One cluster of grapes

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 13:21–25, “So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.”

These men knew their job and spent forty days looking through the Promised Land so that they could bring back a decent report for their leaders. They discovered a cluster of grapes that was so large it took two men to carry it back with them. They also brought back other fruit as well. They brought back evidence of the sweet and precious fruit of the Land. The Lord had already told Abraham the extent of the Land that He would give to Abraham (Gen 13:14–15, “And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.”) so it was important for these men to range far and wide so that they would be able to take possession of as much as the Lord promised to Abraham. If these men didn’t take the Lord’s promise to Abraham seriously and only look at a truncated Land it would be their fault and not the Lord’s for His promise was well documented.

Search the Land

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 13:1–20, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search 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 ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, 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 tents, or in strong holds; 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 firstripe grapes.”

The Lord told Moses to send some people into the Promised Land so that they would know something about the place that they were going. That was the ideal strategy for them to follow. If they were going to take possession of the Land they would have to know where they were going and what they were going to. There were twelve tribes supplying soldiers for the coming invasion and they sent one man to represent every tribe. Each of these men was a senior man in the tribe. They were told to bring back some evidence of the fruitfulness of the Land as well. The Lord sent them at a very good time because it was spring when the grapes were coming into fruit. This was appropriate as they would want to see the Land at its best and have a good idea of the crops that they could expect.

She was leprous

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 12:10–16, “And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again. And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.”

There are always consequences for whatever choices that we make. Both Aaron and Miriam defied the Lord when they showed that they were jealous of Moses. They defied the Lord and the Lord challenged them for this defiance. Miriam was struck with leprosy. This was a consequence of her sin and the Lord acted with justice. However, Aaron realised that both he and Miriam acted foolishly. That is, the acted in a way that would damage themselves and their relationship with the Lord. When a person was diagnosed with leprosy they were cast out of the camp and forced to live by themselves, away from all their families and friends. As far as Miriam was concerned, she might as well have been dead. Moses, with his meek and forgiving heart prayed to the Lord that Miriam might be healed of this disease. The Lord heard this prayer but told Moses that she would have be unclean for seven days. When a person was suspected of leprosy they were told to wait for seven days and then be tested again (Lev 13:27, “And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy.”) Miriam also had to wait for seven days to prove that she was healed of her leprosy.

The anger of the LORD was kindled

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 12:4–9, “And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.”

Miriam and Aaron complained about Moses but Moses trusted in the Lord. The Lord called the three of them to come to the Tabernacle. They all came to meet the Lord outside the Tabernacle and the Lord spoke to them. The Lord explained to Aaron and Miriam that He chose prophets and then He gave them visions and spoke to them. No ordinary person had the right or the authority to question the Lord’s choice. Moses had, so far, done what the Lord required and delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. The Lord doesn’t have to hide things or do things in secret because He is the Lord and He controls the entire creation that He has made. The Lord commands and things happen the way He requires. In spite of this, Aaron and Miriam complained about Moses. They were not really complaining about Moses but about the Lord Who had chosen Moses to be His servant. The Lord was angry with Aaron and Miriam because they criticised the Lord.

Moses was very meek

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 12:1–3, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”

We saw, in the previous chapter, that there was envy when two of the seventy councillors didn’t come to the Tabernacle when the Lord’s Spirit came upon all the councillors. These men were in their own camp area and they prophesied as well. Joshua asked Moses to stop these men from prophesying but Moses told him not to be envious on Moses’ behalf. In this case it was Moses’ own family who were envious of his status as the man called by the Lord. Both Aaron and Miriam were older than Moses and should, in the normal order of things, taken precedence over him but the Lord looked into Moses heart and knew that he had the proper attitude before the Lord. Moses also married a foreigner and, they believed, should have been disqualified from service to the Lord’s people on that account. Moses was a man who had seen the Lord’s glory and understood that the Lord was all powerful and full of grace. He was willing to the trust the Lord to work and just obeyed the Lord. Moses wasn’t interested in looking out for his own interests, he was willing to trust the Lord and obey the Lord. Moses knew that the Lord’s will would be done and he could rely on the Lord to care for him.

Quails

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 11:31–35, “And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.”

Moses had to deal with two issues on that occasion. The first concerned the fact that he was facing burnout from the enormity of the task he was doing. The Lord solved that problem by appointing seventy men to act as leaders among the people and take part of the load away from Moses. The second issue was more immediate but less urgent. When the Lord had given Moses the help he needed, the Lord intervened to deal with the problem of Israel grumbling. They wanted meat and the Lord delivered fresh meat to them. A large flock of quails came in from the sea and rested around the camp. This was a miracle delivered by the Lord but it was specific and targeted. There were so many quails that they would never be able to eat them all. However, they were all fresh and had to be killed to be eaten. The Lord didn’t to deliver meat in refrigerated vans as someone might do today. He did a much better job and the people were able to kill them according to the Law and not lose their ceremonial purity. However, the Lord punished them for their rebellion and ingratitude as well.

Envy

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Numbers 11:24–30, “And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.  But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.”

Moses passed the Lord’s message on to the people and they chose the seventy men to act as Moses helpers and relieve the enormous task he had. It was impossible for these men to perform this great task without the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord came down on these men; this was shown by the fact that they prophesied. Two of the chosen men hadn’t come to the Tabernacle in the centre of the camp but the Spirit of the Lord came on those men anyway. The prophesied in the camp as well. Joshua was envious that these men were demonstrating these miraculous signs in the camp and asked Moses to stop them. Joshua was more concerned about Moses’ reputation than he was about his own status. However, Moses knew that this was from the Lord and let them continue. There are many people in leadership positions today who can’t cope with the fact that the next generation are showing ability and are ready to take over the senior leadership roles. These people should seek to follow Moses’ example and encourage the young people to develop into their full potential.