And as to you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.
At Kadesh God sentences the very people He rescued from Egypt: the generation that refused to enter Canaan will die in the desert. The words single them out — "as for you" — and commentators ask what closed the land, why the children fared differently, and what these graves warn.
The people had said they wished they had died in the wilderness. One writer notes that God grants the wish — over forty years:
God's answer was this: You say you wish you had died in the wilderness — you shall die in the wilderness… God says, You will have to die, only it will take you forty years to do it… They had to know death.
It is tempting to blame the timing rather than the people. One commentator rules that out:
It is of the greatest importance to note here that it was unbelief that kept Israel out of Canaan on this occasion… Someone might say that the time for Israel to enter Canaan had not yet come. The iniquity of the Amorites had not yet reached its height. But this is not the reason why Israel refused to cross the Jordan. They knew nothing and thought nothing about the iniquity of the Amorites. Scripture is as plain as possible: "they were unable to enter" — not because of the iniquity of the Amorites, not because the time had not come — but simply "because of unbelief." They ought to have entered. They were responsible to do so, and they were judged for not doing so. The way was open.
The distinction matters for how the story is applied. According to one writer, these were not people who had faith and then lost their blessing:
Psalm 95 refers to this moment, and Hebrews 3 and 4 quote that psalm. They press the point home: unbelief lay at the root of it all. "So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." We need to note this. It shows their case was not a loss of blessing through backsliding. They had entered, by profession only, into a calling they never had faith for at all. This is the point of the solemn warnings that have so large a place in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The sentence does not fall on everyone. One writer notes that the children still had to live through the effects of their parents' unbelief:
God will deal with them according to their faith. They will die in the wilderness, just as they wished. Only the faithful and the children will enter the land. Even they must bear, as they march, the consequences of the unbelief of the mass. However, other hopes and other consolations will be their portion.
Years later, Israel is counted again. One writer reads the result as proof that God does what He says:
One striking fact emerges at the end of the chapter. These males of twenty years and over numbered just over 600,000. Among them, not one man from the earlier census was still alive, except Caleb and Joshua. Turn back to Numbers 14, read verses 20-32 again, and you see how exactly God fulfils the word He has spoken. A solemn fact for the unbeliever, but one in which we who believe can heartily rejoice.
One writer turns these graves into a warning for anyone who only professes:
Take care: many profess, and many fall by the way and never get in at all. Israel all came out of Egypt, but they fell in the wilderness, and never reached the goal. There is no question raised here about a true soul going in. "We who have believed enter that rest" — no doubt about that; but you should remember Israel. They heard the report from the spies — the gospel of the rest of Canaan in their day — and never got in. The word preached by the spies did not profit them, because it lacked the divine mixture of faith: "it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it." "They were unable to enter because of unbelief."
- Wish granted — They said they wished they had died in the desert. God takes them at their word and gives them forty years to do it.
- One cause — Neither God's timing nor the state of the Amorites shut them out. Unbelief did. The way was open, and they were responsible to take it.
- Not a lapse — They did not lose a blessing once held by faith. They professed a calling they never believed. Hebrews makes that a warning.
- Next generation — Only the faithful and the children enter the land. First they must live out the consequences of their parents' unbelief.
- Word kept — The later census leaves no one of that generation alive but Caleb and Joshua. God keeps His word exactly: solemn for the unbeliever, a joy for faith.
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
A generation stood at the edge of the land they had been promised, refused to go in, and God sent them back. Verse 33 spells out the cost. Their own lives were forfeit. Their sons and daughters would also spend forty years in the desert, carrying the weight of a choice that was never theirs.
The people had cried that it would have been better to die in the wilderness. God's answer takes that complaint and hands it back to them as a verdict.
God's answer was this: You say you wish you had died in the wilderness — you shall die in the wilderness. "As for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness." God says: you will have to die, only it will take you forty years to do it. They must know death.
Older translations read that the children would "wander in the wilderness" and "bear your whoredoms." The ESV has them "be shepherds in the wilderness" and "suffer for your faithlessness."
Some might say the timing was wrong, or that the Amorites' guilt was not yet full. One commentator rejects that.
It is of the greatest importance to note here that it was unbelief that kept Israel out of Canaan... They knew nothing and thought nothing about the iniquity of the Amorites. Scripture is as plain as possible: "They could not enter in" — not because of the iniquity of the Amorites; not because the time had not come — but simply "because of unbelief." They ought to have entered. They were responsible to do so; and they were judged for not doing so. The way was open.
The same writer traces the collapse to its root: they lost sight of the land itself. Instead of going on "in simple dependence upon His omnipotent arm, they provoked Him by their unbelief, despised the pleasant land, and were compelled to turn back again into that great and terrible wilderness."
What does it mean to "bear" a sin? The law uses the word with one settled sense.
If you want to see the connection of bearing sin in Isaiah 53:12 with the punishment due to it, you have only to compare Leviticus 5:1, 17; ch. 17:16; ch. 20:19; ch. 24:15; Numbers 5:31; ch. 9:13; ch. 14:34; ch. 30:15. In all of them you will see it means coming under all the consequences of the sin committed, and being answerable for it before God. So it is spoken of particular sins, as idolatry, Numbers 14:33.
The parents had said their little ones would become plunder. Those same children are the ones God keeps, though the forty years fall on them too.
In them, those who had wanted to die in the wilderness would die there. Their little ones, whom they had mourned over as certain to fall to the enemy, would be brought into the land. Meanwhile those children would bear the consequences of their fathers' sin, as was needful for the children of such fathers: for each day of fruitless search, a year in the wilderness. Thank God, however: because He Himself appointed these years, we cannot call them fruitless. Shall we say that of any of the Lord's ways with us here? No — the more painful, the more profitable. Divine love could inflict no useless pain, just as it cannot withhold the pain that profits.
The believing few did not escape the march.
God will deal with them according to their faith. They shall perish in the wilderness, just as they wished. He will bring only the faithful ones and the children into the land. Even those must undergo, on their march, the consequences of the unbelief of the mass. However, other hopes and other consolations will be their portion.
The forty years were self-inflicted. God did not respond by withdrawing.
If Israel brings a pilgrimage of forty years upon themselves, the Lord will be in the wilderness with them for forty years... The God of the camp is the Guide and Companion of the camp. He may be grieved, and He may have to show His displeasure, but He never leaves them. His arm is not shortened, nor is His ear heavy.
- Cause — Unbelief kept them out, not God's timing and not the Amorites. The way was open, and God judged them for refusing it.
- Sentence — They had said they wished to die in the wilderness. God made their own words the terms of their punishment.
- Bearing — To "bear" a sin means coming under all its consequences. It means answering for it before God.
- Reach — The cost spread past the guilty. Their children and the faithful few marched the same desert.
- Result — God appointed the years, so none of them were wasted. He stayed in the wilderness the whole forty with them.