Numbers 14:8, commentary and pictures

Spoken at Kadesh by Caleb and Joshua to a murmuring congregation tempted to return to Egypt, the promise is that if the Lord is pleased with His people He Himself will bring them in and give them an exceedingly fertile land. Possession was assured not by Israel's power to defeat walled cities and giants but by God's favor, covenant, promise, power and presence, with the defense of Canaan already removed. It therefore called for going forward in faith without rebellion or fear, trusting that obstacles are bread to be easily overcome because the Lord is with His people. By wicked unbelief Israel forfeited that protection and was sentenced to forty years of wandering, so the murmuring adults perished while Caleb and Joshua who followed fully entered and possessed the land. The same faithful courage belongs to every time, urging God's people pressing toward the heavenly Canaan and in mission work to refuse discouragement and go up at once in the strength of the mighty General of heaven.

Historical Setting

Israel stood at Kadesh, near the borders of the promised land, when spies were sent to survey the country and report on its situation, inhabitants, soil, and produce. The spies returned with evidence of its fruitfulness, pictured carrying a large cluster of grapes. The words were spoken by Caleb and Joshua, two of the twelve spies sent to search Canaan, who alone gave a faithful account of its richness and encouraged the people to go up in the strength of God and possess it. Caleb was a chieftain in Israel set at the post God assigned him, and Joshua was the faithful spy whose true report of the attractiveness of the land and encouragement to trust God to bring them in qualified him afterward to lead Israel in the conquest of Canaan.

They spoke when the congregation murmured against God and questioned His wisdom in bringing them to Canaan to fall by the sword, wishing to return to Egypt despite the miracles wrought for them, with complaints arising on every side. Moses and Aaron had fallen on their faces before the Lord in the presence of the assembly in silent distress and grief to implore mercy for a rebellious people. After them Caleb and Joshua pressed forward, rending their clothes as an expression of the greatest sorrow and lifting a clear ringing voice above wailing and complaint.

Caleb declared this in the face of unbelievers and cowards holding stones to throw at him, when the other spies complained of strong people, walled and very great cities, and the children of Anak and exaggerated the dangers. For this faithful testimony to quiet the tumult, the whole congregation threatened to stone Caleb and Joshua, with stones already in hand and a loud angry cry for them to be stoned. Their voices would have been hushed in death had not the Lord interposed with His glory appearing in the tabernacle before all Israel. That appearing was an irresistible authority to be obeyed and a most signal display of His terrible glory, quelling the mad utterances, watching their plotting, and delivering His servants.

The men who brought the evil report died by plague, while Caleb and Joshua lived.

Promise of the Land

If the Lord delights in His people, favors them and is pleased with them, He Himself will bring them into Canaan and give them the land. This was the assurance pressed against the discouraging report of the spies, urging the people not to rebel against Him and not to fear the inhabitants, because the Lord was with Israel and the protection of Canaan had departed. The spies' report had confirmed that the land was fertile and abundant, but most of them fastened on its dangers instead of trusting the Lord to fulfill His promise. The land searched is an exceedingly good land, fertile and abundant, flowing with milk and honey. Its possession was therefore assured by God's favor, covenant, promise, power and presence, not by Israel's ability to defeat its enemies nor by the absence of formidable obstacles.

The promise did not mean Israel would enter regardless of its response, for entry depended on the Lord's favor and required trust rather than rebellion. The adults who rejected His counsel and murmured against Him did not enter, while Caleb, who followed the Lord fully, was brought in. God had removed the defense of Canaan and made that the opportune time to enter, pledging to bring Israel by easy access and to go with their armies in battle to give them the land. Their defense is departed means the Canaanites had filled up the measure of their iniquity so that divine protection was withdrawn from them, leaving them feeling perfectly secure and unprepared for battle while the Lord was with Israel. Israel's later attempt to enter after the decree of wilderness wandering came too late, for the Lord was no longer with them in that advance and they were defeated.

Faith Against Unbelief

The promise is joined to a double charge not to rebel against the Lord and not to fear the people of the land, because they are bread for Israel, their defense has departed from them, they will be easily overcome, and the Lord is with His people. The land searched is an exceedingly good land flowing with milk and honey, and if the Lord delights in, favors, or is pleased with His people He Himself will bring them in and give it to them. That word was a defense of the truth that with His strength they could go up and possess the land at that opportune time when God had removed the defense of Canaan.

Caleb and Joshua's confidence stood against the spies' discouraging report and exaggeration of dangers. The spies' report had confirmed that the land was fertile and abundant, but most of them focused on its dangers instead of trusting the Lord to fulfill His promise. Trusting God meant going forward rather than yielding to fear and rebellion.

Faith in God's promise is the right response to danger and difficulty, meaning to go forward and trust God's leading rather than dwelling on obstacles ahead, yielding to fear and rebellion, or spreading discouragement. The call is to refuse rebellion and fear, to encourage faith, and to move forward despite obstacles. Entry depended on the Lord's favor and presence, not on fear of the inhabitants, in contrast to the unfaithful spies' discouragement and the people's resulting distrust and rebellion.

Israel's failure was to leave God out of the question and act as though taking the land depended only on their own military power. Possession depended on God's favor and power, not on Israel's ability to defeat its enemies, yet unbelief and distrust limited trust in the God who had already guided and delivered them and led them to rebel and reject the command to enter. Caleb saw the difficulties as plainly as his cowardly companions did, who complained of strong people, walled and very great cities, and the children of Anak, yet he would not shirk disagreeable responsibility. Reasoning by faith that God's promise is greater than giants, cities walled up to heaven, and chariots of iron, he declared with ringing faith that they were well able to go up at once and possess a beautiful and fruitful land.

