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| 1 And the whole assembly lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. |
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| 2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole assembly said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness would that we had died! |
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| 3 And why is Jehovah bringing us to this land that we may fall by the sword, that our wives and our little ones may become a prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? |
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| 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt. |
Return into Egypt – To the world. R1842:6
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| 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the whole congregation of the assembly of the children of Israel. |
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| 6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of them that searched out the land, rent their garments. |
And Joshua – Meaning "Deliverer of his people"; type of Jesus. A79; R3064:5
And Caleb – Meaning "Dog"; type of the Church, chiefly composed of the poor of this world. R3064:5
Searched the land – Joshua toured the entire country, some 300 miles; while Caleb's group only went as far as Hebron. R4045:3
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| 7 And they spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it out, is a very, very good land. |
The land – Canaan, type of the rest of faith. R5345:4; T25
Canaan represents the conflict conditions of the trial-state. F130
"We who believe do enter into rest" in proportion to our exercise of faith. (Heb. 4:3) R5345:5
It is proper to speak of an earthly and a heavenly Canaan. R3945:2
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| 8 If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us, a land that flows with milk and honey; |
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| 9 only rebel not against Jehovah; and fear not the people of the land; for they shall be our food. Their defence is departed from them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not. |
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| 10 And the whole assembly said that they should be stoned with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting to all the children of Israel. |
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| 11 And Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe me, for all the signs which I have done among them? |
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| 12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. |
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| 13 And Moses said to Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it; for in thy might thou broughtest up this people from the midst of them; |
And Moses – Being more mindful of the Lord's honor than his own. R1842:3
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| 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land, who have heard that thou, Jehovah, art in the midst of this people, that thou, Jehovah, lettest thyself be seen eye to eye, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; |
Thy cloud – Manifestation of divine power and presence. They stopped with the cloud and journeyed when it moved. R5387:5
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| 15 if thou now slayest this people as one man, then the nations that have heard thy fame will speak, saying, |
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| 16 Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land that he had sworn unto them, he has therefore slain them in the wilderness. |
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| 17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, |
The power of my Lord – Pray, pleading God's glory. R5380:6*
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| 18 Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in goodness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generation2. |
By no means – He has, however, provided a way by which he can be just and yet justify and release justly condemned sinners. This one just way is through Christ. HG308:5
Clearing the guilty – Moses did not ask the Lord to clear persistently willful sinners. R1842:4
The demands of justice must be satisfied. R2328:2; Q'05/10/20
Unto the third – Deviations from the prototype are corrected in the course of three generations. R4859:6*
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| 19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving-kindness, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. |
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| 20 And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word. |
To thy word – This mercy could be extended to the young, but not to the adults (willful sinners), an illustration of the value of intercessory prayer. R1842:5
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| 21 But as surely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah! |
All the earth – "He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth." (Psa. 72:8) R1415:1
Then all shall see the glorious brightness of God's wisdom, justice, love and power. R5210:5
Shall be filled – By the end of the Millennium. D656
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| 22 for all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, |
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| 23 shall in no wise see the land which I did swear unto their fathers: none of them that despised me shall see it. |
They – Type of a class of willful sinners of this Gospel age who come under condemnation to the Second Death. R1842:5
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| 24 But my servant Caleb, because he hath another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he came; and his seed shall possess it. |
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| 25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley.) To-morrow turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness, on the way to the Red sea. |
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| 26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, |
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| 27 How long shall I bear with this evil assembly, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. |
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| 28 Say unto them, As surely as I live, saith Jehovah, if I do not do unto you as ye have spoken in mine ears! |
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| 29 In this wilderness shall your carcases fall; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number from twenty years old and upwards, who have murmured against me, |
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| 30 shall in no wise come into the land, concerning which I have lifted up my hand to make you dwell in it; save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. |
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| 31 But your little ones, of whom ye said they should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land that ye have despised. |
They shall know – Showing the value of intercessory prayer on behalf of those who sin not unto death. R1842:5
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| 32 And as to you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. |
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| 33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. |
Children shall wander – Illustrates that fidelity to the truth will in due time be rewarded, though for a time the faithful may suffer on account of the unfaithful. R1842:1
Because of their lack of faith and their rebellion. R5387:6
Forty years – The remainder of 40 years. R4046:2
Typifying the period of Jewish disfavor. R3064:4
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| 34 After the number of the days in which ye have searched out the land, forty days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities forty years, and ye shall know mine estrangement from you2. |
Day for a year – A key by which nearly all time prophecies can be unlocked. B91
The six creative days were not 24-hour days. The word "day" stands for epoch, or period. F19
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| 35 I Jehovah have spoken; I will surely do it unto all this evil assembly which have gathered together against me! in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. |
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| 36 And the men whom Moses had sent to search out the land, who returned, and made the whole assembly to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report upon the land, |
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| 37 even those men who had brought up an evil report upon the land, died by a plague before Jehovah. |
The evil report – The false statement that they saw giants, or Nephilim, whom the flood had destroyed, was part of it. E104
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| 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, lived still of the men that had gone to search out the land. |
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| 39 And Moses told all these sayings to all the children of Israel; then the people mourned greatly. |
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| 40 And they rose up early in the morning, and went up to the hill-top, saying, Here are we, and we will go up to the place of which Jehovah has spoken; for we have sinned. |
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| 41 And Moses said, Why now do ye transgress the commandment of Jehovah? but it shall not prosper! |
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| 42 Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies; |
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| 43 for the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword; for as ye have turned away from Jehovah, Jehovah will not be with you. |
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| 44 Yet they presumed to go up to the hill-top; but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, did not depart from the midst of the camp. |
Departed not – We should never attempt any undertaking, temporal or spiritual, without seeking to know the will of the Lord concerning it. R3062:1
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| 45 And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that hill, came down and smote them, and cut them to pieces, as far as Hormah. |
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