Forty long years have passed since the debacle in Numbers 12. Because of that, you would think that the current crop of Israelites that roam the desert are a little more level-headed than their predecessors.
After all, they weren’t the ones responsible for the faithless response to the spies. That was the original group that set out from Egypt.
Speaking of, they also didn’t have the memory of Egypt to make them long for anything better. This generation was younger than twenty years old in Numbers 12 (except for Joshua, Caleb, Moses, Aaron, and the few that are still left to die in the wilderness).
These people didn’t have the memory of the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Numbers 11:5), or the pots of meat and bread (Exodus 16:13). If they did, it was as a fading memory forty years in the past, not as something that dominated their taste buds.
Maybe that’s why their food memory changes. In Numbers 20:5, when they rebel against Moses, they specifically highlight grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates—the exact same foods that the spies brought back in Numbers 12, in exactly the same order (minus the grain).
That difference represents the difference in generations, but it also highlights the same exact problem that Moses has been dealing with for more than forty years. This generation, like the last, has a distorted memory of the past and is now weaponizing it against Moses and Aaron.
Think about it: The reason these people aren’t in Canaan is because of the failure of the previous generation to march faithfully into the land. The reason so many people died in the rebellion of Korah is because they accused Moses and Aaron of bringing death on the people (Numbers 16:41-50).
Now, they’re trying to gaslight Moses, saying he’s the reason they’re not eating the pomegranates the spies found forty years earlier? In the words of my grandfather, “I don’t think so, buckaroo.”
Location is important in this story. Per Numbers 33, Israel is in Kadesh, which is just south of Canaan. This is the farthest north they’ve been since Numbers 12, so they’re close enough to smell the pomegranates and figs, but just can’t taste it.
Maybe that factors into this kerfuffle. Maybe they’re complaining that Moses hasn’t taken them the whole way into Canaan yet, even though the punishment in Numbers 13 was for a forty year trek. It hasn’t been forty years yet; they need to be more patient.
This story reveals to us just how much the people haven’t changed. Sure, it’s a different group of people (for the most part), but their problem is still the same. They still refuse to acknowledge that the reason they are where they are is because of their own actions.
People don’t change. I meet people all the time that refuse to acknowledge that the situations they’re in is because of their own choices. They blame God, blame their spouse, blame the government—they blame whoever they want, besides themselves.
Sometimes, I’m that person, too.
So no, the generation that followed the original one out of Egypt isn’t really that much better. They still have the same desire to blame others that we all have. Until they (and us) get that out of our system and accept responsibility for our actions, we will never be able to humbly approach God for anything, much less our own salvation.