The Folly of Pious Disobedience Text: Numbers 14:39-45
Introduction: The Anatomy of Presumption
There is a world of difference between faith and presumption, and that difference is the Word of God. Faith stands upon a clear "thus saith the Lord," while presumption stands upon a pious feeling, a stubborn self-will, or a belated and carnal sorrow. Faith takes God at His word, even when it is hard. Presumption tries to make God take us at our word, especially after we have rejected His.
The scene before us in Numbers 14 is one of the most tragic and instructive in all of Scripture. Israel has just committed a catastrophic sin. After hearing the faithless report of the ten spies, the entire congregation has rebelled against God. They wept, they grumbled, they accused God of hating them, and they resolved to appoint a new captain to lead them back to Egypt. In response, God has pronounced a solemn, irrevocable judgment: that entire generation, from twenty years old and upward, will perish in the wilderness. They will not enter the Promised Land. Their children will, but they will not.
Our text picks up in the immediate aftermath of this terrible verdict. The people, having heard the sentence, are now filled with a kind of sorrow. They recognize, in some shallow way, that they have sinned. And so they resolve to fix it. They will now do the very thing they refused to do just hours before. They will go up and take the land. But this is not faith. This is not repentance. This is the height of presumption. It is an attempt to undo the consequences of their sin through an act of religious disobedience dressed up in the clothes of zeal. They are trying to force God's hand, to compel a blessing that He has explicitly withdrawn. This is the folly of trying to be more obedient than God requires, which is simply another form of disobedience.
This passage is a stark warning to us. We live in an age that prizes sincerity over truth, and personal feelings over divine commands. We are constantly tempted to believe that if we just "feel" sorry enough, or if we are zealous enough, we can bypass the clear directives of God. But God is not mocked. His commands are not suggestions, and His judgments are not negotiable. This passage teaches us the crucial difference between godly sorrow that leads to repentance and worldly sorrow that leads to death. It shows us the anatomy of a presumptuous heart, and the disastrous end of all who would march forward without the presence of God.
The Text
Then Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; we will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised because we have indeed sinned.”
But Moses said, “Why then do you trespass against the command of Yahweh, when it will not succeed?
Do not go up, for Yahweh is not among you, so that you are not defeated before your enemies.
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following Yahweh. And Yahweh will not be with you.”
But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses moved from the camp.
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.
(Numbers 14:39-45 LSB)
Worldly Sorrow and Pious Resolutions (v. 39-40)
We begin with the people's reaction to God's judgment.
"Then Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, 'Here we are; we will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised because we have indeed sinned.'" (Numbers 14:39-40)
Moses, the faithful mediator, delivers the terrible news. And the people's response is to mourn "greatly." On the surface, this looks like repentance. But we must learn to distinguish between the sorrow of repentance and the sorrow of getting caught. Their tears are not for the offense against God's holiness; they are tears of self-pity for the consequences they now face. This is the sorrow of Esau, who wept bitterly not because he had despised his birthright, but because he had lost the blessing. It is the sorrow of Judas, who was sorry for the outcome of his betrayal, not for the betrayal itself, and went and hanged himself. The apostle Paul makes this distinction sharp and clear: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).
How do we know their sorrow is worldly? By their very next action. True repentance submits to the discipline of God. False repentance tries to wriggle out from under it. Instead of accepting God's verdict and bearing their judgment humbly, they immediately concoct a plan to reverse it. They get up early, a sign of earnestness and zeal, and declare their intention to go up and fight. Their words sound pious: "Here we are; we will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised because we have indeed sinned." They are confessing their sin, but they are using that confession as a justification for their new plan of action. It is as if they are saying, "Alright, we sinned by not going up. So, to prove how sorry we are, we will go up now."
This is a classic example of trying to fix a sin of disobedience with another sin of disobedience. The command from God yesterday was "Go up." They refused. The command from God today, implied in His judgment, is "Do not go up." And now they are determined to go. They are one day late and a dollar short. They have mistaken their own zealous activity for true obedience. They think that by redoubling their efforts, they can make amends. But you cannot atone for sin by offering God the filthy rags of your own self-willed religious fervor.
The Prophet's Warning (v. 41-43)
Moses, the man of God, immediately confronts their foolish presumption.
