Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Detail, stained glass window, All-Saints Church near Martin, Hampshire, Great Britain / via Geograph

God led his chosen but stubborn people from Sinai to the cusp of the Promised Land, and then they believed a report that the people of the land were too strong. So they refused to go in. Months of discontent gave way to rebellion. They chose leaders to replace Moses and vowed to go back to Egypt. God’s people can be slow learners. Have you ever noticed that?

In Numbers 14, they heard the spies’ report and refused to enter the promised land. They mourned that they hadn’t died in the wilderness. God told them they’d have their way: everyone over 20 would die in the wilderness over the next 40 years, but their children would conquer the Promised Land. And under Joshua, they did.

It’s easy to get the impression that the older generation was bad and the younger generation was good. Not so fast! The younger generation immediately grumbled in discontent, but they did not continue in rebellion. Regardless of what it may feel like, God is not an angry taskmaster with a hair-trigger temper just waiting for a chance to punish.

 Let’s look at God’s grace in dealing with these younger Israelites.

Discontent and rebellion at Meribah

Numbers 20 takes place near the end of the 40 years of wandering. It must be the younger generation, then, who grumbled against Moses and Aaron because there was no water. Again, discontent turned to rebellion. They asked Moses why he led them from Egypt to such a horrible place. They even accused him of mistreating the Lord’s people by leading them there.

God told Moses to speak to a rock, and water would flow from it. Instead, Moses, in a rage, struck the rock and took personal credit for the water. For that, God told him and Aaron that they wouldn’t enter the Promised Land. The place took the name Meribah, which means “quarrelling.” The end of the chapter records Aaron’s death.

The bronze serpent

Bronze serpent monument on Mount Nebo, in front of the church of Saint Moses, looking over the valley below / Wikimedia Commons

In Numbers 21, the people met and defeated the first foe who came out against them. Were they grateful to God? No!

They complained about the water and the manna with which God has miraculously fed them ever since they left Egypt. They turned up their noses at the miraculous provision they had known all their lives (although I can relate to boredom with a limited menu.)

God sent venomous snakes, and many people died. It seems like the same old same old. Except this time, the people recognized their rebellion and repented. They understood they had spoken against God as well as criticizing Moses. They asked Moses to pray that God would take away the snakes.

Instead, God told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole. If anyone was bitten, they could simply look at the bronze snake and be healed.

Nothing more was required of them than to turn their heads in its direction and see it. It was better than simply removing the snakes, because it gave them an object lesson of God’s grace and mercy.

This incident is the last the last recorded discontent and rebellion by grumbling against God among this generation. The chapter ends with two more military victories, the news of which sparked panic in the people across the Jordan.

Examining God’s grace to the Israelites

It is all too easy to read these chapters and see only the punishments, so let’s take a special look at all the grace and mercy:

• After all the drama of Numbers 14 and God’s verdict, it may seem odd to start the next chapter with a rehash of the laws of offerings. Actually, Numbers 15:1-2 has a statement of grace we can too easily miss: “The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home . . .’” He has just told the older generation they will all die in the wilderness, and immediately, by grace, assures the younger generation they will enter the promised land.
• At Meribah, Moses and Aaron sinned in response to the people’s rebellion. Just as their fathers had died, these people deserved death, but Numbers 20 does not record any punishment for the general population. By grace, they lived and, sometime later, conquered the promised land.
• The bronze serpent is an early picture of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Anyone bitten by snakes needed only look at it. Again, they deserved death for their rebellion. Instead, they received a picture of the ultimate grace when Christ was lifted up and died as a substitute for the sin of the entire human race.

Examining God’s grace for all humanity

The Small Crucifixion / Mathis Grünewald, 1510s

Let’s not forget that, in Eden, God told Adam that in the day he ate the forbidden fruit, he would die. When he discovered the sin of the man and the woman, his response shows no sign of wrath to them.

He killed, or had the man and woman kill, animals to make clothing. He accepted the death of those animals as a substitute for the man’s and woman’s death. (Elsewhere Scripture says that a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. None of the ancients lived as long as a “day.”)

All the required sacrifices of the Mosaic law served as substitutes for the death the people deserved. For thousands of years, animals died in place of the people. Then Christ died, making animal sacrifices no longer necessary.

The Israelites in Numbers 20-21 only repeat, in their own way, the general sins of the human race: your sins and mine. Discontent easily turns to rebellion. Christians ought to know that God loves us and will take care of us.

We also have the story of the bronze snake in the Bible. It’s a part of the Bible that too few people read, but the story reminds us that when we are bitten by the serpent of sin, we need only look to Jesus to receive healing.

This post has examined one picture of how God displayed grace, undeserved favor, where people deserved greater punishment. Yet, in fact, the entire older generation did die in the wilderness. Some of the younger generation did die by snakebite. God’s mercy, though great, has a limit.

Rebels will eventually suffer what the New Testament calls the second death. Will you lay down your arms and repent while God is still making his grace and mercy available?