Chapter 16—Ancient Israel's Provocations
Millennia ago, Nephite and Jaredite nations on this land were destroyed for unbelief and wickedness. Both civilizations left records that “give us knowledge . . . [of] the cause of their destruction” (Mosiah 8:12). The same cycle repeatedly destroys a choice people: God restores and reveals His gospel, but those “who professed to belong to the church of God” quickly depart from it and do not obey Him with exactness. “In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things and obey not his commandments” (D&C 59:21). Light and knowledge are lost as they modify or misunderstand true points of His doctrine and seek counsel from each other instead of God.
Prosperity, vanity, pride, and unbelief increase “among those who professed to belong to the church of God” as they continue setting their hearts on the world, which causes them to “deny the spirit of prophecy and revelation” (Helaman 4:11–12). Without acknowledging their error, His spirit is forced to withdraw and He is provoked.
To provoke God is a serious offense, a sin many would be shocked to realize they are guilty of committing. To provoke is to spurn, abhor, blaspheme, rebel against, or treat with contempt. Whosoever “provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul” (Proverbs 20:2).
Notorious for rebellion, the children of Israel quickly forgot God in the wilderness and longed for the world they had just left behind. Their deviance separated them from God. Instead of receiving the fulness He offers, “they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant” (Deuteronomy 31:20). Moses prophesied that their waning devotion and waywardness would continue. “I know that after my death, ye will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 31:29).
Loving God with our whole soul is “the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). To set our heart elsewhere is sin. If we “seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29), but this first commandment is a stumbling block for many. Though King Noah and his quorum of high priests were commanded to have no other God before Him, God sent Abinadi to ask,
Have ye done all this? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not. And have ye taught this people that they should do all these things? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not . . . I tell you the truth concerning your iniquities. Yea, and my words fill you with wonder and amazement, and with anger . . .
And now I read unto you the remainder of the commandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts. I perceive that ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives. (Mosiah 12:37, 13:7–8, 11)Enoch taught that “sin was not sent upon the earth, but men made it of themselves . . . Likewise neither was iniquity given from above, but it came from transgression.” Iniquity is the result of not performing His commandments with exactness. The Lord gave “a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:43–44). This same message was given to the wandering Israelites: “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers” (Deuteronomy 8:1).
Even after they saw the land of promise, the children of Israel’s hearts were not on God, so penalties came. “Ye shall not enter into the rest of the Lord [because] your iniquity provoketh him” (Alma 12:36). Knowing this, righteous prophets
labored diligently among our people that we might persuade them to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his rest, lest by any means he should swear in his wrath that they should not enter in, as in the provocation in the days of temptation while the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross, and bear the shame of the world. (Jacob 1:7–8)Ancient Israelites provoked God—in many ways, for many days—by refusing to obtain His blessings. Understanding how they provoked God is important because these same sins confront every generation. “All these things happened to them as ensamples and they were written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11) so that we can recognize our own transgressions and repent before God is provoked.
Provocation One—Marah and Manna
While in Marah (meaning ‘bitter’), the children of Israel complained for water. Though God had demonstrated His power over water by turning the Nile River to blood and parting the Red Sea, they forgot He would continue providing for His people. Jewish legends recount remarkable miracles while they journeyed in the frightful wilderness.
God did reward them for their trust in Him, for not only were they not harmed by the snakes and scorpions during their many years stay in the desert, but they were even relieved of the fear of the reptiles, for as soon as the snakes saw the Israelites, they meekly lay down upon the sand.
For three days they marched through the desert, uncomplaining, but when their supply of water gave out, the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
While crossing through the Red Sea they had provided themselves with water, for miraculously the sea flowed sweet for them; and now when the supply was becoming exhausted, they began to give expression to their dissatisfaction . . . They began to murmur against [Moses] and against God, even though at present they had not yet suffered from lack of water. So poorly did they stand the test to which God has put them, for in fact the very ground upon which they trod had running water beneath it, but they were not aware of this. God had desired to see how they would act under these conditions.
