They fell on their faces

(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 14:5–10, “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 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 defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.”

Moses must have felt as though he was banging his head against a brick wall at times. He did everything he could to make sure that Israel prospered while the Lord helped them. Even though he was like them at first and tried to persuade the Lord not to use him to deliver Israel, he soon learned what the Lord could do and gave himself completely to the Lord’s task.In this case, Moses knew what the Lord had done to Egypt and was afraid that the Lord might destroy Israel as well. In order to forestall the Lord’s anger both Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the rebellious congregation and begged them not to fight against the Lord. Joshua and Caleb fought hard to stop this problem as well. The people were angry and threatened to kill their leader by stoning them to death. The Lord appeared in His majesty to stop the people from carrying out their threats to kill their leaders.

The people wept all night

(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 14:1–4, “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 the whole congregation 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 hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should 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.”

These people had a tendency to complain, they had been doing since a few weeks after the first Passover (see Ex 14:10–12, “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”) They had spent many years as slaves and were not emotionally prepared to face any hardship. They didn’t know how to make decisions on their own. As soon as they faced any hardship they immediately looked back to the relative security of Egypt where they didn’t have to make any decisions and everything was provided for them. Of course they forgot about the hardships of Egypt (compare Ex 3:7–8, “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”) These people grumbled again when they heard that the Land was defended and there were giants in the Land. They didn’t remember that the Lord had already defeated the Egyptian armies and all they had to do was stand still (Ex 14:13–14, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”) They just wanted to go back to Egypt instead of trusting the Lord and doing what He told them to do.

We were as grasshoppers

(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 13:26–33, “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 shewed 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. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 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 be 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 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.”

The men had done the job that they were asked to do. All that was required, at that stage, was that they give a report of everything that they had seen and done. The Land flowed with milk an honey. Milk, indicated something very special and reserved for people who were above average on the social scale (See Gen 18:8, “And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”) and honey was for people who deserved the very best (See Gen 43:11, “And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:”). Even though the Israelis had been slaves and were thought of a less than a normal person, the Lord loved them and gave them the very best that could be offered. However, those people were afraid. They forgot that the Lord had already taken them from slavery in the land of Egypt and He had destroyed the armies of the greatest super power on earth at that time. The just saw the large cities and the fact that there were giants living in the Land. Not only were they afraid but the encouraged the rest of the people to be afraid as well.

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.