God Rules, not the Majority
“Only rebel not ye against the LORD,” (Numbers 14:9)
In Numbers 13:2, God told Moses, “Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel:” (Numbers 13:2) Twelve spies were to be sent, one from each tribe. Caleb was from the tribe of Judah. Joshua was from the tribe of Ephraim. Moses told them to learn about the people, their dwellings, and the land itself. They returned after forty days. They also brought back a cluster of grapes so big that two men carried it on a staff between them.
The spies told Moses and Aaron and the people that the land was indeed “…a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:17), as God had said before. Yet they also warned that heathen people lived in walled cities. Apparently, the people started to worry at this point. Numbers 13:30 says, “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” After all, God had said He WOULD, not MIGHT, give them the land.
Yet the other ten spies, not counting Joshua, said, “We be not able to up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” (Numbers 13:31) Joshua and Caleb insisted, “The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD,…the LORD is with us: fear them not.” (Numbers 14:7-9)
Joshua’s and Caleb’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Even after such miracles as the ten plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the destruction of Egypt’s mighty army, God’s leading in a pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night; manna in the wilderness, and water out of the rock, they still refused to believe God. They spoke of going back to Egypt. In fact, they were ready to stone Joshua and Caleb: “But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.” (Numbers 14:10)
All twelve spies had the same experience. They had all seen the same thing. Yet two came back with a good report and ten came back with a bad one. God had promised He would give them the land, so it all boiled down either to believing God or not believing Him. Joshua and Caleb believed God, but the others didn’t, and the bad report of the ten spies encouraged the people’s unbelief.
Numbers 14:10 tells what came next: “…And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.” God appeared and asked Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?” (Numbers 14:11) God offered to disinherit the Israelites and make Moses a mightier nation than they. Moses asked God to show mercy, and He did.
Yet Israel would wander in the wilderness for forty more years, until those age twenty and above who refused to believe God had died. The only ones from that generation to enter the Promised Land would be Joshua and Caleb. In fact, God killed the ten spies with a plague who had brought up the evil report of the land, and who had encouraged the people to rebel.
We can trust God to keep His Word, no matter if circumstances or people say otherwise. Most of all, we can trust God to tell us the truth about how to have eternal life: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;” (Titus 1:2) If you want to see from God’s Word how to have eternal life by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 3/14/2022
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822