The people were all the more exasperated because their joy, when they sighted the springs and hastened to draw from it, turned to keenest disappointment when they tasted of the water and found it bitter. These deluded hopes cast them down spiritually as well as physically and grieved them . . . Mindful of the distress of the people, Moses [prayed] and quickly, as he had prayed, was his prayer answered. God bade him take a piece of a laurel tree, write upon it the great and glorious name of God, and throw it into the water, whereupon the water would become drinkable and sweet.The verb used to ‘direct’ Moses to the tree means to instruct or teach, it being the root of torah, God’s revealed law or word. Their hearts had become bitter like the water, but He as the Word could heal them and relieve all thirst. “I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26, NLT).
“There the Lord . . . put them to the test” (Exodus 15:25, NIV). During their time in “the wilderness of Sin,” their lack of faith again became evident when “the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured” because of hunger. God again provided another miracle to point their hearts to Christ—manna, the bread from heaven.
[God] humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna . . . that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)For 40 years, manna was provided daily with strict conditions that were not always obeyed. So God asked, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:28).
Christ could quench their thirst and fill their soul, but many would not turn to Him. Manna encouraged reliance on the only One who could save, reminding them of the spiritual fulness He offered, but they murmured still. Manna prepared them to live the law of consecration, encouraging trust in the Lord and living with sufficient for their needs. Receiving this blessing was first in the Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). But instead of seeing it as a blessing, manna was a nuisance to their preferred way of life. Previous days when they “did eat bread to the full” (Exodus 16:2–3) became pleasant memories.
Few find God’s eternal rewards compelling enough to make the required sacrifices. King Limhi, who knew that in order to ascend “there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made,” counseled us to “lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in . . . that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt . . . and fed them with manna that they might not perish” (Mosiah 7:18–19).
Instead of being grateful, they were frustrated that God wanted them to separate from the world. “Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians” (Exodus 14:11–12). Knowing “the Egyptians were happier to be rid of the Hebrews than [the Hebrews] were to be free” angered God.
Tired of heaven’s bread, they desired other delicacies, saying, “Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes . . . Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly.” Moses said, “Ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat . . . until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you, because that ye have despised the Lord” (Numbers 11:4–6, 10, 18–20).
God designed to bring His people out of the world so wanting to return to it provoked Him. Looking back to the world would destroy the children of Israel, as it had Lot’s wife. They did not ‘cite their minds forward’ to higher things (Alma 13:1). Although they were miraculously brought out of Egypt to worship God, they did not worship His way. “They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them” (Psalm 78:10–11). Saddened, God gave them according to their desires, which brought death as they refused the divine to partake of mortal flesh.
They sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God. They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth . . . because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.
Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the [‘bread,’ NLT] of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full . . . They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. (Psalm 78:17–25, 30–32)
Provocation Two—Meribah and the Rock of Massah
The children of Israel became so focused on quenching their physical desires that they accused Moses of trying to kill them and were “almost ready to stone” him (Exodus 17:4). God allowed another miracle, rich in symbolism, to satiate their thirst, soften hearts, and point them to Him.
God bade [Moses] go with some elders to the rock on Horeb and fetch water out of it. The elders were to accompany him there, that they might be convinced that he was not bringing water from a well, but smiting it from a rock. To accomplish this miracle, God bade him smite the rock with his rod, as the people labored under the impression that this rod could only bring destruction, for through its agency Moses had brought the ten plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt and at the Red Sea.
Now they were to see that it could work good also. Upon God’s bidding, Moses told the people to choose from which rock they wished water to flow, and hardly had Moses touched with his sapphire rod the rock which they had chosen when plenteous water flowed from it. The spot where this occurred God called Massah and Meribah because Israel there had tried their God, saying, If God is Lord over all, as over us; if He satisfies our needs and will further show us that He knows our thoughts, then will we serve Him, but not otherwise.Moses was to speak to the rock before smiting it twice. The first strike brought blood, the second brought water. Blood and water are powerful red-to-white atonement imagery. God “showed His holiness to them” (Numbers 20:13, HCSB) or was “proved holy” (NIV) through emblems of His flesh (manna) and blood (water), but the children of Israel rejected it by not giving away their sins. Christ’s blood could cleanse their souls and satiate their thirst, but only the faithful “drank of that spiritual Rock . . . and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Numbers 20 says Moses provoked God by not sanctifying Him before Israel but Exodus confirms the children of Israel were the ones guilty of fighting God’s laws and rejecting His holiness. Moses “called the name of the place Massah and Meribah . . . because they tempted the Lord” (JST Exodus 17:7). If they would not obey what God revealed to Moses while he was among them, they would not obey after his departure. Because of their sins, God eventually “took Moses out of their midst and the Holy Priesthood also” (D&C 84:25). Although the high priesthood was removed, the lesser laws remained.
