The objective of this lesson: to continue to focus students on God's holiness and to note the expressions of God's holiness.
Approximately a year after Israel left Egypt they arrived at Canaan's borders, the land God promised would become their country. At God's instruction, Moses sent twelve men into Canaan to "spy it out." These men were to examine specific regions of the area.
The objective was to gain information that would help them answer questions about "how" to conquer Canaan [an expression of faith in God]. The objective was not to decide "if" Israel could conquer Canaan [to doubt Canaan's conquest was to rebel against God].
Their mission: find the answers to questions about Canaan. What was the land like? How populated was it? Was it good for agriculture? What fruits were there? Did it have trees? Were those living there weak or strong? Did they live in unprotected camps or fortified cities?
Note the answers to these questions would serve two purposes. (1) Israel would understand the same God Who delivered them from Egypt and preserved them in the wilderness would enable them to have Canaan. Only through His power would Canaan be theirs. (2) Israel would understand Canaan was as wonderful as God promised.
These twelve men were gone for forty days. They returned with samples of the land's fruitfulness. Their report: "The land is as agriculturally rich as God promised. However, the people are strong, and the cities are fortified. In fact, we saw descendants of giants there."
The spies were impressed with Canaan's agricultural richness. The majority were discouraged when they saw the fortified cities and descendants of the giants. Their discouragement was the result of focusing on what Israel could do rather than what God could do.
Caleb, one of the spies, said Canaan should be taken immediately. Ten spies said Israel could not possibly conquer Canaan because the people were too strong [wonder what they expected to see?]. To discourage Israel, these men said (1) Canaan was a demanding place to live, and (2) all the people who lived there were of enormous size.
The ten spies intended for the nation to be as discouraged as they were! Faithlessness loves the support of others who are faithless! To ensure their discouragement, they lied! (1) They said the land devoured (ate!) the people who lived there! It was a hard, demanding place to live! (2) They said everyone there was huge! See Numbers 13:32,33. Note they became as grasshoppers "in our own sight." They focused on their smallness, not on God's greatness!
The entire nation immediately sank into depression. That night tears of disappointment flowed [wonder what the nation expected?]. The next day, Israel began grumbling against Moses and Aaron. They made ridiculous statements: "I wish we had died in Egypt! [That is not what they wanted in Egypt!]. I wish we had died in the wilderness! [That wish would become reality!] The only reason God brought us here was to (1) kill us in battle and (2) make our wives and children captives! Would it not be better just to go back to Egypt?" They were so faithless and discouraged they seriously discussed appointing someone to lead them back to Egypt!
Note how faithlessness quickly became depression. When human limitations are the focus instead of God's greatness being the focus, the lack of faith in God produces disastrous results in our lives. The enormous challenge of faith is to place confidence in God's greatness rather than in ourselves.
Moses and Aaron found Israel's attitudes so distressful that they publicly fell face down before the assembly. Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, tore their clothes [an expression of mourning], told the people that the land was incredibly rich, and God would enable them to have it. These two men begged Israel not to rebel against God, not to be controlled by fear, and not to regard themselves as captives. Why? The Lord was with Israel!
It is not unusual for believers who place their confidence in God to be distressed by believers who refuse to have confidence in God.
The assembly reacted with such hostility toward Joshua and Caleb that they wanted to kill them by stoning. Only the appearing of God's glory in the tabernacle stopped a faithless, ugly situation from escalating. Again consider God's angry reaction: "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they" (Numbers 14:11,12).
Believers who do not trust God frequently resent believers who do trust God. Remember Matthew 5:10-12 and Luke 21:12?
God knew He, again, had been rejected by the same unappreciative, faithless adults who build the gold calf! God had given them every reason to believe Him and trust Him! He had not asked for blind obedience! He acted first! They had ample reason to trust Him! Again, His solution was Israel's destruction and a new beginning through Moses.
Take note of the fact that it was the same people who demanded the idol (Exodus 32) that refused to enter Canaan.
Again, Moses acted as Israel's intercessor. Again, he appealed to God's nature, not Israel's deservedness. Moses said, "You and your reputation are the issue, not Israel's faithlessness." The core of Moses' appeal is contained in Numbers 14:13-19. In essence Moses said, "Many know about Your powerful deliverance of Israel from Egypt. It was Your strength--and only Your strength--that made their deliverance happen. Your fame is known in many nations because of Your deliverance and Your continued leadership. If you destroy Israel, people who know what You did for Israel will say, 'God slaughtered Israel because He could not keep His promise.' Even in this horrible situation, let Your power be great! Continue to forgive Israel just as You have in the past. Show the greatness of Your mercy!"
Take note of the fact, again, that Moses focused on God's nature, not on Israel's worthiness. God was holy! Israel was not!
Moses acknowledged an understanding of God's nature that is unchallenged throughout scripture:
'The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations' (Numbers 14:18).
The next lesson will focus on God's nature as declared in this statement.
God's response to Moses was nothing short of incredible: "So the Lord said, 'I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord...'" (Numbers 14:20, 21). It should remind us of James' statement in James 5:16 "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
Christians have not comprehended the significance of faith-filled, unselfish requests to God. Do not allow an awareness of the power of a faith-filled person's prayer to cloud your understanding of the importance of God's purposes. Moses interceded for a faithless Israel, not for Israel's benefit or his personal benefit, but for the benefit of God's purposes. God's response to our intercessions is powerful if we seek His purposes rather than our benefits. Read James 4:1-3 and 5:1-6.
God declared consequences for this faithless rebellion. (1) All the adults [with two exceptions] would die in the wilderness just as they wished (14:28-30). (2) Instead of the children being captive prey as the adults feared, the children would enter Canaan (14:31). (3) For each day the spies spent in Canaan, the nation would live as shepherds in the wilderness (14:32-34).
Faithless, ungrateful rebellion against God always produces consequences. Rebellion is the action of a person or people who know and understand what God wants, but refuse to surrender to Him through placing their confidence in Him.
This was powerful, key consideration in Moses' intercession for Israel: Your reputation among the gentile nations, God, is the primary issue; not Israel's faithless distrust of Your promises.
The primary focus of God's salvation in every age [always!] has been on God's position, not on human benefits. Certainly, humans always benefit from God's salvation, but those benefits are the result of restoring God to His rightful position.
Note God's nature: (1) He does not get angry quickly; (2) His mercy is beyond comprehension; (3) His forgiveness is incredible; and (4) He holds the rebellious accountable when they reject Him because they fail to appreciate Him. Those qualities combine to declare God's holiness, a holiness in which there is no injustice.
These qualities will be the focus of the next lesson.
Please take note of these three things: (1) Israel's faithless ingratitude insulted God. They rejected God's trustworthiness. They learned nothing from God's past kindness. (2) God's pardon was based on God's nature, not Israel's worthiness. (3) God's declared objective: to fill all the earth with His glory.
Insulting God is extremely serious! God forgives because the holy God is merciful! God's objective remains unchanged: to fill the earth with His glory.
Thought Questions:
They were sent into Canaan to (1) gather information helpful to invasion and (2) verify Canaan was all God said it would be. They "expanded" their purpose to include the decision "to invade" or "not to invade." Their spying out the land was to be in support of invasion, not to determine if invasion was practical. God's help made invasion practical!
The core centered around the fact that the cities were fortified [walled cities] and the fact that the spies saw descendants of the giants there.
God was moved to pardon Israel for two reasons. (1) The first was the intercession of an unselfish, faith filled person. (2) The second was the holy God's nature. The merciful God prefers forgiveness to punishment. See Ezekiel 18:23, 30-32.
God's objective was to fill the earth with His glory.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 4