What has been said may suffice to shew that their offence was not so light as it may at first sight appear to be : but its enormity will be best seen in, II. The punishment inflicted for it —
The sentence denounced against them was, that they should die in the wilderness, and be denied the privilege of leading the people into the promised land. This was,
1. An awful sentence — [How distressing it was to them, we may judge from the prayer of Moses, who sought to have the sentence reversed : " O Lord God, I pray thee let me go over and see the good land!" But, as Moses himself tells us, " God was wroth with him, and would not hear him*5." How loudly does this speak to us ! If we reflect on the length of time that they had served the Lord ; the exemplary manner hi which they had conducted themselves ; (oftentimes at the peril of their lives expostulating with the people, and seeking to avert the wrath of God from them ;) and that this, as it respected Moses at least, was almost the only fault that he had committed : if we at the same time consider, how grievous the disappointment must have been to them to have all their hopes and expectations frustrated, now that they had nearly completed the destined period of their wanderings ; truly we cannot but see in this dispensation the evil and bitterness of sin ; and feel the importance of that
f Heb. hi. 19. « Deut. iii. 23—26.