Unbelief Delays Covenant Fulfillment

MEMORY SELECTION: “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 showed among them?” —Numbers 14:11

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Numbers 13:30 – 14:10

HAVING made their way across the desert to the very edge of Canaan’s border, the children of Israel were in the virtual shadow of the promised inheritance. There God spoke to Moses and instructed him to send out men from each tribe to search the land. After forty days these men returned to Kadesh to report their findings to Moses.

“And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.” (Num. 13:26) Some of the leaders of the tribes—ten of them—were apprehensive about what they saw, and they over-emphasized the discouraging factors in connection with the promised land. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, saw the good things in the land and thereby encouraged the Israelites to proceed at once, overcome their enemies, and possess the land which God had given them. They must have reasoned that if God was able to deliver them from Egypt, bring them across the Red Sea, provide for their physical needs of food and water while sojourning in the wilderness, and fight their battles for them, as in the case of the Amalekites, then surely he was more than able to assist them in the final segment of their journey.

The majority report, however, prevailed, with the statement (vs. 31), “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” The exaggerated reports of the ten spies filled the people with fear. That report, according to the scriptural record, was an evil one, as we read (vss. 32,33), “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

Dissent then arose among the whole congregation, and all the children of Israel murmured against Joshua and Caleb—as well as against Moses and Aaron. At that point the murmuring and complaining Israelites were about to do harm to God’s faithful—forgetting the many miraculous providences of God in behalf of the people. “And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” (Num. 14:4)

Joshua and Caleb had good advice for the people. They said (vss. 8,9): “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 defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” Their advice was not heard, however, and had it not been for God’s intervention on their behalf at that time, the faithful few would have been killed by the hands of their own brethren.

The faithful followers of our Lord throughout the present Gospel Age recognize the antitypical application of the varied experiences of the Israelites. They see Canaan as the promised inheritance of rest, in which only the faithful bride of Christ will rejoice. And, although beset by the trials and adverse circumstances of this life—as prefigured by the Israelites’ wilderness journey—they have faith in the overruling providences of God in their lives that will assist them in making their calling and election sure. Furthermore, the giants and obstacles that are seen do not discourage the child of God, who perceives that in spite of all obstacles he can trust God in whatever experience of life he finds himself.

The conflicting reports of those who had been sent out to look at the promised land may illustrate the degree of unfaithfulness on the part of some to put their whole trust in God and his promises. Some are not comforted by his promises, while others, possessing a greater amount of faith, believe that all things are possible with God.

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