17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,1 because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
Report of the Spies
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
The People Rebel
14:1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,1 because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
Report of the Spies
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
The People Rebel
14:1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Invite you to open your Bibles to Numbers, chapter 13. Numbers 13. Technically we are at the end of our series in the book of Exodus, but we're going to add a couple, 2, 3 more weeks, just so we kind of finish up the narrative. We're going to go through the life of Moses. So we're going to spend a couple of weeks in Numbers.
Joel Brooks:
And then on Easter, we're going to hit Deuteronomy. We're gonna look at the death of Moses on Easter Sunday. A good passage to look at the death of somebody on Easter. I'm actually excited about that. But tonight, we're gonna look at Numbers 13.
Joel Brooks:
We'll begin reading in verse 17. Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country and see what the land is and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now this was the time, what was the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo hamoth.
Joel Brooks:
They went up to the Negeb and came to Hebron, Ahiman, Shishai, and Tamai. The descendants of Anoch were there. Hebron was built 7 years before Zoan and Egypt. And they came to the Valley of Askel and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between the 2 of them. They also brought some pomegranates and figs.
Joel Brooks:
That place was called the Valley of a Skull because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there. At the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out the land, and they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel and the wilderness of Peran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, we came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
Joel Brooks:
However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there, and the Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the Jordan. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it, for we will be able to overcome it.' Then the people who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.' So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, the land through which we had gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.
Joel Brooks:
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in the wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.
Joel Brooks:
Would it not be better to go back to Egypt? And they said to one another, let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Pray with me. Lord, we ask that in this moment, you will prepare our hearts to receive your word. Lord, that you would bring not only clarity to this text, but conviction through your spirit.
Joel Brooks:
Lord, that it would have a powerful effect on our lives. Open our eyes and open our minds and our hearts to receive what you have for us. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain, may they change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus, amen.
Joel Brooks:
Now, the reason we have spent so much time over the last few months to understand this story of Exodus is because this story that we've been reading is really our story as Christians. Over and over again, you see the Bible continually pointing back to this story, saying that we need to understand our own lives through this lens. So just as the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, we once were slaves to sin and to Satan. Just as the people of Israel needed Moses to come and to deliver them, we needed Jesus to deliver us from our bondage. Just as the people were redeemed and saved by the blood of the lamb in the old covenant testament, We were redeemed and saved by the blood of the lamb, who is Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
Just as the people of God, they they passed through the Red Sea and crossed over to the other side, we have been baptized, and we have gone through the waters. And like Israel, now we find ourselves on the other side of the waters where we are living our life in obedience and in trust as we follow God waiting to get into the promised land. We're not there yet. All we have is his promise now that we will get into the promised land, but we're in this wilderness desert period. This is where we now live.
Joel Brooks:
We don't have our final rest yet, but God has given us a guarantee that we're gonna get there. He has given us his spirit, his down payment of his spirit to act as our guarantee, but until then, we find ourselves living in this wilderness period, which is what this text is about. And so we need to ask questions. Are we going to be like Israel here? Are we going to grumble?
Joel Brooks:
Are we going to doubt? Are we going to be crippled by fear during this time? Or are we going to trust? Or are we going to want to go back to Egypt, want to go back to our formal life of sin? This is what this story is about, and it was written to us in order to teach us how we are to live during this time of the desert.
Joel Brooks:
Now the story is going to be referred to this particular one over and over again by the psalmist and by the prophets as the height, the height of Israel's failure and their rebellion against God. They are literally at the cusp of the promised land, and yet they refuse to obey God and enter and and and they just they they rebelled. They're, listen, we want to go back to Egypt. If you read further in the story, they want to stone Moses. They want to stone Aaron or anybody who even attempts to lead the people into the promised land.
Joel Brooks:
They are ready to go back. The author of Hebrews, he refers back to this story several times as you read through Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4. He says, today, if you hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts as the people of Israel did in the rebellion. Don't do what they did. And so I want to make sure that we don't do what they did, and in order for us to understand this text and what God has for us, we need to answer 3 questions.
