stuff happening in the world today, it is easy to get
caught up in what we see and think that God has forgotten us. But this text reminded me that that
isn’t the case. As Matthew Henry stated “He comforts those who not only set out well, but hold
on well, and hold out to the end”[Hen15], meaning if we hold on to our faith and continue to
believe God’s promises to us while we are going through difficult times, we can be assured that
we will see the promise come to pass. We can’t be like the Israelites and trust God only when
things are going good. We have to trust Him at all times, no matter what we may feel.
Shannon Armstrong
Interpretive Paper 1
GBST 103-B01
Bibliography
Bible, NIV & King James Parallel Study. Numbers Ch. 13:26-29. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible.
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/hebrews/3.html (accessed
Feb. 1, 2015).
"Numbers Ch. 13." Biblehub.com. http://biblehub.com/numbers/23-19.htm (accessed Feb. 2, 2015).
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