Moses Sends the Spies

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Studying God’s Word

Introduction

In our last lesson, we looked at the detailed instructions that God gave to Moses for building the tabernacle and for worshipping him. The laws were instituted in very exact ways and with various objects put into service. We didn’t read about it, but the last half of Exodus describes the building of the tabernacle using the riches the Egyptians had given them at the Exodus. God gifted specific individuals to be able to build the articles used for worship.

As you probably recall, we looked at how several of these articles were pictures of a fulfillment that would ultimately come in Christ. When we look carefully, there are many glimpses of Christ in the Old Testament.

• Which of those connections has stuck in your mind through this week? Discuss the various answers.

  It is wonderful to think that we have a great High Priest who did not need to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as the priest serving in the tabernacle had to. It is also wonderful to know that the sacrifice Jesus offered did not have to be repeated constantly to temporarily cover up sin—his sacrifice was perfect and final. The blood of Christ and the perfect life of obedience he lived is now credited to all who repent and trust in him. We have forgiveness of our sins and become righteous before God through Christ’s work.

  Today, we are going to fast-forward a bit.

The Spies Give a Report

Even before the tabernacle had been built, God had told the Israelites they were to leave Sinai. About a year later, the tabernacle was completed. And after they had celebrated the second Passover since the Exodus, the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, and the Israelites were to follow it.

As had become their pattern, the Israelites complained about their circumstances, and God consumed many with fire. Some of the non-Israelites who left Egypt with them complained against God’s provision of manna, recalling the wonderful food they freely enjoyed in Egypt. This spread to the rest of the congregation, and God and Moses became angry. For the second time, God sent a mind-boggling number of quail to meet the request of the people, but also sent a plague to judge them “while the meat was yet between their teeth” (Numbers 11:33).

Not only did the Israelites rebel against Moses, but Aaron and Miriam also sought to overthrow Moses, claiming to be prophets as well. God judged them for this presumption, and that is where we find ourselves as we start the study today. A little over two years after leaving Egypt, God was preparing the Israelites to receive the promise they had been given through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

Let’s read Numbers 13 together. Divide the passage for class members to read aloud, or play a recorded version.

• How many men was Moses sending into the land? Twelve—one from each of the tribes.
• What were the spies to do on their journey? They were to see whether the people were strong or weak, how many there were (few or many), whether the land was good or bad, whether the cities were camps or fortified strongholds, whether the land was rich or poor, and whether there were forests. Moses also called them to bring back some fruit of the land (vv. 17–20).
• Show The Spies Map. How far did they travel? They had been camped in the Wilderness of Paran (Numbers 12:16), and they traveled from Kadesh north through the Wilderness of Zin to Rehob. These represent the northern and southern boundaries of the promised land. They specifically visited Hebron and, on their return, a valley where they gathered fruits. Point out the cities and regions mentioned in the passage.
• Whom did they find in Hebron (v.22)? Three descendants of Anak, namely Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai.
• Who was Anak, and why is this important to the mission of the spies? Anak was a giant, according to verse 33. The people were afraid of fighting these giants, who would eventually be conquered by Joshua and others. The descendants of Anak were noted for their height in Deuteronomy 2:21 and 9:2.
• What figure of speech is used to describe the land, and what does it mean? They said that the land “flows with milk and honey.” This is not to be taken literally but is intended to convey that it was a rich and fertile land.
• How long had the spies been gone? Forty days.
• Why did it take so long? The land was large and they were travelling by foot. The distance from Kadesh in the south to Rehob in the north is about 180 miles, so it was a long journey.
• What did the spies report in verses 27–29? The land was fertile, the cities were fortified, and the people were strong.
• What five people groups are identified as occupying the land? The Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Canaanites.
• What other name is used for the descendants of Anak? They are called the Nephilim (often translated as “giants”) and said to be descendants of the Nephilim.
• Were these the same Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6:4? They cannot be since everyone not on the ark was killed in the flood. The reference here is either alluding to the giants from before the flood who were part of the Hebrew history or another group of giants not defined but understood by the others they were addressing.
• What figures of speech do they use to describe the Anakim/Nephilim (v.33)? The Israelites thought they were like grasshoppers in the eyes of the Nephilim.
• What proof of the goodness of the land did they return with (v. 23)? A giant cluster of grapes as well as pomegranates and figs.
• What was Caleb’s response to this discouraging news? He encouraged the people to go up and take the land immediately, saying they were able to do so.
• What was the reaction of the other spies to Caleb’s encouragement? They discouraged the people, making them fear they could not take the land. It also seems that they lied by saying that “all the people” were of great height and that the land devoured its inhabitants.

