Bemidbar (Numbers) 14

Lesson date: 01/06/5856AA

Verse 1 – “Then all the congregation lifted up” (H853אֵת) ((I know that this is just a coincidence but I thought you might be interested in the location and occurrence.))

This may have been the largest and earliest recorded “Pity Party” on record. Verse 1 makes it sound as though they were repentant but immediately verse 2 shows the opposite.

Deu 1:45 “And you returned and wept before יהוה, but יהוה would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

Deu 1:46 “So you dwelt in Qaḏěsh many days, according to the days that you dwelt.

YHVH knew that the Children of Yisra’el were not crying and repenting of their sin but instead they realized that their faithlessness was discovered deep within their hearts and caused them to listen to the evil report. It slandered the Word of YHVH: Exo_23:28 “And I shall send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Ḥiwwite, the Kena‛anite, and the Ḥittite from before you.

Yah promised to drive out their enemy ahead of them. Look at the comparisons going on in Scripture: Num 13:32 And they gave the children of Yisra’ěl an evil report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land eating up its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.

Num 13:33 “And we saw there the Nephilim, sons of Anaq, of the Nephilim. And we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.”

YHVH is telling them that the giants are so insignificant that He is not sending an army of angels to drive out the giants but rather hornets. That is how insignificant they are in His Eyes. We had a commander, a Navy admiral, about whom we would say “He will charge Hell with a bucket of water and we’ll bring the mop to clean up the mess.” In other words with the admiral leading the charge there was going to be lots of water left over and there would be shortage of mops to clean up the mess. That was the level of confidence we had in our commander.

Did Yisra’el take this same attitude? No! They were being led by an angel, day and night, and whined about a few measly giants.

Verse 2-3 There is so much going on here I will try to not get bogged down. First thing we must remember about Hebrew is that it is a language of action. The verbs are found at the “head” or beginning of the sentence or phrase where in English we find a noun, or pronoun commonly at the beginning of a sentence or phrase. With this in mind let’s look at verse 2 and find the meaning of grumbled: H3885 – לִין לוּן – lûn lı̂yn – loon, leen ; A primitive root; to stop (usually overnight);

I am only giving you one definition of the word, the primary definition so you can see the beautiful logic of Hebrew.

Php 2:14 Do all matters without grumblings and disputings,

Php 2:15 in order that you be blameless and faultless, children of Elohim without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

For two years now they had marched around the Mt. Sinai to practice marching, breaking camp, pitching camp, move in the proper divisions and to be obedient to their commander…Mosheh? No, YHVH. Now, He has led them to the Wilderness of Paran to go in and seize the land He had already given them. It was theirs, all they had to do was claim it. Instead, they grumbled, murmured against Mosheh and Aharon? No, against the Angel with YHVH’s Name in Him: Exo 23:20 “See, I am sending a Messenger before you to guard you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Exo 23:21 “Be on guard before Him and obey His voice. Do not rebel against Him, for He is not going to pardon your transgression, for My Name is in Him.

Exo 23:22 “But if you diligently obey His voice and shall do all that I speak, then I shall be an enemy to your enemies and a distresser to those who distress you.

Exo 23:23 “For My Messenger shall go before you and shall bring you in to the Amorites and the Ḥittites and the Perizzites and the Kena‛anites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites, and I shall cut them off.

This is the relationship we must understand diligently obey His voice and shall do all that I speak.

Joh_5:43 “I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not receive Me, if another comes in his own name, him you would receive.

Joh_10:25 יהושע answered them, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s Name, they bear witness concerning Me.

Joh_17:11 “And I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Set-apart Father, guard them in Your Name which You have given Me, so that they might be one, as We are.

Rev 1:1 Revelation of יהושע Messiah, which Elohim gave Him to show His servants what has to take place with speed. And He signified it by sending His messenger to His servant Yoḥanan,

Rev 1:2 who bore witness to the Word of Elohim, and the witness of יהושע Messiah – to all he saw.

Rev 1:8 “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Taw’, Beginning and End,” says יהוה “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Please, once again, understand that Yeshua is speaking of His Father YHVH and not of Himself.

Armed with this understanding do you see what actually happened? The Children of Yisra’el could not move forward to see the miracle of YHVH’s Messenger defeat their enemy in YHVH’s Name. They had to stop and grumble/murmur. Go back to Shemoth 23:21 above and see exactly what happened. They rebelled against the Messenger that had YHVH’s Name in Him and He would not forgive their transgression. Grumbling/murmuring is to stop moving forward and going in the Name and to sit and complain, to have a big pity party and transgress against YHVH’s Word: Joh 6:43 Then יהושע answered and said to them, “Do not grumble with one another.

Joh 6:44 “No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I shall raise him up in the last day.

Joh 6:45 “It has been written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by יהוה.’ Everyone, then, who has heard from the Father, and learned, comes to Me.

