Thought-provoker question: who was required to instruct the Israelite kids about what to do once they entered the Land (Num. 15)?
Thought-provoker answer: their parents. Their parents who had lamented that God had brought them into the desert to kill them and those very children (Num. 14:1-3). Their parents who had refused to trust and obey God by entering the Land (Num. 14:4-11). Their parents who, as discipline, had been doomed to die in the desert (Num. 14:22-23, 28-35). Parents who would have to answer the question, "But why won't you be there with me?" over and over again.
Those parents.
Thought-provoking thoughts: God really, really doesn't "get" unbelief; and He really, really doesn't always mollycoddle those who have every reason to know better.
So:
"Gentle"? Relatively, always. Extraordinarily, often.
In mollycoddling unbelief?
Don't count on it.
