Numbers 13:28, commentary and pictures

The verse gives part of the evil report of the ten spies that the people living in Canaan are strong, their cities are walled and very great, and the giant children of Anak are there. The facts were true and are not denied, for the walls were high, the Canaanites were strong, and the sons of the giants were a powerful race beside whom the Hebrews seemed tiny. The fatal wrong was not the facts but speaking them in unbelief to magnify the difficulties and make conquest seem impossible, leaving God's promise and power to give the land out of account. Caleb and Joshua saw the same real obstacles yet trusted God and urged Israel to go up and take the land in His strength. That discouraging report turned the congregation to weeping, murmuring, rebellion and desire to return to Egypt, so that generation lost the promised land and died in forty years of wilderness wandering, warning against talk that sees only giants and walled cities and against withholding God's work for fear of difficulties.

Report's Words and Setting

Nevertheless the people dwelling in Canaan are strong, the cities are walled and very great, and the children of Anak are there, and this forms part of the evil, discouraging report of the spies. Although Canaan was fertile, the spies reported its inhabitants as strong, its cities as fortified and very large, and the descendants of Anak as present, and they presented these facts as reasons Israel could not take possession of the land. After truthfully describing the beauty and fertility of Canaan, all but two enlarged upon the difficulties and dangers of conquering it, reporting the strength of its people, its walled and very great cities, and the presence of the children of Anak. The words were spoken in unbelief to magnify the obstacles, they cast a gloomy shadow over the congregation, and against that report stands God's promise of the land to Israel, which made conquest certain despite the strength described.

Ten of the twelve rulers chosen from each tribe gave this report after forty days of searching Canaan, speaking before Moses and Aaron and all Israel. It was given when Israel had almost reached the end of the journey from slavery through the wilderness to the promised land, after God had shown what He would be to them and what He would do for them and had destroyed their enemies before them. After telling of its fertility with rich fruit to prove it, they turned from agreement that the land was good to discouragement about possessing it, warning that its dwellers were strong, its cities enclosed with great high walls, and above all that the giant children of Anak were there. Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent to search the land and one of the two who gave a faithful account of its richness and encouraged the people to go up in the strength of God and possess it, while all but two claimed that taking the land was impossible despite its fertility.

The facts stated were true and are not denied, for the walls were high and the Canaanites were strong. The cities were walled and very great and the sons of the giants dwelling there were a powerful race, making the Hebrews seem tiny by comparison. Beside that powerful race the spies were like mere pygmies, and beside the giants the Hebrews seemed tiny.

Unbelief Versus Faithful Trust

The report was discouraging because, after truthfully describing the beauty and fertility of the land and even proving it with rich fruit, ten of the twelve spies turned to unbelief and enlarged upon its difficulties and dangers in complaint. They declared that the people dwelling there were strong, the cities walled and very great, and the children of Anak were there, and they presented these true facts as reasons Israel could not take possession. The walls were indeed high and the Canaanites strong, and those facts are not denied, but they were spoken in unbelief to magnify the obstacles and to argue that conquest was impossible. Their words cast a gloomy shadow over the congregation, fostered despair, and helped turn the people from obedience and trust in God.

The fatal mistake was not the facts themselves but leaving God out of the question and distrusting His power. Against the report stands God's promise of the land to Israel, which made conquest certain despite the strength, fortifications, and giants described. Israel failed to stop to reflect and reason that the God who had brought them out so far would certainly give them the country, failing to remember how He had wrought for them in bringing them from Egyptian bondage, cutting a path through the waters of the sea, and destroying Pharaoh's pursuing host. They acted as if taking Jericho, the key to Canaan, must depend solely on power of arms, and in their unbelief with unsubdued hearts not in harmony with God's plans they limited the work of God and distrusted the hand that had safely guided them.

The dangers were real, and Caleb and Joshua saw the same strong people, great walled cities, and descendants of Anak, yet they acknowledged the obstacles while trusting God. While their companions emphasized the difficulties in complaint rather than trusting God and urging the people forward, Caleb urged Israel to trust God, to go forward and take possession of the land. Joshua was one of the two spies who gave a faithful account of its richness and urged Israel to go up and take the land in God's strength. Their counsel shows that faith gives courage to face obstacles and defend what is right, set against the history of cowardly complaint and drawing back from action.

Consequences and Present Warning

The report helped discourage Israel and provoke cowardly rebellion, for on hearing of strong people, great walled cities, and the children of Anak the whole congregation gave way to disappointment, weeping, murmuring, bitter reproaches and wailing without stopping to reflect that the God who had brought them out so far would certainly give them the land. They repeated their former error of murmuring against Moses and Aaron, blaming their leaders for bringing trouble upon Israel and for deceiving and leading them astray, saying this was the end of all their high hopes for the land they had traveled all the way from Egypt to possess. They went further and accused God Himself of deception in promising a land they could not possess, declared the conquest of Canaan an utter impossibility, and failed to remember how He had wrought for them in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage, cutting a path through the waters of the sea, and destroying Pharaoh's pursuing host. With hearts filled with unbelief they chose a captain to lead them back to suffering and bondage in Egypt, wished for death in the wilderness, and attempted to put to death the only two who still had faith and courage.

That unbelief cost that generation the promised land, for after the people rejected the opportunity to enter, the favorable time passed, their enemies were prepared, and their later attempt to go up ended in defeat. Judgment was pronounced and fulfilled that for forty years Israel would wander until all from twenty years old and upward who had left Egypt, all above twenty years of age, would die and be buried in the wilderness before Israel was brought a second time to the borders of Canaan. Though the fearful generation could have possessed Canaan, including fortified Jericho, the key to the land, their fear and unbelief kept them from trusting God to give it. The later contests with Og and Sihon brought the same test failed nearly forty years before but far more severe, requiring advance against violent, skillful and well-equipped armies, and Moses remembered the earlier terror by mere hearing of strong people, walled and very great cities, and the children of Anak as Israel stood before the giant inhabitants, walled stone cities and rocky strongholds of Bashan and trembled lest they distrust God again in peril, which distrust was part of repeated failure for which God gave them up to the power of their enemies with disaster and defeat as the result.

The history stands as a warning that God's people may reject faithful reports and true counsel when risks must be faced, engaging in cowardly complaint and drawing back from action, as set against the faithful counsel of Caleb and Joshua. The obstacles of strong people, fortified cities and giants do not justify withholding God's saving truth or letting difficulties obstruct missionary work, for Caleb's faithful spirit stands against the spies' fear. The same dangers may appear as certain failure to those who see only giants and walled cities, while those who see with clearer vision recognize that God and angels are ready to give victory to His truth.

The verse exposes discouraging talk that tells matters only as they appear to outward sight, without spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, bringing an exaggerated report colored with imagination and confident assertion that sets hearers almost frantic with disappointment. Such talk blocks the wheels of God's established work, does harm to the cause, and misleads hearers who receive it. One who reports in this way does not take hold of the work in faith, and to place him in responsibility is a calamity.