I promised I would try and not get bogged down but I did. This is the single biggest lie of modern theology. Jesus did not come to be God on Earth. He did not come to be worshipped but to turn us back to YHVH, His Father. Col 2:18 Let no one deprive you of the prize, one who takes delight in false humility and worship of messengers, taking his stand on what he has not seen, puffed up by his fleshly mind,

Col 2:19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the Body – nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments – grows with the growth of Elohim.

What are clues that we might be grumbling? “If only we… If only I… We should have…I should have… Wouldn’t it be better… Next time I’ll…Iwish? Any of this sound familiar?

You can even play word games if you want, like…Back when we were in the church…What difference would it make… What’s one day more or less?

Grumbling can also have dire consequences: 1Co 10:9 neither let us try Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were destroyed by serpents,

1Co 10:10 neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

Heb 10:38 “But the righteous shall live by belief, but if anyone draws back, my being has no pleasure in him.”

Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to destruction, but of belief to the preservation of life.

Luk 9:62 But יהושע said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the reign of Elohim.”

Verse 4 – This has to be the most foolish verse of Scripture because it embodies everything that is wrong about Yah’s people, “Let us appoint a leader” You have the Creator of the Universe leading you out of Egypt, through the waters of the Reeds Sea, feeding you manna and quail, causing water to emerge from a Rock for you and your animals, giving you quail for meat and going before you in a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. Please tell me who can top this? But, I did the same thing, didn’t I?

I didn’t want to follow all those commands, laws and right-rulings. The God of the Old Testament had too many rules so, I chose a new leader and made Him God. He didn’t require all those rules and commands and all I had to have was faith.

Verses 5-7 Mosheh and Aharon fell on their faces and I think I know what they were praying: Mat 26:39 And going forward a little, He fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I desire, but as You desire.”

Verses 8-9 Just look at the audacity of Yehoshua’ and Kaleb. What strategy did they employ in this difficult situation? The proclaimed the Truth: Do not fear…do not rebel…YHVH is for us> Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to this? If Elohim is for us, who is against us?

2Ti 4:2 Proclaim the Word! Be urgent in season, out of season. Convict, warn, appeal, with all patience and teaching.

1Pe 3:15 But set apart יהוה Elohim in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone asking you a reason concerning the expectation that is in you, with meekness and fear,

1Pe 3:16 having a good conscience, so that when they speak against you as doers of evil, those who falsely accuse your good behaviour in Messiah, shall be ashamed.

Fear is a disease that can consume a person. Fear of rejection, fear of discipline, fear of doing what you know is right, fear of losing popularity. Look at what Kaleb and Yehoshu’a told them about the giants, “for they are our bread.” If you have the courage to obey the enemy will be your bread but if not we will be bread for the enemy: Psa 14:4 Have all the workers of wickedness no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on יהוה?

Verse 10 – “stone them with stones” Two different words are used here for a reason. H7275 – רגם – râgam – BDB Definition: 1) to stone, slay or kill by stoning 1a) (Qal) to stone

H68 – אֶבֶן – ‘eben – eh’-ben – From the root of H1129 through the meaning, to build; a stone: – + carbuncle, + mason, + plummet, [chalk-, hail-, bead-, sling-] stone (-ny), (divers) weight (-s).

Look in the second word and you will see why the Children of Yisra’el wanted to stone Yehoshua’ and Kaleb: stone, corner stone, plumbline

1Pe 2:4 Drawing near to Him, a living Stone – rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim and precious –

1Pe 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through יהושע Messiah.

1Pe 2:6 Because it is contained in the Scripture, “See, I lay in Tsiyon a chief corner-stone, chosen, precious, and he who believes on Him shall by no means be put to shame.”

1Pe 2:7 This preciousness, then, is for you who believe; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone,”

1Pe 2:8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock that makes for falling,” who stumble because they are disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.

They were proclaiming the Truth. People do not want to hear sound doctrine as it is offensive to their ears. Our families and friends and former associates from church that would run up and hug us every Sunday morning are now busy trying to “stone our words of Truth” with as many stones as they can find.

Verse 11 – H5006 – נאץ – nâ’ats – BDB Definition:1) to spurn, contemn, despise, abhor 1a) (Qal) to spurn, contemn1b) (Piel) 1b1) to spurn 1b2) to cause to contemn 1c) (Hiphil) to spurn 1d) (Hithpolel) to be contemned (contemn means to view with contempt, to despise) Psa 10:13 Why do the wrong scorn Elohim? He has said in his heart, “It is not required.”

Bet you never heard that before. “Jesus did away with Torah. It’s not required and besides we got Jesus.” Ouch!

Verse 12-19 – Once again we see a type and shadow of our Messiah in Mosheh who valiantly intervenes on behalf of his people: Psa 106:23 Then He said that He would destroy them, Had not Mosheh His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath from destroying them.

Mosheh intervenes reminding YHVH of the Covenant of Promise and that YHVH’s reputation would be harmed if He destroyed Yisra’el. (For His Name’s sake.)

