43 "For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword , inasmuch e e as you have turned back from following the Lord . And the Lord will not be with you." 44 But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country ; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp . 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down , and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 14:43-45
Commentary on Numbers 14:40-45
(Read Numbers 14:40-45)
Some of the Israelites were now earnest to go forward toward Canaan. But it came too late. If men would but 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! That which has been duty in its season, when mistimed, may be turned into sin. Those who are out of the way of their duty, are not under God's protection, and go at their peril. God bade them go, and they would not; he forbade them, and they would go. Thus is the carnal mind enmity against God. They had distrusted God's strength; they now presume upon their own without his. And the expedition fails accordingly; now the sentence began to be executed, that their carcases should fall in the wilderness. That affair can never end well, which begins with sin. The way to obtain peace with our friends, and success against our enemies, is, to have God, as our Friend, and to keep 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.