Ten of the twelve men sent on the reconnaissance mission came back with negative, faithless reports and deliberately stirred the people up against moving forward to take the promised land. In yesterday's study the assembly proposed stoning Moses and Aaron to death and then choosing a new leader who will take them back to Egypt. While Moses and Aaron prayed on their knees, and while only two of the twelve men---Joshua and Caleb---pleaded with the people to have faith in the Lord, the glory of the Lord showed up at the tabernacle in the sight of the entire assembly. The Lord spoke audibly to Moses in the hearing of all the people and His words were a resounding rebuke of their faithlessness: "How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?"
This is where we pick up with our study today, with the Lord still speaking to Moses, and the Lord says to him, "I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they." (Numbers 14:12) The Lord isn't grandstanding. This is a legitimate offer He's presenting to Moses. The Lord is within His rights to disinherit the faithless and to reward the faithful. A long time ago the Lord promised Abraham that He would give the promised land to his descendants, and if the Lord had only chosen to give the promised land to Moses and his family line then He would still be keeping His promise to Abraham, for Moses is a direct descendant of Abraham. Moses is the son of Amram who was the son of Kohath who was the son of Levi who was the son of Jacob who was the son Isaac who was the son of Abraham.
We are about to see yet another example of why the Bible told us, "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." (Numbers 12:3) He could have accepted the Lord's offer. Moses could have become the father of a great nation and been considered as much of a patriarch as Abraham. Moses could have moved on toward the promised land with no detractors and no distractions. He could have led his own family line and made it the most powerful family on earth without anyone complaining against him or threatening to stone him to death. But this is not he wants for himself or for the Israel he loves. Even more importantly, this is not what he wants for the Lord. The heathen nations and tribes already feel no qualms about blaspheming the name of the Lord. How much more will they laugh at Him if they can claim He was unable to deliver to the promised land the people He rescued from Egypt? How likely would the pagan people ever be to turn to a God whose power they doubt? Naturally Moses is concerned for himself. He's also concerned for the nation of Israel. But above all he's concerned for the reputation of the Lord among the heathen and as I read Moses' words below I'm reminded of what the prophet Isaiah said to the Lord, "Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." (Isaiah 26:8b)
Moses immediately says no to the destruction and disinheritance of the other family lines of Israel, and in saying no to this he's saying no to becoming Father Moses, patriarch and supreme leader of Israel. Israel has only one supreme leader: the Lord. "Moses said to the Lord, 'Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By Your power You brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that You, Lord, are with these people and that You, Lord, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stays over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If You put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report of You will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath, so He slaughtered them in the wilderness.'" (Numbers 14:13-16) Moses has the same attitude as Isaiah who said that what he wanted most was for the Lord's name to be honored and for the Lord's fame to be great. Moses isn't tempted by the opportunity set before him because he cares more about the Lord's reputation than his own. He can't stand the thought of anyone believing the Lord isn't able to fulfill His promises. His first thought, when presented with the offer of a lifetime---with the type of offer many human beings would have felt was an offer too good to refuse---is, "But what will people say about the Lord?"
Join us tomorrow as Moses asks the Lord to display His power not by destroying the people, but by forgiving them. The people want Moses dead and yet he asks the Lord to spare them. What an awesome example Moses sets for us! Not only does he care more about the Lord's fame than his own, but he cares about the lives of the people more than he cares for his own life. He intercedes on behalf of those who are ready to pelt him to death with rocks. If Moses could pray for people who want to kill him, surely you and I can pray for those who have hurt our feelings or done us wrong. If Moses cares more about the honor of the Lord more than he cares about getting any glory for himself, surely you and I can strive to live lives that lift up the honorable name of our God.
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