Twelve Spies, Two Brave Voices

Two men walk into the camp carrying a pole between them. Hanging from it is a single bunch of grapes, so heavy it takes both of them to carry it. The crowd gathers round. And then the arguing begins.

Israel has left Mount Sinai at last, and they are camped in the wilderness of Paran, on the southern edge of Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham long ago. They are almost there. So God tells Moses to send out scouts, one leader from each of the twelve tribes. Among them are Caleb, from the tribe of Judah, and Moses' young assistant Joshua. Moses gives them their instructions. “Go up into the hill country. See what the land is like. Are the people strong or weak, few or many? Are their towns open camps or walled cities? Is the soil rich or poor? Be brave, and bring back some of the fruit.” It is the season for the first ripe grapes.

For forty days, the twelve explore the land, from the southern desert all the way to the far north. They pass through Hebron, an ancient city in the hills. In a valley nearby, they cut down a single cluster of grapes, carry it back on a pole between two of them, and add pomegranates and figs. They call the place the valley of Eshcol, which means cluster. After forty days they come home, and the whole community gathers to hear the report.

“We went into the land,” they say. “It really does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit.” Everyone stares at the grapes. And then comes the word that changes everything. “But. The people who live there are strong. The cities are walled and very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there,” men famous for their size. A murmur ripples through the crowd. Caleb steps forward and quiets them. “Let us go up at once and take the land. We are well able to do it.” But the others shout him down. “We can't. They are stronger than we are. We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and that's how we looked to them.”

That night the whole community weeps. By morning, the fear has turned to fury. “If only we had died in Egypt! Why is the Lord bringing us here to fall by the sword? Let's choose a leader and go back.” Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes in grief. “The land is very, very good,” they plead. “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us in. Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for we will eat them up like bread. Their protection has gone from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” But the crowd starts picking up stones. And at that moment, the glory of the Lord appears at the tent of meeting, in front of everyone.

Once again Moses pleads for the people, and once again God forgives. But forgiveness does not erase the choice they have made. This generation, who refused to trust him, will not enter the land. For each of the forty days the spies explored, Israel will spend a year in the wilderness. Forty years. Only Caleb and Joshua, who followed the Lord wholeheartedly, will go in. And the children, the very ones the people said would be victims, will be the ones who inherit the land. The ten spies who spread the frightening report die in a plague. And when the people, too late, try to march into the hill country on their own, without the Lord and without Moses, they are beaten back.

One small detail in this story says a lot. Numbers tells us that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Zoan was a royal city in the Nile Delta, known to the Greeks as Tanis. For people who had grown up in Egypt, that line was a way of saying, the cities in this land are older and more established than you can imagine. Hebron was also where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried. The spies walked right past their ancestors' graves, and still forgot God's promise.

Twelve Spies, Two Brave Voices. You'll find it in Numbers, chapters 13 and 14. All twelve saw the same giants. Ten measured them against themselves. Two measured them against God. So here's the question to carry with you. When you face something big, what are you measuring it against?