A Brood of Sinful Men: The Danger of Generational Amnesia Text: Numbers 32:6-15
Introduction: The Covenant is Not a Buffet
We come now to a critical moment on the plains of Moab. The forty years of wandering are over. The generation that perished in the wilderness for their unbelief is now a field of bones, a stark monument to the consequences of covenant infidelity. A new generation stands poised on the brink of the Jordan, ready to inherit the promise. The armies of Sihon and Og have been crushed, and the land east of the Jordan is now in Israel's possession. It is a good land, a fertile land, perfect for grazing. And this is where the trouble begins.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad, seeing this prime real estate, come to Moses with what seems like a reasonable, pragmatic request. They want to settle here. They want their inheritance now, on this side of the river. But Moses, a man seasoned by forty years of pastoral anguish, hears something else entirely. He hears the faint, ghastly echo of Kadesh-barnea. He hears the same spirit of self-interest, the same desire for comfort over calling, the same willingness to abandon the corporate body for personal gain that doomed their fathers.
What we have here is a fundamental misunderstanding of the covenant. The covenant is not a buffet line where you can pick and choose the blessings you like while leaving the responsibilities for others to handle. It is a corporate bond. It is all for one and one for all. The promise of the land was given to all twelve tribes, and the responsibility of conquering that land rested on all twelve tribes. For Reuben and Gad to say, "We'll take our portion now, and you fellows go handle the hard part," was not just a logistical proposal. It was a theological betrayal. It was an act of secession from the body. It was a sin against the unity of God's people, and Moses recognizes it instantly for the poison that it is.
This passage is a severe warning against a certain kind of evangelical mindset that is all too common today. It is the mindset of the detached, the comfortable, the consumer Christian who wants the benefits of salvation without the burdens of discipleship. It is the man who wants his fire insurance from hell but has no interest in fighting the Lord's battles. He wants to settle down in the good grazing land of personal peace and prosperity while his brothers are still at war. Moses' fierce rebuke to Reuben and Gad is a rebuke to every Christian who thinks he can sit out the fight.
The Text
But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? Now why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which Yahweh has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. Indeed they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which Yahweh had given them. So Yahweh’s anger burned in that day, and He swore an oath, saying, ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed Yahweh fully.’ So Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of Yahweh was brought to an end. Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of Yahweh against Israel. For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
(Numbers 32:6-15 LSB)
The Accusation: Discouragement is a Weapon (v. 6-7)
Moses begins with a sharp, rhetorical question that cuts to the heart of the matter.
"Shall your brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? Now why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which Yahweh has given them?" (Numbers 32:6-7)
The first question exposes their selfishness. The covenant community is a body. When one member suffers, all suffer. When one member goes to war, all go to war. The picture of some tribes fighting while others "sit here" is an image of covenant disintegration. It is every man for himself, which is the exact opposite of what God had called Israel to be. This is a betrayal of their brothers.
But the second question reveals the deeper sin. Their desire to opt out was not a neutral act. It was an act of spiritual sabotage. "Why are you discouraging the sons of Israel?" The Hebrew word here means to "make the heart melt" or "turn away." Discouragement is not a minor infraction; it is a weapon. It is what the ten spies did. They didn't just have a negative opinion; they actively melted the hearts of the people, turning them away from God's promise. Faith is contagious, but so is fear. Courage is contagious, but so is cowardice. Reuben and Gad, by their example, were about to broadcast a message of unbelief to the entire nation: "This land is good enough. Why risk everything for that land over there? Why fight when you can settle?" This is the voice of the sluggard, the compromiser, the man who loves his comfort more than God's calling.
The History Lesson: Remember Kadesh-Barnea (v. 8-13)
Moses immediately connects their present request to Israel's most catastrophic failure. He forces them to look at the family portrait and see the ugly resemblance.
"This is what your fathers did... they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they discouraged the sons of Israel... So Yahweh’s anger burned in that day..." (Numbers 32:8-10)
History is not just a collection of stories; it is God's case study for His people. Moses is saying, "We have seen this movie before, and it ends in judgment." The sin of the fathers was not simply seeing giants. Their sin was seeing the giants as bigger than God. They saw the goodness of the land, the grapes of Eshcol, but they allowed the obstacles to nullify the promise. And what was the result? They "discouraged the sons of Israel." They spread their unbelief like a plague through the camp.
