Numbers 13:22
And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
The spies went up from the south and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived as giants representing the formidable peoples of the land. The mission was proposed by Israel and laid by Moses before God, with direction to examine the land and its people for strength and numbers and to bring back its fruit. Although the land was fertile and promised by God to Israel, ten of the spies used the Anakites and other strong inhabitants to make possession seem impossible and turned the people to unbelief and rebellion, bringing forty years of wandering and a later defeat when they tried too late to enter. Joshua and Caleb alone gave a faithful account of its richness and urged Israel to go up in God's strength to possess it, and Joshua's faithfulness in that search helped fit him to lead Israel after Moses. That history is repeated today whenever God's people complain, draw back from risk, and reject faithful counsel, calling for Caleb-like courage to resist discouragement and turn back the current of evil.
Spies' Search of Canaan
The mission to search Canaan originated with Israel, and Moses presented their proposal to God. Moses then sent the spies to survey the land, directing them to observe the country and its people, including their strength and numbers, and to bring back produce from the land. That survey belongs to the larger account that leads to Israel's unbelief, rebellion, and forty years in the wilderness.
In carrying out that search the spies ascended from the south and came to Hebron. Hebron lay on their route through the land as they moved through Canaan. Their arrival there was part of their passage through the country in the course of the reconnaissance.
At Hebron were Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children or descendants of Anak. They were giants. Their presence illustrated the formidable inhabitants of the land.
Evil Report and Judgment
The spies reached Hebron on their search and found Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, living there, and those Anakites were giants who illustrated how formidable the inhabitants were. The land itself was fertile, attractive, and rich, and God had promised to give it to Israel, yet the sight of those descendants became part of the dangers emphasized in the report. Most of the spies, the ten, feared Israel could not take Canaan, and they used the Anakites and the strong inhabitants to describe an obstacle and discourage Israel from believing they could possess it. Caleb and Joshua trusted that Israel could take it, but the people's report of the strong inhabitants discouraged them from believing.
The unfaithful spies brought exaggerated, discouraging reports concerning entrance into the promised land and set the people almost frantic with disappointment. They viewed things in a highly colored light and told matters as they appeared to them without faith and without spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things. They misled hearers by confident assertions while imagination colored their statements and their expectations failed to be realized. Repeating their course blocks the wheels of the work, reiterates discouraging talk, and does harm to the cause.
That evil report led to unbelief and rebellion and brought God's judgment of forty years in the wilderness, delaying entrance into the promised land. The visit became the cause of cowardly rebellion and a forty-year delay, growing out of the mission Israel had proposed and Moses had presented to God. After the judgment the people tried to enter too late, when their enemies were prepared, and they were defeated. The Canaanites still remembered that visit of the spies when Israel later approached their territory.
Faithful Witness for Today
Two of the twelve sent to search Canaan gave a faithful account of its richness, attractiveness, and fertility, trusted that Israel could take it, and urged the people to go up and possess it in the strength of God. Those two were Joshua and Caleb, with Joshua standing as one of the twelve and one of the two faithful witnesses. His faithful part in that search, together with seeing God's wonderful works through Moses and knowing the disposition of the people as Moses' chief assistant through most of the wilderness wandering, qualified him to lead Israel into Canaan after Moses' death.
The history of the report of the twelve spies applies to God's people today. Cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when risks must be encountered are re-enacted now, with the same unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. Self-denying servants who bear the burden of the cause with privation to help God's people are seldom better appreciated now than then, ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting, and few received God's faithful warnings. As the second advent nears, darkness and unbelief do not decrease, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, and hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent.
God's servants are kept from discouragement by His continual evidences of wisdom and assistance, though He has long borne with wanderings, forgiven His people, and waited for room in their hearts while false ideas, jealousy, and distrust crowded Him out. Few with minds enlightened by divine wisdom dare stand boldly as Caleb did for God and the right. Those chosen to conduct His work who will not turn from integrity to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated become targets of hatred and malicious falsehood, Satan works awake and warily in the last days, and God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist him.
That rebellion is seen again in modern Israel in the loud, boisterous voice of rebellion in council meetings and board meetings and in human prejudice in settling accounts with ministers. The men who manifest that spirit are as destitute of the divine nature and the Spirit and grace of God as the hills of Gilboa were destitute of dew and rain. In such a crisis faithful influence like that of Caleb and Joshua is needed to turn the whole current of evil, and silence when evil, unprincipled actions go unreproved lets the evil swell to immense proportions. Repeating the discouraging talk of the unfaithful spies blocks the wheels of the work and harms the cause.