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The Story of Redemption
merciful hitherto toward this ungrateful people; however unworthy
they may be, Thy mercy is the same. He pleads, Wilt Thou not,
therefore, spare them this once, and add this one more instance of
divine patience to the many Thou hast already given?
“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 Me
now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely
they shall not see the land which I sware 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.”
Back to the Wilderness
The Lord bade the Hebrews return and go into the wilderness
by the way of the Red Sea. They were very near the good land, but,
by their wicked rebellion, they forfeited the protection of God. Had
they received the report of Caleb and Joshua, and gone immediately
up, God would have given them the land of Canaan. But they were
unbelieving and showed such an insolent spirit against God that they
brought upon themselves the denunciation that they should never
enter the Promised Land. It was in pity and mercy that God sent
them back by the Red Sea, for the Amalekites and Canaanites, while
they were delaying and murmuring, heard of the spies and prepared
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themselves to make war with the children of Israel.
“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.” The Lord told Moses and Aaron to say to
the people that He would do to them as they had spoken. They had
said, “Would God we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God
we had died in this wilderness!” Now God would take them at their
word. He told His servants to say to them that they should fall in
the wilderness, from twenty years old and upward, because of their
rebellion and murmurings against the Lord. Only Caleb and Joshua