It is just as we carry the secret of the preciousness of Christ by faith through the wilderness, that our hearts will have an object superior to all the circumstances of sorrow and evil we are in.
This makes all the difference, which we find between Israel on the one hand, and Caleb and Joshua on the other.
They all went through the same trials, and were in the same sphere of evil; but the grapes of Eschol brought out the murmurings of the people, who thought of the children of Anak, and were in their own sight as grasshoppers, and lacked faith to connect the power of God with themselves.
It was to them only a question of what their enemies were, and what they themselves were in their own sight; whereas Caleb and Joshua, bringing in, by faith, God’s power and love, found the report good.
The grapes of Eschol strengthened their faith, and thinking of God’s promise to them they said,
“Let us go up at once, and possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it.”
What were the walls of Jericho to faith, though they were builded up to heaven? Since God was with Israel, the walls could not stand against the blast of the rams’ horns.