Numbers 13
McGeeCHAPTER 13THEME: Sending spies; choice of spies; commission of spies; conduct of spies; confirmation of facts; misinterpretation of facts; right interpretation of factsIsrael has reached Kadesh-barnea, which borders the Promised Land. It is sad to see that Kadesh becomes their Waterloo because of their unbelief. This chapter includes the cause of their sending spies, the choice of the spies, the commission of the spies, the conduct of the spies, the spies’ confirmation of the facts, and the two interpretations of those factsa majority and a minority report.
Numbers 13:1
SENDING SPIESWhose idea was it to send in the spies? Was it the idea of God? Was it His thought to spy out the land? No. We always need to get a composite picture from the Word of God, because many times one facet will be given in one place and another facet given in another place. As an example, we need all four of the Gospel records to have a total spectrum of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Although we get the impression here that this is God’s idea, we find that He was responding to their request. Listen to the account in Deuteronomy: “And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come” (Deu_1:20-22). It was not God’s idea to send spies into the land. The sending in of the spies denoted a weakness and a fear on the part of the people.
There was a fear that maybe they wouldn’t be able to take the land. It was so easy for them to rationalize and decide on spies as a matter of wisdom. However, God is leading Israel to the land He has promised them. Their request for spies reveals a lack of faith on their part. They are not trusting Him. God had already been in and spied out the land. He knew all about it. He would not have sent them into the land unless He knew they could take it. When they finally did enter the land, the giants were still there; all the difficulties and problems were still there, yet they took the land. What an important message this is for us today! Are we really walking by faith? Of course we need to take precautions, but there is a time when we do need to commit our way unto the Lord. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psa_37:5). You and I need to come to the place in our lives when we commit our way to Him and trust Him completely. These folk have come to that place but they’re not trusting God. They decide to send out spies to find out what lay ahead of them. We find this to be another instance where God yields to the desires of His people. He permits them to do this thing. It was said of them later, “…He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psa_106:15). This time it will be worse than leanness. After they demonstrate their lack of faith and lack of trust in God, He orders the spy mission, in response to their request, and commands that it should be done in a fair and orderly way, and that a ruler from each tribe go as a spy.
Numbers 13:4
CHOICE OF SPIESThe list of the spies is given here. We are especially interested in two of them. Oshea or Hoshea is Joshua. We will hear more of these two remarkable men who brought in the minority report.
Numbers 13:17
COMMISSION OF SPIESNow the spies are to go in. They have been given their commission and they know what they are to do.
Numbers 13:21
CONDUCT OF SPIESHamath is way up in the extreme north of the land. The spies did a thorough job. The fact of the matter is that they could have written a book entitled Inside the Promised Land. They knew a great deal about it. We are told the places they went and that they saw the children of Anak. These were giants.
Numbers 13:22
Our translation gives the impression that it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes. At least they cut down enough grapes (and they were lush grapes) for two men to carry, and it was put on a pole between them. They brought back samples of the fruit to show what a wonderful land it was.
Numbers 13:26
CONFIRMATION OF FACTSTheir report confirmed that God was accurate when He said it was a land flowing with milk and honey.
Numbers 13:28
MISINTERPRETATION OF FACTSThis all was true. There were giants in the land. The cities were walled and very great. They were right in their facts, but they misinterpreted the facts. That is where they went awry.
Numbers 13:30
RIGHT INTERPRETATION OF FACTSHere is the minority report. Caleb spoke up with this report but the other men refuted him. Only Joshua agreed with Caleb. So there we have the whole picture. The report was accurate as to the facts. But there were two different opinions in the interpretation of those facts. The minority report was “Let’s go in and take the land. We are well able to do it.” The majority report was, “We can’t do it.” The people believed the majority report. They didn’t believe they could take the land because they lacked faith in God.
Numbers 13:31
When you are afraid and you have lost your faith, difficulties and problems are magnified. They become greater than they really are. There were giants, but the men thought they were bigger than they actually were. They looked bigger because these men were afraid. What an interesting contrast they give us here. Giants and grasshoppers! Do you know what they left out? They forgot to include God! They compared themselves to the giants as grasshoppers. That is the way they saw themselves. They left God out of the picture. If only they had put Him in, what a different story it would have been.