Discover the Truth

The spies came back with a report of the land and showed the amazing produce of the land to the Israelites. Despite Caleb’s encouragement, the other spies focused on the negative aspects of the report and feared taking the land.

• What had God promised the people in verse 1? He said he was giving the land to the people.

Promises Kept Activity

The students will be using any footnotes, cross-references, or commentaries in their Bibles to find God’s past promises to give Israel the promised land. You may also want to provide some commentaries, concordances, or other resources for the students to use. The passages that will likely be found are the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the Israelites in Genesis 12:7, 26:3, 35:12 and Exodus 3:8, 23:20–23.

The Israelites seem to have had a perpetual problem as they followed God through the wilderness. In Numbers 13, most of the spies recognized the goodness of the land, but they were afraid of trying to take possession of the land.

Rather than me giving you a specific set of verses to look up for our activity today, I want you to use your Bibles to find some of the verses that talk about the promises that had been made to the Israelites regarding the promised land.

• How many of you have some sort of footnotes, cross-references, or commentary in your Bibles? Take a moment to discuss the various purposes of these tools. Most Bibles will have cross-references in a center column, side column, or as footnotes. Study Bibles will have comments on various passages that often include cross-references to relevant passages.
• How many of you have a concordance or topical guide in the back of your Bible? A concordance or topical guide in the back may contain words like promised land, Holy Land, inheritance, Joshua, Caleb, spies, and other words that would relate to the topic and give useful cross-references.

  If some students are unfamiliar with using these resources, pair them up with a student you know is capable of helping them.

  Use these tools to find at least three passages that reference the promises the Israelites failed to trust when the spies brought back their report. Write them down in your Student Guides under the Promises Kept Activity. You can work in groups, and we will see what you found and discuss it in a few minutes.

Connect to the Truth

What promises related to taking the land were you able to find? Discuss the various passages, pointing to the fact that God had clearly told the Israelites that he would fight on their behalf and deliver the land to them.

The Israelites Rebel

Let’s read the rest of the account to see how the people responded to the report from the spies.

Who will read Numbers 14 for us? Have someone read the passage aloud, or use a recorded version.

Now that we have read the text, let’s take some time to observe what it is saying to us. This passage has a series of responses, so we are going to frame our questions around that series.

• How did the Israelites choose to respond to the news from the spies in verses 1–4? They were greatly discouraged and complained against Moses and Aaron, calling for a new leader to be chosen to take them back to Egypt.
• How did Moses and Aaron respond (v. 5)? They fell on their faces, probably crying out to God.
• How did Joshua and Caleb respond (v. 6)? They tore their clothes and tried to convince the people to take the land God had promised to them.
• What reasons did Joshua and Caleb give for taking the land (vv. 7–9)? If God delighted in them and if they did not rebel against God, they could take the land by his power. God would remove any protection the people of the land had.
• How did the people respond (v. 10)? They wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb and, presumably, Moses and Aaron as well.
• What stopped them from stoning their leaders? God’s glory appeared from the tent of meeting.
• How did God respond to their complaining (vv. 11–12)? He told Moses that he was angry that the people continued in disbelief despite all he had done for them. God intended to kill the people and start over with Moses.
• When God told Moses he was going to kill all of the people and start over with Moses, how did Moses respond? Moses appealed to God to spare the people lest the other nations hear of God’s judgment on the people he had delivered from Egypt and think he was not powerful enough to preserve them. Moses prayed that God would pardon the sin of the people in his mercy. Moses acted as their mediator/intercessor once again.
• How did God respond to Moses’ intercession? God relented but said that those who had tested him and rejected him would not see the land.
• How many times did God say the people had disobeyed him (v. 22)? Ten times. While this may be a literal number, it seems to be an idiom for “the final time.” Jacob used the phrase in Genesis 31:7 to say he was done with Laban’s deceptions. It is also used in Job 19:3 when Job told Bildad and his other friends that he was fed up with them accusing him of sin.
• Who was barred from entering the promised land? God decreed that every person 20 years and over would die in the wilderness.
• How did God intend to bring about the promise of their death and not to allow them to enter the land? Their families would wander in the wilderness for 40 years (one year for each day they had spied out the land) until their bodies died in the wilderness. God granted the wish of the Israelites, allowing them to die in the wilderness (v. 2).
• What happened to the 10 faithless spies (v. 37)? God killed them with a plague.
• How did God treat Caleb and Joshua (vv. 24, 30)? By faith these men called the people to trust God, so he allowed Joshua and Caleb to see the promised land. Caleb is commended for his “different spirit,” one that trusted God rather than despising him.
• In verse 25, God had commanded the Israelites to return to the Wilderness of Paran the next day. What did they do instead? They tried to go and fight the Amalekites and the Canaanites, against God’s command and Moses’ advice.
• What was the result of their disobedience? They were defeated in battle.

