www.biblestudyworkshop.org 1 SPIES SENT OUT THE SPIES INSTRUCTIONS THE SPIES ACTIVITIES THE SPIES REPORTS NUMBERS 13:1-33
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 2 Text: Numbers 13:1-33, SPIES SENT OUT THE SPIES INSTRUCTIONS THE SPIES ACTIVITIES THE SPIES REPORTS 1. The Lord spoke to Moses: 2. Send out men to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a leader among them. 3. So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. 4. Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 5. from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 6. from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 7. from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 8. from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; 9. from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 10. from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 11. from the tribe of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; 12. from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 3 13. from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 14. from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi; 15. from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. 16. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua. 17. When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up through the Negev, and then go up into the hill country 18. and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many, 19. and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, 20. and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land. Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes. 21. So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo Hamath. 22. When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23. When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. 24. That place was called the Eshcol Valley, because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. 25. They returned from investigating the land after forty days.
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 4 26. They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. 27. They told Moses, We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28. But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29. The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. 30. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it. 31. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are! 32. Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature. 33. We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them. (NET)
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 5 Commentary: Spies Sent Out Numbers 13:1-16, The Lord spoke to Moses: Send out men to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a leader among them. So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Joseph, namely, the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vopshi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua. (NET) It appears from the record in Numbers 13 that it was God s will for the spies to be sent out ahead. However, when Moses relates the story in his final address to the people before his death and their subsequent crossing of the Jordan, (below) it is clear that God s will was for them to go directly into the land, trusting Him for victory, but the people suggested the spies be
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 6 sent out and Moses agreed that it was a good idea. As always, human adjustments to God s will never turn out well! Deuteronomy 1:19-40, Then we left Horeb and passed through all that immense, forbidding wilderness that you saw on the way to the Amorite hill country as the Lord our God had commanded us to do, finally arriving at Kadesh Barnea. Then I said to you, You have come to the Amorite hill country which the Lord our God is about to give us. Look, he has placed the land in front of you! Go up, take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to do. Do not be afraid or discouraged! So all of you approached me and said, Let s send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there. I thought this was a good idea, so I sent twelve men from among you, one from each tribe. They left and went up to the hill country, coming to the Eshcol Valley, which they scouted out. Then they took some of the produce of the land and carried it back down to us. They also brought a report to us, saying, The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good. You were not willing to go up, however, but instead rebelled against the Lord your God. You complained among yourselves privately and said, Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us! What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there. So I responded to you, Do not be terrified of
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 7 them! The Lord your God is about to go ahead of you; he will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt and in the desert, where you saw him carrying you along like a man carries his son. This he did everywhere you went until you came to this very place. However, through all this you did not have confidence in the Lord your God, the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go. When the Lord heard you, he became angry and made this vow: Not a single person of this evil generation will see the good land that I promised to give to your ancestors! The exception is Caleb son of Jephunneh; he will see it and I will give him and his descendants the territory on which he has walked, because he has wholeheartedly followed me. As for me, the Lord was also angry with me on your account. He said, You also will not be able to go there. However, Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, will go. Encourage him, because he will enable Israel to inherit the land. Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it. But as for you, turn back and head for the desert by the way to the Red Sea. (NET) God never let them forget this terrible decision! Here is a group of people who saw God drive Egypt crazy with the ten (10) plagues, part the Red Sea for them to pass through on dry ground, destroy the Egyptian army in those same waters that they had crossed and feed them with manna from heaven. They heard Him speak directly from the smoking, shaking mountain! In fact, not a day had gone by in the past two years that they had
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 8 not seen God work wonders! Now they are standing on the borders of the land their forefathers had said God would give them. God tells them to go in and take it. This is no difference from the command to cross the sea, but, they think they should appoint a committee to study the land to see if it is really good and if they have what it takes to conquer it! Even Moses thought it was a good idea! No wonder God was angry with them! As is nearly always the case, the committee could not agree. It was a ten (10) to two (2) split! Ten (10) said it was a good land, but impossible for them to take. Two (2) said it was good and God would give it to them if they would but obey him. They got outvoted! The Israelites disobeyed at Kadesh Barnea and were judged! THE SPIES INSTRUCTIONS Numbers 13:17-20, When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, Go up through the Negev, and then go up into the hill country and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many, and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land. Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes. (NET)
