Numbers 14:10

The People React Against Them And Spur Yahweh To Visible Action (Numbers 14:10).

Numbers 14:10

‘But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Yahweh appeared in the tent of meeting to all the children of Israel.'

The crowd in their deep distress, stricken in their own consciences although not willing to admit it, took this badly, for it emphasised their guilt, and guilty men often become angry in trying to justify themselves. Who were these men who dared to talk like this? They were guilty of treason against the people and their chieftains. The cry went up that they should be stoned with stones. How dare they defend Yahweh? The people were beside themselves. But then all were suddenly shaken by an unexpected event.

They were gathered around the Tent of meeting for the purpose of hearing the report from the scouts and without warning ‘the glory of Yahweh appeared in the Tent of meeting to all the children of Israel'. There could be no doubt in anyone's mind. Everyone saw it. And they could hardly have been other than afraid. Note the parallel between the ‘all' who sought to stone Caleb and Joshua and the ‘all' who saw the glory of Yahweh. The one was Yahweh's response to the other. He had seen Moses and Aaron as they cried to Him, He had seen His servants who were risking their lives in being faithful to Him, and He was here to act, and all were now aware of it. And now no doubt their memory of the past was also reawakened, and they remembered fearfully the past judgments of Yahweh.

This appearance of the glory of Yahweh in the Dwellingplace was not something totally new. They had experienced it before (Exodus 40:34; Leviticus 9:23). But then it had been an awesome religious experience without any direct personal bearing. Now it portended disaster for all. They had forgotten that Yahweh might be ‘in His Dwellingplace' listening to them. (How easily we can forget that the invisible God is listening to us).