And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore doth the Lord bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey: were it not better for us to return into Egypt?"
And they said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the children of Israel.
D. THE ADVICE OF THE HEROES
And Joshua and Caleb, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not."
But all the people cried to stone them with stones.
E. THE SENTENCE OF THE LORD
And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, 'As I live, saith the Lord, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb and Joshua. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years.'"
§44. After the Forty Years (Josh. 1:1-11; 11:16-18; 14:6-13)
A. JOSHUA'S REWARD