13 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them; 14 And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say, 16 Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the waste land. 17 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said: 18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation. 19 May the sin of this people have forgiveness, in the measure of your great mercy, as you have had mercy on them from Egypt up till now.
20 And the Lord said, I have had mercy, as you say:
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 14:13-20
Commentary on Numbers 14:11-19
(Read Numbers 14:11-19)
Moses made humble intercession for Israel. Herein he was a type of Christ, who prayed for those that despitefully used him. The pardon of a nation's sin, is the turning away the nation's punishment; and for that Moses is here so earnest. Moses argued that, consistently with God's character, in his abundant mercies, he could forgive them.
Commentary on Numbers 14:20-35
(Read Numbers 14:20-35)
The Lord granted the prayer of Moses so far as not at once to destroy the congregation. But disbelief of the promise forbids the benefit. Those who despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The promise of God should be fulfilled to their children. They wished to die in the wilderness; God made their sin their ruin, took them at their word, and their carcases fell in the wilderness. They were made to groan under the burden of their own sin, which was too heavy for them to bear. Ye shall know my breach of promise, both the causes of it, that it is procured by your sin, for God never leaves any till they first leave him; and the consequences of it, that will produce your ruin. But your little ones, now under twenty years old, which ye, in your unbelief, said should be a prey, them will I bring in. God will let them know that he can put a difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off without touching their children. Thus God would not utterly take away his loving kindness.