Day 73 – The 12 Spies & 40 Days of Searching

• Today’s passages talk of the fear of a group of spies who were sent out into the Promised Land to check it out, and who came back nervous about what they found there. The passage in Deuteronomy is, generally speaking, a re-telling of the story in Numbers, and the verses in Joshua refer to the thoughts of one of the spies who was a little braver than the others.
• By the start of Numbers 13, the people had arrived at Kadesh, which was a place on the verge of the Promised Land. What instructions did God give Moses at the start of the Numbers passage?
• You could be forgiven for your eyes glazing over at the list of the names of the spies! Make sure you know where the 12 tribes come from though, and who they are named after.
• How long were the spies gone? That number keeps on cropping up, doesn’t it? What other instances of the number 40 can you think of in the bible?
• What was the spies’ report of what the Promised Land was like? Name some of the good things they found and some of the bad. According to some of the things they said, such as Numbers 13:33, what was the view of most of the spies about whether they should go there? If it helps your understanding, you might like to know that the Nephilim people didn’t even exist any more at that time!
• Which one of the spies argued that, with God, they should go in because they could defeat the people currently living in the Promised Land? What did the other spies say instead?
• How, in the verses in Joshua, was Caleb rewarded for the faith he had in God’s protection?
• This story happened very early on in the time in the desert. The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness has not yet happened, and only does because of the attitude of the people in this story. What do you think Caleb must have thought as he went through the wilderness for the next 40 years? Do you think he would have been frustrated by his fellow Israelites not trusting in God earlier?
• Can this story help you if you are struggling for support in a problem that seems to go on and on?

   

Let’s ponder a little more.

Who do you identify most with in this story? Caleb, or the other spies? Be honest with yourself. The land that God has promised the people was full of good things… but many very scary things indeed. Like the Promised Land, there are many blessings to be had when we follow God, but doing so won’t always be easy. 

In the face of the challenge that faced them, the spies stopped trusting in God’s command and promises to look after them. We’ll be tempted to take the easy road too, and be easily discouraged by challenges and attacks which face us. How brave are you, when all is said and done, when the challenges of being a Christian are right in front of you?

Deuteronomy 1:27 says that the Israelites thought God hated them by “taking them out of Egypt and giving us into the hands of our enemies”. They couldn’t be further from the truth, of course, but do we ever blame God for not doing what we want? If we do, are we considering the lower story rather than His upper story? Are we forgetting to trust in God’s love and strength?

On Monday we’ll read a little more about the reaction to the spies’ report, and the reaction of the people.