They were unwilling to submit to the terrible sentence that they must all die in the wilderness, and hence they were ready to seize upon every pretext for believing that it was not God but Moses who was leading them and who had pronounced their doom. The best efforts of the meekest man upon the earth could not quell the insubordination of this people; and although the marks of God's displeasure at their former perverseness were still before them in their broken ranks and missing numbers, they did not take the lesson to heart. Again they were overcome by temptation.

De ville ikke underkaste sig den frygtelige dom, at de alle sammen skulle dø i ørkenen, og derfor var de parat til at gribe et hvilket som helst påskud til at tro, at det var Moses og ikke Gud, der ledede dem og havde fældet dommen over dem. Selv om den sagtmodigste mand på Jorden gjorde sit bedste, kunne han ikke holde oprørstendenserne nede hos dette folk, og til trods for, at hullerne i geledderne og savnet af deres døde landsmænd mindede dem om Guds mishag over den fordærvethed, de tidligere havde lagt for dagen, tog de ikke ved lære af det. De bukkede atter under for fristelse.