The Israelites left the dreary desert behind them when they came to Kadesh-barnea, in the Wilderness of Paran. Now they were very near to Canaan, the land which God had promised to give them for their own country. Only one more march forward would take them across the border and into that beautiful country.
But the Israelites were not ready to enter Canaan. Although they had always taken down their tents and prepared to march whenever God showed by his sign in the cloud that they should go forward, now they said, “We do not know this country that lies before us. We are not“ ready to enter until we may know which way to go. Let us send men to pass through the land and search it. When they come again, they can tell us about what they have seen and which will be the safest road for us to travel.” The people did not want to trust God to lead them into Canaan, although he had led them safely through all the dangerous desert country and had provided food and water for them when they could find none. Now they wanted to depend more upon themselves. And God let them have their own way.
God told Moses to choose twelve men, one man from each of the twelve tribes, and send them to search the land carefully. These twelve men were called spies, because they were sent to spy out the land of Canaan. Moses told them not to be afraid, for God would take care of them. And he commanded them to bring back some fruit from the land.
For forty days the spies went here and there through the promised land. They saw strong cities and small towns. They saw fields of grain and large vineyards with ripened grapes. They saw that the land was indeed beautiful, and that it was well supplied with food-stuffs. They knew that the Israelites would not need to grow hungry for meats and for vegetables in such a bountiful land.
At the end of forty days the spies returned to Israel’s camp. They brought samples of the fruits that grew in Canaan. Two of them carried one large cluster of grapes on a staff between them. Never before had the Israelites seen such splendid fruit. Then ten of the spies began to tell about the land. “It is indeed a good country,” they said, “but the people who live there are stronger than we. Many of them live in cities surrounded by great walls that seem to reach to the sky. Others of them are like giants—so powerful and so tall that we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes. We were lucky to get back (alive.”
Those spies did not thank God for taking care of them. They did not believe God would help the Israelites to overcome the giants and to overthrow the walled cities. They had no faith in God. And when the Israelites heard their report they began to weep. Then Caleb, one of the spies who trusted in God, quieted them and said, “Do not be afraid, for we are strong enough to take the land. Let us go up at once, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the people would not listen to his words. They began to weep aloud, and all through the night the noise of their weeping was heard in the camp. When morning came they began to complain against God. “We wish we had stayed in Egypt!” they said. “We had rather died back in the wilderness than to be killed by those dreadful giants in Canaan. Why has God brought us here to die? Our wives and our children will be taken for prisoners.’ Then they planned to choose a captain and return again to Egypt.
When Moses and Aaron heard about the plan they fell on their faces and begged the people to obey God. And Caleb and Joshua, the two spies who had faith in God, tore their clothes as a sign of deep sorrow and cried out to the people, “Do not sin so against the Lord! He has given us all the land before us, and he has taken away the courage of those who live in the land. We can easily drive them away. Let us go forward!”
Instead of listening to Caleb and Joshua, the people wanted to throw stones at them and kill them. But God would not allow them to harm his true men. While they Were going about to do the evil deed, suddenly a bright light flashed upon them from the door of the tabernacle. And God spoke to Moses out of the light and said, “I am ready now to punish these wicked people with a terrible disease, which will kill them all. I am tired of their complaining and of their wicked plans. Although I have showed my great signs to them many times, still they will not trust me nor obey my words. I will take your children, Moses, and will make of them a great nation instead of the Israelites, and to them I will give the land of Canaan.”
But Moses prayed earnestly for the people. He told the Lord that the Egyptians would hear about the death, of the Israelites and they would say, “God was not able to bring them into Canaan, so he killed them in the wilderness.” Moses reminded the Lord of his promise to be very merciful and to forgive wrong-doing.
And God for Moses’ sake forgave the Israelites and did not destroy them completely. But because they had refused to go forward at the words of Caleb and Joshua, God said they should not be allowed to cross over into Canaan at that time. None of them from twenty years of age and upward should ever go into Canaan to live because they had said, “We had rather died in the wilderness!” To punish them God commanded that they should turn back again into the dreary wilderness and camp there until every man who had murmured should die. Then their children might go in and possess the promised land. When the Israelites heard about this bitter punishment they did not want to go back. They said, “We will go forward, as the Lord first commanded us.” And their men who had been trained for battle hurried out of the camp to fight against the men of Canaan. Moses called to them, “Don ’t go! God is not with you!” But they rushed on, paying no heed to Moses’ warning, and the men of Canaan came out to meet them. The battle did not last long, for the Israelites had not obeyed God, and he would not help them. Soon the men of Canaan drove them out of their land, and the Israelites ran away from the battle into the wilderness.