John Calvin Commentary Numbers 14:26

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying," — Numbers 14:26 (ASV)

And the Lord spoke unto Moses.⁶³ I have translated the copula with the word itaque (therefore), to indicate the connection with what precedes: for Moses does not here recount anything new but, by way of explanation, repeats a point of great importance, namely, that those who had refused to enter the land would be deprived of its possession.

He begins with the passionate interrogation:⁶⁴ “How long shall this troublesome dregs of a people be borne with, who never cease to murmur against me?” And God says that He had heard their turbulent cries, so that they might more certainly perceive that their pride was intolerable, since God Himself was weary of it, although He is long-suffering and slow to anger.

It is in bitter irony that He says He will deal with them in accordance with their own resolution and desire. Nothing, indeed, was further from their intention than to wander in the wilderness, but, since they had held back from entering the land, God says that He will gratify them in a very different sense, namely, that they shall never enjoy the sight of that land, which they had despised.

By His oath, He expresses His extreme wrath, as it is also said in Psalm 95:11,

“Unto whom I swore in my wrath, that they
shall not enter into my rest.”⁶⁵

It was necessary that their insensibility should be thus aroused, so that, when God was so greatly provoked, they would not still continue self-satisfied, as was their custom.

He aggravates their punishment by another circumstance, that is, that they were to be deprived of the inheritance which He had sworn to give to Abraham. For the lifting up of the hand⁶⁶ (as I have said elsewhere) was a form of oath; just as if God were called down from heaven by the outstretched hand to be witness and judge. And, although this does not indeed literally apply to God, still we know that He commonly transfers to Himself the things that belong to men.

Moreover, this was a most severe reproof: that by their wickedness and self-will they should nullify a promise which God had ratified by an oath, at least insofar as its fulfillment affected them. For He points out immediately afterwards that, although they had rejected the offered blessing, He would still be true; and would bestow on their little ones what they had refused for themselves.

It is thus that God tempers His judgments against those hypocrites who falsely profess to honor His name, so as to preserve a seed for the propagation of His Church; nor is He ever so severe towards the reprobate as to fail in sustaining His mercy towards His elect.

Indeed, He here declares that He will be gracious towards their children as a means of inflicting punishment on the fathers. It was an indirect accusation of God when they lamented over their children, as if they were to be carried away as a prey; while God promises that they shall be the possessors of the land, in order to reprove this wicked blasphemy.

⁶³ “The Lord spoke therefore to Moses,” to Moses,” etc. —— Lat.

⁶⁴ “Pathetica interrogatio.” — Lat. “Or, Dieu use d’un proeme vehement a la facon d’un homme passione;” now, God uses a vehement exordium, after the fashion of an angry man. — “Or, Dieu use d’un proeme vehement a la facon d’un homme passione;” now, God uses a vehement exordium, after the fashion of an angry man. — Fr.

⁶⁵ “Si introibunt in requiem meam.” — Lat. See See Margin A.V., and and Hebrews 4:3, 5..

⁶⁶ See ver. 30, , Margin A.V.Item, vol. 1, p. 131, on , on Exodus 6:8..