Israel would need strong leadership in the Promised Land (13:1-2). Christ also desires strong leadership for His New Testament churches, so the church can benefit from Israel’s experience. To help the people see what awaited them in the Promised Land, God instructed Moses to send representatives from each of the twelve tribes to survey the land and bring a report.
This event constituted a test of leadership and trust for these leaders and its effect on the people.
All twelve leaders saw and reported the same features. Ten of them, however, failed to trust God by relying on fearful human nature. They saw obstacles more than promises (13:27-29).
They readily admitted the greatness of God’s promises, but they maintained their estimations of human frailty to be larger than God’s promises. Their attention was on human weakness (13:31-33). Human inability took precedence over God’s record of deliverance and fulfilled promises. The Canaanites labeled them as “grasshoppers,” and they accepted that label.
Such a demeaning characterization extended to the people.
Booker T. Washington may have had such leaders in mind when he wrote, “Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly of them, when instead they should try to get their people to think more highly of themselves.” The congregation did not believe in themselves or in God (14:1). They revealed no sense of direction by demeaning God and His appointed leadership (14:2-3a). To complete their failure of faith, their best thinking only landed on what used to be (14:3b-4).
Nevertheless, all was not lost. Two leaders showed they trusted God. They encouraged people to claim God’s promises and act on them (13:30). They were deeply grieved when trust was absent (14:6), but they turned grief to hope on what could be through faith (14:7). Joshua and Caleb showed a “Why not?” attitude: “Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask, why not?” (Robert F. Kennedy). These two with “Why Not” hearts intended to please God (14:8-9).
Consequences fell to both groups (14:22-24). The shortsighted would miss the Promised Land (14:36-37), while the two faithful leaders would enjoy God’s blessings (14:38). The faith of the two provided for others to enjoy these blessings as well (14:31). Israel would spend the next thirty-eight years wandering in the desert, until the adults who failed to trust passed away (Deuteronomy 2:14).
Dr. David Moore can be contacted at dm5867se@outlook.com
