Thursday - Numbers 13 - Nevertheless

Here is an amazing quote from God, "Send thou men..." God was the one who called for spies to go into Canaan. Now God knows everything. Never forget that. God knows everything... past, present and future. God knows everything and everybody. He knew that the spies would turn the people against their mission. Yet He commanded Moses to send them in anyway. In the context of the rebellion of the citizenry that had recently arisen, I gather that the ten (10) wicked spies did not turn the people's hearts toward unbelief. They just served as revealers of the doubts and fears that were already there. In a way it was surely merciful for God to allow the true lack of character of the nation to be evidenced before they actually got into the land and had to face the very real dangers of warfare without the necessary faith and confidence to do the job.  They were His people.  He was indeed watching out for them by unveiling their debilitating fears before the heat of the battle was upon them; before it was too late.

So, God told Moses to send men into the land to spy. Among the 12 spies who were selected, there are two who stand out (and 10 who have been virtually forgotten).  Caleb (from Judah) and Joshua (from Ephraim) were two great and godly men who served as spies. Obviously their impact was permanent. Even a passing glance at Jewish history reveals that their two tribes became (by far) the most dominant of the 12.  In fact, when civil war divided the nation, the two new nations become known by the names of these two tribes; Ephraim in the north and Judah in the south.