The Story Through the Bible Num 13
The Story through the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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12 Spies or surveyors?
12 Spies or surveyors?
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
We’re going to look at what moses asks them to do in a few verses but I want to plant a question in your mind. Are they sending spies or surveyors? and what’s the difference? Don’t answer right away we’ll get there but i’m giving you a heads up so you can think a little about it.
We go on to list every tribe and man being sent. I won’t read the verses but I’ll give you the list here quickly.
Reuben-Shammua
Simeon-Shaphat
Judah-Caleb
Issachar-Igal
Ephraim-Hoshea
Benjamen-Palti
Zebulun-Gaddiel
Joseph(Manasseh)-Gaddi
Dan-Ammiel
Asher-Sethur
Napthali-Nahbi
Gad-Geuel
What tribe is missing from this list?
We have 12 tribes listed here so how is that possible?
Why would Levi not be listed?
These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
Now we’re really getting to the pop quiz, what’s the difference in names?
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 the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
What are their instructions here?
See what the land is
people are strong or weak
people are few or many
land is good or bad
cities are camps or strongholds
land is rich or poor
trees are in it or not
-be of good courage and bring some fruit back-
So were they spies or surveyors? Let’s grab another piece of data
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
The word used here in Joshua is not the same word used in Numbers 13 This word is very much a military spy word.
The difference between the two when you look through all the contexts is that when they search out a place it’s somewhere they’re planning on using when they spy it out it’s someplace they’re planning on attacking. I think we get the sense here that the point isn’t that these spies from Numbers 13 are the precursor to war but the surveyors to report ahead of time how big the Miracle of God is about to be. The list of things they should do is about 50% military assessment and 50% aggricultural. But it wasn’t to foreshadow invasion it was to point to how amazing it will be when it’s handed over. Or probably would have been if they didn’t mess this whole thing up. There’s more backstory in Deuteronomy that this wasn’t entirely Moses’ idea or even God’s but the people asked for reports ahead of time and God granted them their desire.
So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 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.) 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. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
So this is what they see and I think we should keep going to see how they report this before we get into it.
At the end of forty 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 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Now there must have been an uproar or groaning or something because Caleb, one of the twelve that were sent jumps in. Num 13:30
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.”
Yeah! let’s get ‘em! pumped up, trusting in God, the faithful Caleb.
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.” 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. 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.”
Okay now we see what this whole Anak thing is about, it’s about the Nephilim. I’m not going to assume you remember everything we talked about back in Genesis, that was over a year ago.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
The sons of God term has been debated among different groups but it seems to me the clearest way it’s used consistantly through the Bible is for angels. They’re doing something they should be so they’ve logically got to be a part of the angels that have fallen away in rebellion. Now, because of the flood they were all wiped out. This situation must have happened again at some point with fallen angels and women for them to reappear after the flood. Does that all make sense? This is also the same group the Anakites where Goliath of Gath comes from. We see that hinted at in Joshua
There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
We’ll pick up next week in chapter 14 to see how the people respond to this news but what prompting does it give us to think about the story of our own life?
We should be confident in the promises of God and not act out of fear. What promises do we have?
That he will never leave us or forsake us.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
