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 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!” [Numbers 13.25-33]
After all the miracles Israel had seen up to this point and God's declared disdain about the wickedness in Canaan including His intent to displace them, ten of the twelve men who explored the land gave a "bad report."
It should be understood however that the men who went reported exactly what Moses ask them to report!
Moses gave the men 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 12.17-20]
Because the focus was on "their blessings" (and what stood between them and those blessings), instead of on God's will (to displace the Canaanites), their report was one of material fact; not spiritual. Even though the LORD told Moses to send the men, God's purpose for the exploration may have been lost in Moses' interpretation to the men.
From what we know of Joshua and Caleb, they were quite in-tune with God's will. They understood God's holiness enough to "explore" the land spiritually more than materially. This is obvious in their eagerness to go in and "take the land" in spite of every material reason not to. They based their pending victory on the wickedness they saw and their confidence that God would not tolerate it. Their assessment and plan of action had nothing to do with the material facts as observed by the other ten.
The lessons for us in this are obvious. We should approach the world with God's amazing love with holy unconcern for the material obstacles. We know God's will. We have the testimony of all the Bible that He will have victory. And yet, like the ten (and even Moses), we survey the material "facts" and, instead of walking by faith right through those facts, we draw back in self-preservation as if God was not on our side at all.
It would seem we should strive for a shift in our focus. Instead of focusing on the blessings and making a fuss about everything that stands in the way of those blessings, we should be selflessly doing God's work understanding that His victory follows His will (not our ability to manipulate circumstances). The difference is found in whether we live materially or spiritually.
Father, help us to live for You and Your will. We have every promise of Your Word that You will be victorious. May we take our focus of ourselves throwing our self-preserving caution to the wind knowing You control the wind! So be it.
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