Joel Brooks:
One, I want us to look at why did the people of God stop short? 2, I want us to look at why didn't God forgive them and then allow them to move forward like he had at every single point. Every single time up to this point, he has done that. Why is this time different? And finally, what was the consequence of their disobedience?
Joel Brooks:
So first question, why did the people stop short of the promised land? It's it's not a hard hard answer to find. They were simply scared. Fear is what kept them out. They were actually beginning to look back in their lives at Egypt and think, our lives back there weren't bad in comparison to what we see in front of us.
Joel Brooks:
The spies, they had gone forward, and they they told the people when they returned, we look like grasshoppers compared to these Canaanites. Now grasshoppers is an interesting language, but, really, that's just the smallest edible creature. It's a it's a Hebrew idiom. It's a way of basically saying, if we go in there, they will eat us for lunch. They will absolutely devour us if we go into that place.
Joel Brooks:
How in the world are we supposed to take on them and not just them, but the city's excavations from from Canaan have showed that the cities had walls 30 to 50 feet high, 15 feet deep. They seemed impenetrable. And so the people of Israel thinking this would be suicide to attack such a place, and so they get scared. And something I have noticed about fear, it is a powerful weapon in the hands of the enemy, and this is what it produces in us. Whenever we get scared, we so desperately want to cling to something we know.
Joel Brooks:
We wanna cling to to something that is familiar. Be honest. How many of you, when you went to college, especially if you're introverted like I am, you get to college and, you know, I went to UGA. There's 30,000 students there at a time and you're just, you're scared to death. How many of you did this?
Joel Brooks:
You saw the one person that you went to high school with or the one person that you know is from your hometown and you just kind of go up and you just hang out right by them. It doesn't matter if you liked them. It doesn't matter if they were a jerk to you in high school, but they were familiar, And because you were scared of the environment you were in, you just wanted to cling to anything that was familiar. That's what the Israelites are doing here. They're in a scary situation, and so they want to cling to the familiar.
Joel Brooks:
They want to go back to Egypt, not because Egypt was great. They know Egypt was bad, but at least there was a pain they understood, Except for Joshua and Caleb. Look at chapter 14 verse 24. I love this description of Caleb, and he's described this way several times. It says, but my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land in which he went and his descendants shall possess it.
Joel Brooks:
Matter of fact, I love it when they do finally go into the land. Caleb is sent to the giants, to the ones that they most feared, But Caleb and Joshua, they had a different spirit. They had a different heart. They didn't have different eyes. They saw the exact same thing that all the spies saw.
Joel Brooks:
They didn't disagree with anything from the spies' account. Same data, they just came to a different conclusion. And they thought the land is ours for the taking, and they did so because their hearts were wholly devoted to the Lord and they had a different spirit. All right. Let's look at why God didn't simply forgive them and allow them to move on.
Joel Brooks:
Well, let's read verses 19, beginning in 19. This is Moses praying, and if this sounds like it's on repeat, it's because we've heard this over and over and over again as we have gone through the book of Exodus. Please pardon the inequity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now. Then the Lord said, I have pardoned according to your word, but truly as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to the test these 10 times, and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.
Joel Brooks:
But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went and his descendants shall possess it. Right, so once again, Moses intercedes on behalf of the people. He remembers that God said, you know, he's slow to anger, he's abounding in steadfast love, and so he reminds God of that, just as he has every other time, and God forgives them. He forgives the Israelites, but this time, something is different. Every other time, God forgives the Israelites.
Joel Brooks:
He then allows them to move on. If you remember, in Exodus 14, as pharaoh's army is coming in hot on the Israelites and they got them pinned in against the Red Sea, The people cry out in fear. Moses intercedes on their behalf. God forgives them, and then he says, move forward, and they move forward. And then you have, once they reach the other side, they begin grumbling and complaining that they have no food.
Joel Brooks:
Moses prays to God. God, will you forgive them for that? God says, okay. And he gives them food, and then he says, move forward. Very next chapter, they they grumble and they complain, we don't have any water.
Joel Brooks:
Moses intercedes for them. God gives them water. He forgives them, and then he says, let's move forward. Then they complain they don't really like manna. Moses intercedes on behalf of them.
