The verse names Igal, son of Joseph, as the man chosen from the tribe of Issachar to spy out and explore Canaan. He was set apart as ruler and representative of his tribe to join the search, one of the twelve men sent to search the promised land that God had promised to give Israel. The twelve returned after forty days with evidence that the land was fertile.
Joshua was one of those twelve spies and, with one other, gave a faithful account of the richness and attractiveness of the land and encouraged the people to go up and possess it in the strength of God. His faithfulness on that mission, together with his long service beside Moses through most of the wilderness wandering, his seeing the wonderful works of God wrought through Moses, and his understanding of the disposition of the people, qualified him to lead Israel into the promised land after the death of Moses.
The spies' report became a test of Israel's faith and, with Israel's unbelief, rebellion, and response, brought God's sentence of a long delay in the wilderness, wandering there for forty years. The ten unfaithful spies later perished. The verse places Igal in the group whose unfaithful members serve as an example of unbelief, without stating whether Igal himself was unfaithful.
This history of the report of the twelve spies applies to God's people today, when the same cowardly complaining, drawing back from action when risks must be met, and unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua are re-enacted. As then, servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffering privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated, 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 nears, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, and hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent, while long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out. Few whose minds have been enlightened dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, and because those 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, while 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.
The verse names Igal, son of Joseph, as the man chosen from the tribe of Issachar to spy out and explore Canaan. He was set apart as ruler and representative of his tribe to join the search, one of the twelve men sent to search the promised land that God had promised to give Israel. The twelve returned after forty days with evidence that the land was fertile.
Joshua was one of those twelve spies and, with one other, gave a faithful account of the richness and attractiveness of the land and encouraged the people to go up and possess it in the strength of God. His faithfulness on that mission, together with his long service beside Moses through most of the wilderness wandering, his seeing the wonderful works of God wrought through Moses, and his understanding of the disposition of the people, qualified him to lead Israel into the promised land after the death of Moses.
The spies' report became a test of Israel's faith and, with Israel's unbelief, rebellion, and response, brought God's sentence of a long delay in the wilderness, wandering there for forty years. The ten unfaithful spies later perished. The verse places Igal in the group whose unfaithful members serve as an example of unbelief, without stating whether Igal himself was unfaithful.
This history of the report of the twelve spies applies to God's people today, when the same cowardly complaining, drawing back from action when risks must be met, and unwillingness to heed faithful reports and true counsel as in the days of Caleb and Joshua are re-enacted. As then, servants of God who bear the burden of His cause with strict self-denial and suffering privation to help His people are seldom better appreciated, 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 nears, truth becomes less palatable to the carnally minded, and hearts are slow to believe and tardy to repent, while long the Lord has borne with His people, forgiven their wanderings, and waited for room in their hearts, but false ideas, jealousy, and distrust have crowded Him out. Few whose minds have been enlightened dare come boldly forward as Caleb did and stand firmly for God and the right, and because those 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, while 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.