🔢WEB · Numbers 14:8
What does Numbers 14:8 mean?
"If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey."
— Numbers 14:8 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.
If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
Only don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them.”
But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. Yahweh’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
Explanation
Numbers 14:8 records words spoken by Joshua and Caleb, the two faithful spies, as they tried to calm the panicked Israelites after the twelve spies returned from scouting the land of Canaan. In plain language, they are saying: "If the LORD is pleased with us and favors us, he will surely bring us into this land and give it to us as our own—a rich, fertile land overflowing with milk and honey." It is a statement of confident trust, offered in direct contrast to the fear and despair the rest of the people were expressing at that moment.
The context is critical to understanding the verse. Moses, traditionally credited as the author of Numbers, records this episode as Israel stands on the edge of the Promised Land, having just received a report from the twelve men sent to scout it. Ten of the spies gave a fearful account,
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