These men, having started on the wrong way, stubbornly set themselves against Caleb and Joshua, against Moses, and against God. They twisted the truth in order to keep their evil influence. It is a land that “devours its inhabitants,” they said. This was not only a bad report, it was a lying one. The spies had declared the country to be fruitful and the people of giant stature, which would be impossible if the climate were so unhealthful that the land could be said to “devour its inhabitants.”
Revolt and open mutiny quickly followed. The people seemed to lack all reason. They cursed Moses and Aaron, forgetting that the Angel of God’s presence, surrounded in the cloudy pillar, was witnessing their terrible outburst of anger. Then their feelings rose against God: “‘Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims?’ So they said to one another, ‘Let us select a leader, and return to Egypt.’” So they not only accused Moses but God Himself of deceiving them in promising a land they were not able to have.
Caleb and Joshua tried to quiet the loud uproar. They rushed in among the people, and their ringing voices sounded above the tempest of rebellious grief: “If 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.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
By the promise of God, the land was guaranteed to Israel, but the false report of the unfaithful spies was accepted. The whole congregation was deceived. The traitors had done their work. If just the two men had brought the evil report and the ten had encouraged them to take the land in the name of the Lord, they still would have taken the advice of the two over that of the ten, because of their wicked unbelief.
The cry went up to stone Caleb and Joshua. The insane mob rushed forward with yells of madness, when suddenly the stones dropped from their hands, and they shook with fear. God stepped in. The glory of His presence, like a flaming light, lit up the tabernacle. None dared to continue their resistance. The spies who brought the evil report were terror-stricken, and crouching, they hurried to their tents.
Moses now rose and entered the tabernacle. The Lord declared to him, “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” But again Moses pleaded for his people. “I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy.’ ... Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
The Lord promised to spare Israel from immediate destruction, but because of their unbelief and lack of bravery He could not use His power to subdue their enemies, so in His mercy He had them turn back toward the Red Sea.
In their rebellion the people had exclaimed, “If only we had died in this wilderness!” Now this prayer would be granted: “Just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. ... But your little ones, who you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.” And of Caleb He said, “My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.” As the spies had spent forty days in their journey, so the people of Israel were to be wanderers in the wilderness for forty years.
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