Chapter XIV: Joshua and Caleb

THE STORY

=Sec.43. The Twelve Spies= (Num. 13:1, 2, 17-21, 25-28, 30-33; 14:1-10, 26-33)

A. THE MISSION OF THE SPIES

The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, "Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them."

And Moses sent twelve men of the tribes of Israel, and of them Caleb was of the tribe of Judah and Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, "Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the mountains: and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, whether they be few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land."

Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. So they went up, and spied out the land. And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

B. THE REPORT OF THE COWARDS

And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to the children of Israel, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, "We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great: and moreover we saw the giants, the children of Anak, there."

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and 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." And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

C. THE DISCOURAGEMENT

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore doth the Lord bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones shall 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."

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the children of Israel.