Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi was the ruler and representative chosen as one of the twelve to search Canaan. He joined the other tribal representatives on the forty-day search, after which they reported on the land and its inhabitants and returned with its fruit. Most of the scouts, in unbelief, then discouraged Israel from believing they could possess the land, opposing the faithful courage of Caleb and Joshua. Joshua was one of the two spies who gave a faithful account of the land's richness, described it faithfully, and urged the people to go up and enter to possess it in the strength of God and trust in His strength.
The unfaithful spies brought an exaggerated, discouraging report about entering the promised land that set the people almost frantic with disappointment. Their mission and report became the setting for Israel's rebellion on their return, connected with the visit forty years earlier, and that rebellion delayed Israel's entry into Canaan. The ten unfaithful spies died, and their fate signified the destruction of those in their ranks who were over twenty. Their harmful course comes from lack of spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, telling matters as they appear, with imagination coloring statements and misleading hearers by confident assertions.
The history of the report of the twelve spies has an application to God's people today. The cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks are to be encountered then is re-enacted now, with the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. The loud, boisterous voice of rebellion and human prejudice seen on the spies' return is repeated in modern Israel in council meetings and board meetings and in settling accounts with ministers, and men who act in that spirit are destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God. The servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with self-denial and privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated now than then.
Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting and few received the faithful warnings God gave them, and as the time of the second advent of Christ nears, darkness and unbelief increase, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. Long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust crowd Him out. Few enlightened by divine wisdom dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, and those chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood, while Satan works warily in these last days and God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices. Against that rebellion stands the faithful influence of Caleb and Joshua, which those in responsibility should exercise to reprove evil and turn the current of evil.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi was the ruler and representative chosen as one of the twelve to search Canaan. He joined the other tribal representatives on the forty-day search, after which they reported on the land and its inhabitants and returned with its fruit. Most of the scouts, in unbelief, then discouraged Israel from believing they could possess the land, opposing the faithful courage of Caleb and Joshua. Joshua was one of the two spies who gave a faithful account of the land's richness, described it faithfully, and urged the people to go up and enter to possess it in the strength of God and trust in His strength.
The unfaithful spies brought an exaggerated, discouraging report about entering the promised land that set the people almost frantic with disappointment. Their mission and report became the setting for Israel's rebellion on their return, connected with the visit forty years earlier, and that rebellion delayed Israel's entry into Canaan. The ten unfaithful spies died, and their fate signified the destruction of those in their ranks who were over twenty. Their harmful course comes from lack of spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, telling matters as they appear, with imagination coloring statements and misleading hearers by confident assertions.
The history of the report of the twelve spies has an application to God's people today. The cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks are to be encountered then is re-enacted now, with the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. The loud, boisterous voice of rebellion and human prejudice seen on the spies' return is repeated in modern Israel in council meetings and board meetings and in settling accounts with ministers, and men who act in that spirit are destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God. The servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with self-denial and privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated now than then.
Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting and few received the faithful warnings God gave them, and as the time of the second advent of Christ nears, darkness and unbelief increase, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. Long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust crowd Him out. Few enlightened by divine wisdom dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, and those chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood, while Satan works warily in these last days and God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices. Against that rebellion stands the faithful influence of Caleb and Joshua, which those in responsibility should exercise to reprove evil and turn the current of evil.