“The God who had stood before Moses upon the rock at Meribah” was the same who “revealed Himself to our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as a glorified, exalted man . . . This God sought a constant interaction with and a response from His children” but the children of Israel were not interested. Choosing again to harden their hearts grieved God and provoked His anger.
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation [meribah], and as in the day of temptation [massah] in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalm 95:7–11, cf Hebrews 3:8–1)
Provocation Three—Sins at Sinai
“God is come to prove you” in the wilderness (Exodus 20:20). By definition, a wilderness is a place of testing and trial. Its barren land and scarce resources require that dwellers rely solely on God for survival. Refining trials could prepare them to see the Lord and receive all He designed to bestow, but the children of Israel were angry when He tried them. In Sinai’s wilderness, the Lord commanded Moses to say,
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. (Exodus 19:3–6)It was at Sinai that God revealed Himself. “Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make unto you gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold,” but “an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice thereon” (JST Exodus 20:22–24).
Putting God first was the first commandment: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them” (Exodus 20:2–5). All willingly covenanted “with one voice” saying, “All the words which the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient.” Having the law, being ritually washed, and agreeing to do what God commanded, the lesser covenant was made.
The wilderness could prepare them for higher, holy things. God wanted the children of Israel to remember that He had led them away from bondage and Egypt’s corrupt influences for something better—He promised to reveal Himself and give them a choice land. “Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God” (Exodus 19:17) but they refused, delegating Moses to speak to God on their behalf. Eager to absolve themselves of their responsibility to gain knowledge of God, relying on their prophet became their religion. They remained spiritually stagnant by believing it is enough for a leader to talk with God instead of seeking this knowledge and experience personally. Moses did not want the people to follow him, for he knew all must come to know God themselves, but still their hearts remained far from God’s presence.
They said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:19–21)God’s servants hope all will become prophets by knowing the Lord, but the children of Israel were not interested. They were called the children of Israel (not Israel) because Israel means “one who sees God.” Jacob was renamed Israel when he obtained this very experience. Their fathers saw God, but they refused to. Trying to prepare a complacent people to turn to the Lord wearied Moses and provoked God.
After receiving commandments to have no other gods before Him, covenanting to obey Him in all things, and witnessing the spectacular demonstration of His power on Sinai, the children of Israel had no excuse for what happened next. “Moses was fasting in Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights that he might receive the covenant of the Lord to give to the people. And Moses received from the Lord the two tables which were written by the finger of the hand of the Lord” (Barnabas 14:2). While Moses was on Sinai, the children of Israel forsook their covenant by seeking their own counsel and altering their worship.
The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him . . .
The people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:1–6)Jewish legend claims “the people worshipped not only the golden calf, they made thirteen such idols, one each for the twelve tribes, and one for all Israel. More than this, they employed manna, which God in His kindness did not deny them even on this day, as an offering to their idols.”
The Lord commanded they make an altar of earth and accept gold and offerings only from those “whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing” to “make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 35:21, 25:8, ASV). They were to build a house to God, not a graven image.
In spite of their oath, they were not interested in having God dwell among them. They wanted an image, not His presence. Most were stirred up in misguided worship, justifying their actions as honoring God. They worshipped the works of their hands, the image instead of the reality, and reneged on their covenant to have no other gods before Him. Instead of approaching God themselves, they “waited not for His counsel” (Psalm 106:13) and modified their manner of worship. “The people of the Lord are they who wait for him” (2 Nephi 6:13), and only “those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” (Psalm 37:9, ESV).
