The Cowardice

Studies in Numbers

II Failure

A The Commencement

4 The Cowardice, Text: 13:1-14:45

INTRODUCTION

Fear is the root of cowardice and it is a common experience. We are anxious and fearful about many things in life to the point where some people are literally scared to death. Phobias abound too numerous to list, but some people fear certain colors, others fear sitting or standing, and still others fear various animals. Most of us would consider those fears irrational and we call them phobias, but they are very real to the people who have them. Hearkening back to the words of Franklin Roosevelt, we have nothing to fear except fear itself but their is actually a name for fearing fear and it is phobophobia. We expect children to be afraid because of their limited experience and dependency but not grown men. One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. As she turned the light off he asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you stay with me all night?” The mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, “I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, “The big sissy!” There are legitimate fears of course, like going into battle. One of our great heroes, General George S. Patton who was praised highly for his courage and bravery. He said, “I am not a brave man. The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn’t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.” Years later, he wrote “I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears.” So in our text we have Israel doing the opposite. Instead of going up they take counsel of their fears and refuse. We are going to look at their cowardice in this Scripture and following the narrative we see the reconnaissance, the report, the rebellion, the resolve, the retribution.

I THE RECONAISANCE

The exploration that preceded the invasion is detailed in 13:1-25, The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki. These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.) When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.) So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. Moses sends the spies into the land to collect information. From his perspective there is never any doubt that they will go up and possess it because the Lord is with them. Moses is seeing the invisible which is the essence of faith. Fear and faith cannot co-exist. The mission provides both tactical military information, and confirmation that the promises of God with regard to the fruitfulness of the land are true. These things should encourage the people but their eyes are on the wrong things. They see the problems and Moses sees the solution. Thus we have their report.

II THE REPORT

The report is in 13:26-33, They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” There is definite evidence in the Bible for the existence of men of extraordinary stature, called Nephilim or Anakim in various texts in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and of course Goliath whom David slew according to I Samuel 17. In the modern era skeletons have been found around the world and even in the continental United States which were anywhere from 7 to 10 feet tall. The spies were terrified. Now I have been in a shower at the YMCA when a 7 foot semi-pro basketball player walked in and it was very intimidating. It is not an exaggeration to state that I, at 5’8, felt like a grasshopper next to him, and he was friendly. It doesn’t look like much on a basketball court when almost everybody is 6’6” to 6’10,” but in a normal room it is bewildering. The spies were scared and they did not take counsel of their fears, a serious breach of faith and therefore the people rebelled.

III THE REBELLION

The rebellion is delineated for us in 14:1-4, That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Die in Egypt or die in the wilderness? First of all, if you have a death wish, why not die as a hero rather than a coward. Secondly, don’t blame the messenger. When they rebel Moses and Aaron and Caleb and Joshua plead with them not to turn back; the reason they are journeying through the wilderness is to reach the promised land, but in verse 10 we read, But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. After all they missed the leaks and garlic of Egypt so why not go back and become miserable slaves again. And on the journey back there would be no Shekinah, no manna, no quail, just privation. Only fools give up what they cannot lose for what they cannot keep, and surely they were fools. We see it so clearly in them, but the truth is that every time we consciously sin we are saying that we prefer the bondage of sin to the promised land. So, the leaders plead.

IV THE RESOLVE

The leaders Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb endeavor to rally the people in verses 14:5-19, Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O Lord, are with these people and that you, O Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.’ “Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” First, the leaders remind the people of God’s presence and promises. It is also true of Christians that as they pass through this wilderness of a fearful fallen world they need to be reminded of God’s presence and promises. The people are ready to stone the leaders and the Lord (Jahweh) interrupts and takes over. The Shekinah appears and Jahweh speaks and states His case. The people are rejecting their leaders but in doing this they are treating God with contempt. Our mistreatment of others is a mistreatment of God, Himself. God is fed up and says he will destroy the nation and make a new one out of Moses. This is the most exquisite moment of insight into Moses character. Instead of seizing the opportunity to get rid of the burden and become a great nation, Moses is looking our for God’s reputation, God’s glory. What will other nations say about you, O Lord? Can you imagine Hitler in Germany, or Stalin in Russia, or Castro in Cuba, or Ahmadinejad in Iran saying this? For them it would be carpe diem, an opportunity not to be passed up. Moses pleads for forgiveness for the people and God grants it, but though they have eternal forgiveness, they must still suffer the temporal penalty. They are doomed to wander in the wilderness for forty years and never see the promised land.

V THE RETRIBUTION

Thus retribution is found in verses 20-45, The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times—not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.” The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.” So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived. When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the Lord promised.” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah. First the Lord swears by Himself that none of that generation except Joshua and Caleb will even see the land. Then there is a warning not to stay to close to the borders of the promised land because the Canaanites will raid them, so they are to turn back into the desert where they will wander for 40 years. The terrible irony is that they predicted their children would die at the hands of the Canaanites, but God says they will die in the desert and their children will inherit the Promised Land. What is worse than knowing that you had a chance and you have blown it? Next, all the spies that came back and gave a bad report are immediately struck dead from a plague. This is where fear leads. Choose God and courage through faith. It is no surprise that God tells Moses successor Joshua several times to be of good courage.