The declaration is truth for that time and every time, exemplifying faithful courage and trust in God's promise in contrast to fear, complaining, and refusal to heed true counsel. It illustrates that as a man thinks in his heart so is he, for the word of faith proved true for those who spoke it. That faith and courage was given by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the same power that sustained the patriarchs, instructed the church in the wilderness, made the work of the apostolic church effective, upheld God's faithful children in every succeeding age, and works from the beginning through human agents to accomplish His purpose for the fallen race.

Outcome for Israel

Israel stood very near the good land, and had the people believed the report and gone up at once, the Lord would have delighted in them and given them Canaan. Instead by wicked rebellion, unbelief and an insolent spirit they forfeited His protection and brought upon themselves the sentence that they should never enter the promised land. Their complaints against the faithful counsel blasphemed God, cast off their God-given leader to choose a rebel to lead them back to Egypt, and sought to stone God's faithful servants until the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle to quell the mad utterances and save their lives.

In pity and mercy God sent them back into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, because while they delayed and murmured the Amalekites and Canaanites heard of the spies and prepared to make war against them. That long delay in entering Canaan followed their cowardly rebellion over the spies' report, though the people later blamed God and Moses for the delay instead of trusting God's leading. The adults who rejected the Lord's counsel and murmured against Him did not enter, while Caleb, who followed the Lord fully, was brought into the land. Though they shared the forty years wandering in the desert with their brethren, Joshua and Caleb entered the land of promise while the cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness.

They had refused to go when God promised to go with them, listening instead to the lying report of the faithless spies under Satan's control, which broke the courage of all Israel and developed a rebellion that required God Himself to settle. After God declared forty years of wandering for that rebellion, their later attempt to claim the promise on their own terms came too late. Going up to battle without God as their General and without the ark, the Lord was no longer with them in that advance, and they were defeated and slaughtered by the Amalekites as God's instrument of punishment. Caleb remained as courageous of heart as when he left Egypt with the Lord of hosts, asked for and received the stronghold of the giants as his portion, drove out the Canaanites in God's strength, and possessed the vineyards and olive groves where his feet had trodden, so the men of faith ate the grapes of Eschol.

Present Application

The promised land is the heavenly Canaan awaiting the Advent people, whose promised reward comes to those who remain faithful. Because the Lord delights in His people He Himself will bring them in and give them that goodly land, so believers can confidently urge one another to go up and possess it. Those who bear that hopeful report may face opposition just as Caleb and Joshua did. Christians traveling to that heavenly Canaan are to repeat Caleb's confidence by obeying the Leader's command to go forward and taking God at His word so as to grow strong. That means refusing to conform to the world and to pitch tents nearer Egypt when encamping nearer the heavenly Canaan is required, asking strength and grace from Heaven to resist assimilation with undivided heart and purpose, and after growing gray in the service of Christ and enduring much in pushing the triumphs of His cross and fighting the battles of the Lord, refusing to let Satan gain the victory.

The verse assures the present work that God's people can go forward courageously to possess the goodly land in confidence in God's promise and in the ability He gives to advance. The contrast between Caleb and the fearful spies belongs to mission work, where faithful workers like Caleb must not let fears of obstacles discourage them or hinder the spread of saving truth. Apparent obstacles need not mean failure, because God can grant victory to those who follow His leading and trust Him. The same faithful stand taken by Joshua and Caleb is required when loud rebellion rises in modern councils and boards, for Caleb's declaration that the land searched is exceedingly good and flowing with milk and honey is truth for that time and every time. Israel was not to rebel against the Lord nor fear the people of the land, because God had removed the defense of Canaan and made that the opportune time to enter, the people of the land are bread for God's people, and the Lord is with His people.

The discouraging report of the spies must not be repeated, for it undermined confidence and discouraged moving forward in faith. Instead God's people are to trust His leading, refuse rebellion and fear, and encourage faith rather than spread discouragement. Caleb's confidence is a call to stand like Caleb in temperance work, rejecting discouraging reports and trusting that God can empower a mighty work. The faith and courage of Caleb and Joshua is what God needs now in young Calebs and Joshuas. Strong, devoted, self-sacrificing young men and young women are to press forward and press to the front and, after a short time spent in school, go forth to give the message to the world, trusting that God will help them with wisdom and understanding as He helped Daniel and as He helped those faithful leaders.

Through reliance on the same power Caleb relied on, the mighty General of the armies of heaven, every true soldier of the cross may receive strength and courage to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable. Caleb saw the difficulties of strong people, walled and very great cities, and the children of Anak just as plainly as the cowardly companions did, yet would not shirk disagreeable responsibility, and in the face of threats to stone him he declared with ringing faith that they were well able to go up at once and possess the beautiful and fruitful land. His faith in God gave him courage, kept him from the fear of man, and enabled him to stand boldly and unflinchingly in defense of the right at the post God assigned him as a chieftain in Israel. So empowered, believers raise the voice fearlessly in defense of the right, press first to the front of the battle, and plant the banner of truth in the enemy's camp, while keeping the spirit humble in simplicity and love like little ones. By the example of faithful Joshua and Caleb, God's people must stand up and sustain a right testimony, remaining firm in duty and continuing the entrusted message and bearing it despite reproach and threat of violence rather than yielding to unbelief.