AM Bible Study Group; June 9, 2010
Numbers 13.1-33
Theme: This passage describes the discouraging report that ten of the twelve spies gave to the people of Israel as they scoped-out the promised land.
This chapter is best to read together with chapter 14, because they constitute a unit. In these two chapters, we’re told of the tragic events that led to an entire generation of the people of Israel failing to enter the promised land—resulting in them wandering about in the desert for thirty-eight years until they died out, so that their sons and daughters could enter in their place.
What an example these two chapters are of the danger of failing to trust in God, and of losing opportunity as a result! The next chapter will describe to us the discouraged and rebellious attitude of the people and of the opportunity they lost. But this chapter describes for us the growing of the attitudes that led to that sad loss.
I. THE SENDING OF THE TWELVE SPIES (vv. 1-20).
A. Verses 1-2 tell us that the Lord commanded Moses, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel . . .” But it’s important to note that this command from the Lord was a concession to the desire of the people. As Deuteronomy 1:19-25 tells us, it was the the people themselves that first requested that men be sent before them to search out the land. There was, really, no need for it. God had already given the land to them, and would certainly be with them in taking it.
B. Moses was commanded by God to send out men, from the wilderness of Paran, who were leaders of the twelve tribes (v. 3). The list of these men, given in verses 4-16, are not the same as the men mentioned in chapters 1-2 however. These were, no doubt, much younger and stronger men—capable of the rigors of the long trek into the promised land. There are a few things to notice about this list:
1. The tribe of Manasseh is referred to here as the tribe of Joseph. Both Ephriam and Manasseh were sons of Joseph, born to him in Egypt. Yet, Menasseh is called by his name—perhaps as a way of identifying their trek into the promised land with the keeping of the promise of God to Joseph long before (see Genesis 49:22-26; 50:24- 25).
2. The tribe of Levi is not mentioned in the list. They were commissioned with the responsibility of caring for the tabernacle. It was not for them to spy out the land, but rather to keep to their duties of service to the priests.
3. Most of the names mentioned are unknown to us. Only two stand out: Caleb and Joshua. These are the two men who—in contrast to the other ten—remained true to God and trusted Him to give them the land. Both of them entered, while the rest did not.
4. Joshua’s name in the list is given as “Hoshea”, which means “Salvation”. In verse 16, we’re told that Moses changed his name to “Joshua”, which takes on the covenant name of God and means “Yahweh is Salvation”. His name is the same as that of our Savior (see Matthew 1:21).
C. Moses gave the spies instructions as to what to look for in verses 17-20. They were to go up from the south through Kadesh-Barnea (which was at the southern-most point of the land), and head northward. They were to report on such things as the nature of the people, (v. 18), the nature of their dwellings (v. 19), and the productivity of the land (v. 20). Moses commanded them to be of good courage, and instructed them to be sure to bring back some of the fruit of the land. They would have been able to do so, because we’re told that it was the season for the first ripe grapes in the land (v. 20).
II. THE SPYING-OUT OF THE LAND (vv. 21-25).
A. These men did, indeed, go as commanded. We’re told that they went up through the Wilderness of Zin into the southern most regions, and traveled all the way up to Hebron. Hebron figures in as an important place in the life of Abraham. It was the place at which God made the promise to him that he would inherit all that he saw, and where—in response—Abraham built an altar and worshiped God (see Genesis 13:14-18). It was where he bought a plot of land to bury his wife Sarah in anticipation of the keeping of that promise (23:1-20). It was where Abraham was buried (25:9); and his son Isaac also dwelt and was buried (35:27-29); and later where Jacob too was buried (50:13). That these spies came there would have been testimony of the keeping of God’s promises to Abraham. They even saw the lands of the people groups that the next generation would have conquered (v. 22; see also Joshua 11:21-22; 15:14; Judges 1:10).
B. The time that they had spent spying out the land was forty days; which would have allowed them ample time to travel the distance of 250 miles north, and 250 miles back. In returning, they came with a cluster of grapes so large it took men to carry it on poles, along with other proofs of the lands produce. All the evidence was there that this was, indeed, a truly rich and prosperous land that God was giving them.
III. THE BAD REPORT OF THE TEN (vv. 26-33).
A. But it’s then that the sad turn began to occur. Upon their return, they came to Moses and Aaron at Kadesh-Barnea, brought back word, and showed the produce (v. 26). They confirmed what they saw; that the land truly was—as God has promised them (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3)—a land flowing with milk and honey. “Nevertheless” they said, “the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendent’s of Anak there” (v. 28). We’re told, in verse 33, that “the descendent’s of Anak came from the giants”—and our best sense of what such a giant might have been like is through the descriptions we’re given of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:4-7, or of the man of Gath that David’s men fought in 2 Samuel 21:20. It doesn’t refer to a “giant” in the fairy-tale sense; but just a remarkably large man—perhaps over nine feet in height. Note too that the enemy peoples—in large, fortified cities—seem to surround the land on the south, north, east and west (see v. 29).
B. Caleb sought to calm the people (v. 30); and no doubt Joshua also joined in with Caleb. They insisted “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (v. 30)—speaking somewhat as Jonathan had some time afterwards, that “nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). But the people wouldn’t hear it. The spies who had gone up with Caleb and Joshua argued, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we” (v. 31). They gave a bad report of the land to the people, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants” (even though God had, earlier told them that the land “vomits out its inhabitants” because of their wickedness; see Leviticus 18:25); and that “all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature” (although it must surely have been true that only some of them were of such great stature; and even then, they may have looked more fearsome than they really were). They exaggerated things greatly in their own minds; saying, “we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (v. 33)—perhaps unintentionally indicating that what they thought themselves to be was what these enemy peoples saw them to be!
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How dreadful a thing it is to so doubt God that we refuse to take what He offers us! In the next chapter, we see the sad results.