12 Spies & Wanderings Creation to Kings | Episode 7
As the Children of Israel continued their journey in the wilderness,
they encountered many challenges.
Firstly, how do you feed that many people?
In Exodus 16 is recorded the first account of the miracle of the manna,
a miracle that continued every week for the next forty years.
Every day for the first six days of the week manna would fall,
then on the sixth day they would hold a double portion for the seventh day, the Sabbath.
And the part that they held for Sabbath would not go rotten.
Then on the Sabbath, no manna would fall.
This was all to remind them of the fourth commandment which says,
'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' [Exodus 20:8]
It was also to teach them to rely on God every day for their temporal needs.
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They now came to Mount Sinai.
There are two competing claims to Mount Sinai,
one is in Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula,
and the other is in Saudi Arabia in what would have been the land of Midian.
Mount Sinai is where the Israelites built a golden calf in what was a terrible episode.
As Moses came down from the mountain, he showed his and God's displeasure.
Most of the people repented, but 3,000 would not.
The Children of Israel had a lot to learn after being in slavery for so many generations.
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As they left Sinai, they journeyed towards Canaan
with the pillar of God's presence in front of them.
At night the pillar of cloud would turn to fire
and it was a visible presence that God was leading them.
They were led to Kadesh Barnea,
today located on the southern border of Israel with Egypt.
Moses sent 12 spies into the land.
The names of the 12 are recorded in the Bible,
but today most people can only name two of them.
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As the 12 spies toured the land,
no doubt the people waited in anticipation of a good report so their journey could end.
However, when the spies came back, 10 of them gave a negative report
and they said even though the land was good
and it was fruitful and it did flow with milk and honey,
they said, 'The people live in fortified cities and we aren't able to take the land.'
Joshua and Caleb, though, said, 'We can take the land!'
and encouraged the people to do so,
but 10 of the spies insisted that they couldn't,
even referring to themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of these supposed giants.
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The people now wish they hadn't left Egypt
and Joshua and Caleb try one last time to convince them,
but no matter how hard they tried,
their words of encouragement were instead met with people who wanted to stone them with stones.
No matter how hard they tried,
they couldn't reverse the negative and distrustful report
that the other spies had brought back.
Such doubt and disbelief in the power of God would not be left without consequence.
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God decreed that all those over the age of twenty must die in the wilderness.
In addition to this, for each day that the spies searched the land
they would wander in the wilderness for one year.
This is one of the places where we get the biblical principle of one day equaling a year.
The only adults over the age of 20 that this did not apply to
were Joshua and Caleb, who manifested tremendous faith and courage,
and their names have lived on in history.
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My favourite part of the story is at the end of the 40 years of wandering
when Joshua and Caleb enter the land.
Joshua is now the leader of the Israelites
and Caleb is an older man at the age of 87,
but he asked to be given the land of the giants.
He says in Joshua 14:12, 'Give me this mountain.
If the Lord be with me then I shall be able to drive them out.'
He did not seek an easy retirement,
but rather he wanted to show that our strength is not in human power but it's in the power of God.
No matter what our age is or what obstacles lie in our path,
may we trust God to deliver us and clear a path before us.