民數記14:1-45

14:1 當下，全會眾大聲喧嚷；那夜百姓都哭號。
14:2 以色列眾人向摩西、亞倫發怨言；全會眾對他們說：「巴不得我們早死在埃及地，或是死在這曠野。
14:3 耶和華為甚麼把我們領到那地，使我們倒在刀下呢？我們的妻子和孩子必被擄掠。我們回埃及去豈不好嗎？」
14:4 眾人彼此說：「我們不如立一個首領回埃及去吧！」
14:5 摩西、亞倫就俯伏在以色列全會眾面前。
14:6 窺探地的人中，嫩的兒子約書亞和耶孚尼的兒子迦勒撕裂衣服，
14:7 對以色列全會眾說：「我們所窺探、經過之地是極美之地。
14:8 耶和華若喜悅我們，就必將我們領進那地，把地賜給我們；那地原是流奶與蜜之地。
14:9 但你們不可背叛耶和華，也不要怕那地的居民；因為他們是我們的食物，並且蔭庇他們的已經離開他們。有耶和華與我們同在，不要怕他們！」
14:10 但全會眾說：「拿石頭打死他們二人。」忽然，耶和華的榮光在會幕中向以色列眾人顯現。
14:11 耶和華對摩西說：「這百姓藐視我要到幾時呢？我在他們中間行了這一切神蹟，他們還不信我要到幾時呢？
14:12 我要用瘟疫擊殺他們，使他們不得承受那地，叫你的後裔成為大國，比他們強勝。」
14:13 摩西對耶和華說：「埃及人必聽見這事；因為你曾施展大能，將這百姓從他們中間領上來。
14:14 埃及人要將這事傳給迦南地的居民；那民已經聽見你─耶和華是在這百姓中間；因為你面對面被人看見，有你的雲彩停在他們以上。你日間在雲柱中，夜間在火柱中，在他們前面行。
14:15 如今你若把這百姓殺了，如殺一人，那些聽見你名聲的列邦必議論說：
14:16 『耶和華因為不能把這百姓領進他向他們起誓應許之地，所以在曠野把他們殺了。』
14:17 現在求主大顯能力，照你所說過的話說：
14:18 『耶和華不輕易發怒，並有豐盛的慈愛，赦免罪孽和過犯；萬不以有罪的為無罪，必追討他的罪，自父及子，直到三、四代。』
14:19 求你照你的大慈愛赦免這百姓的罪孽，好像你從埃及到如今常赦免他們一樣。」
14:20 耶和華說：「我照著你的話赦免了他們。
14:21 然我指著我的永生起誓，遍地要被我的榮耀充滿。
14:22 這些人雖看見我的榮耀和我在埃及與曠野所行的神蹟，仍然試探我這十次，不聽從我的話，
14:23 他們斷不得看見我向他們的祖宗所起誓應許之地。凡藐視我的，一個也不得看見；
14:24 惟獨我的僕人迦勒，因他另有一個心志，專一跟從我，我就把他領進他所去過的那地；他的後裔也必得那地為業。
14:25 亞瑪力人和迦南人住在谷中，明天你們要轉回，從紅海的路往曠野去。」
14:26 耶和華對摩西、亞倫說：
14:27 「這惡會眾向我發怨言，我忍耐他們要到幾時呢？以色列人向我所發的怨言，我都聽見了。
14:28 你們告訴他們，耶和華說：『我指著我的永生起誓，我必要照你們達到我耳中的話待你們。
14:29 你們的屍首必倒在這曠野，並且你們中間凡被數點、從二十歲以外、向我發怨言的，
14:30 必不得進我起誓應許叫你們住的那地；惟有耶孚尼的兒子迦勒和嫩的兒子約書亞才能進去。
14:31 但你們的婦人孩子，就是你們所說、要被擄掠的，我必把他們領進去，他們就得知你們所厭棄的那地。
14:32 至於你們，你們的屍首必倒在這曠野；
14:33 你們的兒女必在曠野飄流四十年，擔當你們淫行的罪，直到你們的屍首在曠野消滅。
14:34 按你們窺探那地的四十日，一年頂一日，你們要擔當罪孽四十年，就知道我與你們疏遠了，
14:35 我─耶和華說過，我總要這樣待這一切聚集敵我的惡會眾；他們必在這曠野消滅，在這裡死亡。』」
14:36 摩西所打發、窺探那地的人回來，報那地的惡信，叫全會眾向摩西發怨言，
14:37 這些報惡信的人都遭瘟疫，死在耶和華面前。
14:38 其中惟有嫩的兒子約書亞和耶孚尼的兒子迦勒仍然存活。
14:39 摩西將這些話告訴以色列眾人，他們就甚悲哀。
14:40 清早起來，上山頂去，說：「我們在這裡，我們有罪了；情願上耶和華所應許的地方去。」
14:41 摩西說：「你們為何違背耶和華的命令呢？這事不能順利了。
14:42 不要上去；因為耶和華不在你們中間，恐怕你們被仇敵殺敗了。
14:43 亞瑪力人和迦南人都在你們面前，你們必倒在刀下；因你們退回不跟從耶和華，所以他必不與你們同在。」
14:44 他們卻擅敢上山頂去，然而耶和華的約櫃和摩西沒有出營。
14:45 於是亞瑪力人和住在那山上的迦南人都下來擊打他們，把他們殺退了，直到何珥瑪。

 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “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? ¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

¹³ Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

¹⁷ “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, ²² not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— ²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. ²⁴ But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. ²⁵ Since the Amalekites and the Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.^[a]”

²⁶ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. ²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: ²⁹ In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. ³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

³⁶ So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— ³⁷ these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. ³⁸ Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹ When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, “Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely we have sinned!”

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! ⁴² Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, ⁴³ for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

⁴⁴ Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

*************

    這是延續13章的事件，讓我們看見人是何等的悖逆，常常是違背上帝的旨意。上帝希望他們能進入迦南地的時候，他們不去！要他們退後的時候，卻偏偏要前去！

    其實今日的基督徒何嘗不是如此，常常是隨自己的心意任意而行，沒有好好尋求上帝的引導，或是等候上帝的時間，自己立了許多策略與方法，一心要把教會組織弄大，一直想憑己力影響世界！殊不知上帝的國不屬於這世界，教會不光是人的組織，教會的頭是基督耶穌，不是長老或執事，更不是主教或牧師，也不是廣大會眾！

    教會既是上帝所呼召的一群人，理當完成上帝的使命，不是發展人的組織。應當忠誠傳揚福音，高舉耶穌基督的名。要像主耶穌所說的，是要宣揚上帝國的道，使人回到上帝面前，而不是讓人專注在神蹟奇事，忽略了所要見證的道！唯有上帝的道才能拯救人，也因此我們傳福音的目的，是要使人在聖靈引導下，認耶穌基督為主，成為耶穌基督的門徒！