Audio Download

Numbers 14:1-45  The Reaction of the People of Israel to the Bad Report Sent by the Spies

[Study Aired July 31, 2023]

Num 14:1  And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 
Num 14:2  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! 
Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Num 14:5  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 
Num 14:6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 
Num 14:7  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. 
Num 14:8  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. 
Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 
Num 14:10  But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 
Num 14:11  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 shewed among them? 
Num 14:12  I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. 
Num 14:13  And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 
Num 14:14  And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 
Num 14:15  Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 
Num 14:16  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. 
Num 14:17  And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 
Num 14:18  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. 
Num 14:19  Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Num 14:20  And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 
Num 14:21  But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 
Num 14:22  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; 
Num 14:23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: 
Num 14:24  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.
Num 14:25  (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 
Num 14:26  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 14:27  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. 
Num 14:28  Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 
Num 14:29  Your carcases 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,
Num 14:30  Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Num 14:31  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. 
Num 14:32  But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 
Num 14:33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 
Num 14:34  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. 
Num 14:35  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. 
Num 14:36  And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 
Num 14:37  Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 
Num 14:38  But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
Num 14:39  And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. 
Num 14:40  And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 
Num 14:41  And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. 
Num 14:42  Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 
Num 14:43  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. 
Num 14:44  But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 
Num 14:45  Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. 

Introduction

Today’s study is about what happened to the people of Israel after they received a bad report from those who went to spy out the land. In Babylon, where we are dominated by the flesh, we cannot see how we can overcome the flesh, especially when we see ourselves being defeated over and over again by the giants of our land – the flesh. The reaction of the people of Israel to the bad news by their leaders (the spies sent, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua) is exactly what is happening in every generation to the physical churches of this world (Babylon) to which we belonged at a certain stage in our walk with Christ. This chapter is summarized by the following statement by Peter:

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them [Bad report about the land], and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2  And many shall follow their pernicious ways [the reaction of the people to bad report]; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of [the fact that it is through faith we shall overcome shall be spoken against].

Num 14:1  And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 
Num 14:2  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! 
Num 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

The reaction of the people of Israel as they received a bad report from the spies sent by Moses was very unfortunate. It was as if they had lost hope that the Lord would bring them to the land of promise. This was the bad report they received from the spies except for Caleb and Joshua:

Num 13:27  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
Num 13:28  Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Num 13:29  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 

Num 13:31  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
Num 13:32  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

As indicated in the previous study, it is in Babylon that we come to see that there is no way we can defeat the beast within our land or the flesh. Instead of putting our faith in the Lord to drive the enemies out of our land, we come to think it is through our own effort that we can possess our bodies. This is the result of the false teachings we receive in Babylon which cause us to think we have our own will to make our own decisions. We end up being worse off.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

The reaction of the people of Israel that it would have been better for them to die in Egypt than die in the wilderness caused them to desire leaders to return them to Egypt. As we are aware, what we desire is what drives our actions. No wonder we heap upon ourselves teachers who would remind us of the world’s (Egypt) tradition and wisdom, and therefore we end up dying spiritually in the wilderness of this life. 

2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 
2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Num 14:5  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 
Num 14:6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 

Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua were four in number. Being four of them means they represent the whole of the elect of every generation. Moses and Aaron falling down on their faces with Caleb and Joshua renting their clothes signify the frustration we go through while we were in Babylon when we come to realize that the churches of this world are taking us nowhere in our quest to know Christ and that their teachings are rather taking us back to the world (Egypt).  That is what causes our departure from Babylon.

Isa 9:16  For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. 
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 

Num 14:7  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. 
Num 14:8  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.
Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 

From the viewpoint of the elect, we must have the faith that the Lord, who has called and chosen us, will drag us along to possess our bodies. That is to say, to have victory over the flesh. If we do not have confidence that He who has called us is capable of completing what He has started in us, then we would end up behaving like the people of Israel. Inasmuch as we understand that in possessing our bodies, we are dealing with a formidable force which is the beast within us, we can see from the eyes of faith that the people of the land are bread to us and that their defense is departed from them. Being bread for us and their defenses departed is the same as the saying that the beast within has been made to be taken and destroyed by the Lord on behalf of the elect.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God [through faith]? 

Num 14:10  But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. 
Num 14:11  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 shewed among them? 
Num 14:12  I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. 
Num 14:13  And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 
Num 14:14  And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. 
Num 14:15  Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
Num 14:16  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. 
Num 14:17  And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 
Num 14:18  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.
Num 14:19  Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
Num 14:20  And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 

The fact that the people of Israel wanted to stone Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua means that our message will not be received by the churches of this world. To them, we are spiritually dead. 

Rev 11:8  And their [the elect] dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Just when the people wanted to stone them, the Lord of glory intervened by appearing in the tabernacle of the congregation. Our realization of the apostasy of the churches of this world and the need to leave Babylon is facilitated by the hatred of the message we carry – to the point of wanting to kill us. Our exit from Babylon is heralded by the appearing of the Lord of glory in our temple to come and judge us (destroy the giants of our land) so we can possess our bodies. 

