Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 14:20

"And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word:" — Numbers 14:20 (ASV)

I have pardoned according to your word.— The holiness and justice of the Lord required that punishment should overtake the transgressors, as it had been foretold in Exodus 32:34. Nevertheless, the prayer of Moses was heard and answered, and the people were not wholly exterminated.

(21, 22, 23) But as truly as I live ... — The three verses may be rendered as follows:— Nevertheless, as truly as I live, and all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of those men who have seen my glory and my signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and (who) tempted me these ten times, and did not listen to my voice, shall see the land which I swore to their fathers, etc.

Some have explained the words these ten times by suggesting that the count includes not only the eight recorded murmurings but also transgressions by certain individuals. The eight recorded murmurings are:

1. At the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11–12).
2. At Marah (Exodus 15:23).
3. In the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:2).
4. At Rephidim (Exodus 17:1).
5. At Horeb (Exodus 32:0).
6. At Taberah (Numbers 11:1).
7. At the graves of lust (Numbers 11:4).
8. At Kadesh (Numbers 14:0).

The transgressions of certain individuals added to these are:

1. Keeping the manna until the morning of the day after it was gathered (Exodus 16:20).
2. Going out to gather the manna on the seventh day, when none fell (Exodus 16:27).

It is more probable, however, that the number ten is used here, as elsewhere , to denote a full measure.

The persons to whom the penalty applied are specified in Numbers 14:29: namely, those who were included in the first census. The principal exceptions to the threat of exclusion from the land of promise are specified in Numbers 14:30-31: namely, Joshua and Caleb, and the generation that had not reached twenty years of age at the exodus. The other exception, or exceptions, if there were any, belonged to the tribe of Levi, which was not included in the census that was first taken, nor represented by the spies.

It has been inferred from the fact that Nadab and Abihu alone went up into the mountain with Moses and Aaron, that Eleazar, who entered Canaan with Joshua (Joshua 14:1), was under twenty years of age at the exodus. It may be observed that it does not follow that the regulation concerning the age of the Levites at the time of entering their service also applied to the priests. Consequently, Eleazar may have been under twenty years of age at the time of his consecration. (Compare 2 Chronicles 31:17.) There seems, however, to be no sufficient authority for such a supposition.