Dare to Claim Your Territory

Dare to Claim Your Territory

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, send thou men, that they may search the land of Cannan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, everyone a ruler among them.

And so Moses obeyed God and sent them to spy out the land of Canaan with instructions to see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities that they dwell in , whether in tents, or in strong holds. Moses told them to be of good courage and return with the fruit of the land.

And the spy returned from searching the land after forty days. And they had this report:

The land flowed with milk and honey, and had good fruit. But the inhabitants of the land are strong, and the cities have great walls, and even worst we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Caaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

And then a lone voice stilled the people, Caleb the son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah said “Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”

But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

They began to murmur against Moses saying”And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.”

Than Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh spake unto the children of Israel saying “The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.”

But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

We all know the rest of the story. Moses interceded for the children of Israel and asked the LORD not to smite them. Saying “I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

The LORD pardoned the children of Israel according to the word of Moses, but with the following punishment:

As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

References:

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

The LORD [is] on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?