Matthew Henry Commentary Numbers 14:40-45

"And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which Jehovah hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of Jehovah, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah." — Numbers 14:40-45 (ASV)

Some of the Israelites were now earnest to go forward toward Canaan. But it came too late. If people would only be as earnest for heaven while their day of grace lasts, as they will be when it is over, how well would it be for them! What has been duty in its season, when mistimed, may be turned into sin.

Those who stray from the path of their duty are not under God's protection and go at their peril. God commanded them to go, and they refused; He forbade them, and they insisted on going. Thus, the carnal mind is enmity against God. They had distrusted God's strength; they now presume upon their own without His.

And the expedition failed accordingly; the sentence now began to be executed, that their carcases should fall in the wilderness. An affair that begins with sin can never end well. The way to obtain peace with our friends and success against our enemies is to have God as our Friend and to remain in His love. Let us take warning from the fate of Israel, lest we perish after the same example of unbelief.

Let us go forth, depending on God's mercy, power, promise, and truth; He will be with us and bring our souls to everlasting rest.