The following is excerpts from Numbers 14:1-35 (KJV), on the disobedient and constant murmurings of the Israelites and their punishment to wander in the wilderness for forty years. I condensed Numbers 14:1-35 here so it could be more understood quickly, but I’ve added more
The congregation lifted up their voice And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron.
And the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness, would it have not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. Including Joshua and Caleb which rent their clothes:
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not ye against the LORD. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.
The glory of the LORD appears in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses. How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?
And Moses said unto the LORD, 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.
And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, 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.
Pardon, I beseech thee, And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word. Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless, ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to let you dwell therein.
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 carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses 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, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
Numbers 14:10 all the congregation stones Moses and Aaron.
- 10 “But all the congregation bade stone them with stones”. This is an act of aggression rather of complaint which further infuriated the LORD.
- 11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?
- 12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
After Moses reasons with the LORD he relents on this form of punishment. I’ve added more here to further add to the constant murmurings of the Israelites. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness”, Exodus 14:10-12.
“For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Exodus 16:3.
“Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” Exodus 17:2.
“And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.” Exodus 32:9.
The whole congregation complained, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Numbers 14:2.
Here in Deuteronomy 31:16-20, the Lord predicts the Israelites will fall away from the Lord’s commandments and turn to other gods”.
- 16 “These people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant” which I have made with them.
- 17 “Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?
- 18 “But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods”.
- 19 Now, therefore, write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
- 20 “For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
Note, here the Lord predicts the eventual falling away of the Children of Israel, and n Part 6:
Does God Still Recognize the Jewish Religion? Assyria takes captive House of Israel Babalon captures House of Judah.
Assyria in their time of dominance in a 2-year war overruns the House of Israel which was composed of the ten tribes of Israel. They took them captive to Assyria, ancient Assyria in 722 BC. They were known for their fierce warriors and their attacks on countries brutally annihilating them.
What had happened to the 10 lost tribes of Israel has never been found out. Babylon captures the House of Judah 2 tribes by its king Nebuchadnezzar for 70 years.
Then Cyrus, king of Persia, overruns Babylon and after one year, allows the Jews to return to Israel that desired to. With the return of Jews to Israel in 538 BC. many changes of events occur in those 4 centuries leading down to the first century, with the final expulsion of them by the Romans.
Who grew tired of dealing with them, and expelled them from Israel. Probably there was righteousness among the expelled Jews, but remember what the Lord said in Deuteronomy 31:16-20, the Lord predicts the Israelites will fall away from the Lord’s commandments and turn to other gods”.
- 16 “These people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant” which I have made with them.
- 17 “Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day, Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?
- 18 “But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods”.
Hard times occurred for them in other countries until they found refuge in the United States where Freedom and Liberty exist, reported some 10 million live there.