What Does Numbers 14:36 Mean?
And the men whom Moses sent to scout out the land, who turned back, and made all the assembly murmur against him, by bringing out an evil report upon the land.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,THE KEY
The slander names the land, but its force turns the whole congregation against the man who sent them.
THE MEANING
A report about what lies ahead becomes an accusation in the present: the slander is raised against the land, while the congregation turns against Moses. The report’s reach shows in the voices it gathers, not only in the words its messengers bring.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that a damaging report stays aimed at its stated subject; here a report about the land turns the assembly against Moses.
THE ROOT
דִּבָּה
dibbah
GROWS FROM
דבב
To whisper or speak softly; this word family also describes lips being made to speak.
“evil report” in this verse is dibbah. This word family links a whispered report with speech that sets lips moving. Here the slander does not remain with the men who bring it: the congregation takes up its effect in their own murmuring.
ALSO GROWS
dibbah: An evil report, slander, or whispered accusation
דִּבָּה
This is the word used for the report about the land; it names the speech that turns the assembly against Moses.
dōbēb: Causing the lips to speak
דֹּבֵב
In Song of Solomon 7:9, this related form describes words stirring the lips of sleepers to speak, echoing how the report stirs the congregation’s voices.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
To draw out; Exodus explains Moses’ name through drawing him out of the water.
Moses’ name carries the image of being drawn out of water. Here the congregation is drawn into opposition against him, an echo between the name’s nature and the scene.
ALSO GROWS
māshāh: To draw out
מָשָׁה
Exodus 2:10 uses this verb when explaining Moses’ name.
Mosheh: Moses, named in connection with being drawn out
מֹשֶׁה
The name keeps the image of being drawn out present when Moses becomes the target of the report.
THE PATTERN
A slanderous report gathers force as it carries speech from one relationship into another.
These are the births of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers, and the youth was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought his father their evil word.For I hear the whispering of many; terror is all around, as they sit down together against me, and plot to take my living soul.He who covers hatred with lying lips, and he who brings out slander, is a fool.THE THREAD
And they brought out an evil word about the land, which they had scouted out, to the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we have passed to scout it out is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people we saw in it are men of great height.The phrase “evil report” here uses the same Hebrew word, דִּבָּה (dibbah), rendered “slander” in Numbers 14:36. This verse gives the report’s content; the next shows its effect as the congregation turns against Moses.
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