And the sad story continues Friends: Because of their abominable behaviour, the Lord threatens to smite the Israelites with a plague, disinherit them and build a bigger and better nation. But Moses intercedes on their behalf, trying to talk sense and reason to God. Hn! He explains that if the Lord destroys Israel, Egypt and all the other nations would hear of it and cast aspersions on His power; ‘for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. (Num.14:14-16) Oh Friends, what a smart man Moses turned out to be! Then he continued to the Lord: ‘And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.’ (Num.14:17:18) Ah Friends, I have to chuckle at how Moses turned back and used the Lord’s words against Him. He spoke those words after He gave Moses the second tablets of stone bearing the Ten Commandments. (Ex.34:6-7) So you see it pays to listen to God. That reminds me of my good, ole bachelor days in T&T, when my Uncle Foster would tell me to do him anything but give him back his own talk. (smile) None of us really want to be reminded of things we said which contradict our current position. And so, knowing that he had the Lord, as we would say over a barrel, where He couldn’t disclaim His words, Moses boldly continued: ‘Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’ (Num.14:19) Ah mih people, what a good thing the Israelites had Moses to intercede for them so eloquently; the same Moses who earlier claimed that he couldn’t face Pharaoh because of his speech impediment. What wonders God can work in us when we sincerely obey and reverence Him eh! Luckily, today we have Jesus running interference for us with the Father, and He carries a little more weight, more influence than Moses, for we sorely need intercession because the Israelites’ sins pale in comparison to ours. They could never dream or imagine some of our abominations, which must make the Lord shake His head and long for those simple, less sophisticated days of yore. Anyway, the Lord listened to Moses’ reasoning. Oh Friends, yuh see the wonderful God we worship, not an angry, despotic monarch, who never listens to His subjects. None of the other supposed gods can do that because they’re all dead, inanimate, man-made idols. But our God, that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is alive and thus can interact sensibly with His subjects. ‘And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word. But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted (tested) me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware (solemnly promised) unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.’ (Num.14:20-24) So the Lord dissented from annihilating them, but nonetheless they would be punished; none of those who came up out of Egypt and experienced God’s ultimate glory and wonders and yet rebelled, would ever set foot in the Promised land. The Lord was so tired of the Israelites whining and grumbling, that He asked Moses and Aaron: ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?…Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole (entire) number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me…save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander (be shepherds) in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities (guilt) even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise (rejection or opposition). (Num14:27-34) Oh Friends, our God is a good but serious God. He doesn’t take kindly to disobedience or rebellion especially when He’s shown you what He’s capable of. Yuh see what became of that great Exodus from Egypt for lack of a little faith and courage? None of the older ones who began it ever entered the Promised Land, including poor Moses, because he paid for the Israelites sins too. Only Caleb and Joshua lived to enter therein, the rest perished in the wilderness. They wandered there forty years, a day for every one they’d spent searching the land and then rejecting it through fear and no faith in the Lord’s promises. And I have to chuckle at the way the Lord paid them back with their own words and ideas, when they grumbled about Him bringing them to die in the wilderness and their children to be prey. (Num.14:2-4) And the moral of the story Friends? The Lord is the BOSS; He’s in control, and knows what He’s doing. So do not disrespect or disobey Him. Don’t grumble and complain when He tells you to do something. Just say ‘Yes Lord,’ and do it. And be careful what words or expressions you mouth, for they might just come back to haunt you. And above all my people, believe in His promises; stand strong in faith with courage and great expectations, for He will never let you down. Much LOVE! …to be successful in any endeavour…one must have first have courage to attempt it…
SCRIP-BITS 