The 12 spies were sent out to “spy out” the Land. They were given a set of criteria to distinguish the qualities/attributes of the Land.
Numbers 13:18, “See the Land” — here the land will be fully revealed to the spies. Nothing in the Land will remain hidden, to make a proper and accurate determination of the Land.
- How is it?
- The people that dwells in it, Is it strong or weak?
- Is it few or numerous?
- The cities in which it dwells — are they open or are they fortified?
- And how is the land — is it fertile or is it lean?
- are there trees in it or not?
When the 12 (administration) spies returned from spying out the land for 40 days (testing, trial, tribulation), they came back to Moses and reported:
Numbers 13:27-29 — “They reported to him and said, ‘We arrived at the Land to which you sent us and indeed it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But, the people that dwells in the Land is powerful, the cities are fortified and very great and we also saw the offspring of the giant. Amalek dwells in the are a of the south; the Hittite the Jebusite and the Emorite dwell on the mountain and the Canaanite dwells by the Sea on the bank of the Jordan.”
So the spies reported that the land “flows with milk and honey” promising blessing and prosperity but the people of the land are powerful.
Now in Ephesian 6:11 – 18 it talks about the armour of YHVH. in verse 16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
The first dart against the people is found after the word but, highlighted in red for emphasis.
So to outline the darts coming against the people in this report:
- the people that dwells in the land is powerful
- the cities are fortified and very great
- we also saw there the offspring of the giant
- Amalek (people of lapping) dwells in the area of the south
- The Hittite (annoyance), the Jebusite (to tread down) and the Emorite (mountaineer) dwell on the mountain
- The Canaanite (low region, servants, lowland) dwells by the Sea on the bank of the Jordan (descender).
Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said “‘We shall surely ascend and conquer it for we can surely do it!” (Num 13:30)
Numbers 13:31-33, “But the men who had ascended with him said, ‘We cannot ascend to that people for it is too strong for us!’ They brought forth to the Children of Israel an evil report on the Land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The Land through which we have passed, to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants! all the people that we saw in it were huge! There we saw the Nephillim, the sons of the giant from amoung the Nephillim; we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes!”
Here are the darts:
- we cannot ascend
- that people is too strong for us
- is a land that devours it’s inhabitants
- all the people we saw in it here huge
- there we saw the Nephillim, the songs of the giant (Gensis 6:4)
- we were like grasshoppers in our eyes and so we were in their eyes
The entire assembly raised up and issues its voice; the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron and the entire assembly said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in this Wilderness! Why is YHVH bringing us to this Land to die by the sword? Our wives and young children will be taken captive! Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt!’ Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the entire congregation of the assembly of the Children of Israel.”
Darts:
- the people wept that night (sign of grief)
- Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron
- Questioned YHVH’s intention and will toward us, “Why is YHVH bringing us to this Land to die by the sword?”
- Our wives and young children will be taken captive
- Wanted to remove his anointed and find their own leader, “So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt!'”
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of the spies of the Land tore their garments. They spoke to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel saying, ‘The Land that we passed through, to spy it out — the Land is very very good! If YHVH desires us, He will bring us to this Land and give it to us, a Land that flows with milk and honey. But do not rebel against YHVH! You should not fear the people of the Land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them; YHVH is with us. Do not fear them! But the entire assembly said to pelt them with stones — and the glory of YHVH appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Children of Israel.
Darts:
- rebel
- fear
- pelt them with stones
YHVH said to Moses, “How long will this people provoke Me, and how long will they not have faith in Me, despite all the signs that I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with the plague and annihilate them, and I shall make you a greater and more powerful nation than they.”
Darts:
- provoke
- not have Faith in Me
Moses said to YHVH, “Then Egypt — from whose midst You brought up this nation with Your power — will hear, and they will say about the inhabitants of this Land, ‘They have heard that You, YHVH are in the midst of this people — that You, YHVH appeared eye to eye and Your cloud stands over them, and that in a pillar of cloud you Go before them by day and in a pillar of fire at night — yet You killed this people like a single man! Then the nations that heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because YHVH lacked the ability to bring this people to the Land that He had sworn to give them, He slaughtered them in the Wilderness.’ And now — may the strength of my Lord be magnified as You have spoken, saying, ‘YHVH, Slow to Anger, Abundant in Kindness, Forgiver of Iniquity and Willful Sin, and Who cleanses — but does not cleanse completely, recalling the iniquity of parents upon children to the third and fourth generations’ — forgive now the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your kindness and as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now.