The Lord relates a golden calf to vain aspirations or walking our own way. “He aspireth to establish his counsel instead of the counsel which I have ordained . . . He setteth up a golden calf for the worship of my people” (D&C 124:84). If our hearts are not right and our worship is not precisely as decreed, it is sin. God cannot accept it.
The Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation. (Exodus 32:7–10)Having received the higher law, Moses and Joshua (who waited for Moses on the mount) heard singing and merriment as they returned to camp. When Moses “saw the calf and the dancing” he was furious. “Aaron had let the people get completely out of control” (Exodus 32:25, NLT).
Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. (JST Exodus 32:19–20)They could not have the higher law because they failed to live the lower law. Both people and priest had “been rebellious against the Lord” (Deuteronomy 9:24), and only the truly repentant would be spared. Should death seem a harsh punishment, remember they had just covenanted to obey His every word and have no other gods. The penalty for not fulfilling the covenant was death.
Moses asked an important question all should consider, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26). Only the sons of Levi responded favorably. Levi means one who is “joined to the Lord” (Jubilees 31:16). The Levites obediently executed the penalty by slaying three thousand idolaters. Great blessings were given Levi’s tribe. “The seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood and levitical [service] . . . because he was zealous to do righteousness and judgment and vengeance” (Jubilees 30:18). Their loyalty fulfilled prophecy that Levi would receive the sacred priesthood duties that were no longer reserved for the firstborn. “The Levites shall be mine . . . for they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel . . . Instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me” (Numbers 8:14, 16). Moses said, “O Lord, you have given your Thummim and Urim—the sacred lots—to your faithful servants the Levites. You put them to the test at Massah and struggled with them at the waters of Meribah. The Levites obeyed your word and guarded your covenant” (Deuteronomy 33:8–9, NLT).
As for the other tribes who failed to love the Lord with all their soul, worshipping “gods of gold” cost them dearly. Though called, they would not be chosen, but plagued with their names blotted out.
The Israel of God is a people specially called to the recognition of God in the fulness of His divine majesty. They are the people to whom the hidden One has appeared and spoken . . . But ever and again they would hold the blessings without the responsibility. They would have a god adapted to their corrupt desires and standards, made like themselves. The prophet then brings a stern message, which they must heed if they would see salvation: it is God’s glory that their worship must acknowledge, God’s will that their conduct must express. Their calling is to acknowledge God as God, and as nothing less.
The Final Provocation—Conflict at Kadesh-barnea
After having a miraculously delivered from bondage, being offered a choice land, and receiving the assurance that He would “never break my covenant with” them if they would hearken to His commandments (Judges 2:1), not a generation passed before the children of Israel desired to return to the world. They trusted alliances, allowed variance in worship, “have not obeyed my voice . . . knew not the Lord . . . [and] forsook the Lord God of their fathers” (Judges 2:2, 10, 12).
Having seriously provoked the Lord repeatedly, any more rebellion must bring severe and irrevocable repercussion. God disapproved of their “three transgressions,” but “for four, I will not turn away the punishment.” The expression ‘not three but four’ denotes not only “a large number of crimes, but ungodliness in its worst form.”
“At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (Deuteronomy 19:15), but the fourth and final witness against them would bring destruction. For any of their transgressions—being idolatrous, rejecting His fulness and law, and not keeping His statutes or ordinances—punishment was justified, but “they are augmented by a fourth, conceived implicitly as an aggravation of the three. The measure of guilt, in other words, is not merely full, it is more than full. ‘The three transgressions stand for a whole sum of sin, which had not yet brought down extreme punishment; the fourth was the crowning sin, after which God could no longer spare’.” They “have filled up the measure of their iniquities and are ripe for ruin.” God’s wrath will, and must, now come.
At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath. Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. (Deuteronomy 9:22–24)Kadesh-barnea was the final provocation. Kadesh means holy, and rebelling against holiness is never a profitable endeavor. It was here that twelve men (one from each tribe) were sent to observe the promised land, gather its fruit, and return to report. Called ‘spies’ in some translations, these twelve leaders, having observed the land and its fruit, said,
We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great . . .
Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. (Numbers 13:27–28, 30–32)While admitting the beautiful land “floweth with milk and honey,” ten of the twelve leaders did not believe that the land God promised to Abraham’s seed could be theirs. Instead they relied on what they could see, hear, or feel. The ten leaders existed in unbelief, ruled by fear not faith: “We be not able to” do what God commanded. How different is the faithful’s attitude, saying, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7).
Very few recognize the crucial truth that “with God, nothing can be impossible” (JST Luke 1:37). Only Joshua (of Ephraim) and Caleb (of Judah) reported it was an exceedingly good land, within reach if they would exercise the faith required. “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it” (Numbers 13:30, NASB).
[He] whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances . . . He that trembleth under my power shall be made strong and shall bring forth fruits of praise and wisdom, according to the revelations and truths which I have given you.
And again, he that is overcome and bringeth not forth fruits, even according to this pattern, is not of me. Wherefore, by this pattern ye shall know the spirits in all cases under the whole heavens. And the days have come—according to men’s faith it shall be done unto them. (D&C 52:15, 17–20)Though they had covenanted to obey God fully, now they wilfully rebelled. Joshua and Caleb pled, “Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones” (Numbers 14:9–10).
The same people who previously wanted to stone Moses now rejected Joshua and Caleb. The unbelievers chose to follow the majority of the twelve instead of God. “The whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! . . . Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:2–4).
“They despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word” (Psalm 106:24). Unfaithful leaders persuaded many that this glorious blessing was not possible now. Relying on their own strength, not the Lord’s, left the children of Israel in an inferior position against inhabitants of the very land God had promised their fathers.
Even after a miraculous deliverance from bondage, Egypt’s plagues, and Pharaoh’s army; after witnessing miracles of water from a rock and manna from heaven; and after receiving penalties for idolatry and false worship, the children of Israel still rejected the good report, which is a foundational component of Christ’s gospel. Deeply grieved that the children of Israel again refused divine blessings, Moses rebuked them for their hard hearts and unbelief.
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. (JST Numbers 14:11–12)God cursed the 9th of Av, the day the children of Israel believed the “evil report” and refused the promised land. The ten unfaithful leaders were killed by plague. Their followers wandered in a barren desert for forty years before they too perished because they did “err in their heart and they have not known my ways” (Psalm 95:10). Out of that generation, only Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land.
At Sinai, the children of Israel delegated their relationship with God to their leader and did not want to know Him or see His face. Tired of bread from heaven, they longed for other flesh. They chose to not quench their thirst by His Word, seeking water for temporal relief only. They thirsted from unbelief and hungered because they would not come to Him. They desired life in Egypt over eternal life in Christ.
The gospel was preached . . . to them but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. (Hebrews 4:2, NKJV)“God cursed the children of Israel because they would not receive the last law” that offered the fulness. By desiring the world, refusing knowledge of God, and remaining in unbelief, the children of Israel lost the right to a promised land and “the Holy Priesthood” (D&C 84:25).
“They turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psalm 78:41) by acting “according to their own carnal wills and desires; having never called upon the Lord while the arms of mercy were extended towards them; for the arms of mercy were extended towards them, and they would not” (Mosiah 16:12). “Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed on them because of thy Son” (Alma 33:16).
Throughout history many were “obsessed with religion, with purity, and with scrupulous observance of law but He found few who knew God.” Many who profess unbending devotion to religion, acknowledge the importance of ritual, or boast impeccable observance of the law fail to find Him. Not knowing Him is the source of all provocation. In other words, anything that hinders us from coming to Christ or being unwilling to receive His glorious promises provokes Him.
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters. They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (Isaiah 1:4)The children of Israel are a type of all who forsake divine knowledge and exchange glory for something of the world. Like many prophets, Paul was concerned that the sins and iniquities that caused Israel to provoke God would again manifest themselves in other dispensations.
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God . . . Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke . . . to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest . . . So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12–16, 18–19)
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