Numbers 14:11-19

What does Moses appeal to when he asks for pardon?

Berean Standard Bible

11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.” 13 But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. 14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, 16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17 So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ 19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

What is the context?

The Lord confronts the people’s persistent refusal to believe despite His signs and speaks of destroying them and making a greater nation through Moses. Moses instead pleads for the people’s preservation.

His appeal concerns the Lord’s reputation among the nations and the character He has revealed: patience, steadfast love, forgiveness, and justice. Moses asks for pardon according to that love, recalling the mercy already shown since Egypt.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley reads the threatened destruction as a warning open to intercession rather than an irreversible statement that the subsequent reply contradicts. Exodus 34:5–9 actually supplies the Lord’s self-description behind Moses’ plea. The prayer appeals to what God has made known, not to a claim that the people have earned pardon.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

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