Counteracting the 16 above darts:
- Your cloud stands over them; pillar of cloud/pillar of fire (protection)
- strength of the Lord
- magnified
- Slow to Anger (patience)
- Abundant in Kindness
- Forgiver of Iniquity and Willful Sin
- Who cleanses (Restoration)
And YHVH said, “I have forgiven because of your words. But as I live — and the glory of YHVH shall fill the entire world– that all the men who have seen My glory and My signs that I performed in Egypt and in the Wilderness, and have tested Me these ten times and have not heeded My voice, if they will see the Land that I have sworn to give their forefathers! — and all– who anger Me shall not see it. But My servant Caleb (wholehearted, loyal, faithful), because a different spirit was with him and he followed me wholeheartedly, I shall bring him to the Land to which he came, and his offspring shall possess it. The Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley — tomorrow, turn and journey toward the Wilderness in the direction of the Sea of Reeds.”
Faith — no doubts, protects you against the fiery darts of the wicked; relieves fear; faith = belief + trust (in YHVH wholeheartedly);
YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “How long for this evil assembly that provokes complaints against Me!? I have heard the complaints of the Children of Israel whom they provoke against Me. Say to them: As I live — the word of YHVH — if I shall not do to you as you have spoken in My ears. In this Wilderness shall your carcasses drop; all of you who were counted in any of your numberings, from twenty years of age and above, whom you provoked against Me; if you shall come to the Land about which I have raised My hand in an oath to settle you there, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. And your young children of whom you aid they will be taken captive, I shall bring them; they shall know the Land that you have despised. but your carcasses shall drop in this Wilderness. Your children will roam in the Wilderness for forty years and bear your guilt, until the last of your carcasses in the wilderness. Like the number of the days that you spied out the Land, forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities — forty years — and you shall comprehend straying from Me. I YHVH have spoken — if I shall not do this to this entire evil assembly that gathers against Me! In this Wilderness shall they cease to be, and there shall they die!”
The carcasses dropping in the Wilderness is like the fig tree that withered and died. (See Matthew 21:19-22) Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. The other scripture was Matthew 17:20-21 (healing the man’s son who was vexed) “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verify I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall be removed; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
But as for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the Land and who returned and provoked the entire assembly against him by spreading a report against the Land — the people who spread the evil report about the Land died in a plague before YHVH. But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh lived from among those men who were going to spy out the Land. Moses spoke these words to all the Children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly. They awoke early in the morning and ascended toward the mountaintop saying, “We are ready, and we shall ascend to the place of which YHVH has spoken, for we have sinned!”. Moses said , “Why do you transgress the word of YHVH? It will not succeed. Do not ascend, for YHVH is not in your midst! And do not be smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword, because you have turned away from YHVH and YHVH will not be with you.” But they defiantly ascended to the mountaintop, while the Ark of YHVH’s covenant and Moses did not move from the midst of the camp. The Amalekite and the Canaanite who dwelled on that mountain descended; they struck them and pounded them until Hormah.
Darts:
- mourned —to feel or express sorrow or grief; to grieve or lament for the dead.
- transgress — to violate a law, command
- not succeed — to not accomplish what is attempted or intended
- YHVH is not in your midst (Romans 8:31 — What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”)
- smitten — (struck, as with a hard blow; grievously or disastrously stricken or afflicted)
- turned away from YHVH; YHVH will not be with you
- defiantly — (boldly resistant or challenging)
- struck — (to deal a blow or stroke to (a person or thing), as with the fist, a weapon, or a hammer; hit; to inflict, deliver, or deal (a blow, stroke, attack, etc.)
- pounded — (to strike repeatedly with great force, as with an instrument; to force (a way) by battering; batter)
- Hormah — “devotion to destruction”
In chapter 15 it begins the discussion of the libations. The nations requires libation because of the transgression. The libation restores cleanliness but the punishment will still be walked out.
There is a transition from Egypt (slavery, bondage) to the Wilderness (a place of empowerment/restoration) to the promised Land. YHVH has a walk out our redemption in this matter. Some of the Children of Israel never made it to the promised Land because of their complaints, because of their doubt and fears. We also doubt and allow fear to keep us from the walking out our redemption.