Meditate

Numbers 14

14. People Rebel

The People Rebel

14

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.²And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!³Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”⁴So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.⁶And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes⁷and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land.⁸If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.⁹Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”¹⁰But the whole congregation threatened to stone them.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.¹¹And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?¹²I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Moses Intercedes for the People

¹³ But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them,¹⁴and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.¹⁵Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say,¹⁶‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’¹⁷And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,

18

‘The Lord is slow to anger,

and abounding in steadfast love,

forgiving iniquity and transgression,

but by no means clearing the guilty,

visiting the iniquity of the parents

upon the children

to the third and the fourth generation.’

¹⁹ Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked;²¹nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—²²none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,²³shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it.²⁴But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.²⁵Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”

An Attempted Invasion is Repulsed

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:²⁷How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me.²⁸Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say:²⁹your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness; and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,³⁰not one of you shall come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.³¹But your little ones, who you said would become booty, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.³³And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.³⁴According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.”³⁵I the Lord have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.

³⁶ And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land—³⁷the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the Lord.³⁸But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.

³⁹ When Moses told these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly.⁴⁰They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”⁴¹But Moses said, “Why do you continue to transgress the command of the Lord? That will not succeed.⁴²Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies.⁴³For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, had not left the camp.⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.

1 Corinthians 12:21-26

12. Spiritual Gifts

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,²³and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;²⁴whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,²⁵that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Psalm 119:129-144

119. Psalm 119

129

Your decrees are wonderful;

therefore my soul keeps them.

130

The unfolding of your words gives light;

it imparts understanding to the simple.

131

With open mouth I pant,

because I long for your commandments.

132

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

as is your custom toward those who love your name.

133

Keep my steps steady according to your promise,

and never let iniquity have dominion over me.

134

Redeem me from human oppression,

that I may keep your precepts.

135

Make your face shine upon your servant,

and teach me your statutes.

136

My eyes shed streams of tears

because your law is not kept.

 

137

You are righteous, O Lord,

and your judgments are right.

138

You have appointed your decrees in righteousness

and in all faithfulness.

139

My zeal consumes me

because my foes forget your words.

140

Your promise is well tried,

and your servant loves it.

141

I am small and despised,

yet I do not forget your precepts.

142

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,

and your law is the truth.

143

Trouble and anguish have come upon me,

but your commandments are my delight.

144

Your decrees are righteous forever;

give me understanding that I may live.