Wandering in the Wilderness: Reflections from the book of Numbers. 3500 years to Covid-19
A multi-week series given in 2020-21
Lesson Six (Numbers Chapters 13-14)
To view this online as a video:
Lesson Six: Land evaluations: Reconnaissance, Reports and Rejection
A. Introduction
1. Greetings
Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. Our usual program during these talks is to conduct an overview of the Bible section in the first 25 minutes and then let everyone on the call into a conversation about all the themes or ideas that I will bring up for the last 30 minutes or so. Further discussion happens even deeper in our D-Groups that happen over the next week or maybe some will conduct a D-Group on Shabbat.
I’m going to recommend that you who are watching this on YouTube should read the next two Bible chapters before you listen/ watch the rest of this. They are chapters 13-14. Then press play on your machine and re-join us. Thanks.
2. Overview
[For those online, see this book overview from The Bible Project (https://youtu.be/tp5MIrMZFqo)] We saw how this book breaks into three major geographic and chronological sections. The first was found in chapters 1 through 10. Geographically we were at Sinai at the time. Today in our 6th class we move out from Sinai into the 2nd section of the book, travels from Sinai going to Moab, just outside the Promised Land.
Some of you are new to our Zoom call and I especially welcome you, whether here in Australia or from overseas. You are muted at the beginning, but in a short while, our host will allow the usually lively conversations and questions.
B. Today’s outline:
1. We look at reconnaissance (13.1-24)
2. Whose report will you believe? (13.25-14.19)
3. The consequences of faith or unbelief (14.20-45)
First:
1. We look at reconnaissance (13.1-33)
Moses hears from the Lord (verses 1-3) that he is to send men to explore the land. You have heard them called the 12 spies. They aren’t really 007 type folks with espionage and underhandedness as their game. They are more like surveyors, explorers like Bourke and Wills, or Lewis and Clark. They are not going to conquer or ruin. They are going in for a season to find out what things are like in the Land of Promise.
Remember, one of our major themes in this book is that the Jewish people, wandering in the wilderness, are not designed for wildernesses. Their home is elsewhere, and here Moses calls on 12 men, one from each tribe, to go and evaluate what’s ahead for them. We read it here:
“Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 “See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 “How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? 20 “How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.” (13.17-20)
The 12 spies, as we will use the ordinary nomenclature, go out on a reconnaissance mission. What are the people like? What is the land like? What about cities and foliage. Get the lowdown as we are going there, and we want to be prepared. Burleigh Griffin would have done the same thing coming to Canberra. The men were being sent to check things out and then to report back to Moses their findings. Fairly simple, right?
Two things to say about the men. Joshua and Caleb are not highlighted in the list. No one is really highlighted unless you might think Shamua ben Zakor of Reuben. He’s the first one listed. I always hear and remember the first item in a list. When my wife asks me to get a few things at the grocery store, that’s always a standout. Shamua’s name has to do with listening and Zakor has to do with remembering. If I were going to send a team, I would usually appoint a team leader and a man with both first-born credentials being from Reuben and also with a name that highlights the Jewish people’s responsibilities in listening to and remembering God himself, I’d put Shamua ben Zakor right up the top. Those of you who know the story know that Caleb ben Yefunah and Joshua ben Nun are the standouts, however. God often chooses differently than we do, you know?
The other thing to mention is that the listed tribes do not include Levi, but both Manasheh and Efraim. These then are not tribes by birth but rather land-based, hinting that the folks could have gone in, surveyed the land, found property they each liked, and said, ‘Let’s go in; I’ve got my eyes on Tel Aviv or Haifa, the Galilee or the hills around Salem, etc.” It’s as if God and Moses wanted the men to go in and choose their bunks at the campground before they had to go in and conquer it later in the story.
Their route is shown here, from south of the Negev to up to Rehov which is not Rehovoth. They went right up-the-gut of the future land of Israel. They saw the whole scene. It took about 6 weeks.
On return they brought back stories and no doubt, fables if you will, of the land and their impressions of the Land. They brought back a cluster of grapes-- one cluster so large that it took two men to carry it on a pole across their shoulders. They brought back stories and evidence; their testimony was corroborated by themselves.
