Num 14:1-10, 20-24, 36-38 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
Moses led Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and at Mount Sinai they entered into covenant with God (see Moses, Lessons 2–4). Later they came to the wilderness of Paran, and the LORD said to Moses: “Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man” (Num 13:2).
Among these twelve men, from the tribe of Judah was “Caleb the son of Jephunneh” (Num 13:6), and from the tribe of Ephraim, “Hoshea the son of Nun” (Num 13:8). “Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua” (Num 13:16).
“They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days” (Num 13:25). They said of the land: “Surely it flows with milk and honey” (Num 13:27); “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there” (Num 13:28). “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, ‘Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!’” (Num 13:30). But the men who went up with him said: “We aren’t able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Num 13:31), and: “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num 13:33). This lesson begins that night.
1All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!
3Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?”
4They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.”
5Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
7They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.
9Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them.”
10But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me?” and spoke of striking them with pestilence; Moses prayed for the people: “Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness” (vv. 11–19).
20The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to your word;
21but in very deed—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the LORD’s glory—
22because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.
24But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.”
The LORD said further that of all who were counted of them, “from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,” none would come into the land, “except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun”; and “Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years” (vv. 25–35).
36The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
37even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
That night. “All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night” (v. 1). They said: “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!” (v. 2); “Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return into Egypt?” (v. 3). “They said to one another, ‘Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt’” (v. 4).
Tore their clothes. “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel” (v. 5). “Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes” (v. 6), and said to the congregation: “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land” (v. 7).
The same land. The men who came back from spying out the land reported together that “Surely it flows with milk and honey” (Num 13:27), and “However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large” (Num 13:28). Joshua and Caleb did not say that the children of Anak were not there. What they said was: “If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us” (v. 8); “Only don’t rebel against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land … and the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them” (v. 9).
Stones. “But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The LORD’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel” (v. 10).
Pardoned, yet not to see it. Moses asked the LORD: “Please pardon the iniquity of this people” (v. 19). The LORD said: “I have pardoned according to your word” (v. 20); and also: “because all those men who have seen my glory and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers” (vv. 22–23).
Another spirit. “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it” (v. 24). The passage’s own way of saying it is “has followed me fully” (v. 24). Later, speaking of the two of them, the passage says it again: “except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed the LORD completely” (Num 32:12).
Remained alive. The men “who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD” (v. 37). “But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land” (v. 38). Of that generation, twenty years old and upward, none would come into the land, “except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (v. 30).
Forty years later, Israel had come to the east side of the Jordan. Moses told the next generation about that night: “Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the sky. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’” (Deut 1:28); “Then I said to you, ‘Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them’” (Deut 1:29).
He went on: “except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it” (Deut 1:36); “Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there” (Deut 1:38); “Moreover your little ones, whom you said would be captured or killed, your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, shall go in there” (Deut 1:39).
Readers can see this: the generation who said that night, “Our wives and our little ones will be captured or killed!” (v. 3), fell in the wilderness; the little ones they said would be captured went into the land, together with Joshua and Caleb.
Perhaps something in front of you right now makes you feel like a grasshopper, too: an exam, a diagnosis, a job, a relationship, or a person who seems much bigger than you.
This lesson does not say that if you only have faith, the children of Anak will not be there. Forty-five years later, the children of Anak were still in the hill country Caleb asked for (Josh 14:12); that is for Lesson 3. What this lesson shows you is this: Joshua and Caleb saw the same land and the same people, and what they said was, “the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them” (v. 9). A psalm says: “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you” (Ps 56:3).
This week: Write down the thing that makes you feel like a grasshopper, and under it copy out “the LORD is with us. Don’t fear them” (Num 14:9). Then think of someone who is afraid right now, and this week find them, talk with them, and keep them company for a while — there is no need to persuade them; just listen.
Scripture: World English Bible.