Read Numbers 13
Exploring Canaan
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
3 So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. 4 These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;
8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;
9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;
10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;
11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;
12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;
14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;
15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak,lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
Report on the Exploration
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Go Deeper
In this passage the Israelites are approaching their long-promised land flowing of “milk and honey.” This was promised to them in Exodus 3:8 before God even rescued them from the Egyptians! Despite the lengths God went to save His people from Egypt, the Israelites lose faith in His promises in this chapter.
In Numbers 13, we can see this when the majority of the spies say that occupying the land cannot be done which is in direct opposition to God’s promise. This is shocking when within the previous months, this same group of people experienced the miraculous plagues of Egypt, witnessed God splitting the waters to allow them to walk on dry ground and saw God provide mana for them each day while wandering in the wilderness.
Why did God send spies at all? We may never know for sure, but the Bible reiterates continuously how God wishes to bless us by leaning on Him such as in Isaiah 41:10. He desires us to believe His promises and trust Him even when we are experiencing fear. We are tempted to think that had we been in their place, we would be on Team Caleb by remembering and trusting in God’s promises. However, so often we forget to include God in our plans and thought processes.
For many of us, our natural tendency is to put God in a box and access that box only when we are dealing with spiritual matters, but not daily matters. Sadly, we vastly underestimate that nearly all matters are spiritual matters! As a result, our outlook is more hopeless instead of hopeful! We miss out on a God that wishes to bless us by leaning on Him as we see in Psalm 37:23-24. God is shaping us and wanting us to lean on Him in all things by praying continuously and having a relationship with Him. He wants to be a part of the good and bad in our jobs, relationships, and how we choose to spend our time! He wants to be a part of it all and, more importantly, to be our all!
Questions
- What parts of your daily life do you never pray about or pray for in the moment?
- What are God’s promises? Take time to memorize these and learn to believe and trust in them.
- What fears do you experience? How can you include God in that and how does it change things?
Keep Digging
Here is a list of some of God’s promises to get you started as you learn to daily lean on Him!
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4 thoughts on “Numbers 13”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
Thank you. Yes, Team Caleb is the place to be!
Sometimes I think that simply means being confident, taking risks, living optimistically, etc. But being Team Caleb really means trusting in God. That’s the lesson I need to apply!
“We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (v33). Here’s the crux of the matter for the 11 spies; they looked at the task with their physical limitations instead of trusting that the God of Abraham, Issac & Jacob would deliver them. They forgot this was the land God had promised them. Today, we may be facing unbelievable odds where trusting God in the midst of it will be our lifeline. Let’s have a Caleb mindset, put on the full armor of God equipped to fight every battle.
Chapter 12
Murmuring and complaining
That gets you in trouble. Miram got zapped with a skin disease. Healed just as quick but made the entire “millions” of people wait on her to be purified. Her sin was exposed in her flesh. What does yours look like?
Moses was their mediator. We have an even better one now.
Chapter 13
Like the Israelites we tend to walk by sight and not by faith. We fail to enjoy the good things God has for us because of this. Do we doubt God’s Word? They certainly doubted what He had told them could be, (they walked by sight). From what I understand in going a little deeper is that they were not “spies” but more like “scouts”. It was like if you were going to move to a new town, state, area, that you would come look around, see where you might want to send your kids to school, ect… BUT GOD had already told them this was “THE” place for them. So sending “scouts” was truly unneccesary because it was theirs, and He had it ready. But because the majority had decided it was no good, they set into motion more grumbling and complaining. They all decided that going back and becoming “slaves” again would be better than all the miracles God had performed for them. (Wowza) For us not seeing but believing is an act of great faith , our God is able!!! But for them, they had seen, experienced God’s faithfulness and dependablity but still wanted the old, the bondage of Egypt.
God help my unbelief. Thank You for relying on You. God, Merriam Webster defines faith as, “Belief in, loyalty to, and complete trust in God, and as a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Let me, help me, show me how to be a living example that I completely trust You. God I do not always know where I am headed but I want to rely on You for being my cloud. I trust You God even in the moments that I cannot see You working. God today in these minutes, I do not know what is ahead but I believe that You are going before me, Psalm 139:5 reminds me, “You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” God I stand in believing that today, as I show others who You are by being a light in a dark world, and showing them Your love, that You help me with correct, right words to speak, to edify and lift You up. Thank You for helping me. God I give You glory and honor with thanksgiving for this day in Jesus name.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Faith believes the Word of God; faith trust the power of God and faith is willing to obey God’s Word. I pray we/I may be a people who take God at His Word.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand,” Isaiah 41:10
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:17