When the spies returned, they made their reports.
Verse 28 introduces a thematic change, a major change. Verse 27 says, “we went as you told us. We saw. We did what you wanted. We saw the good land. Yes, look, here’s the fruit, the hard evidence.” BUT…. And they also brought more information. Large and strong and fortified…in other words a reality check to the investigation. And wasn’t that what Moses sent them to find out? What was wrong with their report? A surveyor brings back what all the data so that the leadership can make proper conclusions?
You see, there’s nothing wrong with their data recitation.
Until verse 30. Joshua leads another crowd in saying, “Let’s take the land!” He’s also been privy to the views of the land. He’s been with the other 11 surveyors and saw what they saw. But he’s remembering the other words that came from Moses to the people. Joshua was a student of the Lord, a disciple of Moses, and believed what Moses said.
Ex. 3:8 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Ex. 3:17 “So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
Ex. 13:5 “It shall be when the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, cthat you shall 1observe this rite in this month.
Ex. 33:3 “Go up to a land aflowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are 1ban obstinate people, and cI might destroy you on the way.”
Lev. 20:24 ‘Hence I have said to you, “aYou are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has bseparated you from the peoples.
Num. 13:27 Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and ait certainly does flow with milk and honey, and bthis is its fruit.
On the basis of the promises, Joshua believed and tried to rally the people to believe. Listen, the 10 (we learn that Caleb also believed like Joshua) knew the promises. That’s why in verse 27 they say, “
“it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
But their unbelief was augmented by the sight of the size of the enemies and the land. Their problems they saw were real, but so was God. And yet, the 10 disregarded the power of God, the promises of God, the providence and capability of the Almighty. They chose unbelief. Joshua and Caleb chose faith and belief.
Verse 31 shows their choice and their fear. They were seeing the battle between the Amalekites and the other people versus the Jewish people.
כִּֽי־חָזָ֥ק ה֖וּא מִמֶּֽנּוּ
We who know the Lord, we know that the battle is between the enemies and the Lord himself. Their strength may dominate us, but their strength will pale compared to that of the Lord.
2. Whose report will you believe (14.1
That’s how chapter 14 begins.
וַתִּשָּׂא֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה וַֽיִּתְּנ֖וּ אֶת־קוֹלָ֑ם
The witnesses (that is, all the people) lifted or carried, and gave their voices. I see this as a progression. It’s almost like Bolero by Maurice Ravel. The steady low and base sounds at the beginning of that one-movement piece, written about 100 years ago, still rivets me to this day. Then after a while, the sounds beyond the percussion add to the beauty of this piece.
In our case, here in Kadesh-Barnea, the Jewish people, called the witnesses are lifting and placing and giving their voices. It’s a crescendo and sadly it’s a chorus of unbelief. What do they say?
Verse 2, they grumble and they sound off in hysteria as one voice against Moses and Aaron. Note, Miriam is not included. What’s their gripe? They are looking back to the place from which they came.
It would have been better in Egypt. Why did you bring us out here to die? They even sound noble in their protection of their families: “Our wives and little ones will become plunder” (v.3)
Imagine yourself in your tent and you’ve been waiting at Kadesh for 6 weeks. The leader of your tribe of say, Gad or Naftali, has been away with the other 11 leaders. And you wait for their return. Then they return and bring massive evidence of the Anakim or other giants and their food. You’ve never seen anything like this. And the leadership ‘announces’ that things are going to be tough if we try to take that land. You remember that you were a slave to Pharaoh 15 months ago. You hear that there is a minority report offered by a couple of men from another tribe. Hoshea, but Moses calls him Joshua and some other guy. What is the report that you should listen to? Whose report will you believe?
The issue is a matter of real faith. Faith is taking God at his word. Faith grows when you hear what God says and you say in your heart, “Yes!” It’s not a matter of seeing good and bad out there and evaluations. It’s a matter of saying ‘yes’ to the Lord of life and to what he has said. Yes, that’s simple. Yes, that’s what you say to the promises of God. All the promises of God are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Yeshua (2 Cor. 1.20) For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. (NASB)
Let’s imagine you are now in the small room with Moses and Aaron, and Caleb and Joshua. Four men among the 3 million men and women and children of Israel. Moses might say, “Joshua, are you sure, mate?” Aaron might turn to Caleb and ask for a reassuring comment. But that doesn’t seem to happen. Why not? Because God had already told them the Land was theirs and they were to take it, slowly but carefully.
