Numbers 13:1-27
AFTER A year and some months in the wilderness Israel had reached Kadesh-Barnea, just on the border of the promised land. And what a good land it was! — a land flowing with milk and honey, type of the heavenly land — the glory which God has given to His people now and which we are soon to enter.
Apparently it was the people that urged Moses to send out spies to search the land, though here in our chapter the word seems to come from the Lord Himself. The plan received God’s sanction, and twelve men were appointed, one from each tribe, and two of them were Joshua and Caleb.
It is clear from Deuteronomy 1:21,22 That the proposal to send the spies came from the people, and not from God. Had He not said He would drive out the Canaanites? What need was there to search? Had He not said it was a good land? Could they not trust His word for it? But as we have seen earlier, unbelief was at work in the hearts of the people, and their leaders as well. And now at this point on the borders of the land they seem to think they have a right to judge for themselves and be independent of God.
God had said, “Go up and possess” the land. He did not say “search it.” Was He about to cease from going before them, and leave them to fend for themselves? No indeed; His faithfulness to His word remained unchanged. But the people say, We will send men to spy out the land. They would see for themselves, and find out if the land was as good as God had said it was. Even Moses seemed pleased with their proposal, but surely he ought not to have encouraged them in a path of unbelief. But the people’s will was disobedience, and disobedience is sin.
However, God heard the words of the people and now He would prove them. So He gives Moses the command, “Send thou men.” Sometimes when willfulness is apparent God allows men, and even His children, to have their own way, yet at the same time He always accomplishes His will in the end. He will always have the last word and be glorified. Yet when we assert our own wills, we only stand in the way of our own blessing.
The twelve men went up and for forty days they searched out the land. They found it to be just as the Lord had said — a marvelous land — a land flowing with milk and honey. It was the time of the first-ripe grapes and they brought back from Eshcol a bunch of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it on a staff. They also brought back pomegranates and figs. Truly God’s word is true. What He promises He is able to perform. He never misrepresents nor exaggerates. And all He has told us of the heavenly Canaan to which the saints of God are journeying, we will find true to the ‘letter when we get there, for “All the promises of God in Him [Christ] are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” 2 Cor. 1: 20. Only He gives us a foretaste of that heavenly glory now, just as the men carried back those magnificent grapes of Eshcol. They speak of Christ the true Vine, who lives in that glory, and of all the fruits of His love, their sweetness and joy which gladden our hearts and make us long to be with Him there.
ML-09/16/1973