Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
The verse records Moses' command at Kadesh, as Israel was about to enter the promised land, not to dread or be afraid of its inhabitants, the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the other nations in the way to Canaan. The command rested on the assurance that God went before Israel and would fight for them, just as He had delivered, cared for and protected them in Egypt and throughout the wilderness, so His past acts were grounds for confidence in His help. The obstacles were real, for the spies reported correctly that the cities were walled and very great and inhabited by giants beside whom the Hebrews were like pigmies, and the fathers' fatal mistake was distrusting God's power to overcome those real obstacles.
Israel's fear and refusal to trust after the spies returned exposed distrust, unbelief and pride as their great sin and showed it is unsafe to rely on human wisdom, and that distrust alone kept them from at once entering the good land and doomed them to the long desert wandering. In judgment, that unbelieving generation, the adult army that left Egypt, was refused entry and would not enter the promised land, except Caleb who wholly followed the Lord, and Moses also was told he would not enter. God was not to blame for their misfortunes and long delay in possessing Canaan, for He had been faithful to His promises while they broke their pledge, transgressed His requirements, and kindled His wrath by dissatisfaction, impatience, rebellion, pride and unbelief.
God is not a stern relentless judge but a loving compassionate father who pardoned their transgressions, retained them as His people, and will pardon sin on true repentance, and He was more grieved than they were that He could not bring them at once into the promised land to display His mighty power in their deliverance before all nations. They were not prepared to enter Canaan and represent a people whose God is the Lord, because they did not bear His character of purity, goodness and benevolence, but had their fathers yielded in faith to His direction, governed by His judgments and walking in His ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan as a prosperous, holy and happy people. Their delay dishonored God and detracted from His glory before surrounding nations, and their own perversity made it impossible for Him to manifest His power to protect them, for if heaven was to work with Israel's armies to drive out the Canaanites for wickedness, Israel must be free from those sins and maintain a high standard of purity and holiness in word and act in love, fear and obedience, with guilt far greater than idolatrous nations if they imitated heathen iniquity because their privileges were greater.
The chapter shows that the Lord's promises are upon condition of obedience, so that not one promised good thing would fail when its conditions are met. The verse belongs to the lessons and history of the forty years of wandering, especially the history just before the possession of Jericho, giving a principle to be carried out in every new move, and with its accounts of failure and victory it is to be repeated over and over and read and rehearsed more often, in full and together with chapters 7 and 8, as instruction and admonition for those living at the end of the world to strengthen faith. It teaches God's people to trust God rather than fear opposition, to learn His word and appreciate and obey His voice, and to follow His guidance fully rather than only up to the point that agrees with their own judgment, viewing everything in the light of Christ's example in self-denial and self-sacrifice unto perfection of character.
The verse records Moses' command at Kadesh, as Israel was about to enter the promised land, not to dread or be afraid of its inhabitants, the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the other nations in the way to Canaan. The command rested on the assurance that God went before Israel and would fight for them, just as He had delivered, cared for and protected them in Egypt and throughout the wilderness, so His past acts were grounds for confidence in His help. The obstacles were real, for the spies reported correctly that the cities were walled and very great and inhabited by giants beside whom the Hebrews were like pigmies, and the fathers' fatal mistake was distrusting God's power to overcome those real obstacles.
Israel's fear and refusal to trust after the spies returned exposed distrust, unbelief and pride as their great sin and showed it is unsafe to rely on human wisdom, and that distrust alone kept them from at once entering the good land and doomed them to the long desert wandering. In judgment, that unbelieving generation, the adult army that left Egypt, was refused entry and would not enter the promised land, except Caleb who wholly followed the Lord, and Moses also was told he would not enter. God was not to blame for their misfortunes and long delay in possessing Canaan, for He had been faithful to His promises while they broke their pledge, transgressed His requirements, and kindled His wrath by dissatisfaction, impatience, rebellion, pride and unbelief.
God is not a stern relentless judge but a loving compassionate father who pardoned their transgressions, retained them as His people, and will pardon sin on true repentance, and He was more grieved than they were that He could not bring them at once into the promised land to display His mighty power in their deliverance before all nations. They were not prepared to enter Canaan and represent a people whose God is the Lord, because they did not bear His character of purity, goodness and benevolence, but had their fathers yielded in faith to His direction, governed by His judgments and walking in His ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan as a prosperous, holy and happy people. Their delay dishonored God and detracted from His glory before surrounding nations, and their own perversity made it impossible for Him to manifest His power to protect them, for if heaven was to work with Israel's armies to drive out the Canaanites for wickedness, Israel must be free from those sins and maintain a high standard of purity and holiness in word and act in love, fear and obedience, with guilt far greater than idolatrous nations if they imitated heathen iniquity because their privileges were greater.
The chapter shows that the Lord's promises are upon condition of obedience, so that not one promised good thing would fail when its conditions are met. The verse belongs to the lessons and history of the forty years of wandering, especially the history just before the possession of Jericho, giving a principle to be carried out in every new move, and with its accounts of failure and victory it is to be repeated over and over and read and rehearsed more often, in full and together with chapters 7 and 8, as instruction and admonition for those living at the end of the world to strengthen faith. It teaches God's people to trust God rather than fear opposition, to learn His word and appreciate and obey His voice, and to follow His guidance fully rather than only up to the point that agrees with their own judgment, viewing everything in the light of Christ's example in self-denial and self-sacrifice unto perfection of character.