A sad chapter in Israel's history. They turn back. However, it is all about growing up and the lessons learned did far more to equip them for their future destiny than would otherwise have been possible. Sooner or later they would have had to face a moment of truth.
The twelve spies were
appointed and prepared for their task. Israel was in the Wilderness of Paran,
to the south of modern day Israel. They had reached their objective, but needed
to spy out the land.
That was for military reasons not to decide whether to go.
Had they stuck to
their brief they would have simply reported their observed facts to the
leadership. Instead they reported their subjective feelings and sowed all kinds
of disquiet into the camp. It brought the nation to a pivotal point.
In the group were two important
men. Oshea or Hoshea, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim and thus a
descendant of Joseph, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from Judah.
Hoshea means salvation
or cry of salvation, but on a few occasions he had shown the kind of character
that singled him out for leadership, so Moses renamed him Jehoshua (Joshua), meaning
God is our salvation. That is the proper
name of Jesus.
So they set off to spy out the Promised Land
They saw that the land
was good, but they also saw the sons of Anak, which commentators trace back to
the Nephilim of early Genesis. They were large people.
Goliath may have come
from their ranks. They stood 8-9 feet tall, but I once saw a very fast, very
athletic giant, Jonah Lomu of New Zealand, taken down consistently by a much
smaller rugby player from South Africa in the 2009 Rugby World cup.
Lomu was invincible
and tore through the ranks of all opponents until South Africa worked him out,
to use his speed to his disadvantage, by hitting him below the knee.
Size never mattered in
real war. The Tiger tank was beaten by the hopelessly thin-skinned and outgunned
Sherman, because of better overall organization and the will to win. In the 6
day war, Israel was outmanned 6-7 times, yet won.
If God is for us, who
can be against us. We will prevail in Him – always, for “greater is He that is
in us than He that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
The report was taken badly
Had the spies just
reported to Moses or deferred to Joshua and Caleb, the outcome could have been special.
Moses would have turned to God for a strategy and with God they would have
overcome their giants.
I suspect the real
reason why a huge invading army thought twice was more because they felt like
grasshoppers than because the Anakim were so big. It was a distortion of the
mind induced by their own psychological perspectives.
Well, they took a vote
and 10 voted to stay. Only 2 voted to go. God took their vote as binding and
swore that no one over 20, bar Joshua and Caleb (they must have been under 20
to be exempted), would see the Promised Land
.
The
naysayers died of a plague and so did others, because they rebelled against God
and threatened to stone Moses, Joshua and Caleb.
However,
Israel faced another 38 years of wandering in the Wilderness, held back by the
paper thin line of Jordan. What a setback for those who had seen a land of milk
and honey. Yet we will often glimpse our destinies yet fall short by as small a
margin.
I
suspect that God knew that crossing would have its challenges but that He had
to give them the choice anyway, just as He once did for Adam and Eve.
Even
so Moses had to intervene again. He persuaded God not to reject Israel, as that
would only leave the nations smarting over the apparent failure of God.
Like Abraham,
Moses and others , the real learning came in the setback and it would mature
them over the next 40 years into a nation capable of keeping their prize.
You shall not enter
Psalm
95:11, recounts the event and declares the real words of God, “I swear and will
not repent that you shall not enter in through unbelief”.
It is
repeated in Hebrews 4, where the writer confirms that they did not mix the Word
of God with faith. The oath that excluded them was rooted in their unbelief.
Another
way of reading it all is, “You will never see it, never get it through unbelief”.
Indeed you won’t get anything of God through unbelief.
Hebrews
concludes, in chapter 11, with “faith is the evidence of things not seen”.
Science
demands evidence before belief, but God demands faith as the key to evidence.
It is the “substance” or what we hope for.
They
spent 40 years skirting the land by the thinest of margins, coming so near, yet
no further, because of unbelief. There was also no way back, though they sought
it with tears, as happened to Esau, Adam and Eve, and others.
God
help us to go the distance with God, to never give up on our faith.
They took matters into their
own hands
In a
desperate attempt to recover from their poor judgment and its consequences the people
went up to the mount, in an attempt to cross anyway, but the Amalekites came
against them and many lives were lost.
God
opens doors and shuts them. If we do not enter through the door He opens and
try to come by some other way, it will backfire on us for that, in spiritual
law, is trespassing. You cannot possess what God has not sealed in your favor.
There
is only one right way with God and that is the only way we should go. Don’t get
ahead of yourself but wait for Him to promote, to lift up and to open doors for
you. Until then know your place and
humble yourself, wait on Him and yield to His ways.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