The text tells us that Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and prostrated themselves. Some commentators think they were bowing before the people, to beg for mercy. But I agree with Rudd here “The act of prostration by Moses (and Aaron) is typical (Numbers 16:4, 22; 17:10; 20:6) in the book of Numbers… It seems reasonable to see an intercessory element here. The action denotes at the very least an attitude of self-abasement or deference before one of higher rank… This makes it unlikely that the prostration is before the people. .. לִפְנֵי must mean “in front of.”
What are the real leaders doing? They are praying to the Almighty. They are hearing again the promises of God. They are reminding themselves of the nature and the power of God. Amen? I practice this with some infrequency. When I hear from heaven about something and know that’s what we are to do, then I keep that in my heart by prayer. I remind myself again and again in journal or in writing or in these classes that God is sovereign and will make his ways known and accomplish his purpose.
Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and then announce the minority report. They try to calm the fears; they try to rally the troops. Believe us, they cry. We have the goods, because God has our back. We will win! Let’s go! Don’t rebel. Don’t be afraid.
But the people rebel and fear. They pick up rocks in the desert oasis and begin throwing the rocks at these two. Their answer is a clear and unequivocal NO!
God immediately is ready to dump Israel. He calls on Moses to listen to God’s declarations about our people. God basically says, “I’m done with these folks. I’m going to start over with you as the main guy and remove all those Hebrews.”
Moses intercedes now, in the strength of his relationship with the Lord, and negotiates a deal. Let them live. Otherwise, the Egyptians will hear about how you knocked them off after you tried to rescue them. Your fame will be tarnished. For the sake of your great name, don’t kill them all. And pardon them, please. (V. 19)
3. The consequences of faith or unbelief (14.20-45)
What’s God’s answer? Verse 21, I will forgive and all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. That actually sounds like another promise in the midst of the following termination notice. God says that all the people who brought the bad/evil report would die by a plague. (v. 37) He says that since the people believed the bad report that they would die within 40 years and never make it into the Promised Land. (v. 35) Why 40 years? One for each day the surveyors were checking things out in Canaan. (v. 34) What does God call their mistake? (v. 33: harlotry!)
Verse 22, God says, ‘You saw so much.’ And yet we disbelieved. What a waste, eh?
So whose report will you believe? When God says things like “love your neighbour” and you disregard them, what will God say to you. When God says, “Jesus is my Messiah. Listen to him.” (Mark 9.7) What will your response be? The rabbis might say no. They might be in the majority. Whose report will you believe?
The consequences of faith are clear. Joshua and Caleb will lead the next generation into the Land of Promise. The consequences of unbelief are clearer yet. NO entry into God’s promises. If as Paul wrote, the promises of God in Yeshua are yes and amen, then the consequences of rejecting God’s promises are failing to get what God wants for us. What a shame. What a loss.
Invitation
Dear friends, if you have never asked Yeshua to be your Savior, today on this first day of Hanukkah 5781, on this day of dedication, would you choose the right report? Would you choose to believe in the One whom God sent? Will you choose to believe the One who on this day, Hanukkah nearly 2,000 years ago, Yeshua stood in the Portico of Solomon in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. He declared “I and the Father are one.” (John 10.30) Some folks picked up stones to stone him because Yeshua was declaring himself equal with the Father. Whose report will you believe?
If you want to receive Yeshua as your messiah and boss, and saviour, then pray with me just now. Ask him to save and deliver you. Repent of your sins and accept his love and mercy and forgiveness. That’s it. And then let us know of your profession by writing straightaway, won’t you? Bob@JewsforJesus.org.au We’d love to hear from you.
Conclusion
Stay with us during these weeks and learn with the others how you can stay on track in 2021 and beyond. And in the D-Groups, you will work this out with others, as a community on the march. If you have not yet joined a weekly Discipleship Group, please re-consider that and join us as we dig deeper.