• Slide #40

  Slide #41
  How does Hebrews 3:16–19 help us understand the passage in Numbers? The Israelites sinned against God by disobeying him and not believing in his promises. They did not enter the rest of the promised land because of their unbelief.

Discover the Truth

In what seems like an unbelievable repeat of doubting God, for the “tenth” time the Israelites continued to focus on their circumstances and the earthly troubles they might face. Rather than trust in God, they looked to their own strength to take the land and believed they would be unable to do so—and they were right.

• What attributes of God were they failing to acknowledge? Faithfulness: God had promised to give them the land and fight for them. Omniscience: God knew what was to happen. Omnipotence: God has all power and could defeat an earthly army for the Israelites. Sovereignty: God is in control of his creation and has the authority to remove one people and install another in their place.

  But Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb recognized God’s faithfulness. In verses 18–19, Moses echoed what God had proclaimed about himself in Exodus 34 as he revealed his glory to Moses. (Read 14:18–19.) This is instructive for us—we should remember the goodness of the Lord and celebrate his faithfulness.

Application

Let us make sure that we think of how we can apply these ideas as we leave and go out into the world we live in. We want to make sure that we are not merely hearing the Word, but seeking to be doers of what we read in it.

As we have been learning about the Exodus and the events that followed, it seems that the Israelites were just plain dumb! They continued to rebel against God and doubt his faithfulness. They rebelled; God punished them; repeat. However, there was always a faithful remnant. In this account, Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua trusted God and his promises. They recognized that God had promised to deliver the promised land to them and to fight for them. These men had faith in God, and God affirmed that faith.

The other spies had no faith in God or his promises. They worked against God, discouraging the Israelites by telling them they could not take the land because the cities were too fortified and the people were too big. Actually, they were right—they could not conquer the land in their own strength. That would require God fighting for them. They chose to focus on themselves and their own limitations rather than trusting God in his sovereignty and mighty power.

Doubtless, we tend to do the same thing today. The events and consequences may not be as dramatic as conquering many nations, but we tend to doubt God will fulfill the promises he has made to us. It is only by exercising the faith that God has given us that we, like Joshua and Caleb, can trust in his ability to fulfill those promises. And beyond the promises these men trusted in, we have the fullness of hope in Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to empower us to trust God’s promises. While these men had hundreds of years of God’s faithfulness to look back on, we have thousands.

• Slide #42

  Slide #43

  Slide #44

  Slide #45
  Why is it important to have a solid understanding of God’s faithfulness as we walk through this world? We live in a broken world, and if we focus on our circumstances, life can become discouraging. When we place our faith in God and trust that he can and will do as he has promised, we can have hope in our trials.
• When we speak today of putting our trust in God’s Word, we are referring to the Bible. How was that different, yet the same, for the Israelites during the time of the wilderness wandering? They did not have the full Bible as we know it today, but they had heard from God and had the written words of Moses to know God’s promises. They had personally experienced God’s provision in saving them from enemies and giving them food and drink, yet they constantly doubted him.
• Do you think we are really that different from the Israelites in our trust of God? If we stop and honestly analyze ourselves, we find that we forget God’s promises too often and lean on our own understanding rather than looking to God. We must constantly find strength in God and look to the faithful record of his provision as a source of strength. That is something the Israelites failed to do.
• How could you use this passage of Scripture to help others understand their need for a Savior? You could contrast the faith of Joshua and Caleb against the lack of faith of the other 10 spies and describe the sinfulness of every action not done in faith (Romans 14:23). Failing to trust God is a sin, and that sin can only be forgiven by repenting of it and trusting in Christ’s work on the cross. By the Spirit’s work in us, we can grow in holiness and trust.

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class before you dismiss them.

• Praise God for his perfect faithfulness.
• Ask God for bold faith to trust his promises.
• Thank God for examples of trust that can encourage us to follow him.