Numbers 13:29, commentary and pictures

The verse gives the spies' survey of where Canaan's peoples lived, the Amalekites in the south, the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites in the mountains, and the Canaanites by the sea and Jordan, reported after all twelve agreed the land was good and fruitful. Its facts were in many respects correct and true, for the inhabitants were strong, the cities walled and very great, and giants were among them. All but two spoke these facts in unbelief, enlarging difficulties without spiritual discernment and judging possession by power of arms alone while leaving God, His promise, and His past deliverances out of the question. On hearing the report Israel refused to trust God, rebelled and sought to return to Egypt, so judgment was pronounced that all from twenty years old upward would die in the wilderness during forty years of wandering. Joshua and Caleb acknowledged the same dangers yet urged going up to possess the land in God's strength, and their courage stands against all cowardly complaining and discouraging talk that expects only failure instead of seeing God ready to give victory.

The Spies' Discouraging Report

The listing maps where the peoples of Canaan lived, with the Amalekites in the south, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites in the mountains, and the Canaanites by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. The description of the peoples and their distribution formed part of a discouraging report that portrayed taking possession as impossible. The ten faithless spies used these real obstacles to discourage Israel, while Caleb acknowledged the same dangers yet urged trust in God to take the land.

The listing belongs to the survey by the twelve spies sent over the Jordan to view the land, who returned with its produce and gave an account of the nations Israel would face. Joshua was one of the twelve sent to search the promised land, and with Caleb gave a faithful account of its richness and urged the people to go up and possess it in God's strength. After Moses' death Joshua was appointed leader to conduct Israel to the promised land, well qualified because he had served with Moses through much of the wilderness wandering, had seen God's wonderful works, and understood the disposition of the people.

The listing came after all the spies agreed the land was good, fruitful and prosperous, and showed its richness with figs, pomegranates, and one cluster of grapes so large that two men carried it on a staff between them. All but two then used the placement of the peoples, together with the report that those dwelling in the land were very strong, that the cities were surrounded with great and high walls, and that the children of the giant Anak were there, to speak discouragingly of Israel's ability to possess it and to press the fear that possession would ever be impossible. They named the peoples holding Canaan in the south, in the mountains, and by the sea and Jordan to prove conquest too difficult and dangerous, enlarging difficulties in unbelief and casting a gloomy shadow over the congregation despite God's promise of the land.

The facts in the surrounding report were in many respects correct and true, for the cities were walled and very great and the sons of the giants dwelling in them were a powerful race beside whom the spies were like mere pygmies. The strong inhabitants, very great walled cities, and powerful races including giants were not denied by the faithful spies, and the people's fatal mistake was not believing God could overthrow them. The accompanying claim that the land was so unhealthy that it consumed its inhabitants contradicted the spies' own description of a fruitful land with powerful inhabitants and was false. The visit to Canaan was remembered by the Canaanite nations with foreboding, as they watched Israel's movements and stayed alert against invasion.

Rebellion and Wilderness Judgment

All but two of the spies spoke the listing of the Amalekites in the south, the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites in the mountains, and the Canaanites by the sea and by Jordan in unbelief, to prove the conquest too difficult and dangerous and impossible ever to possess the land. With hearts filled with unbelief they enlarged the difficulties and dangers, declaring the walled cities very great and the people strong and impossible to conquer. Their report told matters as they appeared without spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, with imagination having a large share in coloring the statements, and its confident assertions misled hearers who received them, so that when such discouraging talk is reiterated it does harm to the cause. The facts about strong inhabitants and high walls were true and were not denied by Caleb, but using them to oppose going up cast a gloomy shadow over the congregation despite God's promise of the land to Israel.

The ten faithless spies used these real obstacles of the strength and distribution of the inhabitants to discourage Israel and left God's promise and power out of the question. They judged that possessing Canaan, beginning with Jericho the key to the land, must depend solely on power of arms. They should have trusted Him to fulfill His word because He had brought them from Egyptian bondage, cut a path through the sea and destroyed Pharaoh's pursuing host, and had destroyed their enemies before them. In their unbelief they limited the work of God and distrusted the hand that had safely guided them.

On hearing that strong peoples held the land with walled cities and giants, Israel was filled with disappointment, wailing and bitter reproach, and gave way to cruel wicked unbelief with crying and murmuring and faultfinding. The congregation lifted up its voice and wept that night, refused to trust God to overthrow their enemies, rebelled and declared the conquest an utter impossibility. They repeated their former murmuring against Moses and Aaron, blamed their leaders for trouble, and charged them with deceiving and leading the people astray, even accusing Moses and God Himself of deception in promising a land they could not possess. They appointed a captain to lead them back to suffering and bondage in Egypt from which they had been delivered by the strong arm of Omnipotence, and attempted to put to death Joshua and Caleb, the only two with faith and courage.

For this distrust and unbelief judgment was pronounced that all from twenty years old and upward who left Egypt would die before reaching the promised land, and for their cry that they had died in the wilderness God sentenced Israel to wander forty years in the wilderness until all who had insulted Him with unbelief were no more. The mere description given by the men who spied out the land terrified Israel thirty-eight years before Israel stood before Og and Bashan. That terror was distrust of God, one of Israel's repeated failures for which God gave them up to the power of their enemies, and the report became the test of faith that Israel failed then and met again more severely in the contests with Og and Sihon. The mighty bulwarks of Jericho struck terror to them forty years before Jericho was taken, though God had long designed to give Jericho to His favored people and to magnify His name among the nations when He led Israel out of bondage to give them Canaan. The easy bringing down of the walls by the armies of heaven, with the word of God as the only weapon, declared that their fathers might have possessed the city forty years before had they trusted in Him. After God declared that Israel would wander in the wilderness for forty years, the people tried to enter the land, but the favorable time had passed, their enemies were prepared, and their presumptuous advance ended in defeat.

Courage and Present Warning

Joshua was one of the twelve sent to search the promised land, and with Caleb he gave a faithful account of its attractiveness and urged Israel to go up and possess it in God's strength. After Moses died Joshua was appointed to lead Israel into the promised land, well fitted for that trust by his long service at Moses' side, by having seen God's wonderful works, and by understanding the disposition of the people. Caleb faced the same report of peoples spread through the land — Amalekites in the south, Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites in the mountains, and Canaanites by the sea and along the Jordan — yet with faith and courage in God he urged taking the land. He stands as one who comes boldly forward to stand firmly for God and the right when few will do so.

The unbelieving side of the report is cowardly complaining and drawing back when risks must be met, with unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel. That history is re-enacted among God's people today, with the same disregard for self-denying servants who bear the burden of the cause in privation, while darkness and unbelief increase and truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded as the second advent nears. The mention of strong inhabitants and their places must not be turned into an excuse for unbelief and disregard of God's promise. Nor must difficulties be allowed to obstruct carrying God's saving truth to others, especially in the work for cities.

Some look at the formidable inhabitants and fortified cities and see only giants and walled cities, expecting failure, while clearer vision sees God and angels ready to give victory to the truth. Exaggerated, discouraging talk of the kind the unfaithful spies brought tells matters merely as they appear, without spiritual discernment, with imagination coloring the statements. Its confident assertions mislead those who receive them, and when such talk is reiterated it does harm to the cause and can set hearers almost frantic with disappointment.