And God's reaction was not mild displeasure. "Yahweh's anger burned." This is not the petty frustration of a human being. This is the holy, righteous, white-hot opposition of a covenant-keeping God to covenant-breaking unbelief. God had promised them the land. He had demonstrated His power at the Red Sea. For them to shrink back in fear was to call God a liar. It was cosmic treason. And the sentence was severe: an entire generation, from twenty years old and upward, would die in the desert. They wanted to go back to the wilderness, and God gave them their wish, with a vengeance.
But in the midst of this sweeping judgment, there is a glorious exception.
"...except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed Yahweh fully." (Numbers 32:12)
What set Caleb and Joshua apart? One phrase: "they have followed Yahweh fully." The Hebrew is literally "they have filled up after Yahweh." It is a picture of complete, wholehearted, no-reservations obedience. They didn't have a divided heart. They didn't hedge their bets. They saw the same giants the other spies saw, but they saw them through the lens of God's promise. Their report was not based on the size of the opposition but on the size of their God. This is the fundamental divide in all of life. Do you interpret your circumstances in light of God, or do you interpret God in light of your circumstances? Caleb and Joshua were men of faith, and so they were men of courage. The other ten were men of sight, and so they were men of fear.
The forty years of wandering were a direct result of this failure. It was a judicial sentence. God was purging the rot of unbelief from His people. Every funeral in the desert for forty years was a sermon illustration on the deadliness of discouragement and the consequences of a half-hearted commitment.
The Rebuke: A Brood of Sinful Men (v. 14-15)
Moses now brings the history lesson crashing down on the heads of the Reubenites and Gadites with a blistering rebuke.
"Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of Yahweh against Israel." (Numbers 32:14)
This is not seeker-sensitive language. "A brood of sinful men." It is the language of a prophet who sees the generational curse of sin about to repeat itself. He sees the same spiritual DNA, the same sinful inclinations, rising up in the sons that destroyed the fathers. This is the principle of corporate solidarity. Sins are not committed in a vacuum. They create patterns, cultures, and inheritances of rebellion. The sons were not guilty of their fathers' specific act of unbelief, but they were now guilty of manifesting the very same spirit of unbelief. And in doing so, they were about to "add still more" fuel to the fire of God's wrath.
Moses' final warning is stark. The stakes are not just their own inheritance, but the fate of the entire nation.
"For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people." (Numbers 32:15)
Notice the logic. Their sin of opting out would discourage the whole nation. A discouraged nation would refuse to fight. A disobedient nation would once again face the wrath of God. And God would "once more abandon them in the wilderness." Their selfish request for comfort had the potential to destroy everyone. This is how seriously God takes the unity of His people. One man's sin, Achan's sin, brought defeat on the whole nation at Ai. The sin of these two tribes could derail the entire conquest. There is no such thing as a private sin in the covenant community. Your choices affect the body. Your cowardice weakens the front line. Your desire for ease discourages those who are in the thick of the fight.
Conclusion: Following Fully in the New Covenant
Thankfully, the story doesn't end here. The leaders of Reuben and Gad repent. They hear the rebuke, they accept the terms, and they promise to send their fighting men across the Jordan to fight until the entire land is subdued. They subordinate their personal desires to the corporate good of the covenant community. They choose the way of Joshua and Caleb.
The application for us is direct and unavoidable. We who are in Christ have been brought out of a slavery far worse than Egypt. We are marching toward a promised land far greater than Canaan. We are engaged in a spiritual warfare against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. And the temptation for every one of us is the temptation of Reuben and Gad. It is the temptation to settle for a comfortable piece of ground on this side of the Jordan. It is the temptation to say, "I'm saved. I'm secure. Let others worry about the hard work of the Great Commission. Let others fight the cultural battles. I'm going to build my nice life here and tend my flocks."
To do this is to discourage the heart of the church. It is to repeat the sin of the fathers. It is to forget that we are one body, and we are at war. The call of the gospel is not a call to settle down; it is a call to cross the Jordan. It is a call to take up our cross and follow Christ "fully." It is a call to spend our lives for the sake of His kingdom, to fight alongside our brothers and sisters until the whole earth is subdued and filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
We must learn the lesson of Kadesh-barnea. Unbelief and discouragement lead to death in the desert. But faith, the wholehearted faith of a Joshua or a Caleb, leads to inheritance. Let us not be a brood of sinful men, content with the near side of the river. Let us be a generation that follows the Lord fully, for His glory and for the good of all His people.