Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 9-20-19

God Is Faithful, Despite
Our Unfaithfulness NUMBERS 13:1–2, 17, 25–28; 14:1–2, 5–10 (KJV)
The Scriptures
Numbers 13:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of
it. 28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Numbers 14:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the peo- ple wept that night.
2 And all the children of Is- rael murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Je- phunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 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.
9 Only rebel not ye
against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their de- fence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
10 But all the congrega- tion bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the taber- nacle of the congregation be- fore all the children of Israel.
Sending Out Spies In Canaan (Numbers 13:1–2, 17)
When God commands Moses to send spies into Canaan, the men Moses chooses have distinguished themselves as the leaders of their respective tribes. The 12 ancestral tribes are the de- scendants of the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob, who was renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28). One man from each tribe is sent to the Negev, which is a generally dry waste country north of the Sinai Peninsula, south of what became Judah, and to the west and south of the Dead Sea. The hill country referenced here is part of the
central spine of hills that runs north and south through Canaan.
Fear in the Land Of Milk And Honey (vv. 25–28)
We see the phrase “forty days” often repeated in Scripture (Genesis 7:4; Matthew 4:2), so it is no sur- prise that the spies remained in Canaan for forty days. Here, we see the first refer- ence to Kadesh, an oasis where much of the forty years in the wilderness will be spent (v. 26). At Kadesh, the spies show the assembly the fruit of the land. The spies tell them that the land “floweth with milk and honey” (v. 27). Although this is a common phrase used in the Torah to describe Canaan (Exodus 3:8; Leviti- cus 20:24), it is the first time it is used in the book of Numbers. However, the spies also report that the people in the land are strong and that some of them are constant enemies of the Is- raelites. The spies observe real danger in Canaan.
Human Rebellion And God’s Grace (Numbers 14:1–2, 5–10)
The people complain as soon as they hear the report from the spies. The people’s complaining is a common theme we see in Numbers (Numbers 11:1; 16:41). The people often complain be- cause of the challenges of life
in the desert. They long for their settled lives in Egypt and lament having left the fa- miliar to wander into the un- known. They wish they had died in Egypt or the wilder- ness before reaching Canaan.
As the people rebel against God, Moses and Aaron fall on their faces as an act of contrition. Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes, which is an act of mourning, a sign of humility before God. These men foreshadow the Lord’s rejection of this gener- ation with their words “if the LORD delight in us” and “only rebel not ye against the LORD” (vv. 8–9). They in- form the people that with God, the people of Canaan will be bread to them because the Canaanites’ protection is removed. The idea of lost protection is a condemnation of foreign gods who are not as strong as the God of Israel. They assure the people that God is with them. God is faithful to keep His promise. As they encourage the people and intercede on their behalf, the glory of God appears.
Like the Children of Is- rael, we are often afraid, and sometimes our fear leads us to rebel against God’s plan for us. When we are afraid, let us remember that with
God’s help, we are more than overcomers. When God is with us, we can face any ob- stacle that stands in our way with confidence. Conclusion
When the Israelites wanted to return to Egypt, effective leadership became essential to the outcome of this story. God told Moses to choose one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes to spy in Canaan. Had it not been for two God-fearing spies, the people would have turned around. Effective and diverse leadership is essen- tial to a functional congrega- tion.
We are all leaders in some space, whether at home, at work, in our churches, or in our commu- nities. Fear is a natural reac- tion to the unknown, but trust that God has not for- saken you. When we feel panic, angst, and frustration because we do not know what lies ahead, leaders are called to intercede on our be- half. Leaders are also called to encourage us to continue to follow God wherever the call might lead.
God hears our cry. Our faith falters when we look away from God.
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