🔢WEB · Numbers 14:40
What does Numbers 14:40 mean?
"They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned.”"
— Numbers 14:40 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
They rose up early in the morning, and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised: for we have sinned.”
Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of Yahweh, since it shall not prosper?
Don’t go up, for Yahweh isn’t among you; that way you won’t be struck down before your enemies.
For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword, because you turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”
Explanation
Numbers 14:40 records a strange and tragic moment. The evening before, God had pronounced judgment on Israel: because they refused to trust Him and enter the Promised Land after hearing the spies' report, that entire generation of adults would die in the wilderness over the next forty years, and only their children would eventually enter Canaan. Yet here, "early in the morning," the people get up and head toward the mountains bordering Canaan, declaring "we have sinned" and announcing their intention to go up and take the land after all. On the surface it sounds like repentance — an admission of guilt followed by obedience. But the outcome in verses 41-45 reveals it was not true repentance
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