From yom, a word rendered variously as “day,” “time” (Gen. 26:8), “season” (Gen. 40:4), “age” (Gen. 18:11), “when” (Lev. 14:57), “now” (Deut. 31:21), “a while” (1 Sam. 9:27), “full” (2 Sam. 13:23), “for evermore” (2 Kings 17:37), “long life” (Ps. 91:16), “so long as I live” (Job 27:6), “weather” (Prov. 25:20), and “year” (Ex. 13:10). Yom, obviously, was much more flexible in meaning than is our word “day.” In common Hebrew usage yamin, “days,” was often used for “year” (see Ex. 13:10; Lev. 25:29; Num. 9:22; Joshua 13:1; Judges 11:40; 17:10; 21:19; 1 Sam. 1:3, 21; 2:19; 20:6; 27:7; 2 Sam. 14:26; 1 Kings 1:1; 2 Chron. 21:19; Amos 4:4).

 The word yom is a softened form of chom, “heat,” from the root yacham, “to be warm” (see on Gen. 9:2). Each day was said to be composed of “evening,” the dark or “cool” part of the day (Gen. 1:4, 5; 3:8), and “morning,” the light part or “heat” of the day (Gen. 1:4, 5; 18:1). Similarly, a year was composed of the cold of winter and the heat of summer (see Gen. 8:22). Thus, with respect to their temperature cycles, a significant characteristic common to both, the day and year resembled each other. In Gen. 8:22 the various expressions, “seedtime and harvest,” “cold and heat,” “summer and winter,” and “day and night” are used in this parallel sense. The first two couplets are the product, or result, of the last two. In the first two, heat follows cold; in the last two, cold follows heat. Note particularly the strict parallelism of the last two couplets, where the heart and cold of the year parallel the heat and cold of the day.

 Here (Num. 14:34) occurs the first use of the words “day” and “year” together in a correlative sense, in a prophetic setting. The spies had spent 40 days searching the land of Canaan and had reported unfavorably on prospects for occupying it. In so doing they demonstrated a lack of faith in God’s promises and in His power to fulfill those promises, yet their report was accepted by the people (see on v. 4). As a result of this decision the nation was sentenced to 40 years of suffering in the wilderness. The 40 literal days thus became prophetic of 40 literal years—one year of remedial wandering about in the desert for each faithless day spent wandering about in the Promised Land. That this is not an isolated instance of the use of the year-day principle in prophecy is evident from Eze. 4:6, where the same principle is again applied. God specifically told Ezekiel, “I have appointed thee each day for a year,” and in so doing confirmed the principle established in Num. 14:34.

 From a verb meaning “to hinder,” “to frustrate,” “to restrain.” It is also translated “disallow” (ch. 30:5, 8, 11); “discourage” (ch. 32:7, 9); and “maketh ... of none effect” (Ps. 33:10). They had set themselves in opposition to God and alienated themselves from Him. In order that they might learn to cooperate with God, He ordained that they should experience His opposition, His frustration of their plans.