Joel Brooks:
God sends them quail to eat for a little period, and then he tells them, move forward. Even when they hit the golden calf, when they get to that part of the story in Exodus 32, and they bow down to an idol, Moses intercedes, God forgives them, blesses them, and tells them to move forward. Every single time we see that except for here. Why? Why would God forgive all the previous sins and then bless them and have them move forward?
Joel Brooks:
But here he says, no, not anymore. You're tempted when you read through this just to think, was this kind of you know the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back? Has God been keeping score? He did say these 10 times you've done this. I think 10 is the complete number.
Joel Brooks:
Yes. You you you have sinned all of these times, and so now he's finally just saying enough. Is it here that we finally see God's patience maybe running out? I can see only one difference in this occasion for grumbling and rebellion versus all of the many others that you find. And it's this.
Joel Brooks:
This time, the promised land was actually in sight and the people of God had actually even tasted of its fruits. It took 2 men to carry just one cluster of grapes when they brought this back. So they got to see that the land was flowing with milk and honey. They got to taste that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. And no longer was this just something that they had to believe because Moses told them, no longer was this just a story that they told one another around the campfire, someday we're going to get into this promised land.
Joel Brooks:
Here, finally, they're there and God is saying, here it is. Taste it, it is yours. And the people take it and they taste it and they say, we we'd rather go back to Egypt. I mean, God granted, the land's good, but we'd rather go back. Now can you imagine can you now kind of understand why God got so angry?
Joel Brooks:
He overlooked all their previous doubts, all of their unbelief because they had yet to see or taste what he had for them. So the question is this, how does this apply to us? And I think you just have to ask, have you ever tasted The psalmist asks or it says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you ever tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Paul says in Romans 8 that as we are waiting for the final redemption of our bodies, as we're in this wilderness period, says that God has given us given us his spirit as the first fruit.
Joel Brooks:
The first fruits of the spirit of God is in us. We get to taste, if you will, the spirit of God. And when we taste his spirit, that should forever change our lives. Has it? I think the answer is probably both yes and no, because I know that there's times that no matter how good the taste was, for some reason, I'm like the dog returning to its own vomit.
Joel Brooks:
And I go back to sin after sin and I know and I understand. I taste. I see that the Lord is good. You have infinite joy offered over here and yet sometimes I go back to emptiness and bondage over here. I think we can all relate to this where there's times we wanna return back to a place where we were just slaves, a place that earlier we were begging God to deliver us from.
Joel Brooks:
The reason we do this, I think, is it's not it's not a huge, difficult, complicated answer. It's simply sinning is easier. It's a lot easier. I mean, do any of y'all fall into holiness? I mean, anybody just kind of like drift into holiness?
Joel Brooks:
You fall into sin. You drift into sin, but you've got to fight and to struggle and to claw for holiness. You've got to fight for joy. Over and over as you go through this text, God says, this is the land I am giving you. It is a gift for you, but it's a gift you got to fight for.
Joel Brooks:
Not a gift you earn, but a gift you still must fight for. When I read this, I'm convicted that there is often in me the desire to escape hell, but not the desire to pursue heaven at all costs. Well, let's look at what are the consequences of disobedience. What are the consequences of halfheartedness? We see that in verse 25 God is saying, now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.
Joel Brooks:
God says, you don't believe my promises. You don't believe the promise I made to Abraham 4 or 500 years back that I will keep my word. You don't believe that? Well, turn around and go back to Egypt, go back to the red sea. And he says, and you're gonna wander in the wilderness for 40 years.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, they're thinking up to this point, this few months of travel has been hard. Imagine 40 years of wandering. 40 years of basically just just roaming around, waiting for an older generation to die. God sentenced them essentially to just spend 40 years of a wasted life, 40 years of killing time. Now now make no mistake, God is still their God.
Joel Brooks:
Alright? He still feeds them. He still guides them. He still protects them. He's still the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
Joel Brooks:
He's still there with them. But these people will do nothing of any eternal worth for the next 40 years. You will see them spiral into deeper and deeper sin as you go through the book of numbers. They escaped hell perhaps, but they didn't pursue heaven. They certainly never advanced God's kingdom here on earth.
