Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi was the representative among the twelve men sent to search and explore Canaan, the promised land. The search lasted forty days, and the men returned with evidence that the land was fertile, but all except Caleb and Joshua discouraged Israel from trying to possess it. Joshua was one of the two spies who gave a faithful report of the land's attractiveness and richness and urged Israel to go up and enter or possess it in reliance on God and in His strength. That experience as a spy, together with seeing God's works by Moses and knowing the disposition of the people, qualified Joshua to lead Israel into Canaan after the death of Moses under God's promise to be with him and give conquest on condition of faithful obedience to all His commandments.
The unbelief and rebellion of the ten unfaithful spies brought judgment upon the generation they represented. The spies' report and the people's refusal to trust God and enter the promised land were followed by Israel's rebellion and forty years in the wilderness. Israel's failure to act in the favorable time, followed by a presumptuous attempt to act after God had announced the consequences, led to defeat.
The history of the report of the twelve spies applies to God's people today, with the cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be faced and the unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel seen in the days of Caleb and Joshua being re-enacted now. As with ancient Israel, which was repeatedly tested and found wanting with few receiving God's faithful warnings, so as the time of Christ's second advent nears darkness and unbelief increase and truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. God's burden-bearing servants who practice strict self-denial and suffer privation to help His people are little appreciated, and those He has chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become targets for hatred and malicious falsehood, while few enlightened professed Israelites dare like Caleb to come boldly forward and stand firmly for God and the right. Long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiving their wanderings and waiting for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy and distrust crowd Him out, yet He keeps giving His servants continual evidences of His wisdom and assistance so they need not become discouraged, and He calls in these last days when Satan is awake and working warily for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.
The return of the spies brought rebellion expressed with a loud, boisterous voice, and the same manifestation is seen in modern Israel when rebellion and human prejudice speak in council meetings and board meetings and in settling accounts with ministers. Men on the auditing committee without experimental knowledge of ministerial work and destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God repeat that rebellion. Silence toward evil, unprincipled actions lets the stream of evil swell to immense proportions where a faithful influence like that of Caleb and Joshua should have turned the whole current.
Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi was the representative among the twelve men sent to search and explore Canaan, the promised land. The search lasted forty days, and the men returned with evidence that the land was fertile, but all except Caleb and Joshua discouraged Israel from trying to possess it. Joshua was one of the two spies who gave a faithful report of the land's attractiveness and richness and urged Israel to go up and enter or possess it in reliance on God and in His strength. That experience as a spy, together with seeing God's works by Moses and knowing the disposition of the people, qualified Joshua to lead Israel into Canaan after the death of Moses under God's promise to be with him and give conquest on condition of faithful obedience to all His commandments.
The unbelief and rebellion of the ten unfaithful spies brought judgment upon the generation they represented. The spies' report and the people's refusal to trust God and enter the promised land were followed by Israel's rebellion and forty years in the wilderness. Israel's failure to act in the favorable time, followed by a presumptuous attempt to act after God had announced the consequences, led to defeat.
The history of the report of the twelve spies applies to God's people today, with the cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be faced and the unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel seen in the days of Caleb and Joshua being re-enacted now. As with ancient Israel, which was repeatedly tested and found wanting with few receiving God's faithful warnings, so as the time of Christ's second advent nears darkness and unbelief increase and truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded whose hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent. God's burden-bearing servants who practice strict self-denial and suffer privation to help His people are little appreciated, and those He has chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become targets for hatred and malicious falsehood, while few enlightened professed Israelites dare like Caleb to come boldly forward and stand firmly for God and the right. Long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiving their wanderings and waiting for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy and distrust crowd Him out, yet He keeps giving His servants continual evidences of His wisdom and assistance so they need not become discouraged, and He calls in these last days when Satan is awake and working warily for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.
The return of the spies brought rebellion expressed with a loud, boisterous voice, and the same manifestation is seen in modern Israel when rebellion and human prejudice speak in council meetings and board meetings and in settling accounts with ministers. Men on the auditing committee without experimental knowledge of ministerial work and destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God repeat that rebellion. Silence toward evil, unprincipled actions lets the stream of evil swell to immense proportions where a faithful influence like that of Caleb and Joshua should have turned the whole current.