Numbers 13:20
And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
Moses charged the twelve spies to inspect the promised land before Israel entered it, to judge its fertility and resources and wood, to be courageous, and to bring back its produce. They went in the season of the first ripe grapes and returned with proof of its richness and abundance, including figs and pomegranates and an enormous cluster of grapes carried by two men on a staff. Joshua with Caleb gave a faithful account of its attractiveness and urged Israel to possess it in God's strength, while their companions brought an evil, exaggerated and discouraging report. That report threw the people into frantic disappointment and rebellion against God, bringing judgment to wander forty years in the wilderness and losing the favorable opportunity to enter. The same cowardly complaining and drawing back is re-enacted among God's people today when faithful reports are rejected and discouraging talk blocks the work, calling for men of spiritual nerve like Caleb to stand firmly for God and the right against Satan's artifices.
Spies' Mission and Report
This charge was given by Moses to the twelve spies sent to inspect Canaan, the land promised to Israel, examining it before Israel entered it. The sending came from the people's proposal, with Moses seeking the Lord's consent, and the disastrous outcome shows they should have waited for the Lord to direct them rather than acting on their own proposal. He told them to assess what the land was, whether fat or lean in fertility and soil and resources and vegetation, whether there was wood and trees in it, to be of good courage, and to bring back some of its fruit and produce.
The reconnaissance took place at the season when the first grapes were ripening and ripe. The spies returned with samples proving the land was good and abundant, including grapes and figs and pomegranates. One enormous cluster of grapes was so large that two men carried it between them on a staff.
Joshua was one of the twelve spies, and he with Caleb stood against the companions' fearful complaint, gave a faithful account of the land's richness and attractiveness, and urged Israel to go up and possess it in the strength of God. The inspection was followed by an evil, exaggerated and discouraging report that threw the people into almost frantic disappointment and rebellion against God. That rebellion led to judgment that they would wander in the wilderness forty years and to a later failed presumptuous attempt to enter after the favorable time had passed, which did not restore the lost opportunity.
Warning for God's People
The charge to examine whether the land was fat or lean carries a direct application to God's people today, for the scenes of cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be met are re-enacted now. There is the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua, and the servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict 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 given them of God. Darkness and unbelief do not decrease as the time of the second advent of Christ nears, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, and hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent.
Long has the Lord borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for them to give Him room in their hearts, but false ideas and jealousy and distrust have crowded Him out. Few professedly of Israel whose minds have been enlightened by divine wisdom dare to come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right. Because those the Lord has chosen to conduct His work will not be turned from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated, they become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood. Satan is wide awake and working warily in these last days, and God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices.
To follow the course of the unfaithful spies sent to examine the promised land before entering it is to fail to take hold of the work in faith. It is to lack spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, to tell matters only as they appear, and to mislead hearers by confident assertions. All such discouraging talk repeated among God's people blocks the wheels and does harm to His cause, just as their exaggerated, discouraging reports about going in threw the people into almost frantic disappointment. That same loud, boisterous rebellion and human prejudice that followed the return of the twelve is repeated in modern Israel in council meetings and board meetings and in the unjust settling of accounts with ministers. When men destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God allow evil, unprincipled actions to go unreproved, they fail to turn the current of evil by faithful influence like Caleb and Joshua.