Joel Brooks:
Hear me. You you will only grow in your faith up to the point where you say no. But the moment you say no to God, you will stop growing, and you're gonna begin going back into the wilderness. And though there might be times where you still pray, read your Bible, maybe go to church, you are denying yourself the joy that comes with being a child of God and the joy of being part of his movement that is happening across this world. You will settle down into what I would call Christian mediocrity, neither hot nor cold, just kind of there.
Joel Brooks:
So the question is, do you really wanna be like that half hearted generation that we see here walking aimlessly through life having no eternal impact. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life killing time? And be honest, is this what you would kind of call some of your life right now, where really, you just kind of look for things to distract you, look for things to just kind of occupy your time, maybe give you a little temporary happiness, and you move from one thing to another and to another because you have no real purpose or goal? Are you really just killing time? As Christians, we are called to be different.
Joel Brooks:
This text invites us to look at Caleb. So why why it gives these descriptions. And you know, Caleb's described as as wholehearted and and a different spirit. Well, you know what? As Christians, God has given you a new heart and he has put his spirit inside you.
Joel Brooks:
Your heart should resonate with Caleb as you read this saying, yes, we should be conquerors, not ones who run-in defeat. Now I understand. Please hear me. I understand that there are times that God is going to call you to take a step of faith and obedience and it will be absolutely scary. It's one of the reasons it's called a step of faith Is it scary?
Joel Brooks:
And some of you, even right now, you might even be thinking of a particular something that God has maybe been pushing you and asking you to do that you've been resistant to. If that's the case, I want to ask you a question. I want you to think of all the obstacles that God had to overcome in order to save you. Think of every one of those that he had to overcome to save you. Your hardened heart, your resistant will, your dead spirit.
Joel Brooks:
And I want you to ask a question, are the obstacles that are now before me greater than those that he has already overcome and working salvation in my life? And if they're not, why are you scared? Was the land of Canaan going into Canaan? Was it any more difficult than getting out of Egypt? Ten plagues, parting of the Red Sea, the work that God has already worked for their salvation on their behalf.
Joel Brooks:
It wasn't. Remember your salvation and the miracles that God brought already in your life to bring that about when you think of the obstacles that are before you and what God has to overcome when he is pushing you forward. I want to end this sermon with the same call to faith that the author of Hebrews calls us to. Someday I'm gonna preach through the book of Hebrews. I need about another 10 years to really get a handle on it, But I love it that it is so steeped in the old testament.
Joel Brooks:
In particular, it's steeped in the book of Exodus, and you can really read chapters 3 through chapter 6 in light of Exodus and in numbers here. But chapters, well, first the congregation in which the writer of Hebrews is writing, so he's very similar to us. They were an established church. They had, they've been in the faith for a while, but they weren't really maturing that great, and persecution was now starting in on the church. It would be easier if they could just drop a few things, just drop a few beliefs, and then perhaps they wouldn't be persecuted by the culture around them.
Joel Brooks:
And so the author of Hebrews, he writes a letter, and what he does is he reminds them of this right here, Basically asking if they're gonna have courage or not to obey God, or are they gonna try to avoid any kind of fighting that might be ahead? And so we read this in Hebrews 3. And God says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
Joel Brooks:
And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. And 3 times, the author of Hebrews he quotes, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did at the rebellion.
Joel Brooks:
Over and over, he hammers that in. And actually there's such hope in those words. If he had said yesterday, yesterday don't harden your hearts. Well, yesterday has come and gone and there's nothing to do about it. We would have no hope.
Joel Brooks:
If he had said tomorrow, well, that would be presumptuous because we don't know what tomorrow will bring, But there's an urgency. He's saying right now in this moment, no matter what has happened in the past and no matter what you think is gonna happen in the future, obey. God has given us today. He has given us this moment to hear him. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:
Father, when I read this text, I am sobered by your spirit to look clearly at my life. And God, there's, there's a scariness to that because I do not want to spend my life wandering aimlessly wasting time. I don't want to spend my life just killing time. God, we wanna be part of what you are doing in this earth, part of your advancement of your kingdom. And that means we need to say yes, and we need to not harden our hearts.
Joel Brooks:
So God give us a whole heart and give us your spirit so that we might obey you. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.