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 9 THE SPIES ACTIVITIES Numbers 13:21-25, So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo Hamath. When they went up through the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were living. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a staff between two men, as well as some of the pomegranates and the figs. That place was called the Eshcol Valley, because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut from there. They returned from investigating the land after forty days. (NET) THE SPIES REPORTS Numbers 13:26-33, They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land. They told Moses, We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, Let us go up and occupy it, for we are well able to conquer it. But the men who had gone
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 10 up with him said, We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are! Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature. We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them. (NET) Can t you just imagine the report of these unfaithful spies! God has made a mistake! Even though it is a good land, there is no way that we can capture it! The cities have high walls and the people are much bigger than we are! We felt like grasshoppers in comparison to them we must go back to Egypt! It only took ten (10) men to discourage six hundred thousand (600,000) others! Such is the nature of discouragement! That is why God is constantly urging us to encourage one another. We will hear plenty of discouraging words from the world around us. We need to speak encouraging words to one another! Even though Caleb s and Joshua s report and encouragement were eloquent and true, their motion to proceed as God had commanded was tabled until the bones of the other spies and the five hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-eight (599,998) men who listened to them were bleaching in the desert! God made them wander around that wilderness until everyone who was above twenty (20) years of age when they left Egypt had died and a whole new generation of Israelites had grown up. That took an additional thirty-eight (38) years (added to the two years they had spent at Mt. Sinai getting organized,
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 11 etc.). Amazingly, out of the thousands who are counted in the census at the beginning of the Book of Numbers, only two men (Caleb & Joshua) crossed over Jordan into the Promised Land! We call this the Grasshopper Complex! Sadly, if we forget that God is our strength, and consider ourselves insignificant, weak and unable to fulfil our God-given destiny, those around us will agree with that assessment and the result will be failure! Even God cannot give us what we will not receive! God has mercy for the most degraded sinners! This is amply illustrated in His dealings with all His servants (David, for instance. 2 Samuel 12:13, Then David exclaimed to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord! Nathan replied to David, Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die.; Psalm 51:1-19, Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love! Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! Wash away my wrongdoing! Cleanse me of my sin! For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin. Against you you above all I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me. Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. Look, you desire integrity in the inner man; you want me to possess wisdom. Sprinkle me with water and I will be pure; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! May the bones you crushed rejoice! Hide your face from my sins! Wipe away all my guilt! Create for me a pure heart, O God! Renew a resolute spirit within me! Do not reject me! Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me! Let me again experience
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 12 the joy of your deliverance! Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! Then I will teach rebels your merciful ways, and sinners will turn to you. Rescue me from the guilt of murder, O God, the God who delivers me! Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. O Lord, give me the words! Then my mouth will praise you. Certainly you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit O God, a humble and repentant heart you will not reject. Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her! Fortify the walls of Jerusalem! Then you will accept the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings; then bulls will be sacrificed on your altar. (NET)), but He has no patience with faithless triflers! All the promised lands have been won by those who were serious enough to fight! We can fulfil our mission as disciples of Christ, but to do so we must be filled with a mighty dedication that will make us happy to make any sacrifice that is called for and to trust God to fulfil his promises!
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 13 Questions on Numbers 13:1-33 1. What characteristic did each of the spies need to possess to be selected? Why was this trait so important? 2. Who was Caleb s father? What do you know about Caleb s father? 3. What was Joshua s name originally? What is the meaning of his original name and of the name Joshua?
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 14 4. By reading the account in Deuteronomy, what do we learn about the plan to send out spies before beginning the conquest?_ 5. How did Moses react to this suggestion? Give full details. 6. Is there any indication that God was consulted in this plan? Give reasons for your answer. 7. As reported in Deuteronomy, when the spies returned with a split decision, whose side did Moses take? Give reasons for your answer.
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 15 8. What word-picture did Moses use to describe the way God had carried them from Egypt to Kadesh-Barnea? 9. Whom did Moses blame for his own banishment from entering the Promised Land? Why did he place blame in this way? 10. Whose descendants did the spies find living in Hebron? What do you know of these ancestors? 11. What was peculiar about these people? 12. How long were the spies away from the camp of Israel?
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 16 13. Reflecting back to the giving of the Law, how long was Moses on Mt. Sinai? 14. Of the twelve (12) spies, how many gave a negative report about the goodness of the land? 15. Of the twelve (12) spies, how many gave a positive report about the prospects of conquering the land? 16. What are the names of those who were for immediately invading Canaan?
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 17 17. What fruits did they bring back from their visit? 18. How did they transport this sampling of fruit? 19. To what insect did they compare themselves in regard to the native inhabitants of Canaan? 20. What did these Israelites lack that was sorely needed here? _
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