Sermon Tone Analysis
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The people of Israel reject the opportunity of blessing & suffer the consequences of their sin; but Joshua & Caleb remain faithful.
Numbers 13-14
Scene 1/ We are given many opportunities to trust God’s promises.
Throughout Scripture there is a constant call to relationship, to walk closely with God.
There is this constant promise that he will be with us.
There may be blessing, there may be persecution.
Whatever your circumstances there will always be God’s presence if we will just trust him.
Hebrews 1:1-4 & 2:1-4 gives us this incredible promise of Christ.
That we will be cleansed from sin and dwell in the presence of God.
That the power of the Holy Spirit will be experienced through signs, wonders, miracles and gifts.
The testimony of saints throughout the ages is that this promise is true.
God will never actually leave you; He will walk beside you in good times & bad.
Scene 2/ The people of Israel were given an incredible opportunity to trust God’s promises and see his mighty hand at work when they stood at the borders of the promised land.
Numbers 13:1-27
The whole story for centuries before was about the covenant promise.
“I will give you this land” was the promise to Abraham, to Isaac & to Jacob.
It was the promise that had given birth to the nation of Israel.
And now they stood at the edge of the promised land.
Twelve men were sent out to investigate the land.
They were given the task of reconnaissance.
To simply have a look, to find out about the people, the towns, the land, the crops.
They did so with the knowledge of all that had happened before.
The incredible work of God in bringing them out of Egypt.
His power displayed in the miracles of judgement against Pharaoh.
His miracles of crossing the Reed Sea.
His miraculous provision in the wilderness of food & water.
His awesome presence on the mountain when he appeared to Moses and gave the law to the people.
The constant reminder in the cloud & the fire of his presence.
The splendour of the tabernacle.
Twelve men were chosen from amongst the tribal leaders of Israel.
The twelve men listed in Numbers 13:4-16 are not the same leaders as those listed in Numbers 1:5.
It is reasonable to assume that there was a small group of leaders from each tribe and you would choose according to what the task was.
For recording a census as occurred in Numbers 1 you would choose the administrators, to carry out reconnaissance of the land you would choose the warriors.
Men who would cope with a long journey and time out in the fields, men of boldness and courage.
Their mission was simple start in the south & travel all the way to the north of the land.
Numbers 13:21 gives us these boundaries.
The wilderness of Zin in the South and Rehob in the north near Lebohamath.
Today we identify this as present day Israel, Lebanon and most of southern Syria.
It is the same area known to Abraham and is referred to in the el-Amarna letters of the 14th century bc.
And Numbers 13:22-23 gives us the route.
They started in the Negeb the dry area, unsuitable for cultivation, that runs southwards from Beersheba
Then they travelled into the Hill country which runs the length of modern Israel up to the lake of Galilee.[2]
They visited Hebron, a place of enormous significance as it was where Abraham and his descendents were buried.
Numbers tells us that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan.
Zoan was the capital of the Hyksos the foreigners who ruled Egypt before the time of Israel.[3]
Psalm 78:12 & 43 tells us that this was the area in which the miracles of the Exodus were performed.
Which places the events of the Exodus in the area of San el-Ḥagar near the Southern shore of Lake Menzaleh in the Nile Delta[4]
They stopped on their way back at the valley called Eshcol, which means ‘cluster’.
Its location is uncertain, but it is assumed it must be near Hebron, which is still a centre for growing grapes.
Even today the grapes of this region are much larger than what we commonly understand grapes to be
The account of the cluster of grapes gives us the season of the year.
In the northern hemisphere this means it was late July and verse 25 tells us they spent 40 days on the journey which gives us a return in mid September.
[5]
There may be an important reason that the narrative focuses on Hebron and the area around it.
This is where God promised Abraham that he would inherit the land in Genesis 13:14-18.
It was from the region of Hebron that Abraham set out to defeat the coalition of kings in Genesis 14:13.
And it was in Hebron that Abraham brought the only piece of land that he owned as a burial plot for his wife Sarah in Genesis 23 and for the rest of the Patriarchs of Israel.[6]
In that time the land was lush and green.
The coastal plains were well watered and fertile.
The hills covered in woodlands.
There were meadows with grasses and wildflowers in the mountains.
It was a land ideally suited for an agricultural people.
The commentator Lawrence Richards makes the point that, “The land was rich and beautiful, ready, waiting for its occupation by the people of God.”[7]
Scene 3/ But Israel rejected the covenant of promise & refused to trust God.
Numbers 13:27-14:9
There is a subtle shift in the words used to describe the land.
In verse 27 instead of referring to the land as that which God promised us, the men refer to it as the land you sent us to explore.
There is something very important going on here.
They have lost sight of God’s promise.
Their focus is on the physical things before them.
It is indeed a rich land BUT.
“We can’t do it, we can’t take it!”
“There are giants there!”
Do you see the problem?
God had promised to give it to them, but they thought they had to take it and it was all too scary.
They had forgotten about the power of the Lord who had brought judgment upon the land of the Egyptians and destroyed Pharaohs’ army in the sea.
Instead they focussed on the fortifications and the size of some of the people.
Verse 28 gives us some details about the people in the land.
The descendants of Anak are specifically mentioned in verses 22 and 28.
The descendants of Anak are generally considered “giants” (v.
33; Deut 2:10–11; 2 Sam 21:18–22), though the description “gigantic” may be more appropriate.
Interestingly the Hebrew word translated ANAK primarily refers to a long neck or neck chain.
Perhaps in a similar sense that some African tribal groups have long necks, which have been forced to grow using lots of neck rings.
An Egyptian Papyrus letter from the 13thCentury BC describes fierce warriors in Canaan that are seven to nine feet tall.
(Papyrus Anastasi I).
[8]
These men were so focused on what was physically in front of them that they lost all sight of reason; they even went so far as to associate these tall warriors with the Nephilim of pre-flood times.
Now do you see the problem with this?
The Nephilim, whoever they were and I prefer the idea that they were huge men renowned as warriors.
The Nephilim died in the flood.
So the Anakites of Hebron were descendents of Noah like everyone else! [9]
Just to put this into perspective.
If you see an Australian soldier next to an East Timorese soldier you see a giant next to a grasshopper.
So clearly these men had lost sight of who God was.
The people of Israel next to the army of Pharaoh were like bugs waiting to be squashed by tanks.
But God dealt with that and he had promised them this land.[10]
Sadly we read in Numbers 14:1-4
Turning to Numbers 14: 6-9 you see the correct perspective of Caleb & Joshua.
“These people have no protection, but the Lord is with us!”
This is the same issue we face; will we believe God’s word?
When we look at Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 we find that we are asked the same questions
Scene 4/ When we fail to believe God’s word we lose the blessings he has in store; just as the people of Israel had to face the consequences of their sin, a generation of delay & defeat in battle.
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