I hope to see you next Friday 10 am Sydney time, as we study chapters 15 and 16, and learn about tsitsit, about unintentional sinning, about Sabbath keeping and the rebellion within the ranks of the travelling Israelites under Dathan and Korah—among the first people who died and went straight to hell in the Bible. Hope to see you then, and until then, please guard your lips from kvetching, learn to thank God, believe even if the report is the minority report, and shout Hallelujah to the Lord of life for all he has done for us all. Shabbat shalom!
The three theses:
1) The goal of our wandering was another place: Israel
2) God is to be central to our marching and in our living
3) Authority of the Lord and his anointed is not to be missed
Bibliography
Budd, Philip, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 5. Numbers. Word, Waco, 1984.
Hertz, Rabbi Dr JH, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino, London, 1978.
Pakula, Martin, Numbers: Homeward Bound, Aquilla Press, Sydney, 2006.
Weirsbe, Warren. Be Counted. David C. Cook Publishing, Colorado Springs,1999.
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D-Groups for this week
1) Tuesday 11 am Sydney time. Led by James Howse
2) Monday 10 am Sydney time, led by Rebekah Bronn
3) Thursday 7 pm, Sydney time, led by James White
(Contact our office for zoom details)
If you’d like to host a D-Group either online or in person, please contact bob@jewsforjesus.org.au for further details. It’s time to step up. Ponder this—who will be in your D-Group?
Actual text:
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the [a]command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. 4 These then were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 and from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, [b]Joshua.
17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the [c]Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 And how is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are the people in open camps or in fortifications? 20 And how is the land, is it [d]productive or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? And show yourselves courageous and get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, [e]at Lebo-hamath. 22 When they had gone up into the Negev, [f]they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the [g]descendants of Anak were. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 Then they came to the [h]Valley of [i]Eshcol, and from there they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of [j]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut off from there.
The Spies’ Reports
25 When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days,26 they went on and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, [k]in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 So they reported to him and said, “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the [l]descendants of Anak there! 29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people [m]before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will certainly prevail over it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, because they are too strong for us.” 32 So they brought a bad report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. 33 We also saw the [n]Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like [o]grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
The People Rebel
14 Then all the congregation [p]raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept [q]that night. 2 And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the entire congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or even if we had died in this wilderness! 3 So why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder! Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt!”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey.9 Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our [r]prey. Their [s]protection is gone from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
Moses Pleads for the People
11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people be disrespectful to Me? And how long will they not [t]believe in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? 12 I will strike them with [u]plague and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people up from their midst, 14 and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are in the midst of this people, because You, Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if You put this people to death [v]all at once, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will [w]say,16 ‘Since the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17 So now, please, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and violation of His Law; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the [x]punishment of the fathers on the children [y]to the third and the fourth generations.’ 19 Please forgive the guilt of this people in accordance with the greatness of Your mercy, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
The Lord Pardons and Rebukes
20 So the Lord said, “I have forgiven them in accordance with your word;21 however, as I live, [z]all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.22 Certainly all the people who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who were disrespectful to Me see it. 24 But as for My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land which he [aa]entered, and his [ab]descendants shall take possession of it.25 Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way of the [ac]Red Sea.”
26 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron again, saying, 27 “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are [ad]voicing against Me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; 29 your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all your [ae]numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 30 By no means will you come into the land where I [af]swore to settle you, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will [ag]suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. 34 In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your [ah]guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition. 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, I certainly will do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be worn out in this wilderness, and there they shall die.’”
36 As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and led all the congregation to grumble against him by bringing a bad report about the land, 37 those men who brought the bad report of the land also died by a plague in the presence of the Lord. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land.
Israel Repulsed
39 Now when Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 In the morning, however, they got up early and went up to the [ai]ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; and we will go up to the place which the Lord has [aj]promised, for [ak]we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why then are you violating the [al]command of the Lord, when doing so will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, [am]to prevent you from being defeated [an]by your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there [ao]to confront you, and you will fall by the sword, since you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” 44 But they foolishly dared to go up to the [ap]ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and scattered them as far as Hormah.
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