Verses 20-38 YHVH promises judgement. Strike 10 and you’re out. Just like Abraham tried to intervene in the judgement against Sedom and A’morah but asking YHVH to forgive them if 10 righteous men could be found it became judgement. Ten represents a quorum, an omer represents 1/10^th of an ephah, and 10 men represent the basis for a righteous government. YHVH was telling Mosheh “The Children of Yisra’el are rotten to the core.”

YHVH calls out Yehoshu’a son of Nun and Kaleb, son of Yephunneh as the only 2 of the present congregation over the age of 20 who would enter into the Promise Land. Following YHVH is not about being popular but being obedient to the Truth: Deu 1:35 Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,

Deu 1:36 except Kalěḇ son of Yephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and his children I give the land on which he walked, because he followed יהוה completely.’

H4390 – מלא / מלא – mâlê’ / mâlâ’ – BDB Definition: 1) to fill, be full 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to be full 1a1a) fulness, abundance (participle) 1a1b) to be full, be accomplished, be ended 1a2) to consecrate, fill the hand 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be filled, be armed, be satisfied 1b2) to be accomplished, be ended

This is just a fraction of the meanings for H4390 but you get the idea. I have often said that if I was accused of the crime, in men’s eyes, of following YHVH completely that there would be enough evidence to convict me rather than released for lack of evidence. Unfortunately, I feel that I would not have a preponderance of evidence on my side: Php_2:12 So that, my beloved, as you always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much rather in my absence – work out your own deliverance with fear and trembling,

Joshua presents a 6 count indictment against Kaleb: ((Joshua 14:6-15))

Count Number 1: Kaleb, you see things differently: I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.

(Verse 7)

Count Number 2: Kaleb, you do things differently: I followed יהוה my Elohim completely. (Verse 8)

Count Number 3: Kaleb, you got an inheritance others didn’t: “So Mosheh swore on that day, saying, ‘The land on which your foot has trodden is your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have followed יהוה my Elohim completely.’ (Verse 9)

Count Number 4: Kaleb, you live differently: “And now, see, יהוה has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years since יהוה spoke this word to Mosheh while Yisra’ěl walked in the wilderness. And now, see, I am eighty-five years old today.

Jos 14:11 “Yet I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Mosheh sent me. As my strength was then, so my strength is now, for battle, and for going out and for coming in.(Verses 10-11)

Count Number 5: Kaleb, you think you can drive out giants: “And now, give me this mountain of which יהוה spoke in that day, for you heard in that day how the Anaqim were there, and that the cities were great and walled. If יהוה is with me, then I shall dispossess them, as יהוה said.” (Verse 12)

Count Number 6: Kaleb, what was the result of your brazen war on the giants? And the land had rest from fighting. (Verse 15)

Kaleb, you are found guilty of following YHVH completely!

Ahavah,

Lesson date: 08/22/5860AA

I know some people think that there are no more giants in the world today so, this Scripture has very little meaning for us in the 21^st Century, but you would be wrong if you felt that way. Ever have to deal with bureaucrats at any level of government? Ever have a bank send you a notice that if you don’t they will take your _______. (Fill in the blank yourself.) Ever deal with the IRS? Ever miss paying your property taxes. Ever hear, “You can’t fight city hall?” There are giants in all sizes like the different levels of government, then there are smaller giants that say things like, “Hey, you and I used to go fishing or shopping or garage saling or whatever, and now, all you want to do is study the Bible and the OLD Testament at that. Go to church on Sunday like everyone else!”

Verse 1 – “Then all the congregation lifted up” (H853אֵת) ((I know that this is just a coincidence but I thought you might be interested in the location and occurrence.))

This may have been the largest and earliest recorded “Pity Party” on record. Verse 1 makes it sound as though they were repentant but immediately verse 2 shows the opposite.

Deu 1:45 “And you returned and wept before יהוה, but יהוה would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

Deu 1:46 “So you dwelt in Qaḏěsh many days, according to the days that you dwelt.

Num 13:33 “And we saw there the Nephilim, sons of Anaq, of the Nephilim. And we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in their eyes.”

Did Yisra’el take this same attitude? No! They were being lead by an angel, day and night, and whined about a few measly giants.

I am only giving you one definition of the word, the primary definition so you can see the beautiful logic of Hebrew.

Php 2:14 Do all matters without grumblings and disputings,

Php 2:15 in order that you be blameless and faultless, children of Elohim without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

For two years now they had marched around the Mt. Sinai to practice marching, breaking camp, pitching camp, move in the proper divisions and to be obedient to their commander…Mosheh? No, YHVH. Now, He has lead them to the Wilderness of Paran to go in and seize the land He had already given them. It was theirs, all they had to do was claim it. Instead, they grumbled, murmured against Mosheh and Aharon? No, against the Angel with YHVH’s Name in Him: Exo 23:20 “See, I am sending a Messenger before you to guard you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.