Greetings in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
After crossing the Red Sea, Moses led the Israel people to Mount Sinai, where God called Moses again to the mountain. God gave the ten commandments on the table of stone. While Moses was on top of the mountain to receive the ten commandments, the people built the golden calf to be their “god,” which was a terrible sin. Moses interceded his prayer to God for their sins so that they were not completely destroyed for their sins. God did not punished them per Moses’ intercessory prayer. This was the greatest sin that they committed before God after being liberated from the slavery in Egypt by crossing the Red Sea. They spent about one year at the mountain area.
Then they continued moving toward the promised land where milk and honey flowed. They arrived at a place called Kadesh-Barnea. Per God’s instruction, Moses sent twelve spies – one each from twelve tribes to explore the land of Canaan.
Moses gave the spies these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country. See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps? Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.) (Numbers 13:17-20)
Moses gave them such a detail instruction, which includes:
- Direction and locations to explore
- What to spy out
a. People — strong or weak, few or many
b. Land – good or bad, fertile or poor, many trees
c. Defense – protected by walls or camps
d. Evidence — bringing back samples of the crops
Moses was a great leader. He led the huge number of Israel people (about 2 million people, base done what Bible tells 600,000 male adults only.) Before the critically important event, he could give a clear instruction to his people.
Surely, the twelve spies exactly followed the instruction of Moses. So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin to the hill country. Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai—all descendants of Anak—lived. They also cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs. The place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.
However, such an excellent instruction did not materialized as Moses intended. Please continue reading the rest to see what really happened and why.
After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”
But Caleb and Joshua tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
The team of twelve spies was divided into two groups: Caleb and Joshua vs the rest (i.e., the ten spies). The ten spies exactly followed the instruction of Moses, and gave an accurate report back – i.e., what they saw with their eyes. While the two spies, Caleb and Joshua saw the exactly same things, but their report was completely different. They shared their faith rather than what they saw or felt while exploring the land, the people and their defense.
The people of Israel heard both reports, which were completely different. Now, the people of Israel had to choose either the report from the super majority of the spies (i.e., the ten spies) or that of the tiny minority (i.e., only two out of twelve). The people of Israel chose the majority. For their eyes, the ten spies were the majority, and they brought such an excellent report with full of details and a logical analysis and conclusion too. The decision was rationally made by the Israel people. Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and God.
We all know the Israel people should have listened to Caleb and Joshua although they were only two out of the twelve, and although they could not provide any physical evidences and rationality to their report except their faith. As a result, the Israel people rebelled against God, and they had to wonder forty years in the wilderness. Please see the above map. They were right next to the promised land flowing milk and honey. While wondering the wilderness for forty years, the whole generation was perished on the wilderness.
What can we learn from the above painful example of Israel people? They were right before the promised land flowing milk and honey, but they could not go in.
We can find answer from the Scripture:
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)
Therefore, fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, who is the pioneer and the finisher of our faith, and follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ with faith.
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. (Genesis 15:6)