Mal 3:1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:2  But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
Mal 3:3  And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

As we are aware, the words of the Lord are written for our admonition of whom the ends of the world have come. When the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation and addressed Moses regarding the fact that He wanted to destroy the people of Israel and make a great nation out of Moses (verses 11-12), Moses responded that the Lord should show mercy to the people. The Lord was actually using this episode to demonstrate to us the role of the elect in the lake of fire, which is for us to show mercy to all humanity even as we have received mercy from Him.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Num 14:21  But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 
Num 14:22  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; 
Num 14:23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: 
Num 14:24  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.
Num 14:25  (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 

The Lord affirming in verse 21 that all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord means that the salvation of all humanity is as sure as the rising of the sun every day. All humanity will have dominion over the flesh at the set time of the Lord. However, in this age, it is the elect who, through faith, are being given dominion over the flesh. This is affirmed in verse 24 when the Lord mentioned Caleb, who symbolized the elect, as the one to possess the land, which is his body, because he had a different spirit. Being of different spirit means we walk by faith and not by sight.

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

In verse 22, the Lord said that the people of Israel had tempted Him ten times and had not hearkened to His voice.  The negative application of ten times refers to the period when we are tried and found wanting. In this case, their trials show clearly that the people of Israel were not ready to hearken to the voice of the Lord. This implies that in Babylon, it is impossible to obey the Lord. 

Gen 31:41  Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

Job 19:3  These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

As a result of our disobedience to the Lord while we were in Babylon, we become worse off as we are dominated more by the flesh, which is symbolized by the people of Israel being instructed by the Lord to turn away from the promised land toward the Red Sea (verse 25). Therefore, we end up becoming spiritually dead in this wilderness of life (verse 23). 

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Num 14:26  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 14:27  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.
Num 14:28  Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 
Num 14:29  Your carcases 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,
Num 14:30  Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Our carcass falling in the wilderness means that we become spiritually dead while we walk through this life of wilderness. This is the same as casting us into outer darkness. However, if we are called and chosen, then the Lord will cause us to be delivered from Babylon and give us the grace to possess the land or become overcomers.

Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Verses 26 -30 also suggest that as long as we are in Babylon, there is no way we can become overcomers. As the Psalmist said, as long as we are by the rivers of Babylon, we cannot sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. It is only the elect, symbolized in verse 30 by Caleb and Joshua, who are destined to overcome the flesh or possess the land.

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 
Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 
Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
Psa 137:4  How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?

Num 14:31  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. 
Num 14:32  But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 
Num 14:33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 
Num 14:34  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. 
Num 14:35  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. 

These verses show us that as we die to the old man through the judgment of the Lord. The new man after the image of Christ is born who is destined to possess the land.

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Num 14:36  And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 
Num 14:37  Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. 
Num 14:38  But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
Num 14:39  And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

As stated in verse 37, those who brought an evil report of the land ended up dying by plague before the Lord. When we come to assess our flesh as being unconquerable, that is, bringing an evil report of the land, we end up becoming spiritually dead by the design of the Lord. When we abandon our faith in Christ that we are well able to overcome the flesh through Christ and begin to walk by sight, we forsake the great salvation that the Lord has provided for us. However, if we are called and chosen before the foundation of the world, symbolized by Caleb and Joshua in verse 38, then we shall surely come to the realization that the Lord is able to bring us to our safe haven. 

2Co 5:7  For we walk by faith, not by sight:

All those who as a result of fear turned back from going to war with Gideon against the Midianites symbolize those who say that the flesh is unconquerable, and therefore they are not going to be part of the victory parade or the marriage supper. They also represent those who bowed down on their knees to drink water. Bowing down your knees to drink water means you are not testing the spirit to see if it is of the Lord. That is, we accept the fact that the beast of our flesh is not conquerable. 

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Jdg 7:2  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 
Jdg 7:3  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
Jdg 7:4  And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 
Jdg 7:5  So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
Jdg 7:6  And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 
Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 

Num 14:40  And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. 
Num 14:41  And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. 
Num 14:42  Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 
Num 14:43  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. 
Num 14:44  But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. 
Num 14:45  Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. 

These verses show us that when we transgress the commandments of the Lord, whatever we do shall not prosper. In other words, when we are dominated by the flesh, there is no way that we can have victory over the flesh or the beast within. There are several examples in the word of the Lord that bring this truth to light. For example, when the children of Eli continued to sin against the Lord, the people of Israel were easily defeated by the Philistines. 

1Sa 3:11  And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
1Sa 3:12  In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. 
1Sa 3:13  For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. 
1Sa 3:14  And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.

1Sa 4:10  And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
1Sa 4:11  And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

The ark being taken means that the little knowledge we know about Christ is taken away, and we end up being worse off, that is, we become spiritually dead. These things were written for our admonition so that we do not lust after evil things but stay focused on Christ knowing that we, His elect, are the ones upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

May the Lord be merciful to us to continue to abide in Him as we wait for His coming. Amen!!