Context No. 3953 of 4322 · Numbers

Numbers 32:6-13: in context

6Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? 7Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? 8Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10The LORD’s anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying, 11‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me, 12except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed the LORD completely.’ 13The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in the LORD’s sight was consumed.

When the tribes of Gad and Reuben ask to settle on the near side of the Jordan, Moses fears they will discourage the rest of Israel from crossing over to take the land, and he reminds them of a painful history: this is what your fathers did. The spies had come back from the promised land and, by their fearful report, discouraged the hearts of the people so that a whole generation refused to enter and died in the wilderness.

Moses' concern reveals how seriously God takes discouragement. The spies had not fought against Israel; they had simply spread their own fear, and it spread through the whole camp and cost the nation the promise. Discouragement is contagious, and it can turn others away from what God has called them to. There is a warning here about the power of our attitudes on those around us. A fearful, faithless spirit does not stay contained; it discourages the hearts of others, sapping their courage to follow God. We can be, without a blow struck, a discouragement that turns people from God's call, or, by contrast, an encouragement that strengthens them for it.

Am I an encouragement to others in following God's call, or does my own fear and faithlessness spread and discourage the hearts of those around me, turning them from what God has for them?

Sources

Numbers 32:7: "Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them?"
Numbers 32:9: "They discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them."
Numbers 32:11: "Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt... shall see the land... because they have not wholly followed me."