"But Moses said, 'Why then do you trespass against the command of Yahweh, when it will not succeed? Do not go up, for Yahweh is not among you, so that you are not defeated before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following Yahweh. And Yahweh will not be with you.'" (Numbers 14:41-43 LSB)
Moses calls their new plan what it is: a trespass. The Hebrew word here means to transgress, to go beyond the proper boundary. The command of Yahweh had changed. Yesterday, faith would have been to march. Today, faith is to stay put. Obedience is not about doing what you think is a good idea for God; it is about doing what God has actually said. Their plan "will not succeed" because success is not a matter of military strategy or human determination. It is entirely dependent on the presence and blessing of God.
And Moses gives them the reason in the plainest possible terms: "Yahweh is not among you." This is the heart of the matter. Israel's strength was never in their numbers or their might. Their entire existence as a nation was a testimony to the power of God dwelling in their midst. The Shekinah glory, the Ark of the Covenant, these were the signs of His presence. When God is with you, one can put a thousand to flight. But when God is not with you, you are just a rabble with pointy sticks. To go into battle without God is not an act of faith; it is suicide.
Notice the logic: "inasmuch as you have turned back from following Yahweh. And Yahweh will not be with you." Their previous disobedience had consequences. It resulted in the withdrawal of God's favor and presence for this particular endeavor. You cannot treat God's presence like a water tap that you can turn on and off at will. They had forsaken Him, and now, in this matter, He had forsaken them to their own devices. The Amalekites and Canaanites were not the ultimate threat. The ultimate threat was going into any situation where you can say, "And Yahweh will not be with you."
Heedless Presumption and Utter Defeat (v. 44-45)
Despite the clear, prophetic warning, the people press on in their folly.
"But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses moved from the camp. 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." (Genesis 14:44-45 LSB)
The word "heedlessly" here is key. It can be translated as "presumptuously" or "arrogantly." They swelled up with pride. They thought they knew better than Moses, and better than God. They mistook their emotional remorse for spiritual strength. They substituted their own resolve for God's commission.
And we are given two stark indicators of God's absence. "Neither the ark of the covenant of Yahweh nor Moses moved from the camp." The Ark was the visible throne of God's presence among them. Where the Ark went, God's power was manifest. Where it stayed, His power stayed. Moses was God's ordained prophet and leader. To proceed without the Ark and without Moses was to proceed without God's presence and without God's word. It was a rebellion on every level. They were an army marching under their own flag, not God's.
The result is as predictable as it is tragic. The Amalekites and the Canaanites, the very people they were terrified of the day before, came down and routed them. They "struck them and beat them down." The defeat was total. The name of the place, Hormah, means "destruction" or "a devoted thing." By their disobedience, they had devoted themselves to destruction. Their presumptuous attempt to seize a blessing resulted in a curse. Their zealous disobedience was just as damning as their fearful disobedience. The road to Hormah is paved with good intentions that are contrary to the revealed will of God.
Conclusion: Faith Obeys the Present Command
So what is the lesson for us? This passage is a permanent warning against the sin of presumption. It is the sin of acting in God's name, but without His warrant. It is the sin of trying to obtain God's promises through man's methods.
We see this sin all around us in the modern church. We see it in the emotionalism that manufactures a spiritual experience and calls it the Holy Spirit, without any regard for the Word. We see it in the activism that seeks to build the kingdom through political maneuvering or social programs, while the Ark and Moses, Word and Sacrament, remain back in the camp. We see it in the individual who, having been confronted with his sin, feels very sorry for the consequences and so throws himself into a flurry of religious activity, all the while ignoring the simple, humble steps of true repentance that God requires.
True faith is not a feeling of confidence in our own plans. True faith is a humble submission to the revealed will of God. And that will is found in His Word. The command for Israel on this day was not "fight," but "bear your judgment." The path of faith for them would have been to accept their forty years of wandering with broken and contrite hearts. That would have been true repentance. But they refused it.
For us, the application is clear. We must not mistake our regrets for repentance. We must not think that our zeal can make up for our disobedience. We must ask ourselves, what is the present command of God for me, today? It is not enough to do what was commanded yesterday. It is not enough to do what we wish God had commanded. We must do what He has commanded. And He has commanded all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. He has commanded us to be baptized, to be faithful members of His church, to hear His Word preached, and to come to His Table. He has commanded us to live lives of humble obedience, not presumptuous self-will.
The good news is that for those who are in Christ, the true presence of God is never withdrawn. Jesus has promised, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). The Ark of the Covenant was just a shadow of Him. He is our Emmanuel, God with us. But we enjoy that presence as we walk in His ways, not our own. Let us therefore learn the lesson of Hormah. Let us abandon all our heedless, presumptuous plans, and learn to walk in simple, humble, moment-by-moment obedience to the Word of the God who is with us.