At the Border of The Good Land Numbers 13 to 14:11
WHEN the people of Israel reached Kadesh, near the border of Canaan, the land God had said He would give them, Moses said to go forward and, “Fear not.” But the people said it would be better to first send men to learn about the people who lived there, and to find the best way to go in.
So God told Moses to choose twelve men, called spies, to go into Canaan and bring back word to the camp.
After forty days the men returned bringing fine fruits to show the people what good things grew there, —figs, pomegranates, and grapes, one cluster so large that two men carried it between them on a staff. They had cut it from a vine in the valley near Hebron, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived.
The spies all said the land was good, but ten said they were afraid of the people who lived there, that they were giants with big cities and high walls! Their stories made the people so afraid that they cried and did not want to go on. They said their children would all be killed.
Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, tried to encourage the people, and said, “Let us go up at once . . . we are well able ... The Lord is with us.” But the people were so angry they would have stoned Joshua and Caleb if God had not stopped them.
God had told them He would give them homes in Canaan where they should live safely; that He would send away all enemies; and no wild animals should hurt their children (Lev. 26:3-12). How sad they did not believe God! Because they did not believe, He said they could never live in Canaan, but that their children when grown, should go there with. Joshua and Caleb (Read Deut. 1:19-33; Psalm 106:24).
Look on a Bible map of Arabia anti Canaan, and you can find Kadesh north. of Mt. Sinai, and Hebron near the center of Canaan.
ML 10/03/1937